Did I just buy a knock off Olight i3s?

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AAA Flashlights
1

Hi all,

I just received my first Olight i3s yesterday and fully expected it to be brighter than my Tank007 E09 light. Regrettably my Tank is a lot brighter than the Olight. This goes against all that I read in the reviews. Furthermore the packaging is not the same as what I have seen. I have run brightness tests on multiple different batteries and even swapped batteries. The result is the same.

Can any of you offer explanations for this?

The light on the right is the olight i3s while the light on the left is the Tank.

Here are 2 pics of the Olight its self

Thanks in advance for any insight!

NBE

2

Based on the review E09 is about 100lm on AAA, i3s supposed to be 80lm. E09 has XP-E led and should have a tighter beam. What I see on your beamshots is what I would expect.
As to the packaging I have seen them use it on other lights, so maybe it’s just a cheaper version without the case?
If everything looks good - machining, anodising, laser engraving, driver board, no visible PWM, then I would guess they are genuine.

3

Umm… if the Olight is on the right in the picture… It looks like it has a brighter, smaller hot-spot than the Tank007 on the left. Did I miss something? Are my eyes deceiving me?

4

Were you expecting it to look exactly like the one on this page?
http://olightworld.com/product/i3-eos/?bc=5
(I don’t know if there have been variations on that model over time)

You could check with OLight about the warranty offered on the packaging now, to make sure it’s valid in case you need it within five years.

5

Correction:
The light on the right is the TANK
The light on the left is the Olight

Thanks for the catch - how embarassing :~

6

The tank is quite bright for a AAA light IMO. Plus it’s really throwy for such a small light too. The i3s is a floddy little thing. So won’t look as intense, but should light up a wider area closer up better.

7

This is the new package. I have one with this, serial number E09271###.

Order modes is Low~~High~~>Moonlight

+1

8

Thanks for the link to that review. It validates what I am seeing.

9

Ive heard and read that the Tank is brighter as well.. so dont know why you thought the Olight would be brighter!

all Ive read was that the Tank outperformed the Olight in brightness, not in runtime.

10

There are two versions of the i3s. I remember finding that when I bought my 1st one. I have two of them now. The earlier version was rated at 80 lumens while the “upgraded” version is rated at 96 lumens I believe. It looks like you got the older version. I don’t have a Tank to compare mine to but they have been great. I run one of them on an alkaline AAA and the other on an unprotected Efest 10440 and man is it bright! Also both of mine came in a black plastic case with foam cutouts for the light and include the keychain and extra o-rings. Looks like you just got the older version.

11

Throw always looks brighter than flood since the lux is higher ..more intense..concentrated .

Easy test for true lumens or brightness is do a ceiling bounce and look down and read some text .

there's not going to be any real difference between 80 and 100 lumens apart from beam shape and intensity of the hotspot /lux

12

Looks about right to me.

I have both lights and get similar results. The E09 (from ~2012) is very throwy for a AAA light hence the brighter hotspot.

My i3s came in different packaging but I did buy it a while ago now. It came in a small black case instead of the clear plastic packaging shown in the photo here.

13

They also lowered the $25 price to stay competitive?