Javelot M3XS-UT Review

Well, our friendly contact, Lydia, at Olight (U.S.) has done it again. I have received a Javelot M3XS-UT KIT no less, via Amazon.ca for the purposes of a review.

Now again, this is a light that has been reviewed by some very talented and technically adept reviewers. I shall make no attempt to re-review already superior reviews – I shall instead focus my observations on the entire kit and the peripherals included therein, as I have seen less mention of them.

The Packaging is simple but effective – a sturdy plastic box with actual hinges (as opposed to a flex-bar) with dense foam lining that cradles everything tightly. The lid is not gasketed, but it is tongue and grooved for a solid, if not waterproof, fit.

One minor gripe is that the light itself will only fit if the 2x18650 extension is removed. Otherwise it’s longer than the box. Oddly enough, if the foam were inletted on the diagonal instead of straight across, the light (with extension) and all of the accessories would fit quite comfortably. Despite the cr123 battery options, I view this as a 2x18650 light, and the extension as a permanent fixture that I doubt I’ll ever remove.

The Contents are as follows;

- two spare O-rings,

- one extension to allow 2x18650 cells,

- one wall wart with a 115 cm. cord to convert 110/220 to 12V at a rate of 1 amp

- one 2-slot charger with an output of 4.2v @ 1 amp x 2 or 1.47v @ .5 amp x 2.

- two Olight branded protected 18650 batteries, 3.6v / 3600 mAh, marked 12.9 Wh.

  • and, of course, the light itself.

The Charger, to a Canadian, is instantly reminiscent of a hockey puck in shape, size and color. (That’s a pretty good start, eh?) It’s 30 mm thick by 95 mm wide, and has two slots. It obviously uses two discrete channels, as one cell ‘followed’ the other by about two minutes (as indicated by the lights) as the charge progressed.

While charging, progress is marked by four green lights up each side in the shape of quarter circle, half circle, three-quarter circle etc. that light up in sequence as the charge increases. When full, the top green lights stay on as well as the constant red
power indicator.

The slots move nice and smooth, with no squeaks or binding, and there are relief cuts to be able to easily ‘thumb’ the batteries in and out.

Both batteries (more on them later) arrived at exactly 3.63v. I put them in the charger, but got called away and was unable to precisely time the charge cycle. However when I returned after 2.5 hrs both cells were at exactly 4.20v and already cooled to room temperature. I briefly checked the charger at about 1 hr. into the charge cycle, and found it only slightly warm.

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The “1.47v @ .5A x 2” marking on the back of the unit indicate that is will also work with NimH cells.

This charger will NOT accept 26650 size cells; regardless of that, I like it a lot. It’s simple, well built, compact, and it terminates right on the money. Besides, it looks like a hockey puck, eh?

The 18650 cells wear Olights label and as mentioned above are protected, marked 3600 mAh, and carry part #ORB-186P36. They are simply marked “Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery for high drain devices. 12.9 Wh.”

They measure 68.80mm x 18.56mm. and fit into the light with 2.5 mm of tube length to spare. (For the record, the inside diameter of the tube measures 19 mm., so while there is no battery rattle when assembled, the tube diameter is ample.)

The Light, ah yes, the light. (When is this old wind bag going the get to the light?)

3D Maglite, Javelot, Yezl Y3 (2 cell), Convoy L1, Xin TD (C8).
(That old Mini Maglite in the middle just wanted to have its picture taken, pay it no mind.)

My first impression was that it’s smaller than I expected at only 24.5 cm in length – it is dwarfed in both length and girth by a 3-D cell Maglite – but the first thing that really caught my eye was the marvelous reflector.

Xin TD, Convoy L1, Javelot, Yezl Y3, 3D Maglite

The reflector is polished beyond anything else I own, and by comparison everything else looks absolutely dull. This thing looks bottomless, like looking into the business end of an expensive astronomical telescope. Boys and girls, this reflector is a whole new kind of smooth – and as we all know, ‘throw’ is a function of a smooth reflector and a shape that collimates light precisely. This one does that, in spades.

The XP-L emitter is advertised as being ‘de-domed’, but upon close examination under a 10X magnifying glass, I suspect it might be a case of ‘never-domed-to-begin-with’. There is no trace of dome material ever having been there. The tint is very pleasing to me; very slightly yellow with no hints of green and certainly not that irritating icy blue ‘cool’ that earlier throwers were often cursed with. This one is very comfortable on the eyes.….and it THROWS! Oh my, how sweetly it throws. If that Skywalker kid would have had one of these, he’d have whipped that nasty Darth Vader in nothing flat and kept his arm to boot. Now I’m going to do this with math and numbers, not because I’m smart, but because my beam-shot picture taking ability is, well, non existent.

At 10m., the hotspot from the Javelot subtends 40cm.
My Yezl Y3 and Xin TD (v4, which is a pretty decent C8 variant) both subtend 80 cm. I always thought of both as being ‘throwy’. Now, not so much.
Using simple math, the area covered by the Javelots hot spot is found to be only one quarter that of the other two.
Those stated 250,000 candelas appear to be all present and accounted for.

As an aside, the reflector diameter isn’t really all that much broader than the Yezl – which is a good flashlight in its own right. The Yezl measures 52.7 across the lens, while the Javelot measures 57 mm., but when push comes to shove my poor Yezl just isn’t in the running. It’s a bit like pitting a Chevy sedan against a Ferrari.

The Javelots corona remains bright enough to be useful (and has a very crisp outer edge!) but there is no arguing that the hot spot demands your eyes attention. There is no softening of edges here, no blending into the periphery – there is the hot spot with its distinct edge, and then a fat mellow circle of gentle light that is useful, alright, if you manage to rip your attention away from that hot spot.

Who is this light for? At about $220, this kit isn’t a frivolous buy. If, however, I were in law enforcement, a game warden, a security guard, a member of a SAR team, a boater, a game guide (where night hunting is permitted) or in some other such serious pursuit, then this light is worth every penny. It is a serious piece of gear, at a serious price, for a serious purpose. The kit makes it perfectly complete as-is, with nothing else to buy, which would make it a perfect gift (do you hear that, ladies?) for someone in one of the above professions. This outfit is made to work, and for work it’s worth the price.

The rest of the light has already been described repeatedly in meticulous detail by others. I’ve read those reviews, and can add nothing. It has been dismantled, its intestines photographed and documented, and its organs already transplanted by several people. I’m not even going to go there – Google is a friend to all of us. (Did you really expect that I’d risk getting a fingerprint on this gorgeous reflector?)

Miscellaneous notes and afterthoughts – Having slept on it, there are a couple of things I might add that I don’t recall reading about in other reviews.

First off, I find the ‘moonlite’ mode of 3 lumens to be surprisingly useful. I initially had trouble believing it was only 3 lumens – it felt like 20 - but a ceiling bounce in a dark room (and the very low power drains quoted by others) would seem to confirm it. The collimation is such that I could walk around comfortably all night with nothing more than moonlite, and in a survival situation that would translate into literally weeks of useful light. That’s a big deal to me.

Secondly, the variable rate strobe is one of the most disturbing, nauseating , disorienting things I’ve ever experienced. I turned it on briefly indoors and couldn’t shut it off quick enough. I cannot image anyone advancing toward it – and that’s the whole point.

If anyone should have any specific questions that I can help with, I would be most pleased to do so. And thus ends my brief and inglorious career as a flashlight reviewer – I shall pass along several names to our friend Lydia, that others might share in the good fortune. Ite, Missa Est.

M3XS-UT Kit :
Olight Official: https://olightworld.com/store/m3xs-ut-javelot-kit.html https://olightworld.com/store/m3xs-ut-javelot.html
US Amazon : Amazon.ca Amazon.ca
UK Amazon : Amazon.co.uk Amazon.co.uk
CA Amazon : Amazon.ca Amazon.ca

Thank you for doing a review that is not trying to outdo all others but focusses on the aspects that are often overlooked.
In fact, if I did not already own an M2X-UT, I would have been very tempted to buy this light. Nice picture of comparing the lights from the business end. It clearly shows that the rather slim bezel ring on these Javelots leads to a fabulous large reflector in a relatively compact head.

Great review, thanks for sharing