Greetings,
Welcome to my review of Olight S1R flashlight.
Well, what do we have here?
The flashlight is one of the latest additions to the famous Baton series. This flashlight have several differences from the “regular” S1 flashlight.
1, Greater maximum brightness, an impressive 900 lumen.
2. Built in battery charger.
3. The flashlight come bundled with a special rechargeable battery. More on this later.
There are more less significant differences, such as a carrying bag and a smooth on/off function.
Shall we begin?
The flashlight comes in a semi-transparent plastic box. You can clearly see the flashlight and it’s technical specs.
As I stated before the flashlight comes with a very nice tough carrying bag, and a USB charging cable. The cable connects to the tailcap of the flashlight by magnetic force.
The connection between the flashlight and the charger is very solid.
Here it is. The flashlight is really tiny, but looks and feels very solid, it has a very nice hand feel (partly because of the battery - it’s heavier than the non rechargeable CR123A).
All the charging magic goes on inside the tailcap - that is why the battery is being inserted upside down into the flashlight, not in the direction we are used to.
A bit about the battery. This is a bit unusual battery. First - it is a high discharge battery capable of discharging at 5C currend. Second - both negative and positive contacts are at one end of the battery - allowing it to be charged inside the flashlight. As you can see it is similarly sized as usual RCR123A battery.
A little FAQ regarding the battery and charging
1. The flashlight works without a problem using regular RCR123A battery, but the maximum brightness drops from 5700 to 5200 lux, and it is only sustained for a couple of seconds (I suspect it is the time it takes for the electronic over-current battery protection circuit to react) instead of 30 seconds.
2. The flashlight is unable to charge regular RCR123A batteries.
3. The proprietary battery can be charged without any problem in a regular (Li-Ion) battery charger.
While the battery is being charged the charger indicator glows red. In any other condition it glows green. While charging the charger consumes maximum current of 0.78A. The flashlight works without problem with a connected charger - prolonging battery life.
When the tailcap is fitted to S1 flashlight the battery is being charged as well.
When you connect a DMM to the charging port you can measure the battery voltage, but it does not interfere with water resistance - it worked submerged without any problem.
Compared to the S1 the S1R is only a bit longer because of the tailcap and a bit longer head.
Both flashlights are really tiny.
Here is the user manual. The flashlight turns on and off smooth on two of the maximum brightness modes.
A short click turn the flashlight on and off (there is a mode memory).
A long click from “off” position turns the flashlight on in moonlight mode.
A triple click from any position turns on “strobe” mode.
A double click from any condition turns on the “turbo” mode.
A short brightness measurement (lux at distance of a meter from the flashlight). As you can see it is pretty bright, especially considering the huge hotspot courtesy of TIR optics.
Some flashlight action. As you can see it is pretty impressive in the dark.
Conclusion, final words
A great little flashlight. It has many features that I personally would like to see in an ideal light - it is compact, easy to handle, wow factor is definitely there as well. Bundled with a charger, battery and 5 year warranty it would be a great addition to any flashlight collection, and a great present to someone special.
Thanks for reading. I would like to thank Olight for providing me with the test sample.