I think if you were to get the Olight, and a few other lights your looking at, the Olight would ultimately get used the least.
The Olight is really nice, but for your real everday use, I think you may always choose one of the others over it.
Thats how I feel with my lights anyway.
I started with Olight, and then slowly bought a bunch of the budget stuff from Sofirn, Wurkkos, Convoy, and some other higher priced lights too, and I always go for my cheaper lights for various reasons.
Theyre just so much better in ceratian ways in my opinion.
But it wasnt until owning both that I could really know this.
Had I started with the inexpensive stuff, id probably have always had FOMO about Olight tbh.
I can tell you my experience with Olights warranty has been amazing though.
I may choose Olight if I wanted something really tough, that I can abuse and know that the warranty is gonna keep me covered.
Edit: Also water proofing. Most lights claim IPX8, but I just really trust an Olight to actually be waterproof. Having no rubber usb covers or anything like that.
And theres are so many videos abuse testing Olights to help give you the confidence that they really can take a beating and survive under water.
You won’t miss out on anything if you skip the sale, Olight runs like 8 sales every year and models refresh every 10 months or so. In less than a year warrior 4 will be released with small cosmetic “upgrades” and probably slightly higher lumen rating. Maybe some niche feature such as vibration low battery warning. Maybe red led aux mode.
We’re at another peak point in emitter and battery technology, having reached the limits of what aluminum and passive cooling can offer, we won’t see any significant upgrade in the next few years.
Buy what you like the most because nowadays almost every flashlight has great performance. Having said that, my warrior 3S came up at $82 taxes included using the $15 off coupon.
u can get better value buying sofirn / convoy and get more lights for same money, a light for 100$ is alot money nothing wrong spending extra… but budget lights today are a great choice and u get better emitter options too for alot less money… hanks emisar lights also are damn cool and unique hosts with tons of custom emitter options and color etc…
I will tell you: I am a fan of the Warrior lights. I have a M2R and 2 Warrior Mini (first versions, not the WM2).
I like the User Interface above all, specially the shortcuts to Moonlight, Turbo and Strobe, via the tailcap or the side switch.
Despite they use proprietary cells and charging cables and whatever, and they are only sold with Cool White and non High CRI LEDs, they are very good lights (and I am not an Olight “fanboy”). I do feel that they are really good !!
BUT:
If you want a light for EDC carry into your jeans pockets, I would say that the 3s will be too big. For a backpack, go for it, because you’ll have space, but for “jeans EDC”, I’m not sure if you’ll make the best bet.
- If you want a light for EDC, the Warrior Mini 2 (or 1, if you can find them for sale) is a good choice eventually, as it will have the same features of the 3S but wll be smaller.
- If you want less expensive for backup, Sofirn, Wurkkos, Convoy and Jaxman lights will do the trick as they are solid and well done and powerfull enough for what you’ll need !
The Warrior 3s is a really good-looking flashlight. I don’t care so much about the proprietary battery, but magnetic charging means you should carry the cable with you if you plan to recharge it outside. I would definitely buy one for $87, but only because it should be easy to open it up to swap the emitter.
On a first real light ? I think there are too many basics that need to be covered before spending too much on any light.
Do you have decent 18650's or a charger ? Do you have a Boruit D-10 headlamp ? or an 18650 straight tube light like an S2+ or the S21A that you referanced ? or a decent AA /14500 edc .How about a keychain light or an $18 thrower like a convoy C8s for the back door ? A motion activated nightlight for the bathroom... Do you already have a light with a very low low / moon? or something with an exceptional tint and High Cri ? Do you have a small pile of AA and AAA eneloops ?
Spending too much on a light makes it really easy to suddenly need to justify your mistake ...and no one will ever care about what you spent on a light .No one will ever be impressed . Normal people will just think you've lost your mind .OTOH normal people think spending $20 on a flashlight is stupid :)
Buying a $20 light that you end up not liking ....is much different then doing it with an expensive one . I have plenty that I wish I never bought .
One really good reason not to spend too much is they are usually impossible to get open and do even a basic emitter swap .So you end up being stuck with a high dollar light that has a disgustingly ugly green tint or low Cri. that you can't fix or upgrade down the road ... adding injury to insult .
I would never recommend an expensive light to someone who is looking for a first decent flashlight.
If you had to get an Olight for EDC, I would go for the Mini 2 over the Warrior 3S. More compact, with no great loss in performance.
However, for commercial grade lights I would go for the Acebeam E70 95CRI instead - perfect floody high CRI beam.
For enthusiast lights, maybe consider Convoy S2+ (in various flavours - lots of accessories too), or a whole range of brighter options, or something from Emisar/Noctigon (D4SV2, D4V2, DT8, KR1, KR4).
Get a decent Li-ion/multi-chemistry charger such as Vapcell S4+, and that will allow you to grow your flashlight collection.
Strobe isn’t particularly useful for self-defence - you are better off using your feet or pedals if you meet a dodgy character. For light painting strobe is more useful.
I mostly agree, Boaz. My reasoning for considering getting the OW3s is that I watched a lot of youtube reviews about many good quality tactical flashlights, for someone who doesn’t know a lot (or anything at all) about lights you end with a number of options for a very bright light for self-defense.
- Olight Warrior 3, also Warrior mini
- Fenix TK16 v2
- Nitecore P20iX
A couple more
Unless you sink some real time reading about the subject, I think that most likely you will end getting one of these. I don’t think that they are bad choices, I think that these companies follow the same marketing and product policies as some other companies in other sectors:
+ Leatherman in multitools
Oakley in cycling glasses
They make a product which is indeed of higher quality than the competition, they spend on design and marketing… and they pass all that cost plus an ‘extra’ to their products. In the end these are among the best products but these get very expensive.
For someone who is looking to cover some specific needs, these products will most likely be a good answer but they will end spending much more than what they should and they could have found a much cheaper product to cover their needs.
But then again, do I want a pair of Oakley photochromic jawbreakers? Oh boy, they look SO sweet, I might get them some day.
I don’t do it because I ended getting a pair of Tifosi photochromic glasses and couldn’t be happier about my choice. My needs are covered and I might get the Oakleys anyways in order to have more choices.
It’s the same for flashlights I guess.
After all what I have read, I will opt instead for the other choices because it is more appealing to me, those low prices means I will spend roughly the same money but get much more for it. And there are some really interesting things! Repairability, some sort of modularity, hability to twinkle with our lights. Yes please, I’m in.
I think it will take quite some time trying to learn about all this, but this is ok, it’s interesting. And who knows, I might still end getting the OW3s some day if I feel like getting one and seeing what’s all the fuss about : D
For the moment, most likely I will opt for a convoy S2+ a S21a or a S11. We’ll see.
Muito obrigado MascaratumB ; )
What I wanted when I started looking at flashlights was (still is but now I also want to dive deeper in this world) a flashlight that I could use as backup when making weekly routes with my bicycle in very dark roads. The idea was (still is) to have a light that could be used as self defense too, not because it is dangerous were I live but being alone out in the dark makes you wish for a little extra safety.
With the sale and all the OW3s looks like a perfect choice, I will choose other options anyway because now I find this is interesting and I want to see what I get with those cheaper, more modular lights. I will still get a light with good functionality and able to throw about 2000 lumens if necessary.
Nice, Will. Hope you enjoy it a lot man : )
Here in Olight Spain the best offer was to get the W3s, and the small keychain light for 105 euros (roughly the same in dollars today?) or that and the i3T plus for 115.
Not bad sales, I would had one for sure had I kept thinking on getting one of the high tier tactical flashlights.
Everyone, again thanks a lot for the replies. Learning a lot from all this.
You should never get yourself into a situation where you are having to use a flashlight for self defense, irrespective of “tacticool” marketing.
Having a reliable bright light is useful for personal safety, but defending yourself, no.
Totally ok. As I said, the route I do with the bicycle is pretty safe. Crime rate is very low were I live and worst case scenario, I don’t know, I would get my wallet and my bicycle taken and would have to return home on foot I guess.
The flashlight I’m looking for is mostly to have a backup when out in dark roads. The additional self defense thing is a plus and just that.
I’ll always to try to avoid any physical altercation, but if it comes to me having to defend myself, I would much rather have my flashlight than not have it.
If you put your fists up with a flashlight in your blocking fist, you can simultaneuosly blast them in the eyes with a ton of lumens, have your punching fist free to do some punching, and best of all I think, is that you would be blocking their punches with the bezel of the flashlight.
Theres only so many times someone will want to punch that before they have to just stop, or they will just keep injuring themselves.
If in total darkness, you have a great advantge over them too. Especially after you render them blind.
Edit: I just had a memory of the denim jackets/vests I used to wear back in highschool. Covered in tonnes of band patches and SPIKES!
I never got in any fights, but I always felt a bit more secure wearing those spikey patch jackets, thinking how much its gonna suck for the other person punching me! lol
