ENEDED

True, the prices were insane for olight but lets be honest, the so called premium manufactors are often not really better than budget manufactors, its more or less all the same. Remember the acebeam/thrunite saga or sunwayman/darktort. Darktort P20C is half the price compared to a sunwayman labeled version. You can even read sunwayman on the darktort driver.

This olight design seems to be pretty popular, thrunite copied it as well and there is now another brand, angryfox.

By the way look at the new sunwayman t16r, love the quality looks. We need a groupbuy

Nice review! Can it be opened? How moddable is it? Anyone try or mod one yet?

Bezel is not glued. M3 comes with nice flat red o-ring and a threaded reflector. Genuine CREE XM-L2 LED verified under the scope.


Ok, thanks, but that's only half the battle. What about driver access? Hhmm, only noticed now the pic in the OP showing the driver. Maybe it's glued in place, or maybe separate piece that's a pill? Lot of times they are press fit in place and can be forced/nudged out from pressure on top maybe...

From the LED view above, almost looks like a separate pill?

I ordered one anyways. The Group Buy 5C one doesn't ship til after June 30th, so I ordered the 5C "Full Pack" at $25, but discounted down on points to ~$19, say'n it will ship tomorrow. Hoping we can figure out driver access without damage . With the Olight's, some guys have little to no trouble dis-assemblying, while others just can't budge no matter you try.

That post you linked to, says you will only dismantle after pics and measurements, so..., are you done?

They may say integrated pill design, but they also say 900 lumens ...

Haha... I am working on my next review at the very moment. I have zero experience in mod with side-switch, so I let the experts like you to carry out.

900lm did not happen as expected. Fasttech has already specified the reading at 2.3A even before M3 was listed in GB. 2.3A at tail with Olight 16340 is the best I can get. As for the integrated pill design... I think they are referring to solid pill.

There is only one dollar price difference between the set with the charger etc… and the standalone version. I feel the price is a bit expansive because the olight S1 is available for more or less the same price with coupon code. I like the voltage warning, something the S1 dont have but this light is more a S10 rival i would say, S1 is shorter. I wonder if the original olight is CNC machined or die cast as well like this light.

Well, that's true of the listed prices, but not for the group buy price freeme has listed for the M3 (https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/39824).

The S1 is only very cool white, this is available in a nice 5C, more features, yes bigger though. Also much easier access to the LED on the M3 - I still can't get the bezel off my S1's - ugh, can't stand the blue cool tint.

http://www.taschenlampen-forum.de/threads/on-the-road-m3.49086/

Is it true that newer lights have a true moonlight mode? In that review the guy got one with a true moonlight, maybe a defect.

I tried two M3 chargers, two different 16340s, one 220V input, the other USB input.
The M3 chargers charge up to exactly 4.27V on both tries.
Seems to be a little over the borderline.

Edit: Indeed, OTR UC3 charger did overcharge my OTR 16340 battery to 4.28V. Full gift set buyers please beware of this issue.
I am charging my OTR battery via USB. 4.21V is measured in the bay. Will let you know my completed voltage in a while.

Got mine today, full gift set - really, really nice so far - love the tint. I was soooo disappointed with the S1, and I bought two, one is still unopened in the box. The blue tint of the S1 is ridiculous, plus locked in un-replaceable LED.

Of course I'm not crazy about the UI with the pres&hold. Seems almost broken that a single click from OFF does nothing. Much rather have the ramping UI of Narsil, or the mode sets, plus the power. Now the fun begins - seeing if it I can get full access to the driver and get a ATtiny85 based driver in there.

The tint looks absolutely perfect to me - no shading around the hot spot, just a nice milky white, slight hint of yellow. I dunno where you can buy a U2 5C - makes you wonder how legit it is. I only see "5X" tints in a T5 bin at best (MtnE has a listed T6 5C1, but limited). I'll drop in a fully charge 16340 IMR and measure it up - see what the real turbo level is.

Also it seems to throw decently for it's size, much better than the S1.

I think I'll xfer the LED to a Noctigon at first - well worth keeping it. The stock MCPCB appears to be regular aluminum.

You cant compare it to the s1, its more a s10 clone.

Impressive review Mr freeme!!!
Thanks!!

I hear you, but I figure I can compare it - it's a 16340 light, so is my S1. I don't have an S10, I have an S1. I have other 16340 lights as well, but budget cheap ones. So, the S1 is all I can compare it to, so I will. I have other disappointing Olight lights and I'm fine with never buying another Olight again, until they make them serviceable and upgradable, and stop fooling us by giving out review samples that are not glued, and shipping production units that are glued.

I'll take a clone of an Olight light over the "original" every time. Chances are better than 50% the clone will be better in quality, tint, usability and serviceability, so why not?

This is an interesting perspective, but one that I can certainly understand. I don’t actually own any Olights - mostly because I won’t pay what they want retail and I’ve just recently found this forum.

I’ve got an M3 on order and hope to see it soon. I purchased it based largely on this review (and the GearBest Flash sale) because I’m interested in small, powerful lights. After reading everyone’s comments, I can’t wait to get ahold of it.

This may be a silly question, given that it requires button top batteries, but can someone confirm that the battery shipped with the full set IS a button top? This will be my first light with this battery size, so if I need to get some batteries ordered I should do that now.

Awesome thread. Thanks to Freeme and everyone else who contributed information on this.

Yes, I'm frustrated with Olights... I got 2 S1's, one S15, and one S30 - all pretty useless to me. I guess I was over estimating my modding skills, think'n I could get them apart and fix up the UI, tint, and power, but, they are nothing but trouble...

For the battery - Yes, it's a button top. Did you order the 5C tint? I measured lumens for all modes in my PVC light box. #'s across the board are lower, including the ultra low mode.

For the 5C tint using a fresh EFEST V2 550 @4.20v:

Ultra low: 2.3 lumens, low: 114 lumens, med: 224 lumens, hi: 456 lumens, turbo: 658 lumens

I'm think'n the 5C is not a U2 bin, but probably a T6 at best, more likely a T5 and that explains most of the lower readings.

I was able to pop out the pill - not difficult to do. A couple of light taps on a plunger (syringe plunger from a solder paste needle) from the tail and the pill assembly pushed out the top, after removing the bezel and reflector as freeme did, earlier posted.

Bad news is there's not much space, because the switch is mounted on a vertical PCB, and the diameter of the driver is pretty small. Piggybacking, maybe a 12 mm driver would fit. Good news is I do have 10 mm MtnE FET driver boards and a couple parts kits for the 10mm baords, so it's certainly do-able with what I have on-hand.

Also of note, they used thermal grease under the star with a screwed down reflector -- potentially bad combo, along with sharp edges for the wire holes. Mine had a tear through the LED+ wire at the point it passes through the pill top - potentially bad ground out could happen easy. The wires are either 26 or 24 AWG and 150C rated, not the better 200C wires we use. I'll take the sharp edges off the holes (using an xacto), and replace or cut down the wires before re-assembling. The side button is simple and will not get damaged from removing the pill - unlike the Olights.

Pics of the pill/driver:

Typical thin (~1.0 mm) alum MCPCB:

threads on reflector. There are two small guide holes on the top of the reflector that work well with SS tweezers:

Sharp edges in the holes love to cut silicone coatings:

Extra long wires, fairly thin:

Low Batt LED and it's resistor:

MCU #'s are sanded off, but GRND is on pin #8, so it's not an Atmel:

Possible resistor mod, maybe to those R050's:

The driver mounted in that brass ring easily popped out of the pill with a couple light taps on a screw driver ( I used a nail set), on the lip of brass where it's exposed, just under the switch.