Light provided by Olight in exchange for a review.
Manufacturer Specs:
- LED: Cree XM-L2 LED
- Output/ Runtime:
—- Turbo: 500~180 lumens / 3+170 min
—- High: 180 lumens / 3 hr
—- Mid: 60 lumens / 8 hr 30 min
—- Low: 15 lumens / 42 hr
—- Lower: 1 lumens / 20 days - Supported Battery: 1 x CR123A / RCR123A
- Max Beam Distance: 72 yards (66m)
- Beam Intensity: 1080cd
- Waterproof: IPX8 (2m submersible)
- Impact Resistance: 1m
- Dimensions:
—- Length: 2.3 in / 58.5mm
—- Width: 0.8in / 21mm
—- Height: 0.8in / 21mm - Weight: 1.74 oz (49.5g)(Excluding Battery)
Features:
- Coupled with high light transmission rate TIR optic lens to deliver a balanced and soft beam
- Compatible with RCR123A (16340) rechargeable lithium ion battery
- Gradual brightness changes. When turned on/off on medium, high and turbo modes, it will light up or fade gradually to protect eyes from the stimulation caused by sudden brightness changes
- Low profile, silicone switch located on the head of the headlamp for easy location and operation
- Runtime based thermal management program. Under the turbo mode, the headlamp stays at the maximum output for three minutes before gradually dropping down to high mode in one minute.
User Interface:
This uses the standard Olight interface. From off a single click turns the light on, a long click brings you to moonlight mode. While on a long click will change between the 3 standard light modes. A double click brings you to turbo, and a triple click brings you to sos mode. A short click turns the light back off. To lockout the light do a long click from off. Hold the button until moonlight comes on and after that it will flash. Release the button. From here you can only access moonlight via a momentary push of the switch. To unlock do the same. A long click until the light goes past moonlight and flashes. The light has memory for moonlight, low, med, high. There also appears to be a short memory for turbo. I’m not sure the exact timeframe. After a few minutes it returns back to normal mode and will not access turbo.
Construction:
The pocket clip is deep carry just like other olights. It can be put on the light in either direction.
The headband bracket is rubber. It holds the light in place with friction. The tab is a nice addition as some headlamps can be difficult to get ahold of to take off.
This light has a textured lens as opposed to the TIR lens we have been seeing alot lately. This light has virtually no hotspot. The beam is very pleasant for close up work and reading.
Cooling fins are minimal, but the switch is recessed into the top and virtually eliminates accidental ons. Good knurling on the tailcap as well. I was able to easily remove it even with work gloves on.
This thing is really tiny when you get it into your hand. Which immediately concerns me considering the high lumens and small mass of the head. Luckily the temperature regulation appears to be top notch as the light never got warm enough to cause harm even with a imr16340
Like the S1R and S2R the battery goes in backwards to what we are used to. The threads look pretty good for such a small light and came well lubed. Looks to be square cut to me.
The size of this thing is incredible. It is hardly bigger than the CR123.
Threads are annodized so that you can do a mechanical lockout of the light as well.
This is pretty standard for an Olight. Nothing that sticks out too much here. One thing to note is that when you use 16340 batteries you are going to have to use button top. I had several Efest IMR16340 flat tops that did not work. All button top 16340 that I tested did work.
Youtube Review:
Performance:
My ceiling bounce lumen tests were right on par with the advertised values from Olight.
One very important thing to note is that this light is picky about 16340 batteries. I made this graph of the first 10 minutes runtime to show that some 16340 batteries will not be able to maintain turbo mode for more than a minute. The provided CR123 was able to maintain 3 full minutes of turbo. my Olight 650mah 16340 only ran turbo for about 30-60 seconds tops. My Efest IMR16340 700mah ran turbo for the full 3 minutes. This graph is not the most accurate on earth and I did have to fudge the results slightly. The light gradually dims over the course of a minute, and my timing was off but just a few seconds and the light did start to dim just before my 3 minute measurement. So I did adjust the dip back slightly so that it was accurate. This is just a result of me not starting the light and the meter at the same exact time. But wanted to mention it for honesty sake. I did my best to make the final chart accurately reflect what happened as opposed to what was recorded.
I didn’t want to go too crazy with runtime graphs because there are already some reviewers who have completed them, and they have better equipment than me. However, I did want to add this one I completed with a Efest IMR16340 700mah. You can see there is a gradual drop out of turbo at 3 minutes. The light than ran a nice tight regulated beam for 60 minutes. At 60 minutes there was another step down to about 30%. This lasted until about 72 minutes when the light shut off. I tested the battery and found it to be 2.7v but it immediately jumped up to 3.0v on the charger.
Ergonomics:
The best part about this light is the versatility. You can use this as a small pocket light if you use the included deep carry pocket clip. You can use it as a headlamp, and with the magnetic base you can use it as a work light. 90 degree lights make great work lights in my opinion. Your normal light really only has one way it can work, which is to project light opposite of where the magnet is. This light can be spun and complete a full 360 arc of light that it can provide. Really way more useful if you ask me. The headband is pretty comfortable. I wore it around the house for a few days, and also worse it one day to bed. It adjusts enough for my huge head and doesn’t give me headache for long term use. Many headbands are too small for me and give me a headache because they are too tight. The light is held in place with friction in the rubber holder so you can adjust to any angle you want. Also capable of adjusting it one handed. The light also pocket carries very well. The clip is very strong, and it’s deep carry. You can actually carry this light in the watch pocket of your jeans no problem. I experimented with this light quite a bit. I found I was able to successfully able to attach it to a baseball cap (via the side by my ear), was able to attach to my shirt pocket for light directly in front of you. It is light weight enough that you can also clip it to the collar of your shirt. You can also clip it to the front of your pants or a belt loop as you walk. Once again, in my opinion, 90 degree lights are super useful. Normal flashlights are tough to use in a hands free manor. This light lets you hook up to pretty much anything and lets you be hands free while you walk or work.
The Bad:
I know it may seem biased, but I really don’t have alot of bad things to say about this light. I really would have liked the capability to use my flat top 16340s in this without using solder or a magnet. The backwards battery also seems unnecessary. Perhaps that is a signal that a H1 Nova Rechargeable is in the works?
The Good:
This is one of my favorite offerings by Olight so far. I’m a huge fan of 90 degree lights so I’m probably a bit biased. I think they are extremely useful, and this light is just that. It’s small enough to go backpacking or camping with, and turbo is bright enough to get you out of a jam in the woods. The lens gives a really smooth gentle beam which is terrific for night time tent reading, or working on a car. No hot spot to drown out things that you are working on. I really love that it has a functional pocket clip, headband, and also has the magnetic base. This is a light that can literally meet 90% of my needs with one light, which is rare. The case that the light comes in is also killer! If you remove the foam insert you can easily fit a pocket knife and a leatherman in there. It easily converts to a small emergency or survival kit if you want to add those sort of items. I’d really like to think that Olight did that intentionally, because it fits a leatherman sidekick and a 3” Zero tolerance knife perfect.
This light has a good runtime with CR123, and a fair runtime with 16340. For its size I don’t think your going to beat that. Having LVP and thermal regulation is also a big plus.
I really predict that once this light gains a following it is going to be very popular in the backpacker / hunter / outdoorsman crowd. It has pretty much everything you need, and is small enough for even weight conscience EDC folks.
And I can not say this enough! thank you thank you thank you olight for excluding strobe mode and only adding sos. Sos is very useful for a lost hunter, whereas accidentally turning on strobe when you are tracking a deer… not such a good thing.
Conclusion:
So I’ll admit I’m completely biased here. I’ve always loved small light weight 90 degree lights. They really fit my personal needs. This thing is a contender for a great edc pocket light when you use the clip. It’s a good lightweight headlamp that will be great for backpacking, and it’s a top notch work light being a 90 degree light. It’s small enough to get into the tightest spaces when you working on a car or under a kitchen sink.
So what is the best way I could describe this flashlight to you? It’s to say this is the swiss army knife of flashlights. You have so many options on how to carry and use the light.
Also a great plus is that the light is CR123 / 16340. When it comes to lights that you are going to use backpacking / hunting / etc. This is a great choice. You get really good efficiency because you don’t need a boost driver like you do for AA/AAA lights. You have a huge range of operating temperatures unlike your alkaline and NIMH batteries. And the shelf life of CR123 are fantastic as well. On the other hand, if you want to use this light for long term backpacking, the 16340 is a great choice because you can quickly charge in about an hour using a small portable solar panel. I have an Anker brand folding solar panel that could charge a 16340 in about an hour of really bright light.
So as far as I’m concerned Olight hit a home run here. They made a light that I can EDC, take backpacking, throw in the car for emergencies, read in a tent, and use as a worklight. I think this is a light that will appeal to a broad range of users because of all this.