Review of OLight M31 Triton

[HKJ]

[SIZE=+3]OLight M31 Triton[/SIZE]

OLight was the first to use the Luminus leds in a production light (M20 Ti) and have continue making high power lights with it. M31 is a tactical light with high light output and very good throw. It uses the same user interface as M20 and M21 with a on/off tail switch and mode change requires a twist loose, twist tight of the head. The modes are also the same: 3 brightness settings and a strobe. The light is made of aluminum with hard-anodized (Type 3) finish.

The light is supplied in a plastic case together with a few accessories.

The contents of the box are: The light with extender, a holster, a battery magazine for 3xCR123, 2 spare o-rings and the manual.

From the front the big smooth reflector with the SST-50 in the center can be seen.

Just behind the reflector the light has a heatsink, but according to the documentation it is a bit small for the light (The documentation warns against running to long time in high). The light can run more than 10 minutes before it gets really hot, using it in cold weather or stormy weather will increase the cooling significant.

Between the head and the body of the light, is the connection used for the twist of the head part of the user interface. This connection only has one o-ring. The connection to the battery plus pole has a spring this makes it possible to use flattop batteries.

On the body of the light is square knurling, this knurling is rounded.

On the body is mounted a optional clip. When using the light with 3xCR123 or 2x18500 batteries, it has a good placement, but with 4xCR123 or 2x18650 it is on the middle of the light.

The light includes a battery tube, that can be preloaded with 3xCR123 batteries, making it fast to replace the batteries. This can only be used for the short configuration. The batteries fits tight in the tube, making it slow to reload a battery tube.
The light can easily use CR123 batteries without the tube!

The rear end of the body has two o-rings, both the battery tube and the extender tube is equipped with the two o-rings.

In the tail the spring is hidden beneath a cap. The switch is a forward switch, which is placed below the teeth on the tail, making it possible for the light to tail stand on plane surfaces.

This is how far I could take the light apart without tools.

The light includes a holster that can be used with both the short and long configuration of the light.


This light is a powerful thrower that is designed to supplement the M20/M21/M30 series of light with a super thrower. The light does that, but you have to watch the battery configuration, 3xCR123 is not really a good option for this light, but with two 18650 batteries the light works very well.



[SIZE=+2]Technical specification and measurements[/SIZE]

The light can be used with 3xCR123, 4xCR123 and 2x18650 batteries (2x18500 is also a possibility).

Measured size and weight:
Length: short: 212 mm, long: 246 mm
Diameter: 24 to 63 mm
Weight: 3xCR123: 307.6 gram, 4xCR123: 341.2 gram, 2x18650: 368.9 gram

The light uses a Luminus SST-50 led

In the above table I have used 2600mAh 18650 batteries for measuring and estimating runtime. The specified level spacing matches nicely up with the measured brightness.

A voltage scan shows that the light has very good regulation down to around 6 volt. The driver is rather hard on CR123 batteries around 6 volt with about 3 ampere current draw.

The light has a very fine regulation on 18650 batteries and also a good runtime, but 3xCR123 batteries do not really work in the light, at least not on high.

The light has a strobe of 9.7 Hz with 50% duty cycle, the strobe is slightly brighter than the usual high level (the green line).



[SIZE=+2]Comparison to other Flashlights[/SIZE]

Fenix TK40, Fenix TK45, OLight M31

JetBeam RRT-3, JetBeam M2S, ThruNite Catapult V2

For the full comparison to other lights with graphs and beamshots see here.

 

[dhouseng]

Thanks HKJ for your review on this light!

 

[SCpooh]

Great job HKJ, as usual.:goodjob:

 

[NCT1]

Great review, I've been waiting on this!!!

 

[HIDblue]

Great review and outstanding photos! :thumbsup: The M31 looks like a great thrower.

 

[jwyj]

From the photos, the M31 looks like the best thrower of the lot. Is it true?

 

[HKJ]

From the photos, the M31 looks like the best thrower of the lot. Is it true?

if you follow the link to the full beamshot, you can see that there are light with better throw.
The M31 is the best thrower for its size, but the difference between M31, Cat V2, RRT-3 is very small and I doubt you can see the difference, except when using both lights at the same time.

 

[lew187]

m31 has the sliiightly brighter hotspot. Cat v2 has slightly more light arround the spot. thats it. I have both. The M31 is a nice light of course. Easy to carry. Nice operating. F... strobe. Always have to pass strobe if i wanne change max to low. dammit.:scowl:

 

[dhouseng]

I just got my M31. I turned it on high and after a minute it got quite warm at the head.
The manual says use high mode sparingly to avoid damage. So actually how long should "sparingly" be? Is 5 minutes okay?

 

[HKJ]

I just got my M31. I turned it on high and after a minute it got quite warm at the head.
The manual says use high mode sparingly to avoid damage. So actually how long should "sparingly" be? Is 5 minutes okay?

It is difficult to say a specific time, because it depends on cooling (Hand or airflow) and ambient temperature. It is no problem just because you can feel it is a bit warm, it has to be really hot before there are any risk for the led. During the review I did run the light for 10 minutes with only a hand as cooling and I did run it for more than an hour with a fan as cooling.

 

[easilyled]

I didn't see you mention using 2 18500s in the shorter format. I am assuming that regulation would be very good with these, like it is for 2 18650s,
with the runtime being shorter?

 

[HKJ]

I didn't see you mention using 2 18500s in the shorter format. I am assuming that regulation would be very good with these, like it is for 2 18650s,
with the runtime being shorter?

I did not run any test with 2x18500, but from the voltage scan I can see that it will have a rather high current drain (2C) and that the light goes out of regulation at 6 volt, this might mean that the light drops out of regulation a little bit before the batteries are empty.
The runtime will probably be only about 1/2 of 18650 batteries: 1500 mAh with 2C load contra 2600-2900 mAh with 1C load.

 

[Ray_of_Light]

Thank you for your clear review.

Anthony

 

[candle lamp]

Thank you for your excellent review.
Could you explain what the Measured & Estimated mean in the following table ?
How do you get the values ?

Thanks,

 

[HKJ]

Thank you for your excellent review.
Could you explain what the Measured & Estimated mean in the following table ?
How do you get the values ?

Thanks,

Measured are measured with a meter, but I always scale lux values (Brightness) to a relative value, because the actual lux measurement does not have any meaning for other people.

Estimated values are values estimated from the measured values.

Estimated Lumen is estimated based on the specified lumen at max. brightness and then scaled with the lux measurements for the low brightness settings, this gives a good idea about how the settings match the specified settings (In the above table I have multiplied brightness with 8).

Estimated runtime is calculated from the measured current draw, this gives a rough idea about the runtime for all modes. For this light I am using 2600mAh batteries, i.e. the estimated runtime is 2600mAh/123mA hours for low mode.

All values in the table are rounded values, i.e. a low brightness of 8 can be anywhere from 7.5 to 8.49

 

[candle lamp]

HKJ,
Many thanks for your detailed explanation. I've understood what you meant.

 

[selfbuilt]

Thanks for the detailed review HKJ, excellent work as always. :thumbsup:

I did not run any test with 2x18500, but from the voltage scan I can see that it will have a rather high current drain (2C) and that the light goes out of regulation at 6 volt, this might mean that the light drops out of regulation a little bit before the batteries are empty.
The runtime will probably be only about 1/2 of 18650 batteries: 1500 mAh with 2C load contra 2600-2900 mAh with 1C load.

That's why I like your current-volt graphs, useful for pulling out relationships.

It does seem like the drain would be a bit heavy for typical 18500 batteries. A pity, as I quite like the smaller size in lights that handle them (e.g. Olight M30 and JetBeam M1X - where both lights last for over an hour on 2x18500).

 

[SCpooh]

Hi HKJ,

Can you comment on the build quality?

Thanks

 

[HKJ]

Hi HKJ,

Can you comment on the build quality?

Thanks

OLight usual has a good build quality.The M31 looks nicely done, only place where you have some sharp corners are the teeth on the tailcap. The threads has fine tolerances.
What I could have wished for was square threads with a coarser pitch and stainless steel bezel and tailcap.

 

[dhouseng]

Is the 2222mA the tailcap current? I got 2060mA yesterday and only 1900mA now regardless of any battery set I use. Anyway to make it draw current as much as yours?

Edit: Ok, I think the tail current goes up when voltage drops.