We need to talk about Olight

[vicv]

I think the olight hate may be a little overdone. Like apple hate. Olight make excellently designed and built lights. With some of the best drivers in the market. And easy to use magnetic charging, especially good for all the haters of usb-C charging. And great customer service as well. I only own one, and that's because it was basically free and runs on a AAA. But it's excellent. Well machined and finished. Runs for 65 minutes at 110L on an eneloop. No drop and no dimming. 110L straight. That's pretty good. Beam isn't bad either. And is tiny. Half the size of a solitaire and about the size of a AA cell

So reasons to hate:
Proprietary cells? Ya, this is a bummer. But there are reasons. First it allows their magnetic charging to work correctly. Also allows them to have e-switches at the head without the need of a double battery tube. Making a more slender and robust light. It also allows them to control which cell you use. And makes sure you will have one of high quality that meets the requirements they've built into the light. Do they make extra money off those cells? Sure they do. And I like choice too. But I can see their reasoning without taking it personally.

"Crappy" emitters: Ya I get this one. I don't like low CRI high cct LEDs either. It's why I don't buy them. It allows them to get high output for a long time. People like good numbers. They sell. And they're not cheap or crappy emitters. They're just not the ones flashaholics prefer.

So I don't buy olights because they don't offer what I need. Doesn't mean I hate them though. That's stupid to hate a company because they make products you don't like.

 

[LRJ88]

Olight's sadly fallen in a bit with making claims they don't always managed to fulfill, trying to release new things to cover over anything potentially not good. What happens is mostly Olight attempting to get you into their ecosystem and then run from there.

I myself don't hate them, i used to love my earlier Olights but the later ones lack a little something and i can't quite put my finger on it. I do miss the glass lenses for one on their Baton lights.

 

[DoctorMemory]

I think the olight hate may be a little overdone. Like apple hate. Olight make excellently designed and built lights. With some of the best drivers in the market. And easy to use magnetic charging, especially good for all the haters of usb-C charging. And great customer service as well. I only own one, and that's because it was basically free and runs on a AAA. But it's excellent. Well machined and finished. Runs for 65 minutes at 110L on an eneloop. No drop and no dimming. 110L straight. That's pretty good. Beam isn't bad either. And is tiny. Half the size of a solitaire and about the size of a AA cell

So reasons to hate:
Proprietary cells? Ya, this is a bummer. But there are reasons. First it allows their magnetic charging to work correctly. Also allows them to have e-switches at the head without the need of a double battery tube. Making a more slender and robust light. It also allows them to control which cell you use. And makes sure you will have one of high quality that meets the requirements they've built into the light. Do they make extra money off those cells? Sure they do. And I like choice too. But I can see their reasoning without taking it personally.

"Crappy" emitters: Ya I get this one. I don't like low CRI high cct LEDs either. It's why I don't buy them. It allows them to get high output for a long time. People like good numbers. They sell. And they're not cheap or crappy emitters. They're just not the ones flashaholics prefer.

So I don't buy olights because they don't offer what I need. Doesn't mean I hate them though. That's stupid to hate a company because they make products you don't like.

I agree with vicv. And a word on propriety cells -- no one is concerned with a sealed up internal cell that can never be replaced. But proprietary replaceable -- grief. Do you really want to constrain flashlight designers to work with any 18650 or any 21700 made?

 

[Vemice]

Hate is a strong word.
Maybe "dislike?"

 

[vicv]

Disliking their products is fine. But I have seen a lot of people that have rabid hatred to the brand. You know the types. It's the same type that will hate Apple and then they will make up a bunch of weird reasons that don't really exist.

 

[Monocrom]

Magnetic charging is just different for the sake of being different.
If that charging cable gets de-magnitized (very realistic possibility), you can't simply replace it with a trip to the local hardware store.

As far as proprietary cells go, I'm done with them! They literally do nothing better than generic cells. Not even talking about Olight. Let's take another brand. For quite awhile, been using my Nitecore MH12S at my 3rd shift job. Great combination of throw and flood from the same beam. Doesn't require a proprietary cell. Love it!

Several hours ago, tested out my new Nitecore P10iX. In Nitecore speak, "i" means proprietary battery. "X" means a wide, floody beam. 4000 rated lumens, compared to only 1800 from my MH12S. The P10iX can light up a huge area.... 6 feet in front of me. Beyond that, the output is crap! Seriously! 4000 lumens! Where!?!? Oh, and no instant access to Turbo. Hit the tailcap switch, then hit the mode switch with the same thumb while still pressing down on the main tailcap switch. Hope the U.I. doesn't get confused and give you strobe mode, instead!

Who created this piece o' crap, and why did they give it an expensive proprietary battery that in a few years will be nearly impossible to find. And, definitely doesn't do a better job of lighting up an area beyond a few feet than another flashlight from the very same company with incredibly less lumens and running any old rechargeable battery.

Same story over at Olight. Proprietary batteries are a rip-off. Designed to not just keep customers coming back to the same company that sold them the light, when they need a new battery. But also, in a few years when those proprietary batteries are quietly discontinued, frustrated customers who love their light; will return and spend even more money on the latest model. For me, never again! Proprietary charging, proprietary batteries, proprietary this, proprietary that.... They can bend over, pucker up, and kiss my proprietary backside.

 

[vicv]

some good points. Disagree on the magnetic charging though. For regular folks they can just snap their light on the charger when they get home. It's effortless and convenient. Like the cradle charging of old. But this also gives a magnetic base to stick the light on things. More utility. I doubt that those magnets will lose magnetism unless something drastic happens that would otherwise probably destroy the light. Like a house burning down. That rare earth magnets are robust. And that way they always have a charged battery, and no need to take it out and put in a cradle charger. Armytek does it too.
Proprietary cells sucks. But I've already outlined the advantages.
It also seems most of your animosity should be directed at nitecore in this case and their unsuitable u.i. Btw, olight has excellent u.i. Nice and simple with good shortcuts. Your choice of a floody light is your mistake, not theirs. It's well known extremely floody lights aren't good for longer distances. It's kinda in the description, floody. They told you in the name of the product, but you still bought it.
I do like your last sentence though. Really lets us know, unequivocally, how you feel. And I respect the shortcomings you find in their offerings

 

[RWT1405]

Do you really want to constrain flashlight designers to work with any 18650 or any 21700 made?

Yes, I do!

Hard to say any/all, but they certainly need to be able to take more than just proprietary cells, at least for me

YES, I have no use for Olight, and I do not recommend them, if asked about them

 

[vicv]

Yes, I do!

Hard to say any/all, but they certainly need to be able to take more than just proprietary cells, at least for me

YES, I have no use for Olight, and I do not recommend them, if asked about them

Same here. I have a friend who was looking at lights and was trying to find the best Olight he could. I convinced him to let me build him a convoy S2 plus instead. I gifted him one with a spare charger, two spare cells, and an SST 20 4000K. After I showed him the difference between a 70 CRI LED and a 95 CRI LED, it convinced him. And also that 360 lumens is a lot

 

[jon_slider]

Olight is good for fancy metals

Olight uses Low CRI LEDs w Tint above the BBL.
stock:

modified:

Olight UI is simple and predictable

Olight is good for Ebay high dollar sales comissions.

I agree the Olight i3e single mode AAA has nicely regulated (Low CRI) output:

 

[defloyd77]

"I only own one"

You lack the experiences some of us have had. You've never had one of your lights randomly get turned on in turbo mode, burning your pocket because a random piece of metal. You haven't dealt with Olight customer service continually making excuses for a clearly flawed design. They had customers like me pointing out a potential lawsuit in the making and then release yet another light with the same flaw. In the end they had no choice but to do a recall on both lights. There's also the light that exploded in someone's mouth because of their magnetic charging contacts. They absolutely refuse to learn. They deserve every ounce of hate they get for that BS alone.

Then there's the CONSTANT shilling.......

 

[scalpel_ninja]

I thought the magnetic tail on the Warrior Mini with "gas pedal" function was neat. I swapped out the emitter to a high CRI one and thought it might be a great EDC… That is until I started to use it while working on my car's body panels. The metal shavings get on the tail and become near impossible to clean out. The shavings would potentially work their way into the button and the action becomes gritty and even could destroy the tail.

I think Olight put out a cover for the tail as a "remedy." My light was sold before they shipped those.

The FB page is pretty much a group therapy session where people project their angst and praise Olight as their saviors, all the while showing off boxes and light colors. At any mention of CRI or actual function of a flashlight, their eyes glaze over…

 

[Bob_McBob]

There's also the light that exploded in someone's mouth because of their magnetic charging contacts.

This incident was caused by someone using mismatched CR123As with the light held in their mouth, not an inherent design flaw unique to Olight. The same thing has happened with Surefire and Solarforce lights, and it could happen with any 2 x CR123A light. It's wildly misleading to claim Olight makes exploding flashlights.

Exploding Flashlights and How to Protect Yourself – PhotonPhreaks

There's been an uptick in talk online in the flashlight, EDC and gun communities about exploding flashlights. Learn how to prevent it

photonphreaks.com

 

[ghostguy6]

Well I don't absolutely hate their lights I can say I am not a fan of their line up anymore. I would say the HR2 headlamp would be prefect if it used standard 18650 cells. For that reason I had to purchase 2 extra cells that can only be charged in the light. The magnetic charging is a pain as it picks up small metal objects.
I have an i5R EOS that uses a propriety 2.4V 14500 cell. It would be nice if it could use a standard 3.7V 14500 but at least if can use standard alkaline AA's. The button can be finicky and suffers from the "double click", sometimes it turns on high even though it is supposed to be on low. It even feels like it has a plastic lens. It just feels like the build quality isn't there.
I have a I3T EOS, it feels like it has a glass lens but the machining was substandard and required lots of cleaning right out of the packaging. It also turns on in your pocket occasionally.
My old m20 warrior works well, I would say this is the only light from them I own that is up to my standards but it was manufactured in 2008 I think.

I dont think I will be purchasing another light from them.

 

[vicv]

This incident was caused by someone using mismatched CR123As with the light held in their mouth, not an inherent design flaw unique to Olight. The same thing has happened with Surefire and Solarforce lights, and it could happen with any 2 x CR123A light. It's wildly misleading to claim Olight makes exploding flashlights.

Exploding Flashlights and How to Protect Yourself – PhotonPhreaks

There's been an uptick in talk online in the flashlight, EDC and gun communities about exploding flashlights. Learn how to prevent it

photonphreaks.com

Thank you for this. I hate that point someone always makes

 

[vicv]

"I only own one"

You lack the experiences some of us have had. You've never had one of your lights randomly get turned on in turbo mode, burning your pocket because a random piece of metal. You haven't dealt with Olight customer service continually making excuses for a clearly flawed design. They had customers like me pointing out a potential lawsuit in the making and then release yet another light with the same flaw. In the end they had no choice but to do a recall on both lights. There's also the light that exploded in someone's mouth because of their magnetic charging contacts. They absolutely refuse to learn. They deserve every ounce of hate they get for that BS alone.

Then there's the CONSTANT shilling.......

Randomly turning on in your pocket is a common occurrence over many brands of lights. Lockout exists for a reason. That's 100% user error.
The exploding light had nothing to do with magnetic charging contacts. Also user error.
Shilling? Like trying to advertise their product? First time with advertising? Ya I get emails sometimes too.

 

[ghostguy6]

This incident was caused by someone using mismatched CR123As with the light held in their mouth, not an inherent design flaw unique to Olight. The same thing has happened with Surefire and Solarforce lights, and it could happen with any 2 x CR123A light. It's wildly misleading to claim Olight makes exploding flashlights.

Exploding Flashlights and How to Protect Yourself – PhotonPhreaks

There's been an uptick in talk online in the flashlight, EDC and gun communities about exploding flashlights. Learn how to prevent it

photonphreaks.com

While that is true with any lithium cells there was a recall on some of the magnetically charged Olight's specifically because the contacts could short out when the magnets grabbed something,

 

[vicv]

While that is true with any lithium cells there was a recall on some of the magnetically charged Olight's specifically because the contacts could short out when the magnets grabbed something,

But that will not cause a cell to blow up. Lithium ions don't just detonate when they're shorted. It's possible. But not just the norm

 

[buds224]

I like a few of them, but a lot of the times, the emitter is a deal breaker. Some of their designs are so exclusive and handy, I will sometimes overlook the emitter and just get it; ie. Baton3/4 with the charging case. For the most part, I need neutral emitters from them which is a rarity with Olight. I don't hate them for it, but they would definitely get more money from me if they offered HICRI on all their models.

 

[vicv]

I like a few of them, but a lot of the times, the emitter is a deal breaker. Some of their designs are so exclusive and handy, I will sometimes overlook the emitter and just get it; ie. Baton3/4 with the charging case. For the most part, I need neutral emitters from them which is a rarity with Olight. I don't hate them for it, but they would definitely get more money from me if they offered HICRI on all their models.

True. That baton with the case is cool. But a cool white sst-40 is a no go as well for me. I have a dog with reddish fur. He looks washed out when I shine a low cri light on him. I hate it.