I translated partly the review that I did for Olight.bg. I hope I didn't leave any Bulgarian somewhere in the text, lol.
Here I'm going to review a flashlight which is both functional and elegant- it's from the so called PENLIGHT group and it was designed for people who want to have a flashlight in their EDC and in the same time don't want to carry a big and "macho"- looking hunting/ police flashlights.
Specs:
- Uses Cree XP-G2 LED
- The body is made of aircraft aluminum
- It uses 2 AAA batteries
- Three modes – low > medium > high
- Brightness – 5 lumens > 50 lumens > 180 lumens
- Runtime - 30 h > 8 h > 22 min
- Memory function
- It comes in black, red/orange, brown, blue
Impressions
It comes in a nice and sleek box. Inside you will find 2 Duracell AAA batteries, two spare o-rings, which are white/transparent unlike the original ones in the falshlight, a short manual and the specs as well as a warranty card.
The flashlight looks really elegant. The finish is kinda mat, not shiny. This was a nice surprise as in most pictures these lights look pretty shiny. The texture is also very nice - not 100% smooth and shiny, it has a kinda ... "velvet" feeling to it. I can also call the flashlight "massive", but in a good way. It is quite solid, which sets it apart from the cheap Chinese lights and yet it doesn't make it difficult or heavy to carry. The design is wonderful: the knurling is perhaps scarce, but it looks beautiful and ultramodern. The flashlight looks much better live than in all the pictures I've seen online. The body narrows down, towards the LED, but not much.
They've paid much attention to the details. Olight's logo has been engraved on the clip and there's the model engraved on the steel ring below - O'Pen. The metal rings of the clip, the one with the model engraved and the one at the base make the design look complete and symmetrical. The body can be taken apart in three parts + the clip.
The clip is very reliable. It's been fixed and doesn't rotate around the flashlight like in the Olight i3S, for example. It can also serve as a nice anti-roll mechanism.
Compared to some everyday objects:
Interface:
The flashlight has a clicky at the back- just like a pen. In order for you to turn it on, you have to click it fully.It won't turn on until you release the clicky. The modes are three: low, medium and high and you can change them by quickly turning on and off the flashlight or by just lightly tapping the clicky. It has a memory function. There's something interesting related to the memory function, however: when you leave it at medium and turn it off, wait for a while and turn on, it has memorized the last mode (medium), but when you click to change the mode next, it does NOT go to hIGH as you'd expect, but it would go back to low > medium > high.
I don't think there's any "danger" of accidental activation. The clicky looks quite... flimsy at first glance, but actually you need to press harder to activate it. Don't forget that O'Pen was designed to be carried like a PEN, so carrying it in your pants pocket wouldn't be the best option.
It can conveniently be used as a "cigar" type of flashlight. As I mentioned previously, the body is quite smooth in comparison to the knurling of other flashlights. Because of this, it may prove to be a little slippery if used with wet hands. But still, it was designed for urban carry rather than use in the jungle
You can sometimes hear the batteries inside rattle, but I think it's normal when we talk about flashlights with more than one battery in them. The light has good spill, almost no hotspot which makes it perfect for close-up work at home, the office, the yard. It doesn't have that much of a throw, but again, this isn't your hunting or special forces flashlight.
Runtime
I tested the high mode only with 2 AAA Eneloops. According to Olight, it should last for about 42 minutes on high with Eneloops.
- After 6 minutes on high the bottom part /closer to the LED/ got hot, but not so much as to make it impossible to hold.
- After 10 minutes on high the flashlight still kept the impressive 150 lumens. The upper part also got warm.
- After 15 minutes on high the brightness hasn't decreased yet to the naked eye. The flashlight got even warmer and quite hot at the bottom.
- After 22 minutes it's still as bright as at the 1 minute. It's difficult to hold at the bottom, though.
- After 32 minutes the whole light is hot, but it's still as bright.
- After 38-9 minutes the brightness decreased significantly. It can't even go to the medium 50 lumens.
- After 53 minutes the brightness has decreased a lot and you can't switch between modes. If I hadn't touched the light, it would've lasted for a full hour, I guess, if not more.
A few pictures in the dark with my crappy cameras. The distance to the wall is 2.5-3m
Low - 5 lumens
Medium - 50 lumens
High - 150 lumens
As a conclusion I can say that I really enjoy this penlight. It's my first flashlight from this type. One drawback may be its price, as other companies offer cheaper penlights. However, I'm impressed by the runtimes.
Some additional pics:
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