Ok, finally got some beamies taken and it's time to get this review up. I'm currently running on little sleep and had a long day at work so this review will likely be a bit short and not quite as detailed as I hope but I'm going to try to make the best of it.
I have been wanting one of these lights since their initial debut.....but their price has put that off for a while. But my "want" finally over rode other "needs" and I placed my order. And a few days ago this is what arrived:
For those not familiar with it this is a M30 Triton made by Olight. It houses CREE's latest high-out put emitter, the quad-die MC-E LED! Here's the factory specs & features:
-LED: CREE MC-E led (M-bin)700 Lumens (at emitter).
-Battery Options in 3 Cell Configuration:
3 x CR123A/RCR123A batteries
2 x 18500 Protected Li-Ion
-Battery Options in 4 Cell Configuration w/included extender tube:
4 x CR123A (Note: 4 x RCR123A's CANNOT be used with extender.)
2 x 18650 Protected Li-ion
-Dimension 43.5mm/1.71"(D) X 176.9mm/6.96"(L).
-Dimension with extender tube 43.5mm/1.71"(D) X 210.9mm/8.3"(L).
-Weight: 165.2g/5.83oz (exclude battery).
-Function: Three brightness levels and strobe mode.
-Output and runtime (2x18650, to 50%): High Mode = 700 lumens/1.5 hours,
Medium Mode = 120 lumens/9 hours,
Low Mode = 8 lumens/90 hours
Strobe = 700lumens/1.5hours
-World-class super bright Cree MC-E LED.
-Max 700 lumens.
-Max 80 hours long runtime.
-Side switch on tail cap for direct access to strobe from power-off.
-Side switch on tail cap for changing modes from power-on.
-Three digitally controlled constant brightness levels and strobe.
-Front removable & Rear striking bezel provided for close quarter combat defense.
-Superior heat sink that disperses heat to protect LED and electrical components.
-Ergonomic design for easy & comfortable operation.
-Full orange peel aluminum reflector with perfect beam.
-Rugged aluminum body with scratch, wear and corrosion resistant type III hard anodization.
-Twist strip for safe keeping and easy carry.
-Water resistant to IP68.
-Anti-shattering ultra clear lens, anti-scratching and anti-slip.
-Engineered anti-slip body texture for a tight firm grip.
-Built-in stainless steel pocket clip.
-Advanced digital power management system for smooth and even brightness during battery life time.The light comes in a nice plastic carrying case that is fully foam lined (
the foam covered in a felt-like material) and aside from the light itself also includes a battery magazine, diffuser, extender tube, twist strip, and instruction manual.
The build quality and finish on this light is near perfect. Machining and anodizing is perfect and without fault. Threads throughout the light are clean and smooth, I find no foreign particles in the head assembly, tailswitch functions flawlessly, pocketclip is stout but unobtrusive......overall it's a quality light. The only fault I could find is the LED is mounted a bit off-center.
The M30 is built from aluminum done over in a Black HA-III anodizing with a stainless crenelated bezel. The head is heavily finned for heat dissipation and the body is machined in a nice block style checkering which gives decent purchase without any abrasiveness. The tailcap is scalloped to give it tailstand capability and ease of acces to the tailswitch, and is also squared up to also act as a anti-roll device.
Within the head rests a full OP textured reflector that surrounds a sweet LED.........
..........CREE's quad-die MC-E Light Emitting Diode. Max out-put is 700 Lumens at the emitter and while it's visual output on HIGH is not 700 Lumens, I can say it's a BRIGHT light and a touch brighter than my ElektroLumens customized Maglite with it's SSC P7 quad-die LED. As you can see from the above pic the LED is a bit off-center, but this does not affect the beam. The beam from this thing is perfect, something I will get into here in just a bit. And here is a side by side pic of this M30 (R) next to my Wolf Eyes Raider (L) which has a CREE R2 XR-E emitter......
This light is a multi-mode featured torch, in that it has essential 4-modes of output which are LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, and STROBE. These are all accessed via the dual switch tailcap (
no head-twisting on this puppy, it's pure one hand operation here)...........
The actual tailswitch is a true Forward Clicky with momentary function. A light press of the tailswitch will give you momentary, a full press to click for constant ON and another full press to click for OFF. The little gray button on the side of the tailcap is what operates the different modes. And this is how it works:
With the light OFF pressing the side button activates the STROBE in momentary fashion. When the light is clicked to constant ON you then use the side button to switch between all 4 modes. Whatever mode the light is in when it's turned OFF, it will stay in that mode when turned back ON or when momentary is used. You can only switch through the different modes with the rear clicky in the full ON position. It's a very easy UI to learn and use. Regardles of which mode the light is in, the order of the modes never changes. It is always in the order of LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, STROBE. So if you turn off the light while in MEDIUM, the momentary function will be in MEDIUM, and when you turn the light to constant ON it will be in MEDIUM......from there if you click the side switch it will go into HIGH, and then click again for STROBE, and then click again for LOW, and if clicked again will go back into MEDIUM.
Ok.....on to the beamies. Now keep in mind my camera is old and absolutely sucks at taking these kinds of pics. Dark places with little or no ambient light makes my camera do weird things and pics usually don't come out quite like they should. A perfect example of this is the fact after I took pics of the output of this M30 in Low, Medium, and High modes.........the Medium and High beamies looked virtually the same. Even though visually the light levels between the Medium and High modes are vastly different. So I am only going to add the Low and High beamies here. In these pics the lights were placed approximately 4.5 feet away from a off-white colored wall:
M30 on Low:
M30 on High:
The beam from the M30 is perfect, very clean and smooth. Lots of flood, a large hotspot of very bright intensity which still offers good throw. The slight "ring" affect seen in the "High output" beamshot above is caused by the polished surface of the stainless bezel and can only be seen in the pics. I can not see this in actual use.
And here is some side by side comparison beamies, though keep in mind these are not quite true representations of the visual differences actually seen by the human eye.........I need a new camera so bad:
Fenix TK-10 CREE Q5 XR-E (L) / M30 CREE MC-E (R):
Wolf-Eyes Raider CREE R2 XR-E (L) / M30 CREE MC-E (R):
ElektroLumens 3D Mag SSC P7 (L) / M30 CREE MC-E (R):
In this last pic with the ElektroLumens 3D Mag that has the SSC P7 emitter, the reason the beam has that "flower" look to it is because of the huge Stainless Striker-Bezel I have hanging off of this beast (
it's the one on the left in pic below):
Anyway, I'm sorry for the bad beamies. The only way to truely appreciate the actual output this light delivers is to get one in hand. My pics do this light no justice what so ever in this regard. The Triton M30 in HIGH mode stomps the output of the CREE Q5 in my Fenix and the CREE R2 in my WE Raider, and is a bit brighter than the P7 in my Mag with a nicer beam profile and cooler tint.........while in a light much much smaller! And as you can also tell from the above beamies the M30, while having a bright hotspot, also has some bright flood. This I really like!
Here's a side by side of the M30 in it's 3-cell configuration..........
.........the M30 in the middle with the Wolf-Eyes Raider which is a 3-cell as well right above it and my 2-cell Fenix TK-10 just below it.
Overall it's a well built light with excellent output, particularly in HIGH mode, with a easy to use dual-switch UI. The light modes are well spaced and give a good range of output for nearly every application this light could see, and for those who like STROBE this feature pulses in full output. Beam profile is excellent with usable flood while still giving decent throw, and on HIGH doing a ceiling bounce it really lights up a room. Given it's capabilities it's still a relatively small torch that is also suprisingly light in weight. It offers the use of varying cell configurations so you can power this puppy as you see fit, and comes with a good assortment of accessories all bundled in a nice carrying case.
At a price of $139.00 I have to say that if this light proves to be as durable as it is nice then it wll be well worth it.
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