Olight S1A, S1R, S2R

I sent Olight an email this morning asking about a high CRI offering. It seems they did offer a Titanium S1 with a neutral (higher CRI) light but no longer offer it. They did say that they have some neutral lights slated for release this year. :thumbup:

By the way, two emails out and two in within four hours. Seems their customer service is eager to please. Another :thumbup:.
 
Good thinking about never being without a knife or a light, I can fully agree with that... Might add a pen... And that's how we get started to carry murses. Lol.
There is a olight s1 which uses cr123 batteries or rechargeables. Kind of torn whether I want it though . Already have my manker e14 as a pocket rocket. Of course we are just talking production models now, if we talk customs it gets at least as crazy as with knives.
Btw I don't really care for beam shots, I leave that to the enthusiasts... Just care whether it is floody or a spot shine. So just the right review for me.
 
Ah, pens, yes, can't be without a good pen, always have a fisher space pen in my left front pocket.

And thanks!
G2
 
Pretty good compact pen

Light, knife and pen... There ya go:)
G2
 
Just received another Olight model, an S1R while much smaller it takes a rechargeable 123 battery that was included. Many of the same features/switch operations that are on the S1A you will find on this S1R, with one exception. This one also has a red led indicator that is within the switch so when you have turned off the light to prevent accidental switching on, and you go to press the button, you will see a red light, not very bright but you will see it, come on inside the button of the switch, just telling you that Hey...Remember me? you turned me off :) I know sometimes I might forget that I have done that and wonder if the battery is low, but this will give you feedback that it's just in off mode.

This light is BaaaRight ! boasting a max output of 900 lumens ! here's the run down of the switch levels you can get with this light;
900, 300, then it drops down to 60, then 12 and finally a moonglow of .5 lumens

It also has the timer feature that the S1A has as well

The light measures 2.6" long and a bezel diameter of .83" just slightly larger in diameter than the S1A but much shorter in length.

The beam that this puts out is a nice solid center, no hot spots, a very good flood. The LED used is a Cree XM-L2 and the battery included is a 550ma RCR123A

You'll find that the beam has a fade in and out feature to lessen the abrupt light change, this is also a little different than the S1A. Both lights have that same bump in the lens area which provides it's solid beam.

This light came not only with a rechargeable battery but also a charger device that snaps into place at the end of the light and then a USB cable end to plug into a USB port to charge the battery back up. They provided a nice soft carry pouch you can put the cord in along with an extra battery if you want, there's plenty of room in this pouch.

The lanyard attaches the same as the S1A did, and again they provided the small metal piece to help thread it into the lanyard hole on the side. Now the lanyard that comes with this has a keeper thingy, but I have about medium sized hands, if you have large hands you may have trouble fitting your mitt through the lanyard at all, it's not very big around, but, it is soft ;)
You can also stand this up on it's end as a candle and it has the magnet as well so you can attach it via the magnet to ferrous metal to light up a work area. The clip is removable and is made so you can clip it onto the brim of a hat as a helmet light if need be.

I think my wife thinks I'm a bit crazy...but that's not unusual, as I lit up our living room shining it onto the ceiling, looked like daylight it was so bright.

While I've been carrying the S1A since getting it, I will give this one some carry time now, I'm still amazed at how bright it is in such a small compact package!

Here are some images, first one comparing it to the S1A for size

Olight_S1A_S1R.jpg~original


Olight_S1R_beam.jpg~original


Here you can see that red light glowing within the switch button, tricky to catch with the camera!

Olight_S1R_off.jpg~original


Here is the charging cable and the end of the light, and I will have to see how things go with the opened back like that, the center is recessed so it's out of harms way, but I'd like to see something covering it up, but then, that's just the worrier in me. The round end below the light is the charging end that will snap via the magnet onto the end of the light. When you plug in the USB the plastic connector of the cable for the round base has a light red glow indicating it's charging, once charged it will change to green.

Olight_S1R_charging.jpg~original


and here is the soft carry pouch
Olight_S1R_pouch.jpg~original


All in all, it is pretty amazing light, I did take it outside tonight and it does throw a nice beam quite a ways for such a small device!

While some light might light up a shoe box, this one would light up a shoe store!

AND if I had to chose between these two lights? that's a tough call, as I like both of them, but the S1R coming with a charging cable may tip the scales, that plus the 900 lumens ;)

Thanks again Olight, you've made this coming winter a bit brighter in our house.

G2

Edited to add about the S1A, during all my carrying it, it hasn't once come on by itself, that's a good thing, this switch isn't quite as sensitive as their older models it seems.
 
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Hah, had this at work today, folks were simply amazed at how bright 900 lumens was in a daylight environment ! One person inadvertently swung the flashlight around and into my eyes, I was about 8 feet away, saw white spots for the rest of the day!!!

I think several guys there are convinced to pick one of these rechargeable ones up!

G2
 
Great reviews! And as always, amazing pics.


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Thanks, both are great lights, they also offer even more powerful ones, if I get one of those I have an idea for some night shots to show the range in a comparison shoot off.
G2
 
No word back from Olight, so this is probably my last review of their line up, but an additional note about the S1A, this past weekend while at the Ashohan Seminar there were several times I had need of a good flashlight, the S1A came in quite handy but the light would dim to the lowest setting right away, it took me a few minutes, not happy minutes :) until I figured out what was going on, the battery was low was all, so I changed it out with a freshly charged one and it was right as rain an lit my way through the dark trails that went from the compound to the forging area down below.

I had both lights with me so when the one had a low battery I did switch over to it, both are amazing lights !

G2
 
The kind folks at Olight sent along a similar light as the first two I reviewed above, and the activation and usage is pretty much the same except in a slightly larger package that folks might find more appealing to be able to hang onto. It is the rechargeable S2R that runs on the 18650 battery which was also included along with the soft pouch and USB power cord, similar as the S1R, attaching via the magnet on the end of the light.

This light boasts a high turbo output of 1,020 lumens which would last about 2 minutes in duration and then dropping to 500 lumens which is rated to last approximately 190 minutes.

The outputs of this go from the Moon setting of .5 lumens to 12, 120, 500 and the turbo 1,020.

I found the light in turbo to be quite stronger than the two smaller sized offerings but in regular use they were very close so for me, it comes down to preference in size. The two smaller ones carry in my side pockets of my Carhartt pants comfortably, why carry two? cuz...just cuz ;) but seriously sometimes you do need a backup! I'll most likely carry this larger version in my small everyday kit bag that I take to work.

Here is a comparison of the three lights;

S1A_S1R_S2R.jpg~original


Olight_group.jpg~original


OlightS2R_S1A_S1R_hand.jpg~original


Here are some shots showing the size comparison in hand, my palm measures approximately 3 1/2" wide for reference.

Olight_S1R_hand.jpg~original


Olight_S1A_hand.jpg~original


Olight_S2R_hand.jpg~original


Here is the charger attached via the magnet, during actual charge time, the plastic at the cord end will glow red, which fully charged it will turn green.

Olight_S2R_charger_on.jpg~original


and a shot showing the two parts apart

Olight_S2R_charger_off.jpg~original


Overall, I probably use the S1R the most right now but I will also reach for the S1A as well, it's just which hand is free at the time as the light output is similar, each provides a nice even lighting without a hot spot center, small flood type light and having the magnets on the end just make each one more convenient if you need to have a light fixed while you are working on something. Or you can also clip to the bill of your hat too, each light has a sturdy clip.

The S2R is relatively new and is not yet on BladeHQ's site but should be soon so be on the lookout for it.

G2
 
I think I'm gonna have to run down to Going Gear in Smyrna and check these out when i get a chance..:cool:
 
Thanks for the feedback, I try to take images so it feels like you can reach out and touch them ;) next to knives, photography is one of my favourite hobbies too.
G2
 
Hey Gary, thanks alot for the reviews and additional pictures. I am currently undecided whether to get the s1r or the s1a, so as always your thoughts were highly appreciated.
I had a s2 in copper for a while, which was nice, but a bit too much of a spot light for the night stand and I didn't really need copper version. Does the s2r included that plastic glow dome?

Also is there anything that would sway you towards the s1r or the aa counterpart for edc? I am currently carrying an aaa copper maratac which I do like a lot.

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Thanks,
I don't have an Olight AAA version yet, these three are a bit large for shirt pocket carry.
here is a shot of these three light's front end, S2R, S1A, S1R if you are talking about the center of the light having a 'bump' then yes all three have the similar protrusion.

Olight_S2R_S1A_S1R_front.jpg~original


Now between the S1R vs the S1A I think the ease of charging might sway more to the S1R, as you can always charge up the battery for the S1A but having a cord to attach and charge is a plus.


G2
 
Hey Gary thank you again for your reply and your pictures.
Just saw that olight has a new s1 mini on their website... Choices choices. Might not be shirt pocket size, but still very tempting.

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Gary W. Graley said:
Yep, ability to become a candle is a real plus with theses lights, that and the magnet is just one more thing that they tried to use to set themselves apart.
I have several Fenix lights as well, very powerful ones too, much larger of course but this one is plain handy to have around because of it's size.

And I'm not sure if there is just an Olight S1 also, but be sure to look for the S1A which is the more powerful model I think.
G2
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is a regular S1 also, single CR123a/RCR123/16430 It's been my EDC light for over a year now ever since it came out. Olight makes some great little lights. Before the S1 came I was carrying it's predecessor the S10, here you can see them side by side (my S10 is a polished titanium version) together with a discontinued Veleno Designs Quantum DD:

24675337882_e3448ba667_b.jpg


The older model still had a conventional lens:

24425497979_50bfa9c21d_b.jpg



There's a new S1 mini on the way by the way, have seen it yet? It's even smaller than the S1 but looses the magnet in the tail. I'm thinking about getting a sandblasted titanium version of either that one or the regular S1 next and that will probably be the last light I ever need to buy.
 
Nice lights there, I also have one of the Ti models from Olight, from a while now, back then at least they had a very very sensitive switch so much so I had to relagate it to my car glove box.
The flashlight is an Olight S15 baton with an extension tube so it allows for two AA batteries, cool light too and the housing is Titanium. The knife is a ZT0770cf, also a cool knife.

Olight_ZTcf.jpg~original


G2
 
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