Olight has released a new tactical flashlight, and it sports an interesting feature. It’s the (one of the?) first flashlights with a vibration alert. Otherwise it’s a very dedicated tactical, throwy light. Read on to see how it tests!

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the official product page.

Versions

There is only one version.

Price and Coupon

MSRP is $129.99. It’s new enough that I doubt there will be any discounts on it for a while. I got this from BestLight.io, and I hope you will too!

Short Review

This is an interesting light. The vibration feature is not something I found all that useful, but I do find it interesting. There are a few applications I could see that being useful, and if anything in this light it’s underutilized.

Long Review

The Big Table

* Standard measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

Olight Warrior X Tactical Flashlight

Olight ORB-186S30 18650 Cell “Customized” for this light

Nylon pouch

Charge cable (USB to proprietary magnetic)

Grippy tactical ring

Manual and paperwork

Package and Manual

The package is exactly what you should expect from Olight by now. A nice white box, a big product photo, and specs on the back.

Inside the package, there’s a lift-up information piece, to show you the very important bits about how the light works

The light ships with only cardboard – no foam (yay), and ships inside the very form-fitting nylon pouch. This is a structured pouch, not a compressible one like we normally see.

And one more bit of packaging – you’ll need to remove an insulating ring from the cell before use.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Nothing surprising here. This is a solid light, well built and sturdy. The anodizing feels nice and thick and is just the right amount of smoothness.

The head has some very big cooling fins. I did not find the light to get too hot on the highest mode, and these fins probably helped with that.

The threads on the tailcap (the only removable end) are square cut, anodized, moderate to heavily lubed, and very robust. They’re also long, so a bit of twisting is required to remove the cap. It may be that you’ll never even need to, since the cell is included and on-board charging works fine. (Also note the photo below of the included cell, which as usual I forgot to show in “What’s Included.”)

On-board charging through the tailcap, and a proprietary cell not being needed, requires that this light have an inner sleeve to facilitate charging. I couldn’t remove the head, and so I also didn’t remove this sleeve.

The head has a thick, possibly double spring. The tailcap does not have a spring. A spring would be nice, especially since this is a tactical light and could conceivably see some weapon mounting. But the tailcap setup as is, is required for charging.

This bezel is so tactical and strikey, too!

Size and Comps

Officially:

Weight (g / oz) 218 / 7.69

Length (mm / in) 142 / 5.59

Head Diameter (mm / in) 41.0 / 1.61

Body Diameter (mm / in) 25.4 / 1.01

It’s by no means a small 18650 light, but it really doesn’t need to be – it’s a medium thrower, so it has to have a bigger reflector. And also the charge probably adds a bit of extra length.

Retention and Carry

More than likely the primary means to carry this light will be the nylon pouch. This pouch is unusual in that it’s a formed pouch. That means it holds its shape even when the light isn’t in. It’s also directional, working only as a bezel-down carry. The tail of the light pokes through a hole in the pouch. That’s not a bad system, and the setup specifically leaves open the possibility of charging without removing the light from the pouch.

Another option for carry is a lanyard. A lanyard is not included (surprisingly) but there are multiple places to connect one. There’s a tactical ring (there are technically 2 tactical rings, but only the one seen below has this option) with a hole for lanyard connection.

Also it’s be suitable to connect a lanyard on the pocket clip. It’s just a friction clip, but it’s captured by the tactical ring – it will not pull off.

The belt clip is quite nice, and has a wide mouth, and is thick, with a broad shoulder, too. Great for a belt, but not meant for a pocket at all.

Here’s a closeup of the friction clip removed from the light. It’s hard to see here, but the clip is actually keyed. It fits only in exactly one orientation on the light, and that orientation puts it directly over the “CE” and battery direction printing. The indexed part is right between the two friction arms, at the top of the shoulder. It’s just a little metal nub, that has to go in a certain place on the body.

Finally, there’s a second tactical ring. This ring is silicone grippy, and replaces the other tactical ring. It can not be used with the clip, and has a metal base under all the silicone grippyness.

Power and Runtime

The Warrior X is powered by a single 18650 cell. Olight includes a cell. It’s a 3000mAh, “For Ultra High-Drain Devices” cell, and I can say that you probably will need to actually use this specific cell in the light. The light absolutely requires button tops, and also does in fact need a high drain cell. Other button tops will work on Low, but the light will turn off immediately when Turbo is accessed.

Also noteworthy about power – the cell goes in this light “backwards” – with the negative end toward the head. That’s because of the built in charging setup. On the one hand it’s nice because the light doesn’t require special cells for charging. On the other, I don’t love breaking the tradition of positive-to-head. But Olight does this often with their magnetic base charging lights, so it should come as no surprise.

Here’s a runtime on Turbo. The initial output is maintained for a respectable amount of time, and seems to step down in response to temperature. When temp drops, output rises. Again, respectable. The light does have LVP, and I measured the cell at 2.88V when this test was completed.

The output on low was incredibly well regulated, and also essentially hit the claimed runtime. (I put the shutoff voltage here as 2.88, but in reality I’m not sure exactly – I ran this test overnight and I’m sure the cell bounced up to the measured ~3V after it shut off.)

The vibration function actually serves as a Low Voltage Warning system, too. Of course during runtimes, I don’t hold the light so I didn’t see that first hand, but in use I did notice the vibration.

When the cell is <30%, the light vibrates once every 5 minutes. Less than 10%, and vibration is once every minute. Less than 5%, vibration is 6 times per minute. This does mean that as a magic wand, it’s utility will be limited, since only 5% max of the cell is left. Sorry to report that.

The magnetic charger connects easily to the tailcap. There’s a red and green LED to indicate charge status. When connected to USB power, the indicator will be green. If charging, it turns red. When charging is complete, green again.

Charging proceeds at >0.75A for the duration of the CC phase, increasing along the way. Total charge time is around 4 hours.

User Interface and Operation

There is only one switch on the Warrior X. It’s an e-switch on the tailcap, the center metal part of what you see below. You’ve seen this switch before in the M2R Warrior. The switch is the same, but the UI is very different.

There are two mode groups on the Warrior X. There’s the default, which gets access to Low and Turbo, and the Tactical, which gives access to Turbo and Strobe. To switch between them, loosen the tailcap and hold the switch down while screwing the cap back on. Tactical mode is momentary only, for both modes!

The UI isn’t complicated. Press softly for mode 1. Press fully for mode 2. If either press is short, the light will stay on in that mode (except in the tactical group). If either press is long, the light interprets that as the user requesting momentary.

That’s actually the extent of the UI. Strobe isn’t accessible from the default group. Low isn’t accessible from the Tactical group. Only two modes are ever accessible in any group.

Modes and Currents

Due to the charging setup, I wasn’t able to test the currents of the two modes for this light. Based on the fact that the light does hit its output numbers, and requires a high current cell, I expect the Turbo mode has some relatively demanding requirements.

LED and Beam

The emitter of choice for the Olight Warrior X is a neutral white Cree XHP35 HI. This is a great choice for such a light, and I’m pleased it’s being offered in NW! The reflector is smooth and deep.

The resulting beam profile is mostly throw, with a good bit of even spill.

Tint vs BLF-348 (Killzone 219b version)

Unfortunately the tint on this NW XHP35 HI isn’t all that appealing to me – it ends up being a bit greenish.

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348, because it’s inexpensive, has the best tint, and [probably] still available!

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options….

Here’s a link to a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com. I use that site a lot! Even if you don’t consider the charging capabilities, there are only a few lights that line up against this one. (And certainly zero with vibration!) The Acebeam L16, which I have reviewed, is probably the closest, and adds a side switch too.

Conclusion

What I like

Hits throw number

Hits output number

Has an interesting vibrating feature

What I don’t like

Tint of this XHP35 HI isn’t appealing

Underutilized vibration feature?

Fairly limited UI

Notes

This light was provided by BestLight.io for review. I was not paid to write this review.

This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!

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