Are Olights junk?

[jpm2953]

I have a small sample size but my daily carry flashlight is a Olight I3T EOS. The tail light switch has failed twice in less than a year. They have warrantied them without question but never had an issue with my streamlight in years......til I lost it.

I ask because I was thinking of trying an Olight on a pistol but I'm a bit leery now.

 

[JNelson04]

Here’s my experience:

I’ve got about 5-6 of their keychain size lights, one of the s1 baton, s2 baton, m1x striker and I’m sure I’m forgetting 1 more. The small lights have been beat to hell and barely have their color coating on them and I’ve never noticed any issues with them. M1x I’ve had for 7-8 yrs and it’s been a weapon mounted light for a while and a hunting/camp light as well. Never had a problem with it.

I say all that to say in general these are really good flashlights IMO. To me these are better than majority off-the-shelf lights. Olight replacing parts no questions asked def speaks for their customer service. I do like Olight but there are def other brands and models I like over them.
I can’t speak for any other weapon mounted light Olight makes but I’ve a few buddies that like the PL mini pro.

 

[coolformula]

I have had tons of flashlights. Ton's of decent quality chinese lights. Fenix,Olight,Nitecore,Klarus,Eagletac, Thrunite etc. I view generally on the same plane of quality. Their really all decent and quite "good enough". Yes I have had lights fail, but I have owned more lights than the average person on the ODT i'm guessing. I have ran some crazy tests on cheap LED's and they still worked afterwards!

If your goal is for ultimate reliability you generally are going have to pay for. that "peace of mind" Some people like streamlight (assembled in USA on some models, some are china), then of course SUREFIRE. (some would argue that is all huge price increase, just to cover the US workers benefits and retirement packages and small increases in quality control)

Two is one and one is two. If this has to work all the time no matter what, I would put a SUREFIRE on it and keep another SUREFIRE in my pocket. (even they can fail as well).

Now when it comes to price, most people want the ultimate reliability, but want the cheapest price, most things in life don't' work like that. (which I'm sure we all have ran into in many areas of our lives)

It would be nice if we had 10-20k sample size of each light though every condition known to man, than the failure rate as a percent. About the only way to get some of that data is to buy a large brand such as surefire, since the military does that testing for us.

With that being said I have had good luck in general out of all the "chinese name brand" lights, your sample size if very low out of the volume of lights they sale. Also your talking about the one of the cheapest lights as well.


If your a person who might have 2 pistols they want lights for I personally would try an Olight or a streamlight TLR-7 (smaller, but half the lumens). Olights I will say the outside metal on the lights dont' feel as dense to me as streamlight/surefire on the pistol lights, I don't know if this has any bearing on anything. I haven't not had issues out of my olight pistol lights.


Good luck on your search.

 

[CUTBAIT]

4sevens. If you can find and older quark it will last forever. Ive used mine for 10 yrs. Thg here are still some new ones on ebay and such

 

[jpm2953]

4sevens. If you can find and older quark it will last forever. Ive used mine for 10 yrs. Thg here are still some new ones on ebay and such

I used to build engines for the old owner of 4sevens. They are good lights

 

[jpm2953]

I have had tons of flashlights. Ton's of decent quality chinese lights. Fenix,Olight,Nitecore,Klarus,Eagletac, Thrunite etc. I view generally on the same plane of quality. Their really all decent and quite "good enough". Yes I have had lights fail, but I have owned more lights than the average person on the ODT i'm guessing. I have ran some crazy tests on cheap LED's and they still worked afterwards!

If your goal is for ultimate reliability you generally are going have to pay for. that "peace of mind" Some people like streamlight (assembled in USA on some models, some are china), then of course SUREFIRE. (some would argue that is all huge price increase, just to cover the US workers benefits and retirement packages and small increases in quality control)

Two is one and one is two. If this has to work all the time no matter what, I would put a SUREFIRE on it and keep another SUREFIRE in my pocket. (even they can fail as well).

Now when it comes to price, most people want the ultimate reliability, but want the cheapest price, most things in life don't' work like that. (which I'm sure we all have ran into in many areas of our lives)

It would be nice if we had 10-20k sample size of each light though every condition known to man, than the failure rate as a percent. About the only way to get some of that data is to buy a large brand such as surefire, since the military does that testing for us.

With that being said I have had good luck in general out of all the "chinese name brand" lights, your sample size if very low out of the volume of lights they sale. Also your talking about the one of the cheapest lights as well.


If your a person who might have 2 pistols they want lights for I personally would try an Olight or a streamlight TLR-7 (smaller, but half the lumens). Olights I will say the outside metal on the lights dont' feel as dense to me as streamlight/surefire on the pistol lights, I don't know if this has any bearing on anything. I haven't not had issues out of my olight pistol lights.


Good luck on your search.

I have a surefire E1B that I have had for 10 years with zero issues. Not sure why I don't carry that. Guess I'm afraid to lose a $120 flashlight

 

[coolformula]

The new olights such as PL-PRO's are like 140+. I would be more afraid of losing the gun, the lights usually don't' fall off and if you have the custom holster that will accept your light it should be fine.

The E1B looks like a non weapon light and 400 lumens is pretty "Bad" in today's standards.

PL_PRO is 1500 lumens. The one before that was 1200 lumens.

I think having a light mounted on your weapon and another light on your person gives you the most flexibility. Also this way you have a backup as well.

 

[jpm2953]

The new olights such as PL-PRO's are like 140+. I would be more afraid of losing the gun, the lights usually don't' fall off and if you have the custom holster that will accept your light it should be fine.

The E1B looks like a non weapon light and 400 lumens is pretty "Bad" in today's standards.

PL_PRO is 1500 lumens. The one before that was 1200 lumens.

I think having a light mounted on your weapon and another light on your person gives you the most flexibility. Also this way you have a backup as well.

sorry, i'm muddying the water. The E1B is just for my pocket. I'm an engine builder so I always need a flashlight in the pocket.

My concern is that Olights lack of durability in my EDC pocket flashlight leads me to doubt the long term durability as a weapon light.

 

[CBH13]

i carry a baton s1r or s2r depending on the day and have for some time, i also have an i3uv on my keychain. both have been dropped, banged, thrown, and al sort of other things and never had an issue out of them. everyone i know with them have been happy. may also be something with the i3 being the cheapest one they make.

 

[coolformula]

I would upgrade your pocket light(Surefire) and try and olight/streamlight for your weaponlight. I think you will have a good experience.

I currently rotate between an S1 Baton, S2 Baton and E16 as my EDC. (In addition I3E EOS with lithium battery on the keychain) However some days I do carry a smaller 18650 light, I like the increased run times. I would get a small 18650 most older surefires won't even take an 18650 (huge deal breaker for me on an EDC). The run times are great with newer LED"s with a 3500 MAH 18650 pushing it. I work on cars, computers so I know having a light on me at all times is greatly appreciated.

I often don't use the 1500,3000 lumens modes of these lights, but having that available is nice, also the run times at modest outputs 500 lumens is quite long. I prefer NW to CW for EDC's lights personally.

My worst luck with cheap no name LED"s brands have been the worst, still nothing crazy bad though. Just a couple tail switchses and one the whole circuit burned up on the first time I turned it on that was a letdown.