Today I am looking at the new Olight S1R Baton II. While the name is a mouthful this small light means business. It’s just 2.4 inches tall but produces 1000 lumens on Turbo, has a magnetic tail and has recharging via the doc. Thanks to Olight sending this to me to take a look at the newest light in the Olight flagship line.
Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/LwokMdZ
YouTube Version of this Review:
https://youtu.be/DOyeQKSNDYw
Packaging
Packaging follows other recent Olights. It’s a tall and narrow white textured cardboard box. Inside is a white branded plastic tray that holds the light. Underneath was a large yellow cardboard read me, telling you to remove the insulating film, suggesting to store the battery in an included battery keeper, and what all is inside. Included with the light is the light itself, the Olight dual direction pocket clip, a proprietary Olight IMR 16340 550mAh battery, new generation of the magnetic USB charger, a small plastic battery box, lanyard (With threading needle), and a brown suede bag.
Construction
The S1R Baton II follows in a long line of well made production lights. The light is made from aluminium and anodized a smooth satin black. Starting at the back of the light we notice the recharging contacts for its magnetic recharging system. The outside silver rings are slightly raised, and the inner brass button is sunk in just a little. I did test for safety of this system with a bit of steel wool and didn’t have a fire starter on hand. This tail cap is magnetic and quite strong. It easily holds the weight of the light and is better against vibrations then some previous Olights. The tail section also has a hole drilled in it’s side to allow for a lanyard.
Unlike on the original S1R Baton, on version 2 the tail and body tube are one machined piece of aluminum, and the only place the light seperates now is right below the head. The body tube has a new machined raised square with each side tapered in. It’s definitely more aggressive than the small flat squares before but nothing that should rip up a pocket. I like it quite a bit. Threads are small, well machined and greased.
The head itself is pretty small, and inside features a pretty stiff brass spring. On the exterior writing is kept to a minimum, with just a small Olight logo, and opposite that the model number and serial number in small writing. The button is the same as others in the Baton series, It has a silicone cover, and has a small red LED in the center for indicating status. This is surrounded by a blue bezel. The front bezel of the light is reflective blue, and has engraved 1000 Lumens, CCT 6500k CRI 70. It features a TIR lens.
Size and weight comparisons
I measured the length at 63mm and the maximum diameter in the head at 21mm. Weight with the battery and clip came to 51g. The S1R Baton II makes a pretty good EDC for a 16340 battery light. The thin side walls and clip make it a pretty easy carry in a front jean pocket in my opinion.
In comparison the Olight S1 Mini Baton Is 54mm in length, 21mm in diameter, 43G with battery and clip, its tail isn’t rechargeable or nearly as strong magnetically though. The Copper Smini Baton I have with battery is 54mm in length, 21mm in diameter but comes in at 72g with battery and clip due to copper being heavy.
LED/Beam/Runtime
This light uses a Cree XM-L2 LED in cool white. It’s rated at 6500k with a CRI of 70. I don’t notice any cree rainbows, or odd color tints on mine. It features a TIR style optic and it’s no secret I like this style of optic on a short from factor EDC light like this. You get a sizeable hot spot that allows it to throw a useable amount and then you get a wide spill. For me and how I use an EDC light (Shorter durations) this is about perfect.
Runtimes are about what I expected for a small light that leads off with saying it’s capable of 1000 lumens in turbo. Turbo mode doesn’t last that long, only about 1.8 minutes before it starts to slowly decrease fairly significantly to about 30% relative output. While that sounds like a lot it’s still quite a bit of useable light for about 28 minutes. Past this light steps down again pretty quickly to low mode. Total runtime from turbo on the included 550mAh battery was 65 minutes. Heat was well controlled for a small light.
UI
The S1R Baton II has the standard Olight UI many of us have come to know, and I like with the slower fades from off/on and between modes. From off, long press to activate moonlight mode at 0.5 lumens. To turn on in normal modes single click the switch, to change brightness level hold the button and the light will cycle through the 4 available modes lowest to highest. Double click to access turbo. Triple click to access strobe. The light also features memory mode for normal modes.
Lockout can be accomplished when the light is off by pressing and holding the switch for 2 seconds until moonlight mode comes on and immediately shuts off. If you then press the button the red LED under the power button will come on to let you know your in lockout mode. To exit lockout press the button for about 1 second until moonlight mode stays on. Personally I will just give the body of the light a ¼ turn to mechanically lock it out. The light features a short 3 minute timer, and a longer 9 minute timer. If these are setup (See the included manual) the light will automatically shut off when the end of the timer is reached.
Recharging and the Battery
Olight has an updated magnetic charger (MCC2) with the S1R Baton II. The main benefit of this charger is it’s faster. It now is capable of 1A charging. The charger is also capable of working with older versions of lights such as the S30R, or S2R. On those it was able to charge at a closer rate of .95A.
Visually it’s a little different with the bottom and top having rounded edges. Gone is the LED indicator at the base of the charger and instead it has been replaced with a tiny LED on the bottom. I find the LED harder to see if it’s sitting on top, but better for night time bedlight charging due to less ambient lighting.
On the S1R Baton II the charger didn’t charge at full speed the charger has printed on it. This due to the smaller capacity of the battery. You wouldn’t want to charge this 550mAh cell at AA for safety and cell longevity reasons. The battery has a plastic separator that stands up a little more and protects the positive terminal more then other olight batteries have had. The light is also capable of using a CR123 or other olight batteries although you won’t be able to recharge it in the light.
My guess would be Olight will be rolling out updates to some of their other Baton series lights with this new charger over time.
This is the 4th model of Olight magnetic chargers that I have, I think I need to start putting labels on them to keep them straight in my charging drawer.It would be nice if they had labels or color indicators on the lights/charges to help you out.
Safety
I deliberately tried to short circuit the exposed charging contacts on this light with a bit of steel wool and had no ill effects.
Pro
- Small size, well built, strong magnet, great pocket clip.
- Convenient slightly faster charging
- Simple interface
Cons
- Proprietary battery, new to the this updated light. The older ORBC-163C06 also works in the light but won’t recharge.
- MCC2 charger with the LED on the bottom makes it harder to check status, I would prefer the charge status on the side.
- LED choice, while I don’t have major complaints against the XM-L2, I would love to see a neutral white or high CRI option, it would make this fantastic EDC in my opinion.
Conclusion
The Olight S1R Baton II is a nice little EDC light with a lot of power for a short time. I think it’s a nice update. I especially like the new style of pocket clip and the new milling on the body. Olight does a good job with TIR reflectors creating attractive beam patterns for this style of light in my opinion. If you are needing a new EDC this is a nice option to choose.