Olight S2R Baton II Review (18650, EDC, 7500K, Magnetic Recharging)

Olight has a new pocket sized 18650 EDC light with the revised S2R Baton II. I am going to be calling this the “Blue” edition for more then one reason that I will get to during my review. Thanks to Olight for sending this to me to take a look at.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/4Zk6iWD
YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging
Olight has a packaging theme for 2018 and the S2R Baton II is no different. It’s a white cardboard box, with a zip top. On the front it shows the light, on the sides it gives a QR code and warranty time period (5 years). On the back it describes the light in pretty good detail and gives a runtime table. I do wish they would put the serial number elsewhere on the box because after opening it’s too easy to lose the flap with the serial on it.

The light is held in a white plastic holder, underneath are all the accessories held in place with a cardboard warning to remove the plastic protector to operate the light. Accessories for the S2R II include the customized 3200mAh Olight battery, Black pocket clip, Standard olight lanyard, Revised MCC II Charger, instructions and brown felt Olight bag.





Construction
If you have seen my review of the S1R Baton II you will notice a lot of the same design similarities on the S2R Baton II. The light is made from aluminium and anodized a semi gloss black. Starting at the tail you will see the magnetic charging port. I did test the open contacts for safety wirth steel wool and didn’t have any issues. There is a magnet in the tail cap that is sufficiently strong to hold the light in a horizontal position on a painted steel surface. The tail also has a spot drilled in for the narrow included lanyard. The body tube and tail cap are all one piece. Changed from Version 1 of the S2R is the new texture. It’s a pyramid type design with the top milled off. It looks kind of like a corn cob. I like this new texture it provides quite a bit of grip but isn’t so aggressive it will tear up your hand or pocket.



The head is nearly identical in physical look to the S1R Baton II. It’s just slightly longer both in the top part and the bottom. The side button has an LED in the center used for low battery indication. It’s surrounded by a gloss blue ring, an olight signature. The clip is removable but fixed in place. The only markings on the light are the S2R Baton II Name and the serial number. Opposite this is the Olight logo.

The top of the light features a recessed blue Olight bezel. Unlike on the S1R Baton II the S2R Baton II bezel is inside the body of the light slightly. On the top it’s engraved 1150 lumens, 7500k, and 70 CRI. It features a revised TIR optic that I will talk about in another section.

Size & Weight and Comparisons
The S2R Baton II shrinks a little in size over version 1, about 5.5mm by my measurements. Diameters at the head were reduced by 0.10mm. Overall the S2R Baton II, length was 99.66mm, Diameter at the head is 23.91mm and weight with battery is 97g.




LED/Beamshot/Runtime
Olight has chosen a Luminous SST-40 LED in Cool white. Unfortunately it’s a very cool white, at about 7500k. This means it’s a pretty blue beam. Mine seems to have some green tinge as well. Personally this is disappointing, I don’t mind this emitter in the S1R II I reviewed a few weeks ago, but in the S2R II it’s cooler. I personally prefer a neutral or warm emitter. I suspect Olight choose such a cool tint because they can get slightly higher lumens which could be a benefit in a numbers race.

Beam pattern
The S2R Baton II uses a revised TIR optic. Gone is the small bubble in the middle as before, instead the lense is concave and the has a flat center. Looking in you can see the LED much better. The reflector looks to be white and the material is unknown. The effect on the beam pattern is a larger hot center that is pronounced. The spill is present but quite small in intensity. I would say it’s very similar to the Gen 1 TIR optic and that one is not better than the other.


S2R Baton 1, on left, S2R Baton II on Right

Runtime
Runtime was similar to what I have come to expect from the new breed of high output lumen number lights. Total Runtime was 350 minutes from Turbo to where the light shut off. Turbo 1150 lumens lasted for 2 minutes before the light stepped down significantly to 400 lumens where it lasted for about 230 minutes from my graph. The light stepped down a gain to medium (120 Lumens) for about 20 minutes, and then stepped down again to low (15 lumens) and faded into moon mode (0.5 lumens). I will throw an output graph from the S2R up to compare, it’s a quite a bit different. I kind of like how high is higher. My guess is that Olight decided to make High only 400 lumens to increase runtime and make heat less of a factor. For EDC this is ok, but I think I would want more in several situations.

UI
The S2R 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.

Charging
The new MCC II charger is like we saw on the S1R Baton II. It’s edges are rounded, and it’s still magnetic. It can now charge at 1A. Charging Time from a completely empty battery to charged was 5 hours and 30 minutes. Maximum charge rate I saw was 0.85A. I tested this on 2 different charges with 2 different metres to check and that’s what I saw. 5.5 hours charge time is quite a bit still. I would like to see a higher then 1A charge rate on their updated charger. That said this is very safe and conservative charge rate.

The LED indicator has moved from the cable into the bottom side of the charger. As I have said before this is a good and bad thing. If you use the charger with the light standing in vertical position you can no longer tell the charging status unless you lay it over horizontally. However if you charge it on your bedside and you like complete darkness like I do then it’s a good thing.

As an EDC
While I am a big fan of 18650 batteries in flashlights I don’t love them for EDC because of the increased diameter usually. The S2R is an exception to that, it’s quite narrow, and combine that with a deep carry clip I find it fits pretty well in a front jeans pocket and hasn’t been a problem. On the S2R II Olight has included the double direction clip they have had now on all their new lights this year. New however is that it comes with a glossy blue PVD coated clip, to match the bezel around the switch around the lens. Don’t worry they also include a black clip if you would like to be more stealth. The clip is also built to hold the lanyard if you would like, or there is a hold for it on the tail of the light. One thing to note is the clip only mounts one direction, for a head up carry.

Pro’s

  • I like the new barrel design and grip. Its an increase but not too aggressive.
  • Carries well in the pocket for EDC
  • New charger with speed increase is good but the LED giving charge indicator is less visible.

Con’s

  • 7500k is really cold in tin, more so then the older model. Olight seems to not want to produce warm, neutral or high CRI options.
  • Not very mod friendly as the bezel seems glued
  • Proprietary battery is necessary for onboard recharging to work. The light does work with a button top.

Conclusion
The Olight S2R Baton II is a small incremental improvement over the original S2R. Both lights excel in the EDC category in my opinion due to their small diameter and good deep carry pocket clips. The S2R II clips is slightly less deep carry but the light overall is slightly shorter too. For me the S2R Baton II falls down with it’s choice in LED and only one option. 7500k is a very cool tint, while it’s personal preference it seems like a majority of enthusiasts prefer a neutral or warm LED tint, and a higher CRI option too if available. For me I would prefer this, and would take fewer lumens, and a lower runtime to get it. I do understand though that flashlight marketing seems to focus on lumen count, not CRI or tint.

If you like a cool tint light and are looking for a great EDC form factor the Olight S2R Baton II will fit the bill quite well.