So Olight made a knife, well they released a knife, and no it doesn’t contain a flashlight inside. You might have seen I made a post about this here on my Youtube community and Facebook channel page when it was announced. I have had one now for about a week and have been carrying it pretty much exclusively so here are my quick thoughts. Thanks to Olight for sending this to me to share with you.
A few things you should know, Olight didn’t actually design or manufacture this knife, it’s a collaboration with Kizer knives, a well known Chinese knife manufacturer, and it was designed by Yue Don a Kizer knife designer. This should help ease the concerns of some of the Olight faithful on Facebook who were concerned that Olight should stick to making flashlights, etc.
Full disclosure I know Yue, and he has provided me a bit of inside info to share. Kizer is the only folding knife manufacturer in China to have ISO14001 (Environmental Standard), ISO9000 (Quality Standard) certified. The coatings used on the Drever are FDA certified so it’s safe to use with food.
Packaging & Accessories
Olight does packaging well, and the knife is no different. You have a nice true to size color photo of the light on the front slip cover and a full set of details on the back. Inside you a nice nylon and velcro slip with Oknife embroidered on it and felt inside. Inside you have a sleeve for the copper colored challenge coin. It has heft to it, but I don’t think it’s actual copper. Olight seems to be getting into the challenge coin with a few models recently. The other accessories include a gray microfiber cloth and the manual with some care directions.
Stats & Versions & Size Comparison
The knife itself weights 3.42oz, thanks to skeletonized scales, and comes in at 4.5” in length with a 3.49” blade, so just under my city/states legal limit. I measure it as 0.52” thick so not the thinnest knife in the world but I haven’t had an issue with the smoother contoured G10 scales in my pocket or hand. So it’s a large knife blade wise, but not too bad in the pocket.
The knife is using Bohler’s N690 with a full flat grind, which is a new steel for me, I have read up on it online and for a conventionally produced steel (Not powered metallurgy) people seem to like it. It will take a very fine edge, and hold it reasonably well, some suggest slightly better then 154CM or VG10, while being very stainless, so it should make a decent food prep steel.
Out of the box it came pretty sharp, and I have no need to sharpen it currently, but I am excited to sharpen and put a mirror edge on it with my TS Prof Kadet sharpening system. For the price range here, I think it’s a solid choice and should be easy to sharpen. It’s a liner lock, made of 3CR13 Stainless with the scales being G10.
There are two versions, available currently, a Blackwash blade, with blue pivot and clip, or the limited edition blue scales, pivot, clip and stonewashed satin blade that I have here. Each knife is serialized on the blade on the show side.
Here are a few photos of how it compares to other knives in this price range/size that I have.
How it feels in my hands and pocket
Ergonomically I like how it fits in my medium sized hands when open and closed. I have no obvious hotspots when gripped firmly. When open you can choke up easily with the large finger choil on the blade, or hold entirely on the handle. I could see if you had large hands, it might be a little small.
In my pocket
As far as how it carries, I really like they went with a deep carry clip, it’s right side, tip up carry only on this model. The flipper tab hasn’t grabbed my hand or other stuff in my pocket. I wouldn’t mind a bit more tension on the clip or texture on the G10 to make it just slightly more secure in my pocket.
Action
The knife is running on bearings, and has 2 main deployment methods, you have the short flipper tab with jimping on the tab or thumb studs on both sides. I found the initial detent to be very positive, and it taking a decent amount of force to get going with the flipper, that said it’s still easy to open, just more force than normal. Hopefully this will break in more.
I am able to deploy the thumb studs easily. Thumb studs are not my favorite way to deploy most knives but it works here very well. It floats nicely when opening, and after some use is easily drops shut without any wrist action, hard to film with the angle I have here. Centering when closed is spot on, and there is no blade play when open. I found the lockbar easy to get to with the G10 contouring as well as the texture on the lock bar.
Conclusion
I think Olight was smart here to partner with Kizer to produce and design a really nice knife from day 1. This allows Olight to keep up their reputation for making quality products and designs. The experience with production and design here are obvious in my opinion. As competitive as the knife world is, especially at this price point, it was a good business decision. Quality is quite good, centering was spot on and the knife is solid when deployed. Hopefully it’s a partnership that will continue and we see other designs in the future.
I won’t lie, I like this knife, this price range has a lot of competition but this is a serious contender. For me it fits well in the hand and pocket, the full flat ground sheepsfoot blade, performs well too. This should be a blade shape that’s easy for anyone to sharpen on any system or stone too.
I don’t have much to say here in terms of negatives for the MSRP price of $69.95 with a sale price of $52.46. The detent is pretty strong when using the flipper tab. The pocket clip is tip up, right hand carry only, which some people may not like. The blue scales make for a lot of blue on the knife, and I wish they were a bit darker in color.
The good news is the Black Drever is in stock currently. Hopefully the success here means we will get some special edition colors (Orange scales?), and maybe other knife designs in the future.
If you do decide to pick one up make sure you use my code LQ20 to save 20% off the regular price. That code is good anytime on regularly priced flashlights and accessories too. https://bit.ly/OlightLQ
Today I have a shortened review of the new Thrunite Catapult Mini, a handheld thrower running an Osram LED and a 18350 battery. While not super bright in number off lumens, the light really throws well for its very small size. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to take a quick look at and review.
Packaging is the standard Thrunite box. Here is a photo of all the accessories the light comes with. It’s nice to see them include the spare button and port covers still, that’s not something every manufacture is still doing in 2021.
Short overview of construction
The Catapult mini is available in 2 colors black and gray, and I have gray here. It’s made from 6061 T6 aluminum and nicely anodized. Despite it’s small size, they didn’t skimp out on machining quality. The light separates into 3 pieces easily, and it does stand on it’s flat, non magnetic tail. The body tube has the squares milled into it like we saw on the Thrunite TT20 but deeper, and it’s non reversible.
The body head section uses the standard Thrunite button with LED indicator in the center, and USB-C charging port opposite with a silicone cover. The head itself is the largest part of the light, with a small flat bezel. The bezel does unscrew easily to remove the lens and optic, which should make this light fairly easy to mod if you wish.
The Lens itself is covered by glass, with a plastic TIR style optic below. This optic reminds me of some of them I have seen on some of my larger Acebeams as well, it helps diffuse the beam a bit but still create that nice hot center and throw.
Comparison with other lights
LED & Beam
The light is using an Osram KW.CSLNM1.TG in Cool white, but to my eyes it’s definitely more neutral than cold. The beam is extremely focused, it has the slightest amount of spill that fades very smoothly without artifacts. It’s a great beam profile for a mini thrower. No PWM was observed on any of the 5 modes.
Outputs are listed officially at
Turbo – 680 Lumens
High – 235 Lumens
Medium – 96 Lumens
Low – 21 Lumens
Firefly – 0.5 Lumens
Strobe – 680 Lumens
89,600 Candela
Night Shots
Heat and Runtime
Turbo on this light lasted for 1 minute before step down, maximum temp was reached at 1:30 at 35C so it gets warm pretty quickly but not in the danger zone. From there the light steps down to about 35% relative output where it will run for 2 hours before running in firefly mode for another 30 minutes or so. Total runtime was 2:30:00. Nothing here surprising.
UI & Recharge
The UI here is standard Thrunite, 3 main modes with firefly at the bottom, and turbo at the top with memory for the main modes. Long press from off to access firefly, double click to access turbo, triple click to access strobe.
Recharging is accomplished with the onboard USB-C port. It is incompatible with C to C charging or PD charging and requires an A to C charging cable that’s supplied. This is disappointing in 2021. Charging is on the conservative time, it took 2 hours even to charge the included 1100mAh 18350 battery from LVP at 3.035V to full at 4.145v. Total charge rate was about 0.6A. While charging you can use all modes on the light.
One quick note about the battery, it has the positive and negative terminal on the one end of the battery like you see with many brands these days. However in this case you don’t actually need it to use or charge the battery in the light. That’s great news. I tested with a flat top unprotected Keeppower battery and had no issues.
Conclusion
Pocket thrower flashlights seem to be the popular type this year. I found the Thrunite Catapult Mini to be a good performer, especially for it’s size. While not the brightest in terms of lumens it really does throw impressively. I seem to say this a lot but non flashlight people will be impressed with how far you can reach with such a small light. I remember using a 6D Cell Maglight as a kid because it could go so far, it was huge and weighed a ton. This little light outperforms it in all ways, at a pretty affordable price.
I do wish Thrunite would go back to offering more Neutral and even Warm LED tints when they launch new products. They were one of the only manufactures doing this but have seemed to get away from it recently. That said I would call the tint here pretty neutral, so about perfect despite the box saying cool white.
I like the Thrunite Catapult Mini and can recommend it. Everyone needs a pocket thrower, and this is a good choice thats a lot of fun, and comes in a color other then black, if you want that. Thrunite has good customer support too should you ever need it, and best yet it’s on sale for around the $40 price point at the time of filming this video. So if your interested please check the link in the description to see where you can purchase it at.
Get the Thrunite Catapult Mini on Amazon (Save 20% by clicking the coupon on the page)
If you follow my channel you know I have reviewed the Original Olight Warrior Mini, and it’s past issues. You will also know I reviewed it’s successor the Olight Warrior Mini 2 just last month. Today I am looking at one of the special edition “Four Elements” versions of the Olight Warrior Mini 2 made of titanium, that will be on Olights July flash sale starting on July 26th at 8pm Eastern time. This is their biggest sale of the year with upto 50% off select models, and some new stuff. The Titanium Warrior Mini 2 will sell out fast, so let’s take a quick look at how these differ from the aluminum models and take a quick look at another new Olight product the X9R Cell. Thanks to Olight for sending me this stuff.
10% OFF Coupon code: LQ10 Coupon Code will work during sales on non-sale listings only.
X9R Cell
I want to take a very quick look at the X9R Cell, a very small keychain light that’s modeled off of Olight’s much larger X9R. You can get an X9R Cell for free by logging into your Olight account, and it will be added to your cart. This thing is tiny, only 35mm in length, and 11mm at the head, and weights only 4.5g. It’s rated for 2.5 lumens for an impressive 30 hours. It’s using a very small CR425 customized battery that Olight is giving away free replacements till the end of 2023.
On that battery it sounds like Olight has shortened the positive contact pin to make it customized. Rechargeable versions of this battery can be found online, I am interested to see if people will be able to modify those to work here. My bet is it will work.
Olight has thought about the design here, when the head is screwed all the way onto the light, it’s off. You have to unscrew the light slightly to use it, this is nice because you are less likely to loose the head when it’s on your keychain since it can be tight. It’s a fun little novelty light that works, worth adding to your order, or probably paying the shipping if your collector.
Titanium Warrior Mini 2
Versions
On to the Titanium Warrior Mini 2. Only 4000 of each of the 4 colors will be made worldwide according to Olight and you can buy them individually or as a set. The first color is Fire which is what I have here, it’s anodized in a rainbow finish and has flames, as well as the word fire milled into the body tube section. Water is anodized in a dark blue, great looking color and similarly has the word water and waves milled into the light. Air is a silver titanium finish and had Air milled into it, Lastly is Earth, in a brown/bronze anodizing with a geometric shape and the word earth milled in. To be honest the words and symbols on the light I could do without, it feels a like Yu-Gi-Oh ish to me, especially since each comes with their own unique “trading card” and that’s not something I have ever been into.
Packaging & Accessories
The lights come with the an upgraded packaging that Olight does with their special editions, with updated pictures and text, and no specs on the back. Accessories that come with the light are the Warrior Mini 2 itself, Olight custom and proprietary 3500mAh 18650 battery (ORB-186C35), the MCC3A magnetic charger, lanyard, and carabiner style ring, Warrior trading card, as well as a manual.
Construction
The biggest difference in the construction of the lights is the material, with it being titanium here and the different colors of titanium that are offered. Each different color gets a different body texture milled into the light to suit the name and color. I am going to say neither are as grippy as the original aluminum model.
Other small differences are under the clip it has a slightly raised surface to take the wear. I like this modification. All other markings are the same, parts are interchangeable between the different models as well.
Size and Weight
Diameters and lengths are the exact same between the lights, but weights are where things differ. Most thing of titanium as being lighter, which isn’t actually true, it’s stronger for its weight in my applications when compared to aluminum. So the new Warrior Mini 2 in Titanium without a battery but with a clip comes in at 91.9g, where the aluminum light in the same configuration comes in at 70g. So Titanium here is actually 21.9g heavier. This isn’t something I noticed and may partially be down to the milling differences on the body too.
LED & Beam
There are no changes in the LED, Beam, or runtimes here. Olight’s using a timed stepdown mode so runtimes are the same between the lights as well. The LED being used in the Warrior Mini 2 is the SST40 in a 6000-7000k tint. It has a little green tinge on the lowest modes but once you apply more power that fades substantially. I have no problems with the SST40 LED but wish one of the neutral tint bins was used here. On special editions I think having a different LED option would be nice, wouldn’t a warm white be awesome for the “fire” model here?
The beam is good through the TIR optic despite having the proximity sensor taking up some of the available room. There is a glass lens here, instead of the one piece plastic Lens/TIR optic that the Warrior Mini used. This, combined with the proximity sensor should eliminate the melting lens and clothing issues the original light had.
Olight lists the official output modes as:
Turbo – 1750 – 500 – 200 Lumens with step downs.
High – 500 – 200 Lumens
Medium – 120 Lumens
Low – 15 Lumens
Moon – 1 Lumen
UI
The UI on the Warrior Mini 2 Titanium is the same that’s was on the Olight original Mini 2. It has 2 buttons for operation, first the two stage tail switch which is the more tactical operation, and then the standard silicone button up front for normal uses. It follows Olights basic UI for the most part.
When you half press the tail button, you get medium in configuration 1, and then turbo 1750 lumens when you full press. This is in configuration 1, In configuration 2 the tail switch goes to turbo on half press and strobe on full press.
UI is similar to other Olights but with some differences. Long press from Off to go to moon light mode, Double click to go to Turbo, and Triple click to go to strobe.There the front eswitch is mostly used as a mode switch but can be used to turn the light on and off from off as well.
The proximity sensor on the Warrior Mini 2 works much better than other models with the proximity sensor. What they did right was to give the programming the ability to step the light down to safe outputs and temps if the lens is obstructed, but then step back up the light to its previous level when that obstruction is removed. It’s super simple, but no previous Olights that I have reviewed with proximity sensors have worked this way. The sensor is also unable to be disabled on this light from what I can tell. One minor annoyance with the proximity sensor is it’s made testing runtimes very difficult because even in High the light will shut off after 1 minute when it detects an obstruction.
Recharging
Nothing new to report on the recharging front with the Warrior Mini 2. It comes with Olights newest MCC 3A charging system which is faster and denoted with the red ring inside. The magnetic charging system is convenient and easy but does require a proprietary battery (3500mAh in this case) and the Warrior Mini 2 is no different. The proprietary Olight battery goes with the positive terminal facing the head in this light. This battery doesn’t have a plastic ring that stands proud and can be charged in a conventional charger.
I saw total charging time take 2:35:00, and as usually my charging monitoring system doesn’t like the drops in current that the MCC chargers do so my graph is incomplete. Max charge rate I saw was 1.3A at 1:16:00 mark. Once full the battery measured 4.2145V. LVP was measured at 2.75V.
Conclusion
Overall the Warrior Mini 2 is a nice light, and a good upgrade over the original with more performance, and more importantly it fixes the flaws in the original light with the added proximity sensor. This makes for a better flashlight thats much safer to use. I just wish it wouldn’t have grown in length as much as it did. I do wish for the special edition here they choose to put in some special edition LED’s too but unfortunately we just get the standard SST40 in Cool white.
I am glad they have decided to come out with some special editions of this light in titanium, one of my favorite materials. I expect because of that and the limited numbers of production these will sell out fast. While the body milling isn’t my favorite, I do like the anodizing choice here and the price on this flash sale isn’t much higher for Titanium.
Flash Sale
So if you like the colors, the milling, or titanium you will want to be waiting at your computer or phone when this flash sale starts tonight July 26th at 8pm Eastern Time. Remember they have other lights on sale, up to 50% off and a few more new colors and new products like the OPen 2 Pro with a green laser, a new weapon light, and new colors on the X9R, and Olight Warrior Turbo. Remember to use my link in the description below to help support the channel, and if you miss the flash sale you can still save 10% by using my discount code LQ10 on non sale priced items.
Today I have a fun one, with a new LEP light from Lumintop with the THOR. It has a Turboglow ring in the head as well as little viewing windows and a tail cap with colored LED’s. Thanks to Lumintop for sending this to me to look at and review. I will have links to where you can pick it up from them in the description below as well as a coupon code where you can save 21% on this fun LEP light which is nice.
I received a retail package, that was Lumintops cardboard box with an oversleve. The outside showed the outline of the light, and the options that were inside on the side. Accessory wise mine was pretty basic, just the light, 18650 extension tube and the basic manual.
Construction
The Thor is available in a couple different material configurations. You have titanium options with 2 different finishes, and an aluminum model with 4 different color options (Black, Grey, Sand, Raw). I have the Grey color here which is the same as what the FW3A came in originally if you have one of those.
As usual let’s start at the tail cap, the light will tail stand, and it has a machined metal mechanical button with the “old” bunny logo. Surrounding it is a clear plastic ring. Under the ring are RGB LED’s that fade to Green, Yellow, Red, and Blue over about 30 seconds. It adds to the fun in my opinion. Below are some tear drop shapes, and a small place for a lanyard to attach. Inside there is a spring.
Depending on which configuration your running there may or may not be a body section. With the titanium version of the light, it includes the 18350 extension, with the aluminum version it’s an add on. If you do opt for it it allows you to run 18650 batteries too. There is a square knurling pattern milled into it for a little style and grip.
The head section is the rest of the light, You have an interesting add on style ring which on my light is gold in color. This features the name and serial number of the light. Fit on mine isn’t great so it spins freely but it’s also completely removable if you wish. The head has a little more of the square milled knurling and then grows for the emitter like a traditional flashlight shape.
What’s not so traditional are the little windows that are cut into the bezel, what looks to be preinstalled tritium is actually little vial sized pieces of Turboglow in Red and White. When the light is on, light leaks into these and charges them creating a neat effect that makes the light look really cool when in use and after for a little while.
The front of the light has a glass lens, underneath is a glow ring around the outside edge of the same Turboglow material. Underneath is a biconvex lens made of plastic, and below that is the emitter. The front of the light comes apart easily, but I don’t recommend it as it’s very hard to get back together without getting dust inside.
Size and Weight
Minimum diameter is 25.6mm, Maximum diameter was 41.5mm. Length in the 18350 configuration is 116mm, with the 18650 extension it’s 148.4mm. Weight in 18350 configuration with a battery inside was 194.4g. Weight with the 18650 tube and battery came in at 233.6g. The light is impact resistant to 1m, and IPX8 water rated.
Retention
Not much to say here, the light has a lanyard attachment point in the tail cap. It’s too small for paracord to fit but fine for a split ring and then paracord. No lanyards or holsters come with the light in the box.
Emitter & Beam
The THOR is using a LEP or Laser Excited Phosphor. It’s a technology I have covered in the past but it’s similar to a blue laser shining onto a piece of phosphor to produce white light. In the Thor the tint here is better then my Jetbeam and Astrolux LEP lights, in my opinion because it’s less cool white, and more neutral, almost slightly warm when you look at them side by side. The beam is pretty small with very little spill and this is exactly what you want out of a LEP. While not many lumens it makes up for it with extreme 769,500 Candella, and a 1800m max claimed distance. No PWM is visible during the use of the light.
Heat & Runtime
I tested the light both with 18350 (Keeppower 1100mAh), and an 18650 (Sony VTC6 3000mAh) batteries. With the 18350 runtime at high mode was stable for right at 5 minutes, before taking a stepdown to about 30% relative output that was mostly flat out to 52minutes. Total runtime was 57 minutes, with maximum heat being found at 6 minutes at 42C .
With the 18650 it was a very similar story, Turbo lasted the same amount of time, the s tepdown roasted out to 2:45:00, and total runtime ended at 3:07:00. Temps were a a little higher at 51C and peaked near the end of the runtime here.
You don’t need a high amperage battery here, as max power draw is only 9W. You do get quite a bit more runtime with an 18650 battery so that’s worth doing if you want/need that.
UI
The UI on the Thor is very simple, it’s an easy 3 mode light with a reverse clicky mechanical button and linear progression from Low to Medium, to High. The light will always turn on in the next mode. The button itself is quite easy to press and change modes by half clicking, almost too easy. There is no flashing or blinking modes, and I can’t find a way to disable to LED’s in the tail cap either if you wanted.
Conclusion
This is my favorite LEP light that I have so far, because it’s emitter is a more neutral, almost warm color and it’s performance is great, especially when your running the 18350. That said I would definitely recommend adding the 18650 extension it to your order if you decide to buy this light in aluminum. Really for this price it should be included.
I still maintain LEP lights are not super practical, but they are a lot of fun and great for specialized applications. This is a super compact thrower with great performance without the heat limitations that a lot of the smaller LED based throwers have. It’s a step above the other LEP lights that I have tested this year. While I love titanium the increased cost here is hard to justify, my recommendation is to choose aluminum and pick one up.
Don’t forget that coupon code in the description below that Lumintop has given me to save 21% on this light through September 30th 2021.
Today I have a new Quad LED light from Nitecore with the P20iX that produces up to 4000 lumens on a 21700 battery and it features onboard USB-C charging with Tactical and Daily modes. Thanks to Nitecore Store for sending this to me to look at and review.
Packaging is a step up, with a nice high quality box full of information. Inside the light is packed in foam with all the accessories underneath. It reminds me a bit of how Olight does theirs. Accessories include a branded lanyard, Extra Oring, USB-A to C Charging cable, Pocket clip, CR123A battery adapter, hard plastic belt holster and a Nitecore specific 5000mAh 21700 battery.
Construction
Machining on the aluminum light is good here, and the anodizing is high quality. The tail cap has a large off center mechanical on/off button that’s covered with a textured silicone boot. It stands proud making the light unable to tail stand. Your mode switch is a flat, textured area. This is flush, but protected by the outer rim of the tail cap. For me this was harder to find in the dark and hard to actuate with gloves on.
The body has some tame knurling on it, the pocket clip attaches near basically the middle of the light in either direction. The head does not separate from the body. On the head you have a large antiroll ring to keep the light in place on it’s side. You do have a blue LED that’s built into the side of the light that’s used as a charging indicator, similar to the MH11 I reviewed earlier this year. The charging port has a large silicone cover and it fits tightly.
At the front the light has a short bezel that doesn’t stand out from the lens very far, it has 3 protruding areas each with a small ceramic balls in them, I presume for striking glass that law enforcement may use. I believe the bezel is a little different material due to it’s slightly different finish. The lens is glass, and underneath there is a custom quad silver reflective optic for the 4 leds.
Size & Weight
I measured the length of the light at 140mm. Minimum width on the body at 25.4mm, maximum diameter on the head at 32mm. Weight with the included battery in the light and no other accessories is 191.7g. The light is IPX68 water rated and drop rated to 2M.
Retention
The P20iX has a couple of retention options that come in the package. First is the lanyard which is primarily slip fit over the light or attached to the clip. The clip which is a press fit is fit down pretty low, which leaves a lot of the tail or the head of the light sticking up out of the pocket. This is disappointing to me personally. That said the plastic belt holster that the light comes with does a pretty good job if you want to carry the light on your belt or on a mole vest. The light clips in with the front bezel facing down.
LED & Beam
THe light has 4 Cree XP-L2 V6 Led’s in cool white with a maximum output of 4000 lumens. The tint here is cool white, likely around 6000k or a bit higher. The beam is somewhat compromised in this quad. The hot spot is pretty round but it’s not a smooth transition in the spill and you do get some Cree Rainbow. The very outer edges are a bit rough. That said it’s hard to nice in real world use at distance.
Heat and Runtime
For my Heat and runtime I ran the light with the included 21700 battery. The light will run on 2x CR123 batteries in the included adapter if you wish but you generally get less output and for a shorter time. With the 21700 on turbo the light lasted only 30 second before step down. This was disappointing especially since the heat during this time at least measured externally didn’t amount to much. Step Down was pretty significant as you can see from the graph. As the light continued to run heat pretty quickly increased though up to about 55C, at about 21 minutes. Thermals eventually regulated at about 25C for the duration of the runtime. The light went into it’s lowest mode after about 3 hours of runtime where it continued for another 2hr and 20 minutes for a total runtime of 5:20:00.
I did another runtime graph with comparing runtimes of the 4 highest output modes, Turbo, Highest, High and Medium. The 3 highest don’t have a ton of overall impact on output. Medium ran for considerably longer, a solid 8 hours without stepdown.
UI
The P20iX has 2 modes, a Daily mode which it ships in with 5 individual modes, and then a Tactical mode with 4 individual modes. To switch between them, you turn the light on, press and hold the mode button on the tail and unscrew the light. It will flash Once for Daily, or twice for tactical and then you screw the light back together for it to be remembered.
Daily mode is where I am using the light most. In this mode the light starts in the lowest output and goes up with each press of the mode button. It has memory so you can shut the light off and when it comes back on it will be in the previously used mode. This mode has outputs of 2,50,300,850,1700 lumens, and then to get turbo (4000 lumens) you hold the mode button in and it works in a momentary manner. Double click this mode button to go to strobe in momentary.
Tactical mode is similar but it goes from highest output including turbo down, and only has the 4 brightest modes.
Recharging
The light features a USB-C port on the side covered by a tightly fitting silicone rubber cover. I used the included 5000mAh 21700 battery to run my charging tests and found total charge time took 3hr and 54 min. Max charge rate I saw was 2A. The light will charge via USB-C PD without issue. While charging the battery in the light, it’s not possible to use the light at the same time. The LED on the side will blink when charging and go solid when charged. When a battery is inserted it will also blink the voltage.
The included battery looks to be custom with a negative terminal on the positive end. It’s a long protected battery with a shallow button top. It fits in my Vapcell S4 Plus charger and works just fine there. Due to that length I wasn’t able to find another battery I had that fit this light
Conclusion
This is a pretty nice high power flashlight from Nitecore. I like that it has a pretty practical daily mode, and that it’s not all tactical. It’s an interesting choice to have Turbo be only in momentary in daily too. I do wish Turbo had more runtime before step down though.
The clip on belt attachment here works well, and I suspect that or in a bag is how most would carry this light. For me the pocket clip is super impractical due to it being so far down the light, and that’s a disappointment.
I wish the battery was more universal, but this semi proprietary format with the protected batteries and positive and negative terminals on on side of the light seems to be the way most manufactures are going with their 21700 light that have onboard charging. It’s a disappointing industry trend in many enthusiasts minds. To be clear this is an industry thing, not just Nitecore.
Overall this is a solid light for general purpose and has some nice tactical features without being 100% tactical. I can see this being a good option for many if you don’t mind the cool white LED’s or short turbo runtime.
Todays’ video is on the brand new Olight Warrior Mini 2. Olight took feedback from the community on the original Warrior Mini, which I have done 2 previous videos on, and made some changes for the Warrior Mini 2. The Mini 2 follows in a similar manner on how Olight upgraded the S2R Baton II, into the Baton Pro with it gaining in length and features. Olight did send the new Warrior Mini 2 to me to review it and help promote their flash sale that starts tonight at 7pm Eastern Time. I will explain the sale further on in this review, but do know that if you’re interested in anything, using my link below will help the channel, and if you’re watching after the sale is over, I will have a code below where you can save 10% off regular prices. This will be a longer review, but it has chapters so make sure to skip around to see the parts your most interested in.
10% OFF Coupon code: LQ10 Coupon Code will work during sales on non-sale listings only.
A little bit about that flash sale before we get into the review. It starts June 17th at 7pm Central time and it runs for 24 hours. You can get the Black or Tan Warrior Mini 2 for 35% off $67.46 during that time. They will also have a Warrior Mini 2 Mountain Sky limited edition color for $71.21. There are bundles for all 3 with the i3T Mountain Sky edition too for a few more dollars. Other sale items include the Odin which I have reviewed previously, the new Olantern Mini, and some Mega packs of Olight products. If you order during the flash sale you will also get a free Olight Fathers day Mini tool.
Packaging & Accessories
Standard Olight packaging applies here with the white boxes, and nice glossy photo, and full of tons of information on the back. Inside is a pull out try with the light including the yellow read me card to help you get the basics of your light down and ensure success.
Accessories that come with the light are the warrior Mini 2 itself, Olight custom and proprietary 3500mAh 18650 battery (ORB-186C35), the MCC3A magnetic charger, lanyard, and carabiner style ring as well as a manual.
Construction
Construction quality is typical Olight, quality machining, fit and finish with the design and anodizing here. The tail is a one piece design with the body tube, so the battery goes in only from the head side. The button on the rear is all metal exterior construction and features the tri lug design we have seen on other recent “tactical models allowing the button to be pressed more easily with gloves. It’s also magnetic but not strong enough to hold the light horizontally on the few painted metal surfaces I tested, it does tail stand though. The button itself is spongy, and fairly stiff. It’s a two stage actuation which I like quite a bit from a UI perspective but it takes a bit of muscle memory to know how hard to press to get into that first lower output mode.
The texture on the body is aggressive but not sharp in the hand. I really like the feel of it. The downside is it’s aggressive enough to tear up pockets with pulled in and out during repeated use. Threads are smooth, square cut and nicely greased. Up until this point it’s all the same as the Warrior Mini. The one difference on the body tube is the addition of a pocket/lanyard clip indention at the rear of the light. I’ll talk about the options this opens up during the retention section of the review.
The head internally has a single short spring in the center, and then a ring with pogo pins for making contact with the proprietary batteries negative terminal on the top. This is the same basic design as the Warrior Mini, and the heads are in fact interchangeable. On the exterior the clip is captured. The button is the same as Olight has used in recent models with the LED underneath to indicate battery charge status. It can display, Green, Orange, and Yellow.
The head is what’s the most different on the Warrior Mini 2, over the outgoing model. It’s longer overall, with an aluminum bezel that protects the glass lens (yes). Inside is still a TIR style optic, but a little different style, it’s deeper and has a clear center instead of a bubble center. There is also the proximity sensor in the bezel, it doesn’t have a noticeable effect on beam quality.
Is it Safe?
Since I know this is what a lot of you are wondering I will make it it’s own section but talk more about how the proximity sensor and UI works in the LED and UI sections. The video is really best for this part where I demonstrate all this, so make sure to check that out. So let’s take a black synthetic sock and put it over the lens of the light to show what happens and that this one won’t melt any clothing. I will speed this footage up a bit to show that after stepdown the light will shut off after 1 minute if the lens is still blocked. I wasn’t able to get anything to make the tail cap turn the light on with a high resistance metal object. I tried Keys, Ball Chain, Coins, etc.
Size and Weight
I measured the overall length at 118mm, minimum diameter at the tail at 23.3g, and maximum diameter at the head at 25mm.Weight with the battery and main pocket clip installed is 120g. The light is IPX8 water rated and drop rated for 1.5M. So the light grew in length by 11mm and weight by 15g over the original Warrior Mini that I have in the same accessory configuration.
Retention
You have some new retention options from Olight with the Warrior Mini 2, First up is the pocket clip, this is similar to the one on the original Warrior mini, being that it’s a dual direction clip and can be used to clip onto a hat to use as a make shift headlamp, but the new clip on the Mini 2 is longer by 13mm. It can also now mount on the rear of the light if you wish for a no show deep carry carry. In the top position the clip is captured and won’t rotate, but when mounted on the tail cap it can rotate. The fit here is tight though so it takes effort.
It also has a clip style attachment for a lanyard point which can be mounted anywhere the clip can be mounted too. You can use the included lanyard here or on the clip if you wish. Or you can use the new Carabiner style ring and put a finger through it so you don’t drop the light. Both of these retention options will fit on either the top or the bottom of the light.
LED & Beam
The LED being used in the Warrior Mini 2 is the SST40 in a 6000-7000k tint. It has a little green tinge on the lowest modes but once you apply more power that fades substantially. I have no problems with the SST40 LED but wish one of the neutral tint bins was used here.
The beam is good through the TIR optic despite having the proximity sensor taking up some of the available room. There is a glass lens here, instead of the one piece plastic Lens/TIR optic that the Warrior Mini used. This, combined with the proximity sensor should eliminate the melting lens and clothing issues the original light had.
Warrior Mini 2 on the Left, Original Warrior Mini on the Right
Overall the beam here is great for EDC in my opinion with a medium to large hot spot and quite a bit of spill, good for close up and medium to far range. With the tail switch this would be a good option to do a one handed grip of your weapon and have the light nearby in the opposite hand (Harris or Chapman style) if you wished. The one downside more of the light sticks up out of your pocket here with heads up carry which are key to those grips.
Olight lists the official output modes as:
Turbo – 1750 – 500 – 200 Lumens with step downs.
High – 500 – 200 Lumens
Medium – 120 Lumens
Low – 15 Lumens
Moon – 1 Lumen
Turbo sees a slight bump with the Warrior Mini 2 as does the step down modes in Turbo and High outputs. The stepdown upgrades are only 30 lumens so it’s really hard to notice but the extra 250 on Turbo you can notice slightly. There is a very small amount of PWM that I can detect with my oscilloscope on Low mode, on all the other modes no PWM was detected.
For Night Shots, please see the video.
Runtime & Heat
One minor annoyance with the proximity sensor is it’s made testing runtimes very difficult because even in High the light will shut off after 1 minute when it detects an obstruction doesn’t move. The white surfaces of my test rig reflect light well and make this feature turn the light off, and not step down. So I improvised and used a dark room with the light testing sensor about 3 feet away.
Olight lists turbo as lasting for 4 minutes on the Mini 2, and as you can see from my graph that lines up very well with what I saw, you only get top output for a minute before it steps down to 29% relative output over the next 3 minutes. After that it runs for 208 minutes (Exactly what the manual says) before stepping down 2 more times. Total runtime was 4:20:00. LVP on the battery was 2.75V. Max temp I saw during this time was 54C at 1:45, but during the bulk of the runtime the light ran about 41C. I also ran a runtime on medium and got numbers that were within 2% of Olight’s claimed runtime. I have every reason to believe Olight is telling the truth here.
UI
The UI on the Warrior Mini 2 is the same that’s was on the Olight original Mini. It has 2 buttons for operation, first the two stage tail switch which is the more tactical operation, and then the standard silicone button up front for normal uses. It follows Olights basic UI for the most part.
When you half press the tail button, you get medium in configuration 1, and then turbo 1750 lumens when you full press. This is in configuration 1, In configuration 2 the tail switch goes to turbo on half press and strobe on full press.
UI is similar to other Olights but with some differences. Long press from Off to go to moon light mode, Double click to go to Turbo, and Triple click to go to strobe.There the front eswitch is mostly used as a mode switch but can be used to turn the light on and off from off as well.
The proximity sensor on the Warrior Mini 2 is the first time they have got it right in my opinion and I have not wanted to disable or remove it to make the light better. What they did right was to give the programming the ability to step the light down to safe outputs and temps if the lens is obstructed, but then step back up the light to its previous level when that obstruction is removed. It’s super simple, but no previous Olights that I have reviewed with proximity sensors have worked this way. The sensor is also unable to be disabled on this light from what I can tell. One minor annoyance with the proximity sensor is it’s made testing runtimes very difficult because even in High the light will shut off after 1 minute when it detects an obstruction.
I would be a fool` for not mentioning that the Warrior Mini 2 has a lockout mode after what happened with the original Warrior Mini. I am sure Olight would like me to mention you should use lockout when carrying this light in your pocket. The manual does mention to lock the light if it’s left unused or carried to avoid accidental activation. To enable lockout hold the front button for about 3 seconds, when off, moonlight will turn on and then off to let you know it’s activated. The same will deactivate it. You can’t mechanically unscrew the light to stop any parasitic drain on the light, the light will work if any threads are engaged in the head of it.
Recharging
Nothing new to report on the recharging front with the Warrior Mini 2. It comes with Olights newest MCC 2A charging system which is faster and denoted with the red ring inside. The magnetic charging system is convenient and easy but does require a proprietary battery (3500mAh in this case) and the Warrior Mini 2 is no different. The proprietary Olight battery goes with the positive terminal facing the head in this light though which isn’t always the case. This battery doesn’t have a plastic ring that stands proud and can be charged in a conventional charger like the Vapcel S4 Plus, or various Xtar chargers I have reviewed in the past. I did test the capacity of the included 3500mAh battery at 3398mAh so a little short of the rating but not too bad.
I saw total charging time take 2:35:00, and as usually my charging monitoring system doesn’t like the drops in current that the MCC chargers do so my graph is incomplete. Max charge rate I saw was 1.3A at 1:16:00 mark. Once full the battery measured 4.2145V. LVP was measured at 2.75V.
Pro’s
I like that you can mount the clip either near the front or the rear of the light but you pay in overall length.
Glass Lens = No melted lens issues
Proximity sensor here means the light isn’t going to melt clothing or damage itself, and the programming here is good
I couldn’t get the light to come on with stuff in my pocket on accident via the rear contacts.
New carry option with the ability to mount the clip on the rear of the light, and new retention options.
Con’s
Longer than the Warrior Mini, which makes it less appealing to EDC in my opinion, but it’s safer to carry too.
Still cool white only options
Name, I would have called this the Warrior Mini Pro to mirror what Olights done with the Baton line.
Conclusion
So if you follow this channel and I hope that you do, you will know I have done 2 previous videos on the previous model light, the Warrior Mini. Overall I liked the light but it had a few issues, that occurred when the light came on accidentally while in people pockets for various reasons. This resulted in melted lenses and a few melted pieces of clothing. Well with the Warrior Mini 2, Olight solved that problem by using a glass lens and installing a proximity sensor, and I think their implementation here of those is good.
On past Olight models, I have not been a fan of the proximity sensor, but on the Warrior Mini 2 I think they got the programming right to where it provides added protection so you don’t melt your clothing or burn yourself if the light comes on accidentally, but still let’s the light be useable since when the obstruction is removed from the lens the light goes back to its original brightness.
I wouldn’t have called this light the Warrior Mini 2, and instead called it the Warrior Mini Pro because it’s s similar upgrade on what Olight did with the S2R Baton II and Baton Pro, where output was increased as well as overall length. You don’t notice the brightness change much on the Warrior Mini 2 but the increase in length is noticeable, if you choose to EDC.
Overall the Warrior Mini 2 is a nice light, and a good upgrade over the original with more performance, and more importantly it fixes the flaws in the original light with the added proximity sensor. This makes for a better flashlight thats much safer to use. I just wish it wouldn’t have grown in length as much as it did.
So if you have made it this far you might be considering picking up this light, and if you are the flashsale that starts tonight June 17th will be the best time to pick up the light during Olights Flash sale and introduction of the Warrior Mini 2.
Sale Details
You have 3 colors of Warrior Mini 2 available on the sale. Black and Tan for $67.46 and Mountain Sky for $71.21. For about $4 more you can get a bundle with the I3T mountain sky edition too.
Odins are back in Black and gray for $118 and $125 respectively. There are bundle deals with Obulbs and the new Olantern Mini’s too.
Olantern Mini is being released for the first time in Black and Red for 25% off $44.96 and has a bundle option for the I1R 2 in Desert Tan.
There are also Mega Packs and Free tiers too to get free products or save more. Everyone who buys something will get a free Fathers day Multitool too.
Today I have the Astrolux WP1 LEP flashlight. It’s capable of 250,000 candela, and 480 lumens out of the included 21700 Liion battery and it’s UI is a control ring. If you have seen my review of the Jetbeam RRT M1X Raptor you might notice a few differences more on that further on in my review. Thanks to Banggood for sending this light to me and providing a discount for my viewers.
The Astrolux WP1 comes in a large plastic case with a handle, on the front is a large sicker showing the light and listing a few headlining stats. On the back is another sticker showing a runtime chart and links to various social media platforms.
As far as accessories the light comes with an unbranded 5000mAh, 21700mAh battery with MicroUSB recharging onboard, A basic lanyard, an extras bag with 2 red orings, and spare tail cap, manual and a basic holster.
Construction
Astrolux brought out 2 LEP style flashlights earlier in 2021 that appear to mirror the Jetbeam RRT M1X and M2S WP-RX, in physical appearance and closely in performance with the main difference being the engraving on the body. I suspect the parent manufacturer for Astrolux is Jetbeam. The anodizing Jetbeam useses is a somewhat distinct gray in the flashlight industry, and it’s being used here as well. Side by side they look the same anodizing wize.
Starting at the tail you have a forward click mechanical switch and 2 tails where you can attach a lanyard. It will tail stand but it’s not very stable. There is minimal knurling on the tail and body tube that add some grip. Threads are square cut, nicely greased and anodized.
You do have a rubber tactical ring which is nice to allow you to cigar grip the light if you wish. The body tube has flats milled in for the labels and a little added grip. The body tube is also removable from the head, but not reversible. I was able to swap around the head, body, and tail from the Jetbeam RRT M1X as well. The orings on the WP1 are the same distinct red color as the Jetbeam.
The head features the rotating ring controls, with a total of 5 detents that are just over 180 degrees in total movement. They feel ok, not super crisp but not mushy either. I like rotary control on a light like this, they are simple and they work great with gloves on which is important this time of year. The bezel of the light is non removable. It does stand proud of the “lens” and the cuts in the side allow for some light to leak when head down.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 158.3mm, minimum diameter at 24mm on the flats of the body, and maximum diameter of 36.7mm on the control ring. Weight with the supplied battery is 230g. The light is IPX8 Water rated. Here are few photos of similar lights or competitors that I own.
Retention
Retention options with the WP1 are the included lanyard which can be attached at the tail cap and then the holster. The holster has a velcro front cover and is made with a neoprene lined ballistic nylon. On the rear it has a belt loop that’s attached with a button and velcro.
Emitter & Beam
So instead of an LED, the WP1 uses a LEP or Laser Excited Phosphor. Astrolux calls this the WP-T2 LEP (Same as Jetbeam). LEP’s work by using a blue laser emitter on a layer of phosphor to create a “whitish” beam that is then sent through a convex lens.
The result is a beam that’s extremely concentrated. At 8ft it’s less than a 5 inch circle, it also has basically no spill like your traditional flashlight does. This concentrated beam does spread out a little at distance but it’s not as much and my night shots show that. When I compare it to my Jetbeam RRT M1X the beam here is larger, in shorter distances, but still quite small by LED flashlight standards. The tint here definitely has a blueish tint to it. There was no visible PWM to the eye or camera.
(Astrolux on the Left, Jetbeam on the Right)
Heat & Runtime
I expected that this light would produce more heat because of how intense it was but it doesn’t Maximum heat I saw was about 36C during testing, and that’s a regulated temp. With the smaller body it does get about 4 degrees warmer than the larger Jetbeam model. It does seem to have a timed stepdown, to 40% relative output after 3 minutes. Compared with other LED based throwers I have this is good, given the other LED based throwers generally produce a lot more heat.
Total runtime starting on high with the included fully charged 5000mAh battery was 5:14:00 with several step downs along the way. After 12 minutes your running at about 30% relative output but you can bump back up manually. When the light shut off I measured LVP at 2.974v. You don’t need a high output battery for this light either with the maximum amperage requirement I measured under 3A. So since this light is using a non proprietary button top protected battery (Long in length) you can choose based off of capacity rather then performance.
UI
The UI here is simple with the rotary switch at the front. It’s 5 position switch with detents at every point, total rotation is just over 180 degrees. Starting from the left most detent and working clockwise you have low, medium, high, strobe, SOS. The switch at the rear is a your on and off control without a momentary mode as it’s a forward clicky switch. Strobe is very fast here, almost to the point of it not being useful as a strobe.
Recharging
Recharging here is accomplished with the included unbranded (My guess is it’s the same battery Jetbeam supplies with their lights) 5000mAh 21700 battery. The battery itself has microUSB built into it, with a small LED at the positive side. Red when charging, green when charged. I would have loved to see USB-C instead here, especially on a premium light. It took a lengthy 7:31:00 to fully charge this battery which is quite slow, the fastest charge rate I saw was .75A, and it only decreased from there for the remaining 6 hours. Fully charged the battery measured 4.206V.
My recommendation would be to use your own charger like the Vapcell S4 Plus or Xtar VC4SL and charge at a more reasonable rate. This battery can very safely handle a 2A charge rate and that will cut the charge time to more than half. I tested the capacity of this battery with my VapCell S4 Plus charger at 4719mAh.
Pro’s & Con’s
Pro
Simple Name
Good size for in the hand use & filters are available to make the LEP more practical for more tasks
The control ring is easy to use especially with gloves
Beam here is wider and slightly more practical.
Con’s
Strobe is too fast
Wish it came with the optional diffusers to make it more practical
Not inexpensive.
LEP tint isn’t great, very cool white.
Conclusion
Given this lights apparent similarity with it’s sibling Jetbeams cousins, I would say go with whichever you can find the best deal on. Banggood is known for it’s coupons so it might end up being the Astrolux versions. From a physical and performance stand point I can’t tell a lot of difference. I don’t have both to do direct comparisons on but from reading in the forums and looking at them, and comparing the Astrolux WP1 to my Jetbeam RRT M1X Raptor I think they are likely the same.
The big difference between the two models are their size of head and a bit of styling. The Astrolux WP1 here is a much smaller design thats easier to fit in the hand
While LEP’s are really fun, and the performance is incredible, I struggle to find many uses for them in general. The hot spot here is a bit larger then my other LEP’s which makes it better, but realistically this isn’t something most people need and still quite small with no spill. It does work well for that smaller hand held search light application, signaling, and possibly on a hunting rifle at lower settings or with filters but this isn’t something you would want to take camping or be super useful in a power outage. That said it has pretty solid performance, and a LEP is something every flashlight obsessed individual should have in their collection.
I am able to deploy the thumb studs easily. Thumb studs are not my favorite way to deploy most knives but it works here very well. It floats nicely when opening, and after some use is easily drops shut without any wrist action, hard to film with the angle I have here. Centering when closed is spot on, and there is no blade play when open. I found the lockbar easy to get to with the G10 contouring as well as the texture on the lock bar. 
