Review Olight S10 L2 Baton, Beamshots and Video

Hello
Many of you are very familiar with this light.This is one of the smallest CR123 size lights and often used as EDC light.
Olight S10 is now upgraded with XM-L2 LED and has maximum output of 400 lumens.This is just great output of such a small light.
The user interface is also changed and now is even more convenient and easy to use.
I tested this light in the last month,I used it as EDC light and when I were outdoor late at night to take beamshots.Olight S10 L2 was very helpful light.


Simple and practical design with straight lines makes it excellent choice of an EDC flashlight.
Beautiful matte,black finish,excellent anodizing all over the body.
Big,convenient,easy to use 'electronic' type side switch.It has a quiet clicky sound.I like quiet switches.
Good sturdy pocket clip-removable.


The S10 L2 comes in a nice transparent plastic package.
Accessories-very nice lanyard,split ring,two spare O-rings,black silicon pad to replace the magnet in the tail(if you want to remove it),User Manual.



Specifications (from Olight website)
a)Aviation grade aluminum body, with anti-scratch type III hard anodizing.
b)Updated the LED to the latest Cree XM-L2.
c)There are four brightness levels: Moon-light, low, middle and high. These levels can be memorized when the light turned off; one special mode: strobe.
d)Under off status, single click will turn on the light, quick double clicking can get high brightness, triple-click enable strobe mode, while long time press enable moon light.
e)With strong magnet in the end of tail, the flashlight can be stick on the iron surface. The magnet can be removed and replaced by users.
f)Invertible U-shape embrace clip.
g)Stainless steel head ring, which can bear higher tensile impaction
h)Flat tail cap, can be easily head stood.
i)S10 has high efficient synchronous boost-buck driver circuit, perfectly support CR123A & RCR123A battery.
j)Time based thermal management, after lighting on high mode for 4.5 minutes, the output ramps down to 50% of high brightness to avoid overheating.

Dimension
Length 70,5mm
Diameter 23mm
Weight 42gr
Nice compact,short flashlight.

Flat tail cap for secure tail-standing.:thumbsup:



Compared to other CR123 EDC flashlights.
JETBeam RRT-0 and Sunwayman S10R.

Nitecore RCR123A on the left,AA battery on the right.


Nitecore RCR123A,Olight S10 L2,Sunwayman S10R,Jetbeam RRT-0,Klarus RS16,AA battery.





Very good machining.Excellent anodizing and knurling.I like the square shape knurling.Provides very good grip and is easy to clean.
Triangular-cut threads,very well made.Anodized for wear resistance.


There is a strong magnet under the spring in the tail.It gives a great possibility of attaching the flashlight to metal objects and hands free use.
The magnet can be easily removed with tweezers.

The battery tube is of good thickness.
Reverse polarity protection in the head.

The battery tube is sized for standard CR123A batteries and longer protected 16340 batteries don't fit.
I use a Nitecore NL166 battery.It has minimal dimensions for protected battery and fits well.

The S10 L2 is equipped with the latest and most efficient LED,Cree XM-L2.

Aluminum orange peel reflector for smooth floody beam.
Diameter 16 mm.
Ultra clear glass lens with anti-reflective coating.
Thick stainless steel bezel protects the glass and reflector from impact.

Perfectly centered LED.

Absolutely clean and clear glass lens.





User Interface
The UI is simple-convenient and easy to remember.
4 constant brightness modes and one flashing mode-Strobe (10Hz).
High 400 Lumens / 1h 15min
Mid 85 Lumens / 7,5h
Low 5 Lumens /108h
Moonlight 0,5 Lumens / 360h

Press the side switch to activate/deactivate the light.

Press and hold the switch to cycle thru the different brightness levels Low-Mid-High(repeating in this order).
To activate Strobe-quick double press from any mode.Press and hold the switch to return to the previously used mode.Short click will turn off the light!
Olight S10 L2 memorizes the last used mode and next time when you turn on the light,it will start with the last used mode.
It does not memorize Strobe mode.

There is a very nice feature in the new L2 version of the S10 flashlight for quick access to High and Moonlight mode.
From Off, press and hold the switch for 1 second to activate Moonlight mode.(Actually this is the only way to activate Moonlight mode)
From Off, quick double press activates High mode directly.It's a very useful EDC feature.:thumbsup:
There is also locking function. From OFF,press and hold the switch for more than a second (the Moonlight mode will start and stop) to lock the switch.
To unlock,press and hold for a second will activate Moonligh and the switch is then unlocked.(the flashlight comes always on Moonlight mode after unlocking)
This is good protection of accidental activating the light when carried in the pocket.

Runtime and measurements.

I tested the flashlight with a Nitecore RCR123A battery.
Battery voltage(no load)=4,16V
Current draw
I High= 960mA
I Mid= 156mA
I Low= 18mA
I Moonlight =8mA

When the light is off,it is actually in stand by mode and takes a little current 5 μA for that.This is a really low value,so it will not affect the battery lasting.

The S10 L2 makes a brightness step down after 4 minutes on High.
This is made to protect the flashlight from overheating.
After the step down the brightness is flat for about 45 minutes.Excellent result:thumbsup:
And then a little surprising cut-off due to the protection board of the battery.
Olight S10 has no low-voltage protection.If you use a rechargeable battery,it's good to keep it above the minimum voltage,
to prevent over-discharging the battery.

Measurements taken with a lux meter.

The four current draw levels in percentages.


HD Video
No voice,but added annotations.

Turn on the annotations.

Beamshots

The light from the XM-L2 LED used here is warmer tint than most flashlights I've tested.It is not clean white color.
Floody beam with big hotspot and quite enough throw for EDC use.The hotspot is very bright used at close distance.


1 meter,White wall,1/20 sec,WB Cloudy


Olight S10 L2 Low-Medium-High


Comparing to other flashlights. Distance 30 meters.





As usual I tested the waterproofness of the Olight S10 L2.
Waterproof IPX-8 rated.
Olight S10 successfully passed the test without any problem.No leaks,no fog under the lens.
Fully functional,even if it is wet.








The magnet in the tail provides many possibilities for attaching this small light to different objects.
This makes it very useful hands free light.






Olight S10 Baton has everything needed for a good EDC light-lightweight,very bright,easy to use,can be used with rechargeable or primary batteries,good pocket clip,excellent UI,4 useful brightness modes,nice compact design.
It is very nice EDC flashlight.



Thanks for reading!



Olight S10 L2 Baton was provided by Olight for test and review.

Thanks for the review. I like both the original S10 as the S10-L2, but the latter has a better UI indeed.

Very nice review FlashLion.

The S10-L2 is very tiny indeed when compared with other CR123 lights. If that is your battery of choice then there is no reason not to own one of these, or at the very least give it a shot. One of my favorite lights. The only thing missing is momentary (not possible with the press/hold function of accessing moonlight and subsequent electronic lockout) but then again maybe we will see an update M10 down the road to cover that.

It is what I carry...heck of a review. I may need to order a few more!!

Thanks for your comments!

I like flashlights with RCR123A battery,because these batteries are short and does not extend much the length of the flashlight,especially in the S10.It's a very nice short flashlight,easy to carry in pocket.
Olight M10 maverick is a good choice for people that like momentary on function.

My favorite EDC light is S10, but now i see that new S10 L2 is nice upgrade to it!
Thank You for this excellent review ;-)

Thank you very much for your review. This has proved very helpful for me, as this is a light I am looking at atm.


Tim


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Thank you very much for your review. It was a contributing factor in my decision to buy the Olight S10 L2 for my EDC light.

Thanks for that great review. I haven't purchased a "good" light in some time, but I have considered this one. You may have sold me.

Geoff

Thanks for the review. It was the final push I needed to ordered one.

wolfstyle

Realistically...what length of throw can one expect from this little light....50 meters ?

phosphor said:

Realistically...what length of throw can one expect from this little light....50 meters ?

Click to expand...

I will try it again this night,but it will be not very useful light at 50 meters.

EDIT: I tested again. Actually S10 does really good throw. I can see clearly objects at ~60 meters.Of course this is not a thrower flashlight,but has good amount of lumens that reach good distance.

After reading several reviews, I just purchased one on Amazon for $35.35 free shipping, no tax which is very reasonable.
My last few lights have been AA's but decided for the price I'd try the upgraded Olight S10 L2.

Thanks for the review, photos and videos.

What sold me on this light was its small size + packing a punch. And the combination of features:

• Tail stand capability
• High efficiency for the overall battery power -> lumens output
• Suited both for primaries and rechargables (RCR123)
• Magnet in the tailcap
• Nice design, reversible clip
• Moonlight mode
• Affordable

I've tried if it can be used as a bicycle light, and at least for me, the answer is yes. Even the "low" mode was sufficient. I have no way to measure this, but suspect the 5 lumens specified for this mode is actually a bit more - which I happen to like (that or my nightvision is really good oo: ).

Planning to use this light with rechargables, but as this is my first CR123A light, I had only one old CR123A primary, and another (also old) 3V lithium battery that was nearly the same size - marked "BR-2/3A". Yesterday I did some measurements with 2x AA sticking out the tube and a current meter in between. With no-load battery voltage of 2.5V, I got:

Moonlight mode: 5,4 mA = some 14 mW. Of course very weak light (but useful, with night-adjusted eyesight!). With a fresh CR123A primary, this should last for weeks.
Low mode: 27 mA = 68 mW. Enough for many tasks, should last around 50 hours (or more?) with a good CR123A. Not sure where Olight gets their 108 hours from, again I suspect my specimen puts out more than the specified 5 lumens in this mode (and thus draws more mA's).
Medium: 0,25A = 0,63W. Compared with a few other lights, lumens output looks about what's specified, more than enough for typical jobs I'd use this light for, and specified 7,5 hours runtime in this mode doesn't seem unreasonable. :thumbsup:
High mode: +/- 2A, probably with a significant dip in the voltage. Amazing if you realize most of that power ends up in a 5x5 mm square! Output in this mode very much depends on what the battery can pull. With the old CR123A's I had, there were varying differences between output in medium and high mode. With the experimental 2x AA setup, the output jumped up markedly. IMHO this mode is more useful for show than anything else as it will eat through batteries. But then again, you never know when a flood of light comes in handy.

Biggest downsize to me is price/availability of the batteries. But the smaller size still made me prefer it over the S15 Baton. Coupled with the excellent build quality, I can only conclude:

FlashLion said:

Olight S10 Baton has everything needed for a good EDC light-lightweight,very bright,easy to use,can be used with rechargeable or primary batteries,good pocket clip,excellent UI,4 useful brightness modes,nice compact design.
It is very nice EDC flashlight.

Click to expand...

Second that!

What is the power draw after minute 8 of high mode?

Measured again with 2x AA (Panasonic NiMH) sticking out the back, 10 minutes @ high mode.

Current quickly dropped to ~1.5A, and stayed there for about 5 min. Then over the course of a few minutes, I saw it gradually dropping to ~0.94A. Which must be the time-based cutoff to protect the LED from overheating (indeed the light's head was pretty warm at this point).

Kept it up until 10 minutes in (current stayed ~0.94A), and immediately after the no-load battery voltage was 2.44V - very close to what I started with. So power draw would be ~3.7W, after 5 min. dropping to ~2.3W and staying there.

Note that these current readings include a voltage drop over the current meter, which is non-negligable in this case (maybe 0.1~0.2V or thereabouts). And battery voltage of course is lower under load - but probably not much with the NiMH's used here. A better measurement setup would be possible, but I think the above gives a pretty good picture.

Don't think a single CR123A could keep this up for long. Olight states 1h 15min for a 3V, 1500 mAh battery @ high mode, which would seem reasonable given above readings. I've found that when the battery voltage drops to ~2.0V, you can expect moonlight output and/or flickering.

silverspurr said:

After reading several reviews, I just purchased one on Amazon for $35.35 free shipping, no tax which is very reasonable.
My last few lights have been AA's but decided for the price I'd try the upgraded Olight S10 L2.

Thanks for the review, photos and videos.

Click to expand...

This is a very good deal! :thumbsup:

RetroTechie said:

Measured again with 2x AA (Panasonic NiMH) sticking out the back, 10 minutes @ high mode.

Current quickly dropped to ~1.5A, and stayed there for about 5 min. Then over the course of a few minutes, I saw it gradually dropping to ~0.94A. Which must be the time-based cutoff to protect the LED from overheating (indeed the light's head was pretty warm at this point).

Kept it up until 10 minutes in (current stayed ~0.94A), and immediately after the no-load battery voltage was 2.44V - very close to what I started with. So power draw would be ~3.7W, after 5 min. dropping to ~2.3W and staying there.

Note that these current readings include a voltage drop over the current meter, which is non-negligable in this case (maybe 0.1~0.2V or thereabouts). And battery voltage of course is lower under load - but probably not much with the NiMH's used here. A better measurement setup would be possible, but I think the above gives a pretty good picture.

Don't think a single CR123A could keep this up for long. Olight states 1h 15min for a 3V, 1500 mAh battery @ high mode, which would seem reasonable given above readings. I've found that when the battery voltage drops to ~2.0V, you can expect moonlight output and/or flickering.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the useful info!
:welcome:

Thanks for the review! I love your photos that turn into moving pictures!!

Mine will be here tomorrow. I got lucky as far as the 16340 goes! I bought the N'core NL166 and saw that is the one you chose because of its great fit! Glad I did not get one of the longer cells!

I have Two other Olights and like them very much! The M3X and M22.

Olight and Fenix are my favorite manufacturers.

Finally, the S10 [L2] will be torch number 21!!! One week prior to my First "Flashaholic Anniversary"!!!

Capolini said:

Thanks for the review! I love your photos that turn into moving pictures!!

Mine will be here tomorrow. I got lucky as far as the 16340 goes! I bought the N'core NL166 and saw that is the one you chose because of its great fit! Glad I did not get one of the longer cells!

I have Two other Olights and like them very much! The M3X and M22.

Olight and Fenix are my favorite manufacturers.

Finally, the S10 [L2] will be torch number 21!!! One week prior to my First "Flashaholic Anniversary"!!!

Click to expand...

Congrats :thumbsup: Your collection grows really fast.
You made a good choice with Olight S10. It's very useful light.I use my S10 everyday,outdoor and indoor.It has the best UI for using with just one switch.
Nitecore NL166 is my favorite RCR123 battery.Fits in all flashlights that I have and performs excellent in S10.The protection circuit is very well/symmetrically packed.