Olight reliable?

Just looking for input from you all. I had an S10RII baton that died on me after taking it off the charger, so I returned it because thankfully I was still within my amazon return period by a few days. So I went with a s1 because after doing research I assumed the S10RII died due to the built on charging.

This morning I had my s1 on moonlight mode and it shut off for no reason. I've never dropped or abused it, and I've had it for 2 weeks. I thought I might be half asleep since it is early by me, so I turned it back on in moonlight, and it shut off a few minutes later, and all I was doing was tail standing it on a counter. Since then I've had it on moonlight for a half hour and counting and it's good, but I am very concerned. What if it goes out in a critical situation?

I love the light. I love the UI, the size, the magnet, and the power. I showed it off to some friends last night and they were blown away. I really don't want to return it, but for a $50 light, it should NEVER randomly shut off. If I do return it I'm done with olight. The S10RII was a fluke I thought, but now I think it's poor quality by the brand.

I've done countless hours of research on what is the best EDC light, and the s1 fits my needs, but shutting off randomly is a big deal. What do you all suggest? Stick with the s1 and hope it doesn't happen again or find a new edc? If a new edc, what would be the closest thing to a s1 but more reliable?

The same has happened to me with a Fenix,seemed I had a dodgy cell,swapped it over and has been ok since.As it is only a couple of weeks old and if you are sure the cell is ok you could always send it back as I probably would.

TA_ls1 said:

Just looking for input from you all. I had an S10RII baton that died on me after taking it off the charger, so I returned it because thankfully I was still within my amazon return period by a few days. So I went with a s1 because after doing research I assumed the S10RII died due to the built on charging.

This morning I had my s1 on moonlight mode and it shut off for no reason. I've never dropped or abused it, and I've had it for 2 weeks. I thought I might be half asleep since it is early by me, so I turned it back on in moonlight, and it shut off a few minutes later, and all I was doing was tail standing it on a counter. Since then I've had it on moonlight for a half hour and counting and it's good, but I am very concerned. What if it goes out in a critical situation?

I love the light. I love the UI, the size, and the power. I showed it off to some friends last night and they were blown away. I really don't want to return it, but for a $50 light, it should NEVER randomly shut off. If I do return it I'm done with olight. The S10RII was a fluke I thought, but now I think it's poor quality by the brand.

I've done countless hours of research on what is the best EDC light, and the s1 fits my needs, but shutting off randomly is a big deal. What do you all suggest? Stick with the s1 and hope it doesn't happen again or find a new edc? If a new edc, what would be the closest thing to a s1 but more reliable?

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sounds like you're activating the timer feature

RTFM

I probably will send it back. I shook it a bit just now and it turned off again. I tested the tail cap and tightened it very hard and so far so good, so if the issue is the tailcap getting slightly loose that's also a big problem. If the tail cap loosens at all with daily use and the light stops working, I can't go with it.

Overclocker said:

sounds like you're activating the timer feature

RTFM

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Timer feature? What is that? I'm not aware of a timer on this light.

TA_ls1 said:

Timer feature? What is that? I'm not aware of a timer on this light.

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There are 3 minutes and 9 minutes timer function for this light.

• With the light on, double-click the button. The LED will give a quick flash indicating that the timer has started. This is the 3 minute timer.
• To use the 9 minute timer instead, double-click again after starting the 3 minute timer. The LED will give a quick double-flash this time. This is the 9 minute timer.

I believe when the light is on and you double click once, it'll activate a 2 or 3 minute timer. The light will flash I think 2 times to give you confirmation. If you double click a second time, it'll activate the 9 minute timer and it'll flash twice again.

Do you gave another battery to try? Is this with a fresh battery? Did you clean the threads or the spring? I haven't had any problems with mine and I had mine for 2-3 months.

Sucks when having a problem though. Hopefully cleaning it will fix the problem. Otherwise if I was in your shoes I'd be put off by Olight then..

Interesting this is the second thread where the issue is the S1 just goes out. Did not know about the timer feature.

I agree it sounds like the timer, but it should be easy to rule out, the other possibility is that you are activating the electronic lockout accidentally.
With the light on, click twice to activate the 3 minute timer(the light will blink twice-then after 3 minutes the light will turn off. There is also a 6 minute and 9 minute timer activated by additional double clicks.
The electronic lockout is the same as moonlight activation:
Hold the button and the light will come on in moonlight mode, if you keep holding the button the light will go out and will not come on if you "click it", in order to turn off the electronic lockout just hold the button until it turns on in moonlight.

I have a lot of Olights and have never been left in the dark. Did you measure the voltage of the battery in use when it went dark? Have you tried an unprotected 16340 cell to see if perhaps it was the low voltage circuit in the battery that tripped? And I don't mean to sound condescending but you are putting the battery in with the positive towards the tailcap(opposite of almost every light I have ever owned)? I'm sorry your first experience with Olight has not been better- I almost always have one on me as a primary or one of my backups-something I would be reluctant to do if I did not have a strong belief in their dependability. Good luck & let me know if I can assist any further in troubleshooting...

Ok, I have cleaned the light. I have always used a protected rcr123 battery. I just took it out and put it on the charger. It was at about 20-40%. I am now currently running it in moonlight with a cr123 streamlight primary. I guess time will tell. I think I'll leave it in moonlight and take a nap lol.

Maybe I have an issue with the switch. I just tested it and my last mode used was low. This time it turned on in medium? So I held it to get back to low and it went to strobe? Weird.

Now I've had it on moonlight and I went to cycle modes and it went to low and then off, skipping med and hi. I turned it back on and it cycled modes just fine. I'm not sure what's going on, but I want consistently.

20-40% would be below the recommended voltage for a 16340 & may have been a big part of the problem, but it would not explain the modes changing. Any chance you could shoot a video of the light with a fresh battery & show it starting in ML and cycling through the modes? Of course with my luck, if I tried to do it, it would work perfect for the video and then start acting up once the camera is off...
The reason I suggest the video is so I can duplicate your actions with my light to do a true side by side comparison to see if that shows a cause for its actions. I would love to have an "aha" revelation to explain the lights behavior so you could have 100% confidence in it. My S10 has seen a lot of mileage and never left me in the dark, one of the reasons I own multiple S1's....

Crazyeddiethefirst said:

20-40% would be below the recommended voltage for a 16340 & may have been a big part of the problem, but it would not explain the modes changing. Any chance you could shoot a video of the light with a fresh battery & show it starting in ML and cycling through the modes? Of course with my luck, if I tried to do it, it would work perfect for the video and then start acting up once the camera is off...
The reason I suggest the video is so I can duplicate your actions with my light to do a true side by side comparison to see if that shows a cause for its actions. I would love to have an "aha" revelation to explain the lights behavior so you could have 100% confidence in it. My S10 has seen a lot of mileage and never left me in the dark, one of the reasons I own multiple S1's....

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Agreed, I'll try to get video but like you said, with my luck, it will work perfect once on camera.

I was not impressed with olight's reliability.
I was impressed with their customer service, however. Great company, but their product isn't for me.

grain of salt, my sample size n=1

KeepingItLight said:

The UI description below was originally posted here.

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Olight S1 Baton – User Interface

From OFF


When ON


Note: The UI on early versions of the aluminum S1 had two differences.
1. Moonlight mode was stored in mode memory.
2. After power off, High mode was never erased from mode memory.

Crazyeddiethefirst said:

The electronic lockout is the same as moonlight activation:
Hold the button and the light will come on in moonlight mode, if you keep holding the button the light will go out and will not come on if you "click it", in order to turn off the electronic lockout just hold the button until it turns on in moonlight.

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Hmm my S1 will not do this lockout feature... Is this a new UI feature on later batches???

wolfgaze said:

Hmm my S1 will not do this lockout feature... Is this a new UI feature on later batches???

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The current UI is fully described above, including the timer functions that may have impacted the OP. There is no electronic lockout on the Olight S1.

KeepingItLight said:

There is no electronic lockout on the Olight S1.

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That's what I was thinking.....

Op I hope you get things squared away and also hope you aren't soured on OLight. I have the S1 baton, S2 baton, S15R, S30R II, and an I3S aaa, and I have never "and I mean never" had any kind of an issue with any of them. I am a huge fan and their build quality is absolutely top notch. I have many other lights by Fenix, Nitecore, Streamlight, Lumintop, and Thrunite and the build quality and performance of the Olight flashlight is above them all in my opinion, not that the other lights aren't quality lights as I love them as well, but the lights are just wonderful. So I hope things turn around for you as it would be a shame to have you miss out on a great product line because of a couple issues.

Me too. Got many Olights and never had any issue.

I really like Olight.

wolfgaze said:

That's what I was thinking.....

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Ooops, my mistake, the S10 has a lockout, not the S1, thanks for the correction.