Olight S1A. A one click wonder! 600 lumen AA flashlight.

[roger-roger]

Oh boy, that's a shame.
600 lumens for one minute then 300 lumens for one hour sounded great. 600 lumens for one minute then 60 lumens for however long it takes for the light to cool down, is disappointing.

I was watching for this light to show up on Amazon.ca but now I'm not sure what I'll do. Decisions, decisions. Thanks a bunch for the review and for doing the tests.

Very disappointing. That would be chasing lu numbers as a selling point, at the cost of real potential impracticality out in the field.

 

[JordanK]

Oh boy, that's a shame. 600 lumens for one minute then 300 lumens for one hour sounded great. 600 lumens for one minute then 60 lumens for however long it takes for the light to cool down, is disappointing. I was watching for this light to show up on Amazon.ca but now I'm not sure what I'll do. Decisions, decisions. Thanks a bunch for the review and for doing the tests.

It's available on Amazon.ca. I just ordered one.

Jordan

 

[Bob_McBob]

I think there is a misunderstanding about the "60 lumen" drop. With a 14500 in turbo mode, the output drops to around 55% and is maintained until almost the 40 minute mark, at which point does drop down to ~60 lumens.

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/48289

 

[thejrod]

Wouldn't an XP-L be brighter and/or more efficient? Wondering if this light is worth the $50, or if an improved XP-L version will be out in a few months.

 

[Wendee]

It's available on Amazon.ca. I just ordered one.

Jordan

Thanks for letting me know, Jordan! I just ordered one!

Vestureofblood, it seems that Olight created a new Amazon entry for the S1A. The link under your video for CA Amazon (Amazon.ca) for the S1A still says "Currently Unavailable" (even though it's Olight's store). I'm not sure why they haven't updated it. :shrug:

I think there is a misunderstanding about the "60 lumen" drop. With a 14500 in turbo mode, the output drops to around 55% and is maintained until almost the 40 minute mark, at which point does drop down to ~60 lumens.

What great news! Thanks for letting us know.

 

[Toby]

The runtime of S1A makes sense, thank you.

I think there is a misunderstanding about the "60 lumen" drop. With a 14500 in turbo mode, the output drops to around 55% and is maintained until almost the 40 minute mark, at which point does drop down to ~60 lumens.

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/48289

 

[vestureofblood]

I think there is a misunderstanding about the "60 lumen" drop. With a 14500 in turbo mode, the output drops to around 55% and is maintained until almost the 40 minute mark, at which point does drop down to ~60 lumens.

Thanks for posting that Bob. No misunderstanding though. On a fresh 14500 cell, mine runs 1-2 min and drops to 60 lumens. No 60% anything in between on mine.. I would never have noticed it if someone hadn't mentioned theirs doing it, but I just retested min again and the same thing happened. Looks like you got a better one

Vestureofblood, it seems that Olight created a new Amazon entry for the S1A. The link under your video for CA Amazon (Amazon.ca) for the S1A still says "Currently Unavailable" (even though it's Olight's store). I'm not sure why they haven't updated it. :shrug:

Thank you I will fix it

 

[Wendee]

Thanks for posting that Bob. No misunderstanding though. On a fresh 14500 cell, mine runs 1-2 min and drops to 60 lumens. No 60% anything in between on mine.. I would never have noticed it if someone hadn't mentioned theirs doing it, but I just retested min again and the same thing happened. Looks like you got a better one

Oh oh. I've already ordered this light. It hasn't shipped yet though. So someone else mentioned the same thing happening? Yikes. I wonder how common this issue is then. I'm not sure what to do, cancel my order or have it shipped and return it if mine drops from 600 directly to 60 lumens. I better decide quickly before it's shipped. :sigh:

 

[JordanK]

Oh oh. I've already ordered this light. It hasn't shipped yet though. So someone else mentioned the same thing happening? Yikes. I wonder how common this issue is then. I'm not sure what to do, cancel my order or have it shipped and return it if mine drops from 600 directly to 60 lumens. I better decide quickly before it's shipped. :sigh:

My Olight S1A showed up yesterday and it's an amazing light. The size is great and the fit and finish is immaculate. I'm not so bothered by the short duration turbo mode because I see the turbo mode as something I will only use occasionally for very short periods of time. What's nice about this light is that it operates exactly the same whether you are using AA or 14500. The use of a 14500 just adds in the 4th 600 lumen turbo mode...which is cool. I have Nitecore EA45s that I carry when I need lots of lumens for a longer duration.

Jordan

 

[Wendee]

My Olight S1A showed up yesterday and it's an amazing light. The size is great and the fit and finish is immaculate. I'm not so bothered by the short duration turbo mode because I see the turbo mode as something I will only use occasionally for very short periods of time. What's nice about this light is that it operates exactly the same whether you are using AA or 14500. The use of a 14500 just adds in the 4th 600 lumen turbo mode...which is cool. I have Nitecore EA45s that I carry when I need lots of lumens for a longer duration.

Jordan

Did you test the turbo mode? I'm curious if your S1A drops from 600 to 300 lumens, or if it drops from 600 to 60 lumens. Hopefully it drops to 300

 

[JordanK]

Did you test the turbo mode? I'm curious if your S1A drops from 600 to 300 lumens, or if it drops from 600 to 60 lumens. Hopefully it drops to 300

I haven't tested the turbo mode yet. I ordered two Olight 14500s and I will test it next week when the batteries show up. The light is very bright with just the included lithium cell. The unique reflector on these Olight flashlights seems to do something cool with the beam that makes the flashlight produce more light.

Jordan

 

[olemil]

Man, I am missing out on all the fun...lol. Mines been sitting at the dealer since Monday, hope they didn't have to send it back to China for replacement.

 

[Woods Walker]

Wouldn't an XP-L be brighter and/or more efficient? Wondering if this light is worth the $50, or if an improved XP-L version will be out in a few months.

I didn't think the XP-L is brighter or more efficient than the XM-L2. More throw with the smaller XP-L in the same reflector for sure. Anyone got the stats on the two LEDs when driven with one lithium ion, NiMH or AA primary.

 

[vestureofblood]

At low current there would be no significant change output wise going with XPL vs XML2. Once you get up high in amperage any of the LEDs on the SC5 platform can be driven harder than emitters on the old one so it could help there. Most of the newer XML2s at around 5 amps. XPL, XPG3, etc can be driven harder. On a 14500 the emitter in the S1A is seeing only about 1.54A.

 

[Toby]

My S1A:laughing:

[/IMG]

 

[thejrod]

I didn't think the XP-L is brighter or more efficient than the XM-L2. More throw with the smaller XP-L in the same reflector for sure. Anyone got the stats on the two LEDs when driven with one lithium ion, NiMH or AA primary.

I'm just looking at the raw efficiency/performance graphs for the LEDs... it just looks to me like the XP-L is better all around. Hard to tell from the graph, but visually at 1.5A the XP-L looks to have about a 50lm advantage over the XM-L2.

 

[vestureofblood]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>UPDATE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

According to this review the 60s 600lm turbo mode only works a single time with a freshly charged 14500. Is that normal for the S1A?

Ok I figured out what the deal with this is. Initially when I tested my light I got the same result. 600 at start and then a sharp "drop" to 58 lumens. Since others had mentioned this I assumed it was a glitch in the light. However upon further inspection I found that its a battery issue. I was using an AW IMR 14500 in mine so I never even considered it. However I now have a second S1A here and both lights react the same way.

5 year old IMR cell = 600 lumen to 58 lumen drop
New IMR cell = 600 lumen to around 348 lumen smooth decline.

The old cell was able to take a charge just fine, but what I suspect happens is that the voltage sag is so much under a load (around 1.5A) that it causes the driver to fall like that.

 

[Wendee]

[...]
5 year old IMR cell = 600 lumen to 58 lumen drop
New IMR cell = 600 lumen to around 348 lumen smooth decline.
[...]

Oh good! The mystery has been solved! So it's not the flashlight. Super! :twothumbs 600 to 348 lumens with smooth decline. What a great little light. Thanks Vestureofblood.

 

[scs]

I'm just looking at the raw efficiency/performance graphs for the LEDs... it just looks to me like the XP-L is better all around. Hard to tell from the graph, but visually at 1.5A the XP-L looks to have about a 50lm advantage over the XM-L2.

I believe you have to look at lumens/watt for efficiency. At lower amps, XPL may be insignificantly more efficient if at all.

 

[olemil]

Finally got my replacement S1a from GG yesterday and this ones works spot on, no problems with switch at all (Thanks Going Gear for your great service!!). In fact I was so tickled I ordered two 14500 Olight 750mah batteries to put in it from them. (sorry I originally posted this in the S1 thread, moved it here)