Olight Seeker 3 Pro vs Seeker 2 Pro?

[Lawman VII XIV]

The Olight Seeker 3/Pro is on sale for those with early access. Any thoughts on Seeker 2 owners upgrading to a 3?

 

[Badbeams3]

The Olight Seeker 3/Pro is on sale for those with early access. Any thoughts on Seeker 2 owners upgrading to a 3?

I ordered one of the "Midnight Blue" ones. Not sure I made the right move as the bundled black or brown one with the new rechargeable 14500 batt light sounds pretty sweet. I have the Seeker 2 (blue) and the Seeker 2 Pro (orange). Guess I figured it's been a while since I bought a new light toy so... 1000 lumen more than the Seeker 2 Pro.

 

[fwafwow]

Thanks for this post. I was wondering whether the Seeker 3 Pro is a good deal. I'm a rookie, but the UI and proximity sensor *seemed* valuable (to me), and claimed 4.2k lumens for $90 seems like a decent deal. I couldn't find any reviews or info on CPF, so I went with another option from Vinh. But perhaps this is a good gift for a buddy.

 

[Badbeams3]

Thanks for this post. I was wondering whether the Seeker 3 Pro is a good deal. I'm a rookie, but the UI and proximity sensor *seemed* valuable (to me), and claimed 4.2k lumens for $90 seems like a decent deal. I couldn't find any reviews or info on CPF, so I went with another option from Vinh. But perhaps this is a good gift for a buddy.

Yea I have not seen any reviews yet either. Think their just hitting the market. I expect it to have a slightly larger hot spot and a bit more power in the spill. But not much, if any more, throw. And that's fine with me as I have other lights for throw. And in reality my lights mostly sit in a display case upstairs in the movie room. If you do go for one I would pick up one of the bundled deals to get the AA/14500 light for a few dollars more.

 

[id30209]

With a fourth emitter added they actually (I presume) tuned down the driver a bit yet having a good output.
What made me sell my Seeker2 pro was a battery. After few hits to Turbo, it didn't allow you anymore to go above high.
Great light but without Turbo after a few minutes, it's useless.

I hope they corrected it on this model otherwise it's a mother Olight marketing department (not engineering) product.

 

[Badbeams3]

With a fourth emitter added they actually (I presume) tuned down the driver a bit yet having a good output.
What made me sell my Seeker2 pro was a battery. After few hits to Turbo, it didn't allow you anymore to go above high.
Great light but without Turbo after a few minutes, it's useless.

I hope they corrected it on this model otherwise it's a mother Olight marketing department (not engineering) product.

I'm not sure how much I'm going to like the auto lockout feature. I found simply unscrewing the tail cap a hair worked just fine. And the infinity lumen level dial...not sure I'm going to care for that as it seems rather smallish. The proximity sensor is a nice add on....

 

[fwafwow]

Maybe a review will be published before they go on sale - in ~9 hours...

 

[id30209]

Maybe a review will be published before they go on sale - in ~9 hours...

There are some on youtube but not so detailed. Search for Fred Prana

 

[MacTexas744]

Here is the review for you nongerman speakers.

 

[fwafwow]

Here's a review - https://zeroair.org/2021/09/24/olight-seeker-3-pro-flashlight-review/

 

[tokerblue]

I have the Seeker 2 Pro (carbon fiber) and the Seeker 3 Pro (Midnight Blue). From the light test I did outdoors yesterday in my backyard, I'm not seeing any real world differences despite the slight bump in lumens. The only real difference to me is the interface. The Seeker 3 Pro has the lockout that requires you to rotate the dial before turning it on. That can be better or more annoying depending on how you feel. I really like the rotary dial and how you can choose the brightness you need. You can also hold the button to change modes, exactly the same way as the Seeker 2.

I will say I'm also a big fan of the embossed design. One big downside is that the 3 Pro doesn't include the L-Dock. If you have the Seeker 2 Pro, I'm not seeing a big reason to upgrade.

 

[3_gun]

From the light test I did outdoors yesterday in my backyard, I'm not seeing any real world differences despite the slight bump in lumens. The only real difference to me is the interface. The Seeker 3 Pro has the lockout that requires you to rotate the dial before turning it on. That can be better or more annoying depending on how you feel. I really like the rotary dial and how you can choose the brightness you need. You can also hold the button to change modes, exactly the same way as the Seeker 2.

I'm not surprised that you can't see a brightness difference between the two given the general rule of thumb that over 500L you need to double out put to really see much change. I have a Fenix that does 3k/L, a Sofirn that does 3.8k/L & one @ 5.6k/L + an Acebeam@ 4.6k/L; the 3.8k/L is a 6500K light the others are 5000K. The difference to my eye is only noticeable when comparing lights one at a time to the 3k/L Fenix. The 3.8k/[email protected] looks just as bright as the 5.6k/L & brighter than the 4.6k/L light. Light temp/color DOES make a difference; in the case a 1800L one. This is all based on the idea that the rated out put is the real world levels too .. good luck with that. I'd be willing to bet that in a mass produced light, any two lights built the same day MIGHT be within +/- 10% of each other. Not that you could see that with the naked eye

 

[Lawman VII XIV]

Generally, the human eye needs over a 20% increase in brightness and as noted that increases as the light brightness increases. So the the 3's light output shouldn't be the main reason to upgrade.

I like the rotary dial for brightness but wonder if it affects any set operations of the button. The auto-dim feature is nice. Not familiar with the Auto-Lock.

The number of Out of Stock items at their site is highly discouraging. No L Docks and a lot of batteries are OOS. As the Olight's batteries are proprietary as well as pricey, OOS is really unacceptable. Do those items ever return of to they end up in Olight's Discontinued pile. Yet I like the S3P.

What made me sell my Seeker2 pro was a battery. After few hits to Turbo, it didn't allow you anymore to go above high.
Great light but without Turbo after a few minutes, it's useless.

By anymore do you mean until a recharge or that the battery was permanently damage? The former would be annoying to say the least.

On the subject of batteries, the pricing and proprietary aspect are starting to bug me as the shine wears off. What other lights using non-proprietary batteries are close to function if not form of the Seekers.

I'd be interested in something with more throw than the floody Seekers and without the proprietary battery of my Warrior X Pro. The WXP is ok but a side switch too would be nice.

Being a rookie in LED lights, I guess it's time to look beyond Olights.

 

[tatteredmidnight]

Requiring the proprietary battery to enable magnetic charging was almost enough to put me off from buying the s2r ii, but at least that will accept standard 18650 cells. The fact the the seeker 3 pro can't run at all without their special cells is a bridge to far for me. I was on the fence about buying it the first day of their sale and I'm very glad I didn't. We don't need our flashlights going down the same path as Apple and John Deere.

 

[chip100t]

One of my favourite lights is my m2r warrior, it has magnetic charging and does not use a proprietary battery. So they don't have to make lights with proprietary batteries if they did not want to.

 

[tokerblue]

I know others may not like the proprietary cells, but that's never been an issue for me. I've never used a light until the battery was dead. If I ever was in a situation where I would need more than one battery, I just being another light.

The most I've ever used a light would be for waterfowl hunting during setup, which may take an hour or so. Then another hour of use while waiting for sunrise.

I'll take the inconvenience of not being able to swap batteries for the convenience of magnetic charging any day. The other problem of being a flashlight nut is that I'll most likely upgrade the light before I ever have battery lifespan issues.

 

[id30209]

By anymore do you mean until a recharge or that the battery was permanently damage? The former would be annoying to say the least.

The battery is not damaged but it drains so quick OR Seeker driver is not tuned well. After a recharge battery is fine but it allows you only a few times to reach Turbo.
My M2R Pro on the other hand can go to Turbo almost every time before battery gets drained.

 

[Lawman VII XIV]

After a recharge battery is fine but it allows you only a few times to reach Turbo.

Got it, thanks!

 

[Lawman VII XIV]

Does the Auto-Lock work on both buttons or just the side switch? I don't know if it's a big deal for me as it's but I'd be a little happier if the tail button was always instant-on.

 

[id30209]

Does the Auto-Lock work on both buttons or just the side switch? I don't know if it's a big deal for me as it's but I'd be a little happier if the tail button was always instant-on.

Both buttons?
Seeker 2 & 3 have only 1 button…