Olight SR90 Intimidator (Phlatlight SST-90) Review: BEAMSHOTS, RUNTIMES and more!

[headophile]

excellent review as always! :thanks:

i, too, was surprised by the near-perfect flat regulation. olight did a damn great job on this light

i want one now more than ever

 

[amraspalantir]

thanks for a most informative review
hope our dealer has a unit here.

 

[UberLumens]

Can you use the SR90 while charging?

and

Great review Thanks SB

 

[selfbuilt]

Great review selfbuilt. :twothumbs The photos of the SR90 in your hand are almost comical...that thing is HUGE!!!

Yeah, this is where hand shots are a necessity - from the overall shape, you would never know how large it was!

Incidentally, while I have tried to emphasize the weight here, it may not be as bad as some expect. My daughter picked it up last night, and her first comments were that it wasn't as heavy as she thought it would be.

It's big, but then so are HIDs. The SST-90 is a hungry beast, and needs a lot of power. It's also a big LED, so it needs a large reflector.

Good points - although I suspect they went with such a large reflector because they needed a large thermal mass in the head to act as a heatsink, given the current flow. Probably a bit of a chicken-vs-the-egg issue, I suppose - I'm just glad they went with both in the end (i.e. big heatsink and big reflector).

Oh, and I just double-checked my light - the tailcap does indeed unscrew, leaving you with just the handle portion with the battery inside. Also note the retaining ring holding the battery inside the handle (a similar ring was present at the other end of the battery pile). It is thus possible that you can get it out from the handle (but I don't plan to try this unless Olight give me the go-ahead). It would be great if Olight made "spares" available for purchase, one way or the other.

i, too, was surprised by the near-perfect flat regulation. olight did a damn great job on this light

I agree - great job on both regulation and runtime, at both output levels.

I also like the Lo mode output level, given how comparable it is to the previous generation lights. And I'm particularly impressed that they could get more than 6 times the runtime on low, with only 3 times the battery capacity.

Now I'm just waiting for someone to complain about the lack of a moonlight mode ... :laughing:

Can you use the SR90 while charging?

I don't know if you are supposed to, but you certainly can. I accidentally left it plugged in for half an hour during a Hi mode runtime , and it added about 14 mins to the total length of the run. A bit surprising that it added so much, given that it takes ~4.5 hours to fully charge the light.

In any case, I don't recommend you do this without confirmation and more info from the manufacturer - I will check with Matt to see what Olight thinks.

 

[Gryffin]

Ho hum, another day, another amazing SelfBuilt review… :thumbsup:

If these dang lights get any brighter, you're gonna have to invest in some welding goggles to do your testing. I bet you spent much of last week with spots burned into your retinas! oo:

While the M90's performance is stunning, what impresses me most is the power system: by using a laptop-like "smart" battery pack instead of loose cells, we get all the advantages of lithium ion cells, in a manner that's safe enough for the wider consumer market.

I wonder how long until some enterprising electronics manufacturers start putting their laptop power controller chipsets on round PCBs? The downside, I suppose, is that such smart battery packs wold be model specific, or at least manufacturer specific. Loose cells are certainly cheaper and more flexible, even if they require a bit more care to use.

 

[Geode]

Holy bat, cowman! What a review. What a light.

I can't think of a use for this light cannon yet, but I am working on some kind of rationale for buying it.

 

[gswitter]

While the M90's performance is stunning, what impresses me most is the power system: by using a laptop-like "smart" battery pack instead of loose cells, we get all the advantages of lithium ion cells, in a manner that's safe enough for the wider consumer market.

We hope. Laptop packs have hardly been free of failures.

Ideally, I'd rather see lithium cells bundled in packs with proper electronics to monitor them, and the light manufacturer's label (and reputation) attached to it. So in that sense, this is a positive development. But, the pack is only going to be as good as its worst cell, and the failure of a single cell will mean a very expensive replacement.

I got to see an SR90 in the wild last night. It was impressive.

 

[Daylight]

Astonished, amazed, almost surprised, but most grateful for this detailed and long-awaited review.

Today there is a before and an after in my flashaholic life, now i know that a SR90 certainly will be mine, it's time to order one.

If Olight decide someday make an aspherical head for this flashlight in 100mm diameter (better than THIS) my happiness will reach the climax. Please, please, please Olight read this

Thank you so much for this great work Selfbuilt!!!

:bow::bow::bow::bow:

 

[Patriot]

Staggeringly comprehensive Selfbuilt. Once again and to no surprise, you've outdone yourself. :thumbsup: :goodjob:

Thanks so much for enlightening guys like me who have neither the time, resources nor skills to assemble such a monument of excellent information.

Selfbuilt
As for the Hi output, I look forward to the comments of those with more experience of HIDs. I suspect the SR90, and other SST-90 based lights, will drastically eat into the market of lower wattage HIDs. Please feel free to discuss …

The SST-90 in collaboration with Olight have pretty much rendered the 24-26W HID light class obsolete. The only slight advantage that this range of HID's can maintain is in their smaller size since it's not feasible for the SST-90 to run at 10A in a light the size of the Boxer24W. It could be done with IMR cells but the run-time on high would have to be actively regulated to prevent damage. I'm sure the next large format single die LEDs will run cooler and more efficiently allowing LED to overcome this final HID size advantage. 35W HID lights may very well be next on the obsolete list in a couple of years if diode surface brightness keeps increasing.

 

[MattK]

The tailcap is removable, which adds hope to me that separate battery packs may eventually be offered for sale. It would be great to be able to pick up a "spare" cell/handle to carry off with you ...

The spare batteries will be available next week. We actually HAVE them but our webmaster's wife had a baby last week so we're a little behind on these things. They should be available this week.

 

[selfbuilt]

:grouphug: Thanks for the support everyone!

Holy bat, cowman! What a review. What a light.

:laughing:

Today there is a before and an after in my flashaholic life, now i know that a SR90 certainly will be mine, it's time to order one.

It certainly does seem like a game changer, doesn't it? We finally have a single LED that has ventured into HID territory. Pardon the pun, but the future does look bright ...

The SST-90 in collaboration with Olight have pretty much rendered the 24-26W HID light class obsolete. The only slight advantage that this range of HID's can maintain is in their smaller size since it's not feasible for the SST-90 to run at 10A in a light the size of the Boxer24W. It could be done with IMR cells but the run-time on high would have to be actively regulated to prevent damage. I'm sure the next large format single die LEDs will run cooler and more efficiently allowing LED to overcome this final HID size advantage. 35W HID lights may very well be next on the obsolete list in a couple of years if diode surface brightness keeps increasing.

Yes, a good analysis methinks. It some ways it is more the proof of concept here ... I think it will be the subsequent LED advances that really make their mark.

The spare batteries will be available next week. We actually HAVE them but our webmaster's wife had a baby last week so we're a little behind on these things. They should be available this week.

 

[NaturalMystic]

Thanks once again for a detailed review. That thing is a beast! Looks like it vaporized the tree in your backyard! It's there in the first posted pics then gone in the subsequent ones! (I know, I know, the ones without the tree are older shots!)

Cheers,

 

[Juggernaut]

Saw this beast of a light at PF14, have to say this is one of the most intense LED lights I have ever seen, only comparable to such lights at the DEFT, and WiseLED Tactical. “From first hand experience”, however I have to say while it throws many times better then my aspheric Tiablo A9, it will not throw 1,000 yards, The furthest tree line at Milky’s house is 860 yards away and this light could not make it out that far however it easily made out the trees at 600 yards. Not trying to put it down, but just stating what I perceived. It made my 35 watt Oracle look like a flood light “the SR90 easily beat it in throw too:thumbsup:!”

 

[selfbuilt]

while it throws many times better then my aspheric Tiablo A9, it will not throw 1,000 yards, The furthest tree line at Milky’s house is 860 yards away and this light could not make it out that far however it easily made out the trees at 600 yards. Not trying to put it down, but just stating what I perceived. It made my 35 watt Oracle look like a flood light “the SR90 easily beat it in throw too:thumbsup:!”

Thanks for the first-hand experience. Good to know the throw was significant, even if it doesn't seem to live up to the 1000m claim. Realistically, I don't see why you would need that far (unless the light also came with a built-in set of binoculars - now that would be an innovative design! :laughing.

 

[Juggernaut]

Thanks for the first-hand experience. Good to know the throw was significant, even if it doesn't seem to live up to the 1000m claim. Realistically, I don't see why you would need that far (unless the light also came with a built-in set of binoculars - now that would be an innovative design! :laughing.

Trust me, it throws further then almost anyone could ever need!

 

[selfbuilt]

So anyone else with first-hand experience of this light?

 

[AardvarkSagus]

So any else with first-hand experience of this light?

Getting there. Working on a couple of other things while I gather impressions.

 

[Grubrunner]

What a great review.... what an amazing light!

Kudos!

 

[HKJ]

UPDATE: As HKJ points out, it is not really a reverse clicky - it is a momentary switch that is programmed to turn the light on/off when you release it. As such, there will a small standby current drain, but it is probably insignificant.

I got around to measure (and reviewing in Danish) the SR90 and checked the standby current, it is completely insignificant: Head 3uA, backend 3.8 uA, the battery could supply that current for more than 100 years, if it lasted that long.

 

[easilyled]

I got around to measure (and reviewing in Danish) the SR90 and checked the standby current, it is completely insignificant: Head 3uA, backend 3.8 uA, the battery could supply that current for more than 100 years, it it lasted that long.

Thanks HKJ, using "Google Translate" set on Danish to English, I was able to understand a very large part of your review.