Olight M20X: What are your thoughts CPFer's??

Hello fellow CPFer's! What a great and knowledgeable flashlight site this is! I recently joined and have gotten many gains of product specs and test runs without having to purchase lights myself! Nothing wrong with too many lights, but i am a daddy of two soon to be three and other expenses come before my belovedLED flashlights=(..

On the subject of lights i recently ordered from batteryjunction the Olight M20X charger and battery combo deal. I really gotta give a shout out to olight for such a solid TACTICAL user interface! This works well for my needs as an MP doing carstops, id checks and vehicle inspections at a point. But anyway.. WHAT ARE EVERYONE'S THOUGHTS ON THE "NEW" OLIGHT M20X?

Glad to see you got a thread going on this SPC smith. I for one am a huge fan of Olights. I have a M20 with the R2 LED and a M30 Triton with the MC-E LED in it. I have used them both pretty hard over the last two+ years. I recently upgraded to the M21X, and it has become my favorite pocket thrower....looks great on my rifle too. The M21X has a larger head than the M20X, so that would make it a little less comfortable to edc. It throws slightly better which is what I was looking for, and it works impressively well IMO. Also, the M21X is a little brighter and throws a little better than my M30, but it's half the size!!

I go running before sun up, and took the light with me both Saturday morning and Sunday morning on a 7 mile trail at 4:30 a.m. I recently got a Zebralight H600 headlight which runs on an 18650, and wanted the M21X because of its output, throw, and the fact that it also runs on an 18650. The Olight was very impressive, and allowed me to see far ahead. I spotted a coyote, some deer, rabbits, & other critters long before my dog & I were close to em. The Olight really made the run more enjoyable. I just hope I didn't look like a search & rescue team or some kind of UFO in the middle of the woods.

I want one...more or less. I have the older M21 which I would love to upgrade at some point to an XM-L but I will no doubt have to wait a while for that. I personally love the styling of the Olight M series lights though I do wish the cigar ring was rubber.

I appreciate your guys comments! Outdoorsman5.. i wear my olight everywhere with my civilians on base! Lotta people thinks its rediculous.. just like them blowing thier money on clothes, shoes etc etc? LOve my Olight! anyone else?

I have a M20X I'm now using every day for work. I think enough of it that I'm getting my brother one for Xmas. If I didn't really like it, I'd just give him mine!

Although my main duty light is the venerable Malkoff Hound Dog XM-L (MD-4), I also have an Olight M20-X and find it to be an excellent secondary light. I've been a fan of the M20 for years having owned the original R2 version, the M20S with S2 LED, and now the M20-X. My only wish is that it had heavier duty square threads.

I was an instructor for our most recent Recruit Training Academy. I gave the 'kids' a class on lights and the M20 was one I recommended (I let them try mine out). At least a half dozen of them ended up ordering M20X models...

Great light!

Be safe out there.

I ordered a M20x from amazon and cant wait for it to come! Seems like a great light

The Malkoff's seem to really well built for being a dropin. not that the others arent. Its amazing how when your in a position of leadership how well close minded individuals listen. I seem to be the villiage idiot with my sweetly superb lights around admin soldiers.. but when I work with MP's using basic issued surefire 6P stock?.. Hey where did you get that light from. uh a whats it called?.. an olight? Yeah, its pretty nice isnt it! Ive especially gotten alot of attention from soldiers on the civilian side who work as state troopers or cops. But anyway..
anyone else like the X series it just as much? i appreciate the comments thus far:thumbsup:

just a little info.. outdoorsman5, if you look at the beam comparisons of the olight M20X to the M30,(not to be confused with the M3X) even the newer olight M20X (and is smaller!) throws further than the M30. Definately a little perplexing because both the M20X and M21X are quite a bit smaller than the M30! But.. your right. The M21X does throw a little bit further than the M20X, not by much though. after watching the Olight M20X,M21X review at goinggear, you will see upon further inspection they both are pretty close in performance with the exception of more throw and different TAC UI's. Also the M20X has the side switch, while i think the 21 is head tightened for dif low, medium, high. I have a question though, does the M21X step down in brightness after 5 minutes or more on high? i have heard rumors about this and didnt know if it was factual or not.

spc smith said:

just a little info.. outdoorsman5, if you look at the beam comparisons of the olight M20X to the M30,(not to be confused with the M3X) even the newer olight M20X (and is smaller!) throws further than the M30. Definately a little perplexing because both the M20X and M21X are quite a bit smaller than the M30! But.. your right. The M21X does throw a little bit further than the M20X, not by much though. after watching the Olight M20X,M21X review at goinggear, you will see upon further inspection they both are pretty close in performance with the exception of more throw and different TAC UI's. Also the M20X has the side switch, while i think the 21 is head tightened for dif low, medium, high. I have a question though, does the M21X step down in brightness after 5 minutes or more on high? i have heard rumors about this and didnt know if it was factual or not.

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I watched those videos too, and that's what motivated me to get one of these lights. I had a hard time choosing between the M20X and the M21X, and mostly chose the M21X for some minor reasons. If I were a LEO though then I'd definitely go with the smaller M20X for edc, but my plan was to use the light as a pocket thrower for my early morning runs in the woods. I run on a 7 mile trail (that is partially paved & mostly boardwalk next to a big creek & through several swamps, and I am usually in total darkness.) There are several places where I can see down trail for 300+ yards, and it is fun to me to be able to light up that distance.

The Olight M30 Triton has been a great light for the last couple years, and I have always loved the wall of light that it produces. The beam is a perfect white to my eyes. It is a floody light mostly because of the huge quad LED it has in it. The larger the LED then the larger the head must be to focus the beam for throw; otherwise, you end up with a floody light like in the M30. Still I love the M30, but being a 2 x 18650 light, it's a little big to take running. The smaller & more powerful M21X makes for a great replacement.

I chose the M21X over the M20X for some minor reasons - a little extra throw, little extra brightness, and I wanted the 200 lumen medium....again not much difference as you can see on the video review over at goinggear.com.

The M21X does have a step down feature after 5 minutes, but this doesn't affect me much because I use it in short bursts. My primary running light is a Zebralight H600 (great headlight,) so it is on 100% of the time. The M21X is great for seeing down trail a lot further, but I don't need to leave it on all the time. I tested out the step down feature, and it works as advertised. After five minutes it stepped down, but it's only a minor step down to my eyes. I turned it off & right back on again, and the light comes back on at 600 lumens for another 5 minutes. The light really didn't get hot. But, it was around 28 or 29 degrees fahrenheit when I did this, and I was holding it the whole time.

Anyway, I really love the performance of the M21X, and highly recommend it or the M20X.

outdoorsman5, thanks for your remarks on the M21X! BOTH, of these Olights are superior in build and qaulity* The 21X out throws while the 20X has a great UI =)! Either way, we got good lights when the shindig hits the fan. with my Olight i can illuminate things at 100 yards with near perfect target identification in the dark! and medium is all the light i need when doing car stops at my point for TCN id checks=)
It seems to me outdoorsman5, that when i was looking at that youtube video over and over, that the hotspot from the 21X (though wider) is just as hot and defined as the M20S using the XPG-R5, but with tons more copious over spillbeam* The 21X does have a wider spill thats for sure.. i guess the only thing that deterred me was the 5 min stepdown and UI. Had i known you could emmediatly switch it back on

i might have gotten it! except the UI.. thats what really sold me on the Olight M20X! As far as the side switch being used with gloved hands, it is possible even in the dark if the tail cap and positioning of the side switch is in line vertically with the pocket clip. you could even take it a step further and put a button (size of the side switch) and wrap it over with a cut to size strand of black duct tape around the knurling at the tail cap portion and squeeze please!

the above is an improvised setup to further ease the use having gloved hands:thumbsup:

I guess only a proud few have this olight M20X? anyone else?

Let's see, I have four M-20s, three M-20 Crimsons, two M-20X, one M-21X and three M-3X and I use them all the time night hunting on my farm.

I consider the Olight M-20 the standard tactical weapon light for all my needs.

hey skypup, nice pics! were you able to use the old smooth reflectors off the M20S for the new M20X to increase throw for the XML?

so skypup. how do personnally like the M series olights. What do YOU like better about the new M20X ?

Just for the record: i paired my M20X off in the dark with another soldier surefire combat Z6 or something. At first impression i looked at his spot and beam... it was fair and he even said his light had fresh batteries just to solidify that his light was pretty bright. I pulled my bad boy out and it was in low and gave it to him to figure out. his first impression was to turn his light on and show it in comparison with mine on... yes thats right, LOW lol. He said his was clearly brighter! i said " oh wait, i dont think youve cycled through the rest of the modes wink wink. he said wowww this light is just about as bright as mine... that was on medium, i said bump the side switch one more time and he just was awe struck at how bright the olight M20X was. He gave it back to me and i told him he didnt even get to see the strobe function. He was offended and done at that point. I should have told him my olight had 3 brightness settings + a dizzying strobe:thumbsup:

thanks for the reviews; I just ordered an M-21-X from Battery Junction; had em on sale last night for $79 bucks; needed a thrower, so I guess I got one.

thats great news hank Zudd! im of a mind everything thats posted here can benefit someone else=). $79 bucks is quite a drop i might have to look into that:thumbsup: Post beamshots or individual pics of your new light so we can further promote Olight's workmanship. I tell ya i probably got the best dang light on this post!

spc smith said:

hey skypup, nice pics! were you able to use the old smooth reflectors off the M20S for the new M20X to increase throw for the XML?

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Yes, the smooth reflectors are worth the investment.

spc smith said:

so skypup. how do personnally like the M series olights. What do YOU like better about the new M20X ?

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Personally I feel they are the best standard tactical weapon lights on the market, nothing else compares to them.

I agree as well, considering i have had maglite (xre) 3D led, mini maglite led, Nebo redline, surefire G2 incan, Then... sunwayman T20C (broken during a torture test=(), Jetbeam 3M XML newer version, and now the Olight M20X. Which surpasses all my previous lights in distance and brightness. I gotta tell you, that even from the JB and SWM, the Olight felt more solid.

So skypup. your saying it is possible for those smooth reflectors originally fitted for the smaller XPG-R5 is still compatible with the newer XML.
? Are the leaflets the same diameterfor the xml to the xpg-r5?

I called batteryjuction and they told me the smooth reflectors were fitted only to the smaller xpg-r5 led. i would like to see what a smooth reflector does to enhance the throw of the newer XML led:thumbsup:

SPC, why do you keep making multiple posts? You do realize you can simply edit your initial post if you want to change or add more info? THREE posts in a row in 7 minutes? C'mon...this isn't Twitter.

Maybe it's just me, but i find these types of threads very annoying to read. No offence.

Or maybe you are simply trying to artificially increase your post count??!

So people who dont know about the Olight M20X, those of you that are doing a quick search because your in need, as your job requires, a good led flashlight but dont know where to begin.. but you overheard about olight, and so you boiled down your decision of a more rugged M series. Anything i know or any other CPFer, would post information for the better cause of helping the uninformed. Not people like yourself Shane45 1911.

Much offence taken shane45 1911. did you do an individual search of my posts or something? Cant stand the nice guys i guess.