Olight I1, I2 and I3 Review with OTF Lumen Runtimes

Hey everyone! I've got the new Olight I1, I2 and I3 EOS lights for review. These lights were sent to me by 4sevens for review purposes.

Here are the manufacturers stated features and specifications. This information was taken from the manufacturers website:


Olight I1-
"The i Series is Olight's new line of flashlights, designed to be a powerful, yet economical EDC light. Its miniature size, advanced LED, and intuititive user interface makes the Olight i1 the perfect every-day-carry light. The i1 uses a Cree XM-L LED and outputs 180 lumens on high, and reaches a 72 hour runtime on low. It uses only one CR123A battery, which is included in the light. It also comes with a removable pocket clip and key ring for convenient and versatile carry options. Features:
Keychain hole design, easy for every day carry
Removable clip with removal tool in the package so you can easily install or remove pocket clip based on need
Stable tail stand to serve as a candle
Includes free high-quality and high-capacity CR123A battery.
Premium Type III hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish
Battery reverse polarity protection
Specifications:

Output/Runtime:
High: 180 lumens / 1.7 hours
Medium: 40 lumens / 5.2 hours
Low: 4 lumens / 72 hours
LED: Cree XM-L
Battery: 1 x CR123A (included)
Max Beam Distance: 68m
Peak Beam Intensity: 1150cd
Impact Resistant: 1.2m
Water resistant to IXP-8 Standard
Length: 63.2mm
Diameter: 20.3mm
Weight: 22.5g (excluding battery)"




Olight I2-
"The i Series is Olight's new line of flashlights, designed to be a powerful, yet economical EDC light. Its miniature size, advanced LED, and intuititive user interface makes the Olight i2 the perfect every-day-carry light. The i2 uses a Cree XP-G R5 LED and outputs 75 lumens on high, and reaches a 60 hour runtime on low. It uses one AA battery, and economical and readily available power source. It also comes with a removable pocket clip and key ring for convenient and versatile carry options. Features:
Keychain hole design, easy for every day carry
Removable clip with removal tool in the package so you can easily install or remove pocket clip based on need
Stable tail stand to serve as a candle
Includes free high-quality and high-capacity AA battery.
Premium Type III hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish
Battery reverse polarity protection
Specifications:
Output/Runtime:
High: 75 lumens / 1.7 hours
Medium: 20 lumens / 5 hours
Low: 2.5 lumens / 60 hours
LED: Cree XP-G R5
Battery: 1 x AA (included)
Max Beam Distance: 50m
Peak Beam Intensity: 610cd
Impact Resistant: 1.2m
Water resistant to IXP-8 Standard
Length: 81.2mm
Diameter: 17.6mm
Weight: 20.5g (excluding battery)"



Olight I3-
"The i Series is Olight's new line of flashlights, designed to be a powerful, yet economical EDC light. Its miniature size, advanced LED, and intuititive user interface makes the Olight i3 the perfect every-day-carry light. The i3 uses a Cree XP-G R5 LED and outputs 70 lumens on high, and reaches a 20 hour runtime on low. It uses one AAA battery, and economical and readily available power source. It also comes with a removable pocket clip and key ring for convenient and versatile carry options. Features:
Keychain hole design, easy for every day carry
Removable clip with removal tool in the package so you can easily install or remove pocket clip based on need
Stable tail stand to serve as a candle
Includes free high-quality and high-capacity AAA battery.
Premium Type III hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish
Battery reverse polarity protection
Specifications:


Output/Runtime:
High: 70 lumens / 0.7 hours
Medium: 20 lumens / 1.5 hours
Low: 2.5 lumens / 20 hours
LED: Cree XP-G R5
Battery: 1 x AAA (included)
Max Beam Distance: 37m
Peak Beam Intensity: 350cd
Impact Resistant: 1.2m
Water resistant to IXP-8 Standard
Length: 70.8mm
Diameter: 14mm
Weight: 13.2g (excluding battery)"



Here's a picture of all the lights, with two 4sevens lights and a 4sevens CR123 primary thrown in for reference-

Pictured from left to right- 4sevens CR123A primary battery, 4sevens MiNiX 123, Olight I1, Olight I2, Olight I3 and 4sevens Preon ReVo:




As you can see from the image, all of the Olight's tailstand quite well. I had to persuade the Preon ReVo to get it to tailstand for this image, but it was never designed to tailstand in the first place. The Olight's also have a removable pocket clip, which is a nice option to have, since some prefer to carry with a clip and some prefer to carry without a clip.

Operation is simple. If you're familiar with the Quark MiNI series and/or the Preon ReVo, operation is very similar. To activate the light you simple tighten the head of the light until the light comes on. To cycle through the available modes you simply activate the light, then loosen and tighten the head quickly. Basically you're turning the light off, then back on quickly and the light will cycle to the next mode each time you turn the light off, then back on quickly.




Here are my out the front (OTF) lumen runtime measurements of these lights-


Olight I1: (CR123 Primary battery)



Olight I1 vs 4sevens MiNi X 123: (CR123 Primary batteries in both lights)





Olight I2: (Duracell AA Alkaline Battery)





Olight I3: (Energizer AAA Lithium Ultimate Battery)



Olight I3 vs 4sevens Preon ReVo XP-E: (Energizer AAA Lithium Ultimate Battery used in both lights)






Beamshots-

Camera settings for these beamshots were the same for the Olight I2, I3, 4sevens ReVo XP-G and 4sevens ReVo XP-E, but I had to reduce the exposure for the Olight I1 and 4sevens MiNi X 123 because the images were over exposed when using the same settings as the other lights.

Camera settings for the Olight I2, I3, 4sevens ReVo XP-G and 4sevens ReVo XP-E were 1/60, ISO- 100 and F stop 4.5.

Camera settings for the Olight I1 and 4sevens MiNi X 123 were 1/125, ISO- 100 and F stop 4.5.

White balance was set to auto. Click image for larger view:



Olight I1:



4sevens MiNi X 123:



Olight I2:



Olight I3:



4sevens Preon ReVo XP-G:



4sevens Preon ReVo XP-E:

cool review! but how come you didnt test the i2 and the i3 with 14500 and 10440? cant those lights punch it with those cells like the ol' A2 and A3 of iTP?

roadkill1109 said:

cool review! but how come you didnt test the i2 and the i3 with 14500 and 10440? cant those lights punch it with those cells like the ol' A2 and A3 of iTP?

Click to expand...

I don't believe these lights are designed to be operated using li-ion cells. I would assume that there's a risk of damaging the light by using a higher input voltage. I would also assume that the light could be damaged due to higher operating temperatures created by the light when operated at a higher than designed input voltage. This would probably be one of those 'operate at your own risk' situations, and if the light gets damaged due to a higher input voltage, you would simply have to take the blame yourself. These lights don't belong to me, and if I damage them by abusing them from running a higher input voltage I'm the one who has to pay for the damages. I'm not saying that you, or anyone else for that matter can't run these lights with a higher input voltage, but I cannot do it with these lights, and I cannot recommend that you or anyone else run these lights outside of their designed operating voltage range.

I did a quick check on the Olight website, and yeah, there was no info on the battery capabilities of these two lights. But if it has the same internals as the A2 and A3, the max it can really handle is 4.2volts each. But hey, better safe than a burned out flashlight, right?

I didn't see any conclusions. Did you like the lights: The UI, the tint, the anodizing, knurling, overall impression, etc.?

Only one I have from the list is the I3 and I think it's a superb light. I only run eneloops in mine but I gave one to my sister and she is running 10440's in hers with good results. Obviously she doesn't run it on high very long but it gets excellent run time on low with an li-ion, and it's brighter than on high with an eneloop. Best of both worlds as long as you don't want the lower low (which I personally do). So if you're smart about it then li-ion can be a great chemistry to use with these lights.

These are the coolest little high-quality lights. I still prefer the previous ITP flavors of the same lights due to the central keychain/lanyard attachment point (which does prevent tail standing). Some of the later ITPs even have the same XP-G emitters in them.

I've been running my Olight i1 with AW 16340 and AW IMR16340. On a freshly charged cell, the light will get warm on Hi setting, but not hot. It's double the output. It's a green tint from top to bottom, not just the corona. At 2.5", it's a great pocket-clip EDC.