CanadianSurvivalCompany
Newly Enlightened
Hey folks,
(Admins, please review for Review section?)
Hope everyone has had good week so far. Today Id would like share a look at the Olight S1A that we received to take a look at.
I personally come from a military background and have also worked in the private security industry. Search and rescue took up most of my young adulthood as well, so the use of lighting equipment has come in many shapes and forms. so, with that said, please come along and take an initial look at the S1A from the eyes of myself and how I utilize my lighting tools.
First of all, The S1a comes with your pretty standard things, lanyard, battery that sort of thing. The features boasting a 600 lumen output with specialized batteries was one of the most interesting features for me. That being said with a new charger and batteries (14500's) still on order, we will be stuck with the standard AA options. Which frankly, is no issue at all.
Features as per Olight:
"KEY FEATURES:
Here is a group shot with some of my main edc lights and what we will be comparing the S1a against. (lights shown can be listed if needed)
The first thing that stands out with the S1A is its appearance. Thought nothing special in particular compared to some custom lights, for a factory make its has some nice flares to it. The protective coating seems to be even and fairly well done. I have noticed some scratching with the few days on pocket carry. Please bare in mind with that though its been dropped, rolled around on cement and pavement and lent out to a 6 year old to take a gander at.. The blue tip is pleasing to look at, the anti roll features and magnetic end cap are some handy additions as well. Coming from spending some time under vehicles two things that allwas have frustrated me with most lights is they roll away and not having grown a third arm yet is still have trouble illuminating what im working on and working on it at the same time. Having the ability to stick it to the frame of a jeep and attempt to track down a noise while on the trail is a very useful feature.
Now, Lets get into the fun stuff and look at some beam patterns.
I've had many lights over the years. Ive found myself favoring lights with more of a longer range beam and not as much flood. Once in a while though there will be certain lights more on the floody side that I like, this is without doubt one of them.
From left to right (High setting, dirt pile roughly 15 meters away):
Streamlight Protac 2L, Olight S1A, Surfire E2DL
Over all I am happy with its style of light in terms of a general use edc light. Like stated, while working on vehicles, finding my keys that always seem to detach from clip or trying to figure out that bump in the night, this light seems to take the cake to far. The other big feature that speaks to a working class person, aa batteries.. I have gotten so used to cr's and 18650's i actually had to buy some aa's for this little guy. I was not let down though.
One thing you will notice is the cooler tinge to the light. This is hard to represent on some photos, but here compared to the Thrunite Ti3 you can get a bit of an idea.
Ti3, S1A
With all that said, Here is a little recap.
With some very attractive features the S1a is a very likely contender as an edc light to keep in your rotation. There are some issues which need to be noted with this light though.
Pros:
- Compact, easy to use interface
- Easy to stomach price
- Solid beam pattern, more then acceptable performance
- magnetic tail cap
- good looks
Cons:
- Lens has taken some damage quicker then expected (scratching)
- Pocket clip is very selective on what style of pockets it fits into easier (thicker jeans can take some messing about to put in place)
- Some features only useable with "specialized" battery type (still very usable with aa features though.
At the end of the day, this is a very nice light. nothing crazy, but certainly one you will want to try out. After serveral months of use it will be interesting to see how it fairs. We are not easy on our lights so if it stands up to the use it will forever have a place in the rotation. Coming from a pretty normal guy, i do enjoy this light, if your anything like me you wont regret picking one up.
Thanks for tagging along everyone, if you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask. Lastly, here is a teaser photo for the next edition coming shortly..:wave:
(Admins, please review for Review section?)
Hope everyone has had good week so far. Today Id would like share a look at the Olight S1A that we received to take a look at.
I personally come from a military background and have also worked in the private security industry. Search and rescue took up most of my young adulthood as well, so the use of lighting equipment has come in many shapes and forms. so, with that said, please come along and take an initial look at the S1A from the eyes of myself and how I utilize my lighting tools.
First of all, The S1a comes with your pretty standard things, lanyard, battery that sort of thing. The features boasting a 600 lumen output with specialized batteries was one of the most interesting features for me. That being said with a new charger and batteries (14500's) still on order, we will be stuck with the standard AA options. Which frankly, is no issue at all.
Features as per Olight:
"KEY FEATURES:
- Cree XM-L2 LED
- Powered by one AA battery. Conventional output: 0.5 lumens, 5 lumens, 50 lumens, 220 lumens,
- strobe mode at 10Hz. Special output: turbo mode at 600 lumens (only available when 14500
- rechargeable lithium battery is used)
- High light transmission rate TIR lens resulting in a balanced and useful beam
- Eco-friendly AL6061-T6 aluminum alloy body with anti-scratch Milspec type-III hard anodized finish and a blue PVD stainless steel ring on the switch and bezel
- Controlled by a thermal protection program, the turbo mode is limited to 1 minute and then the brightness gradually steps down to 50% of the initial brightness (only available when 14500 rechargeable lithium battery is used)
- Built-in timer: Short timer (3 minutes) or Long timer (9 minutes)"
Here is a group shot with some of my main edc lights and what we will be comparing the S1a against. (lights shown can be listed if needed)
The first thing that stands out with the S1A is its appearance. Thought nothing special in particular compared to some custom lights, for a factory make its has some nice flares to it. The protective coating seems to be even and fairly well done. I have noticed some scratching with the few days on pocket carry. Please bare in mind with that though its been dropped, rolled around on cement and pavement and lent out to a 6 year old to take a gander at.. The blue tip is pleasing to look at, the anti roll features and magnetic end cap are some handy additions as well. Coming from spending some time under vehicles two things that allwas have frustrated me with most lights is they roll away and not having grown a third arm yet is still have trouble illuminating what im working on and working on it at the same time. Having the ability to stick it to the frame of a jeep and attempt to track down a noise while on the trail is a very useful feature.
Now, Lets get into the fun stuff and look at some beam patterns.
I've had many lights over the years. Ive found myself favoring lights with more of a longer range beam and not as much flood. Once in a while though there will be certain lights more on the floody side that I like, this is without doubt one of them.
From left to right (High setting, dirt pile roughly 15 meters away):
Streamlight Protac 2L, Olight S1A, Surfire E2DL
Over all I am happy with its style of light in terms of a general use edc light. Like stated, while working on vehicles, finding my keys that always seem to detach from clip or trying to figure out that bump in the night, this light seems to take the cake to far. The other big feature that speaks to a working class person, aa batteries.. I have gotten so used to cr's and 18650's i actually had to buy some aa's for this little guy. I was not let down though.
One thing you will notice is the cooler tinge to the light. This is hard to represent on some photos, but here compared to the Thrunite Ti3 you can get a bit of an idea.
Ti3, S1A
With all that said, Here is a little recap.
With some very attractive features the S1a is a very likely contender as an edc light to keep in your rotation. There are some issues which need to be noted with this light though.
Pros:
- Compact, easy to use interface
- Easy to stomach price
- Solid beam pattern, more then acceptable performance
- magnetic tail cap
- good looks
Cons:
- Lens has taken some damage quicker then expected (scratching)
- Pocket clip is very selective on what style of pockets it fits into easier (thicker jeans can take some messing about to put in place)
- Some features only useable with "specialized" battery type (still very usable with aa features though.
At the end of the day, this is a very nice light. nothing crazy, but certainly one you will want to try out. After serveral months of use it will be interesting to see how it fairs. We are not easy on our lights so if it stands up to the use it will forever have a place in the rotation. Coming from a pretty normal guy, i do enjoy this light, if your anything like me you wont regret picking one up.
Thanks for tagging along everyone, if you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask. Lastly, here is a teaser photo for the next edition coming shortly..:wave:
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