S10R III Baton and S30R III Baton: 2 Old New Olight Flashlights

rookiedaddy

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
941
Location
A Place Called HOME
Thanks to Foong of Mount Xplorer Outdoor Gear, received a S10R III Baton and a S30R III Baton for testing and review.

The release of this 2 flashlights seems like an act to fulfill a promise of Olight to release an updated version of S10R II and S30R II. The strangest thing is the S10R III instead of using XM-L2, it's using an SST-40 LED. Except for a key different, this 2 flashlights have a redundant sibling, S1R and S2R. The key difference is S10R and S30R is using reflector instead of TIR lens found in S1R and S2R.

See the following tables for a brief comparisons between S10R III vs S1R and S30R III vs S2R:
CompareS10RS1R_fixed.jpg


CompareS30RS2R.jpg


Due to different beam shaping/profile system, it's down to whether you want a more throwy light with smaller hotspot or a generally less throwy light with a big hotspot. In fact, in my opinion, this 2 lights should've been release prior to S1R and S2R!

Let's see some beamshots (~20 meters away from tree top, f/3.5, exp. 1/2 sec, ISO-400):
Control.jpg


S10RIII.jpg


S1RTurboSHigh.jpg


S1RTurbosTurbo.jpg


S1A.jpg


S30RIII.jpg


S2R.jpg


ArmytekPartnerC2.jpg


From the above beamshots, although it may not be very clear the S10R III beamshots compare to others, but from the S30R III vs S2R pictures, you can see the centre hotspot of S30R III is brighter but coverage area is lesser when compare to S2R.

Following is some subtle differences between S10R III and S30R III besides the physical appearance and brightness:
CompareS10RS30R.jpg


I've given up on documenting Olight's UI since the S1R release as they keep changing the UI for every new light release. There are only 2 things that remain consistent among their electronic side switch UI, the on/off and mode cycle.

Let us now look at some unboxing pics. First the box...
S10RIIIFront.jpg


S10RIIIBack.jpg


S30RIIIFront.jpg


S30RIIIBack.jpg


Contents...
S10RIIIContents.jpg


S30RIIIContents.jpg


The flashlight... S10R III...
S10RIII_01.jpg


S10RIII_02.jpg


S10RIII_LED.jpg


S10RIII_Tail.jpg


S10RIII_TailcapBattery.jpg


S10RIII_Battery.jpg

although it looks like the high discharge 550mAh battery used in S1R Turbo S, it is actually a normal 650mAh RCR123A customized for recharging in S10R III. I would not recommend to use this battery (163C06) in S1R Turbo S, although the S1R battery (163C05) could be used in S10R III.

S10RIII_HeadContact.jpg


Lockout indicator on S10R III... a Red LED flashes up for a short while when light is in lockout mode.
S10RIII_LockoutRedLED.jpg

On S30R III, the lockout indicator is a quick moon mode flash.

S30R III...
S30RIII_01.jpg


S30RIII_02.jpg


S30RIII_03.jpg


S30RIII_LED.jpg


S30RIII_Tail.jpg


S30RIII_TailcapBattery.jpg


S30RIII_HeadContact.jpg


Comparisons to other flashlights...
S10RIIIS30RIIIComparisons.jpg


About S30R III Tailcap...
The sample S30R III I receive has a defective tailcap, it does not turn on nor charge, using multimeter to probe...
S30RIII_TailcapNoContinuity.jpg

no continuity at this 2 points whereas there is continuity between this 2 points in S2R tailcap. So I had to use S2R tailcap for this S30R III testing.

Now, I'm leaving the best to the last... the MicroDok III.
MicroDok_Bottom.jpg

very strong suction cap, and there are 3 of them at the bottom.

MicroDok_Top.jpg


MicroDok_ExtendedUSB.jpg


MicroDok_MicroUSBInput.jpg


when charging...
MicroDok_Charging.jpg


when finish charging...
MicroDok_ChargingDone.jpg


The USB charging dock is actually pretty good. It can also be used to charge S1R and S2R faster than the Magnetic Charging Cable which only offers 750ma charging current while this can charge at 1A. Fast and convenient. With the strong magnet at the S-series tailcap, you can even charge it upside-down if you want to (provided you can securely attach the suction cap)... not that I would recommend you to do so... :poke:
MicroDokUpsideDownCharging.jpg


In conclusion, I'm pretty impress with the S30R III Baton despite the problem with the tailcap... the S10R III? err... not so much... well, after we experience the 900 burning lumens of S1R Turbo S, this S10R III?!! meh... honestly, they should have release the S10R III right after their S1A as both have the same brightness, release a similar form factor (CR123A-size) light after you release a scorching 900 lumens S1R and yet max out at a lower 600 lumens seems like a step backward... even-though I personally think the heat generated with currently used LED (XM-L2) at 900 lumens in such a small form factor light will likely shorten the LED and battery life. :whoopin:
 
Last edited:

rookiedaddy

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
941
Location
A Place Called HOME
Just finish a runtime test of S10R III moon mode, ~15.1 days, light runs until off. Nice... :thumbsup:
My concern is, the included rechargeable battery protection circuit was tripped and reads 0V upon removal from the light. :ohgeez:
Is this good for the battery? I'll leave it to you to conclude. :whistle:
 

LeafSamurai

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
259
Location
Christchurch, NZ
That's not good lol. But, seeing that Kedai GW is having a sale on Olight products and the price is quite reasonable, I feel very tempted to pick one up. I have all the current Olights except the S10R III so I have the obsessive need to complete the set if you know what I mean.
 

Beckler

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 29, 2003
Messages
366
Location
Earth
:| WHAT, they're still working on that g*ddamn tailcap? My S10R recently stopped working and I took the tailcap apart & cleaned it and that fixed it. It shouldn't take them this long to properly design such a simple thing.
 
Top