Your time wasn’t wasted; you found more data, answered questions, and eliminated doubt. So unless the ONLY reason you spent the time was to redeem this light, I would say that the time was well-spent. Think about it; you found the truth.
Your time is NOT wasted. The style, thoroughness, and objective approach to testing that you demonstrate is rare these days. Love your channel. Keep it up!
Thanks much. I'm glad you find my content useful. I feel there is a need for thorough pistol light testing... so the firearms community can focus on buying products from manufacturers that are doing well.
First… great video, as usual Shan. Second… Not shocked that Olight tried wiggle out of having a trash product. I also don’t put it past them to have yet another proprietary garbage battery. Third… you have every right to be kranky. You do what you can to put out the highest quality information about lights. And your time has been robbed from you by a garbage company that makes a trash product compared to basically every other WML out there.
Few things: 1. Thank you and your team for doing these videos. 2. Used to buy Olights. Never again. Stopped a couple years ago. People KNOW the lights are overpriced and wont buy them unless they're on a massive sale. 3. Cant wait to see your videos on the new Streamlight ProTac 2.0's Just saw that they dropped.
Thank you for videos you put out. I used to like Olight and I have a few of them. But it seems Olight has increased their price to where it is just better to go with a better light. You truly prove the old saying “ you get what you paid for”. Your commitment to customer service is why I will always look here for a holster first.
@@johnrice1943 And if you're bothered to wait for that massive sale, you'll only get the lights at full price of the brands I mentioned, with the same quality or worse. Not worth it IMO.
The new Olight Pl-3 is $80 and on sale for $54 I paid $150 for my tlr7 sub with 500 lumens. Money is a big deal these days I think light was making a budget friendly option for some people that don't have $300 to spend on a surfire. Great video brotha!!
You definitely didn't waste your time. Thank you for doing all the work you did. Olight obviously needs to do better. I have a few of their lights that I'm happy with. This would likely have shown up in the duty holster of one of my coworkers based on the performance of past products. I'll disseminate this information so that the professionals that I oversee don't make this mistake.
man i want to say that your overall vision/aesthetic for the channel is very fitting, and the info is unmatched. thank you for making this high quality content.
I am so disappointed in the PL3, I love my PL2 so much. I found these videos because out of the box, even with Olight factory batteries, my PL3 wasn't as bright as my old PL2. I actually thought something was wrong with my light until I watched these and others. Wish I could just get a second PL2.
Thanks for the information! Time was definitely not wasted on this. People deserve to know what works and what is hype. Just ordered a holster for my P10C from y'all! Can't wait to give it a test drive!
Hey thanks for the feedback, and thanks for purchasing from us. We would have a larger selection for the P10C if it was a more popular pistol. I like supporting folks like CZ, but it's tough when we don't get nearly the volume of sales.
Totally missed opportunity on their end. They have some really good lights but this one is complete shit and I’m glad you made us all aware of it, since they are pushing their Black Friday sale super hard core!
I think you can try rechargeable LiFe 123a batteries. they have 1/3 of the capacity of disposable but have steady 3.2v output till completely drained. Basically they act like brand new disposable cr123a for the whole duration, any quality light will stay at max output with such batteries regardless of getting scorching hot. It will kill any doubt in your battery choice.
I've run Olight for my non weapon duty lights for a couple years now. I've had no issue with them and at this point am confident recommending them to others for the same use. The weapon lights on the other hand need more time and refinement.
I switched to olight for my handhelds and love them. Have been using them daily for almost 3 years. I like them so much I’ve gotten a cpl more. When I say I use them I mean at work 5-10 time daily under houses, on ladders and in attics. Everyone has there opinions but you came at it with tests. I don’t own any of there pistol lights so I can’t speak on them.
I am a Streamlight fan. I use Streamlight on all my personal and duty weapons, and I also carry their flashlight on my duty belt. They have never let me down. I was always curious about olight, you just helped me save my time and money by laying my curiosity to rest. Thank you sir.
As a test engineer, I totally get the feeling of wasted time. But confirmation data points are important. Great work on this, it proves your earlier efforts weren't a fluke.
@@RadDadisRad 18350 is not that much of an oddball. I dare say rechargeable CR123 (16340 to be precise) have less infrastructure to back them up than 18350 does. It's about on par with 21700, still kinda unusual but becoming mainstream.
@@DinnerForkTongue i have a couple very common lithium battery chargers and they don’t charge batteries shorter than 18650. 18650 was the initial universal rechargeable lithium ion standard battery but has been upsized in recent years to the 21700 for adoption. 18350 is not common.
@@RadDadisRad I recommend you get something like the XTAR VC-8 to charge your batteries. It’ll handle everything from 10440s (AAA cells) up to 21700s, and will auto-detect the battery chemistry and charge accordingly.
@@KrisCox I’m not worried about going smaller because I don’t plan on using anything with smaller rechargeable batteries. Energy density and discharge rates are exponentially worse with smaller framed rechargeable cells. That’s why I use disposable CR123A batteries in my WMLs and 18650 and 21700 in my hobby stuff.
There's no reason you should need proprietary batteries for a light to function correctly. I'm also willing to bet that those "Olight batteries" are just some other manufacturer's batteries with an Olight wrapping.
Damn straight. Especially for gunlights, where if you're swapping batteries, you're doing it for good reason. And you bet these Olight CR123 primaries are rewraps. Pretty sure they're Panasonic or LG.
Thankful for this testing. I love the Pro R. Have streamlights too. Like them both. But this is not up to my snuff. Looks like it's 50-60$ or so. In that aspect... It's ok I guess. Beats having nothing for someone 🤷🏼♂️
Yeah it being only 55 dollars is the only reason i ordered one but i also dont really care for the high output setting anyway you dont really need it atlest i dont but thats just my opinion
You did not wast your time! Thank you! I was going to buy this light but not anymore! I have been in search of a pistol light for my Glock 19 X for sometime. Your channel is by far my go to spot for education on holsters and pistol lights!
Thanks Justin for your feedback! If you want a durable light with good output that is the length of your G19X (that's what I run), I might recommend a TLR-7A, or (if you want to go longer), TLR-1HL. My two cents. Blessings!
Yup. This is what happens when you chase arbitrary numbers as a measuring stick (read: lumens) without understanding how long a flashlight can maintain those lumens. Tests like this are invaluable.
Have you ever tested ATACTICAL/WOWTAC flashlights? It"s one of the Amazon lights. I have been using one everyday since 2017! They have been abused and up until recently the rechargeable battery is starting to die! I really enjoy your channel and I am excited to try one of your holsters that I just ordered! Thanks and have a blessed day!
It's hard to compare Olight to the TLR-7 because it's twice the price of the Olight. I run the pl-3r with a higher mAh battery and it has been great and lasts longer than the TLR-7 for lot less than TLR-7 price. Just my thoughts. love your reviews btw
Thanks for the data , I just got the PL 3 in the mail today and I don't think it is any brighter than my PL 2. As a matter of fact I think my Baldar mini Pro is brighter than the PL 3. I have several of their edc lights and they are great lights.
I really appreciate the nature of your tests however there are some things to point out 1 - using the Olight batteries and achieving 1300 lumen for around 1 min is more or less what they say on the box. 2 - I don't think it would be a stretch to say that olight have done tests that corroborate thier stats and they do point that out in the fine print. So unless tested in the same lab, lab testing like this can be considered subjective to your lab 3 - most importantly, these tests don't really address the correct application of a weapon light in a combative environment. You would virtually never have your light on for more than a minute in a combative (non duty) environment. I feel that's something your tests overlook, how does the light perform on a low/no light training course for example. Understanding proper application of the light and then testing it versus that application is a more real world/relevant test. Having said that, I would like to reiterate that you really do go out of your way and as a fellow content creator, I must say well done on your work.
I have noticed this behavior from Olight in your previous tests, and this video only solidfies my opinion. Olight is not a WML manufacturer, they make some ok flashlights for the money but even then you can just buy a Streamlight and have a better product. The product that I would buy again from Olight is their AAA keychain light, it's nice and cheap and relatively bright for the size. If you need a PML or a WML for your rifle, skip Olight and go with any of the reputable manufacturers. Streamlight, Cloud Defensive, Modlite (even though I don't like the head of the company), Arisaka, Surefire, and now HRT has an offering.
Thank you for this. I have always criticized olight for lying about their light performance. Olight makes cheap garbage. Every olight that I have ever owned has broken with minimal use.
Your experience is quite different from mine, and I have more Olights (and SureFire, and Streamlight, and Pelican, and ASP, and JetBeam, and Nitecore) than most folks have underwear. My experience is that Olight has a rock-solid product, in general. I’m not saying your Olights didn’t crap out; I’m just saying that doesn’t match with mine. Also, this pair of reviews about the performance was disappointing to me, but I really appreciate Shan putting the time into this, and sharing the facts with us, as well as his opinion. Truthful reviews are far more valuable to both the customer and the company.
@@KrisCox thanks. Out of curiosity, when you say that you have experience with olight offering a solid product, is this based on measurable light performance and durability relative to surefire and streamlight? I have never achieved the same level of performance out of any of my olights to their rivals.
@@KrisCox You're a lucky one, Kris! My experience with their handheld lights has been pretty hit or miss (an S10R went dead, an S1 had real bad parasitic drain [like "leave a charged battery in it overnight and it'll be totally dead in the morning" levels of bad] and an S30 on clearance had a janky driver and wouldn't go above medium mode, but the replacement S1 and an S2 I got to replace the S30 are both excellent lights to this day). I hope your Olight's continue to serve you well.
@@alrbredwall I use the handheld lights from the other companies; I own only one WML, and it’s from Olight. I bought it before I had anything to mount it on, because it was on sale and had the features I wanted in a WML, and I knew I was buying something to mount it on soon. I have not had a chance to try this at the range more than once so far. I’ve partied at SHOT Show with Paul Kim (who was SureFire’s chief designer at the time); I have the first full-on beam shot of SureFire’s Beast flashlight, and I spent half an hour with the VP of Sales in the back room of the MagLite booth at SHOT Show one year talking about the state of the industry from a flashoholic’s perspective. I have EDC-ed lights from various manufacturers in a suburban, cube-dweller (office-worker) environment for over 20 years. I am not an outdoorsman or a hunter, so keep this in mind. Okay, now that I’ve got all that out of my system, let me try to answer your question. While I lack the equipment to check actual lumens or candela, I can point the light “down-range” and wave it around and compare it to others I have on hand, and I do this from time to time, having ****-waving contests with some of my flashoholic friends. I have found Olight’s output to be respectable, and the beam profiles to be very useful. I have not had any issues with build quality or durability, and I’m not gentle with my equipment. I’ve dropped more lights than most people own, to be honest, and none of them, from any of these manufacturers, has suffered anything more than cosmetic damage. I, personally, have no issue buying an Olight product, but I’m also not going to denigrate SureFire, Streamlight, Pelican, or the other guys, because my experience with all of them has been good. I look at the specs, try to apply those specs to my personal situation, and buy based on that. Video reviews help a lot because they show the beam profile (How tight is the hot spot? What does the spill area look like? Never mind the ANSI standard rating, how far does the USEFUL beam travel?) and other things.
Bought 2 of these lights and both dropped power 2-3 seconds after running, thought it was a battery issue and installed new batteries and got same results.
I've got their PL-PRO 1500 lumen rechargeable light. It has single-click operation for on which I like. I don't have any way to measure lumen output, so I don't know how quickly it fades.
Guys...couple things here..not a fan boy by any means..I own a few olight odins a streamlight tlr7... love them all.. 1. this is a weapon-mounted light..when would you ever keep the light on that long...2 their instruction manual plainly states that the light steps down at 1.5 to 35 percent brightness then to 15 percent brightness at 82 min of continuous run time...thus is to protect the internals from heat..
@@8743Noel Agree with your handheld comment. I have used my lights more than 60s in home / warehouse search situations (training), and could see continuing to use to hold a person of interest. That said, you may well have more experience than me.
I don't have a real opinion on O light, I own the PL mini 2 and have been very happy with it so far. what really sucks is getting a light like this and buying a specific holster for your pistol, light combo and finding out that the light sucks and now you have a worthless holster too. Why can't we have holster that retains off of the pistol.
The Streamlight tlr1 non-hl model has and hour more runtime than the hl model and that to me is worth getting it over some of these so called brighter lights. The non-hl model had enough candela as well to shine a really good distance. Food for thought.
I ordered two of these lights for PDP and G45. After watching your first review I was gonna cancel the order. I decided not to cause how many times am I really gonna be outside and need a weapon light. Not many. I don’t think many here is gonna be outside and need a weapons light also. I could be wrong. I don’t do any night shooting. So for me this product at $54 works. And if I do need a brighter light at night cause I heard a bump in the night I’ll grab my AR. Love the reviews and hope you’ll make a holster for it cause we need one and I would buy two of them.
Thanks for the feedback! Thankfully not many of us ever need to draw our weapon. If we do, then we have the responsibility to identify our target, whether it's light or dark out. Perhaps the PL-3's 1 minute of good output and then remaining time of lower output is sufficient for your use. Either way, I'm happy that the video helped you make an informed decision! Blessings!
Thanks for the video! I got my OLIGHT PL-Mini 2 rechargeable yesterday(black Friday deal), still haven't taken it out of the amazon box, waiting for something else. Not sure I'm going to keep it. If I do keep the light, I'm getting your holster for a Glock 19x. Holidays always make me cranky btw, so if this is your first time, I feel your pain!
I have this light...and its in a box somewhere. Surefire are great but if thats too much any Streamlight pistol light is good. I Have the tlr1-hl and the tlr7sub.
Actual battery testing isn’t difficult to do. Icharger and the Junsi console software can be used to discharge the cells and actually chart their ability. You can do this with up to 12 batteries. Olight doesn’t make batteries. They re wrap other companies batteries. Like Orbtronic.
I wish I would've watched this video before I bought the pl-3. I liked it due to the replaceable batteries. But I like my PL-pro valkyrie more in hindsight
I buy a box of CR123A batteries and use them in ALL of my WMLs. I can say with certainty that my Baldr RL 1,150 lumen light is brighter than my Baldr Pro 1,300 lumen light.
I bought three Olights last year, and all were defective. First one was a Baldr Pro, which sometimes ran at full power...and sometimes at a lower setting. I complaint about it to Olight, and they told me I had to use their batteries. They send me a set, and it was the same problem. I went back and forth with them until I was so tired, I just kept that defective light. The other two lights were just as bad, with one of them having been shipped with the light head completely broken off. The third one, Baldr Pro R, turns on and off while I'm shooting, whenever the light decides to turn on and off. It runs fine when I'm not firing the gun, which makes that light useless. I will never buy another Olight, for as long as I live
I've got a P320 Compact RX with a BALDR Pro . Does Werkz make a holster for that? or for a TLR1-HL? I have a Safariland holster (got it for $10 in a pawn shop) for a Smith & Wesson with the TLR, that's why it rides on the S&W. I'd rather put it on the Sig.
For all our current holster fitment, go to werkz.com/ and click on our holster finder. Select your pistol and light... if we show them both we have holsters for you. I believe we should have you covered. Blessings!
The problem is with regard to measuring output for a very short time... Olight says this light will do the max output for 90 seconds. We only got 60. The other problem is that people often look only at the max output number. I think showing the output curve would be more informative, but manufacturers (and consumers) still need a "max" number.
There are some Olight flashlights that I liked for EDC, but I am not a fan of their weapons lights. I've head good things about the Odin fir rifles, but I am pretty loyal to Streamlight when it conss to weapons lights.
@@WerkzHolsters thanks.. mine for some reason it saves on high settings but after 30 minutes not doing anything and you turn it back on it goes back to low setting as default.. weird but as long as throws a light I am good
@@santoslorenz I never tried that! I have a couple lights here on my desk... I'll have to try. Going back to low mode after 30 minutes would make me like the light even less.
Wtf I'm starting to regret my decision on buying the PL-3 and also looking for a holster company that makes holster for PL-3. I really hope olight has a recall or sends out some Type of resolution for this
I think the light is operating as designed. As others have pointed out, the spec sheet says 1.5 minutes at the high setting, which I couldn't replicate (I only had 60s).
I own streamlight, energizers, surefire and duracell. And i cant tell a difference in any of them. If i were to guess the duracell is slightly better but that may just be biased i love duracell for everything. Im sure 99% percent of batteries made in the USA are made in the same factory. As far as batteries go something im going to be carrying a inch from my balls im going to go with a USA made one. Not Chinese were the QC Isn't a priority.
We made a FN509T holster way back... very little demand. That said, I'm always looking at what is popular and want to build whatever the most people are looking for. If I have enough demand (YT comments are one way I watch for demand), we will look at it. Blessings!
If the light is not used for 70 seconds it reverts back to low mode, there is no mode memory after 70 seconds. At least thats what my PL-3 does, anyone else?
I tested that Olight and after my first use, I hated it. Terrible product, Save your money folks, this man is spot on. He almost gave them too much credit IMO...lmao. I just wish I had seen this test before wasting my $$. Lessons learned.
As much as I love Olight as a whole. Their need for their propertiey batteries are laughable at best. Wish they would realize they would have more customers if they ever drop their bullshit custom batteries. Other than that, at least their lights are good.
The Olight Baldr Pro has a 1mm washer on the bottom of the minus side. Remove this with a dental pick or similar tool and now you can use any brand of CR 123A battreies. This trick may work on some of their other lights that require their proprietary CR 123A batteries.
