Olight i5T EOS Flashlight Review

The Olight i5T EOS flashlight, an AA tactical two-mode light.  Read on for some testing and thoughts and photos of those blue accents!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Olight i5T EOS flashlight product page.

Versions

There are three versions of this light.  There’s a limited edition blue twist and a limited edition copper.  And the regular black, which I have here.  Functionally I believe they’re all the same.

Price

The version I have here is $29.95.

Buy yours through my referral link to OlightStore.com!

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Short Review

This is a nice little simple light.  I like the operation being just two modes and nothing else cluttering up the UI.  I don’t love the emitter – it’s a bit cool.  The switch is great.

Long Review

The Big Table

Olight i5T EOS Flashlight
Emitter:	Osram P9
Price in USD at publication time:	$29.95 at olightstore.com
Cell:	1xAA
High Runtime
LVP?	No
Switch Type:	Mechanical
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	300
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	327 (109% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	4.5
Claimed Throw (m)	60
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	67lux @ 4.715m = 1489cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	77.2 (128.7% of claim)^
All my Olight reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  I am an amateur flashlight reviewer.  I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment.  I test output and such in PVC tubes!!  Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

• Olight i5T EOS Flashlight
• Primary AA cell
• Manual

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build quality is good.  In particular the anodizing has a good feel to it.  The spirals on the body – I’m just indifferent about these.  They certainly don’t provide exceptional grip but they don’t hinder and the light is perfectly fine for holding anyway.

One thing I do like is the reeding on the tailcap.  Very helpful for unscrewing for cell swaps.

I was extremely surprised to note that the tail end of the light has so much copper.  I’m not sure what the logic here is.  It adds a nice bit of weight but the copper isn’t needed in order to carry the excessive current on High (to wit: the current on high isn’t excessive.)  So it basically seems like just a “nice touch” if you consider it a nice touch.

The threads are very nice, too.  square-cut and unanodized, and not too long.

One thing about this tailcap I am not a huge fan of is that the spring has to be twisted against the end of the cell.  This wouldn’t be a problem except the spring ends sharply and so when tightening the tailcap, the tip can grab at the cell, and “untwist” the spring.  That tip should be mashed flat.  Even a drop of solder would make it smooth enough to not grab the cell.

The head has a brass button.

Size and Comps

The i5T is 95mm long and 17.8mm in diameter.  The weight is 95g.

Retention and Carry

The included way to carry this light is the two-way friction fit clip.  This one’s blue.  I don’t typically love two-way clips, but this is by no means the worst iteration I’ve seen.  It’s fairly slim (noteworthy because the bulk of these two-ways is one big complaint of mine).  There’s a lanyard hole on the shoulder.  (No lanyard is included).

The clip is two-way but not reversible, but due to this, it’s perfectly usable as a hatlight.

Power and Runtime

The i5T EOS runs on a single AA cell.  Lithium-ion is not supported, but all 1.5V types are.  I tested exclusively with an IKEA LADDA.  Here’s a runtime on the higher mode.  Low voltage protection is not seen, but the output does drop down very low, which will be noticeable.  There’s a timed stepdown after 3 minutes, to “50%” which should be 150 lumens.

I didn’t do a runtime test on Low, because that’s estimated at 20 hours.  And it’s not from lack of willingness – it’s from lack of my computer’s ability to process an excel file that large.  So apologies there.

No LVP was seen when testing with a bench power, either.  The light does shut off at 0.4V but not electrically.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
High	300/150/30	3m/25m/122m	327	1.50
Low	15	20h	18	0.07

Pulse Width Modulation

There’s something on Low, but not PWM.  Just sawtooth, and I didn’t find it to be noticeable.  It’s very fast.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, with is 50 microseconds (50us).  10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single switch on the i5T EOS.  It’s a proud rubber cover mechanical clicky on the tail.  It has an extremely good feel.  It seems a bit unusual in that it seems to have hard sides with an internal soft stippled contact point.  The hard sides make the action very smooth, and the stippled center bit make it easy to grip.

Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	Low
Off	Tap	Momentary Low
On (more than 2s)	Click	Off
Off	Double click	High
On (less than 2s)	Click	High

LED and Beam

I can’t find it in the literature but based on searches on the web this is an Osram P9 emitter.  The light uses a TIR and has a beam with mostly spot and a little spill.

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left, and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• Good build quality
• Very simple UI
• Switch cover is surprisingly great
• Reeding on the tailcap makes for easy grip
• Copper bit in the tailcap? is probably relevant for some electrical reason but it adds a nice heft to the light, in any case.

What I don’t like

• Osram P9 – there’s probably a better choice for this light than the P9.
• An extra mode wouldn’t hurt my feelings

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Notes

• This light was provided by Olight for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
• For flashlight-related patches, stickers, and gear, head over to PhotonPhreaks.com!
• Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!
• Please support me on Patreon!  Feeding flashlights is expensive!  And funding Fun Fund Friday even more so.  I deeply appreciate your support!