I have in my hands the Olight Warrior X Turbo Desert Tan flashlight. Again! You might ask, didn’t you review a Warrior X Turbo? Yes I did! But Olight sent this Desert Tan version, to correspond to the release of this Limited Edition colorway!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the official product page.
Versions
We’re up to three Warrior X Turbo versions. Black, Desert Tan, and Gunmetal Gray.
Price
These limited editions command a little higher price than the black, seen above. They’re going for $149.95 (affiliate link), but I believe they’re now sold out. Sorry if this was your jam light but reviews take time….
Olight Warrior X Turbo Desert Tan Flashlight Short Review
This is a well built and versatile dead simple very throwy light. It’ll be great on a weapon, or just for playing around with as your main thrower. I really like the switch, but I like the proprietary battery much less.
Olight Warrior X Turbo Desert Tan Flashlight Long Review
The Big Table
| Olight Warrior X Turbo Desert Tan | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Osram CSLPM1.F1 (6000K-6700K) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $149.95 at olightstore.com (affiliate link) |
| Cell: | 1×21700 |
| Turbo Runtime | High Runtime |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Both |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | 8.48 |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | Proprietary Magnetic |
| Chargetime | |
| Power off Charge Port | (No access to switch) |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1100 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 1100 (100% of claim)* |
| Candela per Lumen | 219.6 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 1000 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 6380lux @ 6.089m = 236544cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 972.7 (97.3% 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 Warrior X Turbo Desert Tan flashlight
- Olight 5000mAh Proprietary 21700
- Lanyard
- Charge cable (USB to proprietary Magnetic)
- Tactical ring
- Nylon form fitting pouch
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
As this is the second Warrior X Turbo review, and the only difference is the color, much of the text you see here will be repeated. The light is still incredibly solid. That part hasn’t changed. The emitter is still great for this purpose. And so on.
This feels like an extremely robust light. The finish is excellent.
I liked the gunmetal grey color quite a bit (still do) but I think the Desert Tan is probably a little better. The bezel on this color is black, while the bezel on the black body is blue.
That tactical ring being off axis below was just coincidence – I noticed right after this photo and fixed it. It sits perfectly correct normally.
The tailcap has big grooves for grip, allowing easy removal for cell swaps. Of course the light has on-board charging, so maybe you’d never need to swap cells.
Thanks to the triad tailcap, the Warrior X Turbo will tailstand but it’s a bit reluctant to do so.
The body has grip, but not knurling.
The head has some cooling fins, but overall it’s minimal cooling. The light does get warm on Turbo!
In these two photos you might notice a little rubber band around the head…. I use that often in testing and didn’t notice til I was almost done with photos. 🙁 Woops.
Both head and tail have a spring, as you would expect in a weapon light.
The threads are big and square cut, and very smooth. I thought they were the same as the M2R Pro Warrior but in fact the body is much thicker on this light.
Size and Comps
Weight (g / oz) 294g / 10.37oz
Length (mm / in) 157mm / 6.18in
Head Diameter (mm / in) 58mm / 2.28in
Body Diameter (mm / in) 26.2mm / 1.03in
If a light will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo). If a light will tailstand, I’ll show that here, too (usually the fourth photo).
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple. A very nice 18650 light.
And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light. I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 format.
Here’s probably the summary of the review, if you were even moderately interested. On the left below is the Gunmetal Grey. On the right is the Desert Tan. So there’s the difference!!
Retention and Carry
The primary way for carrying this light will likely be the form fit pouch. The pouch is structured – not really “hard” but it holds its shape when the light is out. The light fits in only bezel-up direction.
Also included and attached from the factory is a friction fit clip that fits only on the tail end, allowing bezel-down carry.
This clip is a halfway around clip, but it’s secured by the collar ring. So despite the clip itself not being all that tight or maybe secure, the collar holds it in place very firmly. This collar and clip are also keyed – they’ll only fit in one way.
The collar has a hole for lanyard attachment, too.
The clip includes multiple places a lanyard could attach, as well. This clip is really quite nice!
A second tactical ring is included. This one is not keyed, and can not be used with the pocket clip. I tried to force it a bit before realizing the clip was keyed, and made a nice little dent in the aluminum collar of the soft grip tac ring.
There are other retention options for the Warrior X Turbo that I don’t have on hand. The light has a weapon mount. You can see that here:
Power and Runtime
The Warrior X Turbo is powered by the same cell as the M2R Pro Warrior. It’s a 5000mAh proprietary 21700 cell. This cell won’t charge in your bay charger. It’ll charge via the tailcap charging of the Warrior X Turbo (or the M2R Pro Warrior, too!).
Standard 21700 cells do not work in any capacity in this light. (No power, no charging).
The cell is sort of technically a button top, but the button is shrouded by plastic, and there’s a negative terminal on the positive end, too.
The cell goes into the light in the normal orientation – positive end toward head.
Here are runtimes for both modes. There are just two – Turbo and Low. Both modes look good – Turbo holds fairly steady for over 20 minutes at ~1000 lumens. Then the stepdowns follow a program until the light eventually shuts off. Once the light shuts off it no longer responds to input from the switch. The light has an interesting vibrate function to warn of low voltage, too. Below 20% battery, the light will vibrate once every 5 minutes. Below 10%, the vibrate will be every minute. And finally below 5%, the light will vibrate every 5 seconds!
Low is rock solid steady for the duration of the runtime, at just over 11 hours. The claim is 12.5 hours, so this comes up a little short.
The light also has built in charging. This is a MCC 1A/1.5A/2A charger. USB to proprietary magnetic. It’s the same charger as the M2R Pro Warrior, and many other current generation Olights.
The connection is magnetic and grabs pretty automatically.
The balance is a little weird, but the light will tailstand on the charge base.
The charge port is accessible while the light is in the pouch.
Charging takes a while – over 5 hours, but tops out at around 2A.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | 1100/600/300/150 | 6.5m/107m/27m/52m | 1100 | ? |
| Low | 150 | 15.5h | 137 | ? |
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
There isn’t any PWM on either mode. There’s a little ripple on Low but it’s nothing to worry about.
For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor. And here’s the worst PWM light I have ever owned. Also one of the very first lights I ordered directly from China!
User Interface and Operation
There’s only one switch on the Warrior X Turbo. It’s a two-stage e-switch, and the feel is (again) just like the M2R Pro Warrior. This is a very good switch. It works like this: Press a little (shallow) for Low. Press a little more (deeper) for Turbo. The actuation point could be just a shade better for me – Low could be earlier in the press and last longer, and Turbo could be a little deeper (basically a wider range for Low.)
The action on the dual-stage tailswitch is just great. Seen below is a full press – this gets Turbo.
There is also a locking remote switch for weapon mounts. That is a separate purchase.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Shallow Press | Momentary Low |
| Off | Shallow Click | Low |
| Off | Deep Press | Momentary Turbo |
| Off | Deep Click | Turbo |
| Low | Deep Click | Turbo |
| Low | Shallow Click | Off |
| Turbo | Click | Off |
LED and Beam
The emitter in this light is an Osram KW CSLPM1.TG (6000K-6700K). This is the “White Flat 2” emitter. It’s a bit cool, but boy does it throw! It’ll also handle a bunch of current, and despite not being able to test that above, I have a feeling this light sends a bunch of current to the emitter!
The emitter is surrounded by a very smooth, big, and deep reflector. The beam is very much throw, but on the higher mode there is noticeable spill. It’s specific spill though – almost uniformly lit, aside from the hotspot.
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)
Test light is on the left!
I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348, because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Conclusion
What I like
- Excellent build quality
- Dead simple UI
- Nice weapon mount system
- Fantastic two-stage switch
What I don’t like
- Proprietary 21700
- 6000K-6700K temperature (warmer would be great)
- Maybe just two modes is great for a weapon light but I wouldn’t mind a middle mode thrown in there.
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, another site where I write!
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