I have for review an Olight M2R Pro Warrior in limited edition Orange. This is the same as the Patriot edition I reviewed, with a Cree XHP35 HI (dedomed). It’s quite a light! Read on for some thoughts and testing!
Official Specs and Features of the Olight M2R Pro Warrior Orange
Here’s a link to the official product page.
Versions
There are a bunch. Not all of them are still available.
Price
This light is going for $119.95. Here’s a referral link to Olight Store.com – I’m not sure there are any still in stock!
Olight M2R Pro Warrior Orange Short Review
Like I said above, this light differs only in body color from the Patriot edition I reviewed previously. As such, not only is the summary the same, but much of the text will be too.
I both love that there’s an orange version of the M2R Pro Warrior, and just in general I like the light. The performance is good. The outputs are well regulated and meet specification. I don’t like two things, though: the proprietary (“customized”) 21700, and that the light lacks any semblance of LVP.
Olight M2R Pro Warrior Orange Long Review
The Big Table
| Olight M2R Pro Warrior (LE Orange) | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Cree XHP35 HD ((dedomed), NW) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $119.95 at OlightStore.com |
| Cell: | 1×21700 |
| Turbo Runtime | High Runtime |
| LVP? | |
| Switch Type: | E-Switch |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | ? |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | Proprietary Magnetic |
| Chargetime | |
| Power off Charge Port | – |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1800 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 1893 (105.2% of claim)* |
| Candela per Lumen | 12.6 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 300 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 752lux @ 5.78m = 25123cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 317.0 (105.7% 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 M2R Pro Warrior Orange Limited Edition
- Olight 5000mAh Proprietary 21700
- Nylon Carry Pouch
- Lanyard
- Charge cable (USB to proprietary magnetic)
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
Well I thought I loved the Patriot Edition! What about this orange though?? What a colorway, right? There are many shades of the color orange, but these orange Olights come just about as close to “just right” as I think is possible.
But just generally regarding build quality, this light is outstanding.
You can see the little tripod around the tail switch here. This allows tailstanding and also is one of the charge contact points.
The shape of the body isn’t really knurling at all, but provides good grip.
And old-school flashlight fans will probably like (or possibly hate) these faux-teardrops on the tailcap.
Let’s rename them. Speed strips? I don’t know. What do you think we should call these?
The threads are so smooth, too. Just over 6 full turns are required for tightening the tailcap – quite long threads.
Both the head and tail have springs – that button on the tailcap is springy. Also note the bit on the head end that makes the proprietary cell work. The spring is for positive contact, and the ring around it is for the negative contact on the cell.
If you look closely at that internal contact point… you’ll note that a change has been made! The old version of the M2R Pro Warrior (and other lights in this 21700 series) have a ring with some springs. Now it looks like they’ve changed that to…. something different – not sure what to call it.
One interesting thing that the above contact points mean is that the light will work with just the cell and no tailcap, if you hold the cell in place tightly.
The bezel is very aggressive!
Size and Comps
Weight (g / oz) 179 / 6.31
Length (mm / in) 136.50 / 5.37
Head Diameter (mm / in) 29.5 / 1.16
Body Diameter (mm / in) 26.20 / 1.03
I actually weight this at 177g, and that does include the cell.
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 my near-complete set of orange Olights. There’s an Seeker version (Seeker 2? Seeker Pro? I purposefully haven’t looked) which I do not have.
And here’s just a random photo of some other lights I had out for photos. I liked the orange/black contrast.
Retention and Carry
First off I’ll mention the pocket clip. Not only does it fit on the head or tail end of the light, it’s also a “two-way” friction fit clip. The clip is long and well suited for this light.
There’s a nylon pouch too, which is quite nice. Both ends have a drainage hole but do not offer access to the light itself. The pouch opens not with velcro, but with a little quick release.
Probably the highest quality nylon pouch I’ve seen with a light.
The Olight M2R Pro Warrior will fit bezel up or down into the pouch.
Also included is a lanyard, which attaches in the hole seen below. I went ahead and demonstrated how to use the little metal needle-like thing to install the lanyard. The metal piece is reusable if you’re careful.
Power and Runtime
The M2R Pro Warrior is powered by a proprietary 21700 cell. It’s proprietary in that both positive and negative terminals are exposed on the positive end of the cell. It will not be charged in a bay type charger. Also traditional 21700 cells will not work in the light, and can’t be charged by the light.
The cell goes into the light in the “normal” way – positive end toward the head.
Here are three runtimes. The three highest outputs. Turbo steps down completely in under 5 minutes, but it takes over 1 minute to begin the dramatic decline. Once it’s stepped down, output is exceptionally stable at around 750 lumens (as claimed). A final stepdown to around 250 lumens happens at ~150 minutes. These are timed stepdowns, per the manual.
Note up front that in all these runtime tests the light did not exhibit LVP. The cell was at a “tripped” or 0.00V level when the test was over. The charge circuit in the light reset this trip without issue. The switch does indicate that the voltage is low, as follows:
Green: >75%
Orange: ~30%-70%
Red: <30%
Blinking Red: <10%
The output on High looks about like the output on Turbo, aside from the first 5 minutes of actual Turbo output. The duration overall is about the same.
Medium 1 is even more remarkably stable than the above two.
As mentioned, the M2R Pro Warrior has on-board charging via a USB to magnetic connector.
The name of this one is the MCC 1A/1.5A/2A, noteworthy since Olight makes a number of these charge bases.
The light will stand while on the charge base.
Here’s a charge test – charge rate goes up to over 2A and takes around 4 hours. My logger seems to be on the fritz and I attribute these dropouts to the logger and not the light. I tested charging with another device and I do not see these same dropouts.
The charge connector has a red/green indication, too. While charging, the indicator is red. When charged, this indicator switches to green.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 1800/750/250 | 4.5m/45m/45m | 1893 | 6.25 |
| High | 750/250 | 60m/40m | 750 | 1.47 |
| Med 1 | 250 | 10h | 247 | 0.40 |
| Med 2 | 60 | 40h | 0.10 | |
| Low | 15 | 130h | 0.03 | |
| Moon | 1 | 50d | ~ | 0.01 |
Pulse Width Modulation
No PWM on any mode.
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 are two switches on the M2R Pro Warrior. First is the metal tail switch which also is used in charging.
I love the two stage switch on these 21700 lights. It’s less perfect on the smaller 18650 versions BUT that doesn’t stop me from wanting it in an 18350 format. I really love it.
Next is the indicating side e-switch.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click Side Switch (SS) | On (Mode Memory) |
| Off | Hold SS | Moon |
| Off | Double Click SS | Turbo |
| Any | Triple Click SS | Strobe |
| On | Click SS | Off |
| On | Hold SS | Mode Advance (L>M2>M1>H) (Moon and Turbo are excluded from cycle) |
| Turbo | Double Click SS | Return to previous mode (If previous was “High,” returns to Med 1) |
| Off | Long Hold SS | Lockout (Technically “Moon then lockout”) |
| Lockout | Click SS | Switch indicating lockout (red for 2s) |
| Lockout | Hold SS | Unlock to Moonlight |
| Any | Hold (“half press”) Tail Switch (TS) | Med 2 (in Config 1, default) Turbo (in Config 2) |
| Any | Click TS | Turbo (in Config 1) Strobe (in Config 2) |
| Off | Hold TS, Click SS | Switch between Config 1 and 2 (there is no confirmation except the modes seen per Config) |
LED and Beam
The manual, product page, and an email I got when I asked, state only that this is a “High Performance NW LED.” Some searching indicates it’s probably a dedomed (by Olight) NW Cree XHP35 HD. The light uses a TIR, and the beam is a very even spot. I am by no means an expert on weapon lights, but this seems suitable.
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.
Regarding these beamshots, and my Patriot edition of this light, and the luck of some other buyers…. I have to say that I really liked the tint and temp of my Patriot edition M2R Pro Warrior, and the tint and temp of this Orange version is literally indistinguishable from that one. So I find this one to be absolutely fantastic too.
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
- I really do love the Orange-ness of it
- Build quality is great
- Runtimes match claim very specifically
- Output is extremely well regulated!
- Complete package including cell
- UI is easy to grasp and not overly complicated
- The beam profile
- Did I mention that it’s orange?
What I don’t like
- Proprietary cell
- Overall it’s a bit big
- I don’t like Olight being cagey about the emitter. Just tell what it is.
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!
- Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!