Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower Flashlight Review

Here’s a special post – the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower Flashlight.  Not a new light really, but I love these throwers, and I love these Osram emitters.  So it’s a fun light to test!  Read on!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight product page.

Versions

There are at least two versions of this light – black (standard) and Brown (or maybe “FDE,” not really sure), but the brown is no longer listed on site.  There are also many versions of Javelot, this of course being the “Javelot Turbo” version.  I actually have never tested a Javelot in any variety before this one!

Price

The brown version seen here isn’t available (in fact, not even listed on the site), but the black is going for $229.95.  Here’s a shareasale link!

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Short Review

I honestly did not expect this light to meet either of its main specs (close sure, but… 1300/1300?  eesh).  But it 100%’s both of those!  Massive throw and massive output – just incredible.  As a result, I like this light way more than I expected to.  It’s a great light and the form factor is very nice, too.

Long Review

The Big Table

Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower Flashlight
Emitter:	Osram KW CULPM1.TG
Price in USD at publication time:	$229.95
Cell:	Internal (two 5000mAh 21700 battery pack)
Turbo Runtime Graph	High Runtime Graph
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	Proprietary Magnetic
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	All modes
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1300
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1311 (100.8% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	342.4
Claimed Throw (m)	1300
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	8450lux @ 7.265m = 445993cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	1335.7 (102.7% of claim)^
All my Olight reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

• Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower Flashlight
• Charge cable (USB to proprietary magnetic)
• Nylon carry pouch
• Manual
• Hard carry case (seen below)

Package and Manual

I’ll be honest, this is another thing I didn’t think I’d like about the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight.  I don’t typically like hard cases….  Hard to stack, hard to store (and I keep everything).  But this case is “Pelican-level” (or like 95%).  It’s a very good case.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build here is very good.  This is a sturdy, nice light.  I’m not quite sure I’d use it as a weapon (I mean a swinging weapon) but … maybe?  The heft and balance of it are definitely right for that!

Top down:

The threads are like all these other 21700 Olights – very smooth.  Anodized and square-cut and in this case a little long.

The tailcap has a brassy contact button.

Downside: the 21700 (x2) are built into the cell tube.  This isn’t my light (it’s a loaner) and so I didn’t disassemble this battery pack.  More on that later.

The head has the typical contact points that all these new style Olights have.  Spring in the center for positive contact, and a ring around the edge for negative contact.  Now, this battery pack is built-in and thus standard, but the setup should allow the use of the regular (but customized) Olight 21700 cells.

The battery tube is not reversible.

Here you can see this toothy bezel.  Those teeth are short but quite grippy.

The neck has cooling fins.

Size and Comps

Weight (g / oz) 408g / 14.40oz
Length (mm / in) 259mm/10.20in
Head Diameter (mm / in) 63mm/2.48in
Body Diameter (mm / in) 25.8mm/1.02in

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight 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 formats.

Here’s the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight beside another similar sized light.  These are very different lights though!  The Imalent UT90 uses a Luminus SBT90.2 emitter and does throw but the main goal is just massive output.  So similar in look, but very different lights!

And here’s a joke shot of the Olight – head and tail with the battery tube removed.  No, it doesn’t work, of course.  It’s not even screwed together.

Retention and Carry

Carry of the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight is by way of a nylon pouch.

The pouch is directional, with the light sort of “hanging” inside, resting at the top against the head.

The tailswitch is accessible, but the top isn’t open.

There are no other carry options here.

Power and Runtime

Power is provided to the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight by this included battery pack cell tube.  Inside this is two 5000mAh 21700 cells.

This battery makes for a very nice grip, and for holding the light.

Note the contacts on the head there – typical of the new Olights.  That means that the battery pack has the usual contacts – positive center with a negative surround.

Here are three runtime tests (three of the four modes!)  Turbo notably hits the 1300 lumen claim at 30 seconds, which is great (peaking at 1368 initially).  Then there are a number of stepdowns, and finally, the light shuts off with low voltage protection.

High output is very flat for nearly the duration, until a stepdown, and finally shutting off.

And medium, whew this one took a while!  Not only did the test take over 26 hours, but the processing of data also took probably an hour.  My computer just does not like these files!!

In all cases, the light shut off with low voltage protection after multiple switch warnings.  First, the switch will be green, then orange, then red, then red flashing, then off.

Charging

The Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight charges by way of the standard MCC charge connector.

This proprietary magnetic charger snaps to the tailcap of the light.

The light will tailstand while on the charger, too.

Interestingly, the head must be on the battery pack for charging to proceed.  This is just a little frustrating, because of two reasons.  It means you can’t really buy a backup battery for swapping while the other is charging.

It’s also frustrating because charging takes so long.  At an average of 9 hours, this is a long charge cycle.  It’s not really “slow” though – peak current is around 2A.

One more thing – those two 21700 cells are in parallel connection.  That means the battery pack voltage is peak 4.2V, and so charging at 2A is probably around the peak current recommendation per cell (just under 1C).

Now the fact that this battery is parallel is interesting…. How they’re making two cells end to end be parallel I do not know, but it’s definitely something more than just two 21700 cells slid into the tube.  It also means something like this is possible:

The cell contact points are the same, the voltage is the same…. There’s no reason a single 21700 tube just like on other lights (like the M2R Pro Warrior) wouldn’t work.  And also this “shorty” configuration would be absolutely fantastic (maybe it exists, maybe I should check.)

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	1300/800/500/150	10m/140m/30m/110m	1311	6.72
High	500/150	350m/130m	542	1.35
Medium	150	27h	157	0.31
Low	15	318h	12	0.04

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM at all!

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

There are two switches on the Olight Javelot Turbo Thrower flashlight.  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.

I have to say, the bigger switch on this light (vs something like the M2R Pro Warrior) is very nice.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click Side Switch	Battery indicator
Off	Shallow Click Tail Switch	Low (Steady)
Off	Deep Click Tail Switch	Turbo (Steady)
Off	Shallow Hold Tail Switch	Low (Momentary)
Off	Deep Hold Tail Switch	Turbo (Momentary)
On	Deep Tap Tail Switch	Off
On	Deep Click Tail Switch	Turbo
Off	Hold Side Switch	Low
On	Click Side Switch	Mode advance (LMHT direction)
On	Hold Side Switch	Off

LED and Beam

This Olight uses an Osram KW CULPM1.TG emitter.  This is a great choice for a massive throw!

The reflector used here is smooth, but just “pretty smooth.”

This spikey, bitey bezel allows a bit of light to escape when headstanding.

The beam afforded by this setup is very tight!

 

These beamshots always have the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

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 KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• Massive throw!
• Fantastic output!
• 4.2V battery opens the door for a shorty (single 21700) version!
• Has low voltage protection
• Great build quality

What I don’t like

• Proprietary cell tube/battery setup
• Charging seems to take forever
• Something about the user interface isn’t as intuitive as I want.  It’s not exactly like the other similar Olights.

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Notes

• This light is on loan by a “friend from Ala-freaking-Bama” for review.  I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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