Olight Baton 3 Pro Flashlight Review

Olight updated their baton flashlight to the 3 Pro version! It has an updated e-switch and pocket clip, and is available in neutral white!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a referral link to the Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight product page.

Versions

There are currently two body colors – black and green. Also available are two emitter temperatures: cool white and neutral white.

Price

The introductory sale price, which is happening now, is $49.99 for the Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight. There are some great bundles available, too!

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Short Review

I couple of things right off the top here: I love the new switch cover. It’s bigger (comparatively really “much” bigger) and I love that. This increases usability greatly. Also, while I wouldn’t say that the clip change confers any difference in usability, but it somehow feels more solid.

The rest of the light is fairly standard. Batons are great! I’m a massive fan of Batons. This one is good, too, and I’m super pleased to be able to have neutral white.

Long Review

The Big Table

Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight
Emitter:	(Neutral White, CRI70)
Price in USD at publication time:	$49.99 during the sale
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime Graph	High Runtime Graph
LVP?	Switch warning
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	Proprietary Magnetic
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	Lowest 4 modes
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1500
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1367 (91.1% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	6.36
Claimed Throw (m)	175
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	355lux @ 4.91m = 8558cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	185.0 (105.7% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	4000-5200
Measured CCT Range (K)	4500-5000 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Olight
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 Baton 3 Pro flashlight
• Olight 3200mAh 18650 (customized, proprietary)
• Velvet Pouch
• Charge cable (USB to proprietary charge base)
• Manual(s)
• L-bracket for wall-mount
• Spare sticky for L-bracket

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

The Baton 3 Pro is not all that much unlike the S2R Baton II. But this one’s Pro! The Pro seems to have better runtimes and that could mean just better overall electronics.

The threads are square-cut and adequately lubed.  One thing, in particular, I like about the knurling is that it makes unscrewing the body very easy.  There is no [removable] tailcap; to remove the cell, one must hold the head and unscrew the body.

There’s a spring on the head and tail.  The tail spring(s?) are for electrical contact and aren’t in any way for impact resistance.  The spring on the head is quite stiff, though, so it should provide a reasonable amount of impact resistance.

Size and Comps

Length: 3.99 in (101.4 mm)
Head Diameter: 0.91 in (23 mm)
Body Diameter: 0.91 in (23 mm)
Weight: 3.63 oz (103 g)(Battery Included)

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.

Also seen above is 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 are some other similar Olights.

Retention and Carry

This light includes a pocket clip. The pocket clip has a specific place and orientation – just opposite the switch.  This is a two-way clip, so technically could be carried bezel up or down, but the only reasonable way is really bezel up.  Though the pocket clip is opposite the switch, I didn’t have any problems with accidental activation, and I didn’t tend to lock the light out.

The arms of this clip are much larger than on previous generations, too. This provides a much firmer attachment!

The clip has a little hole, too, which is great for lanyard attachment. (Note: no lanyard is included.)

Of course, the base of the Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight is magnetic because of the way this light charges. But that magnetic base also serves as a great connection point for the Baton 3 Pro, too.

Olight provides this L-bracket with some 3-M adhesive so that you can store the light … in places. This is not a charge base, and a charging base can’t really be added to this. It’s simply a sticky metal bracket. I could do with out this – I have plenty of metal around in the right places for this purpose, but if you really needed it somewhere very specific, I can see it being very useful.

Power and Runtime

The Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight includes a proprietary 18650. There are both positive and negative contacts on the positive end, (and only negative on the negative end). This facilitates on-board charging. These lights will not charge any type of cells except these specific Olight cells. Note though, that the flashlight will work with non-proprietary (button top) cells!! However, charging is not possible on standard 18650 button top cells.

Unlike the previous S2R Baton II, the cell on this Baton fits in the “normal” way – positive (button) toward the head. Despite that, regular button top 18650 cells will not work in this light.

Below you can see the runtime tests for the highest three levels.

While the Baton 3 Pro doesn’t seem to shut off with low voltage protection, the switch does give an indication that the cell voltage is low.

Green: Cell voltage acceptable
Red: Cell voltage low
Red flashing: Cell voltage very low (stop using)

Charging

Like many other Olights, the Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight uses Olight’s very common proprietary magnetic charging connector. The charging base on this light is just a charge base and doesn’t double as a two-stage switch as we see on a light like the Warrior Mini 2.

The charging base is the common Olight MCC, which can charge at 1A, 1.5A, or 2A.  As I said above, this cell can be charged in a regular bay charger too!

Charging proceeds at well over 1A, and the 3200mAh cell is charged in around 4 hours.  The charging base is red when charging, and green when not being used or the cell is “completely charged.”  I noted in charge testing that the indicator on the charger would turn green before the trickle CV phase had stopped putting power into the cell.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	1500-600	2m-177m	1367	3.85
High	600-120	180m-25m	522	0.90
Medium	120	17h	107	0.16
Low	15	100h	16	0.02
Moon	0.5	120d	0.16	~

Pulse Width Modulation

Nothing really to mention here.  None of the modes seem to be using PWM.  That wave graph on the second to lowest mode is fun, though.

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

The Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight has an e-switch on the head end of the side of the body.  The switch cover has a bit of texture and is proud enough that it’s easy to find.  It’s also not so proud or soft that it will easily activate accidentally.

As far as I can tell, this user interface is the same as previous Batons – the S2R Baton II, for example.

It’s an indicating switch, as I said above, too.  It can indicate in green (seen below) and red. (And maybe orange, sometimes it’s faint enough to be hard to say for certain.)

The UI is unchanged from the “historical version” of this light.  Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (mode memory)^
On	Hold (release at desired mode)	Mode cycle (Moon, L, M, H) (no Turbo)
Off	Hold	Moonlight
Any	Double click	Turbo
Any	Triple click	Strobe
Strobe	Click	Off
Strobe	Hold	Previous Mode
Off	Long hold (past Moonlight)	Lockout
Lockout	Hold	Unlock to Moonlight
On	Click and Hold (quickly)^^	Timer (Single blink: 3 minutes, Double blink: 9 minutes)
Timer	Click and Hold (quickly)^^	Switch between 3- and 9-minute timers.

^ Moon, Low, Medium, and High are memorized.  Turbo is memorized as High.
^^ The manual states this as “Double click and hold” but I think “Click and hold” quickly.  Any form of double click ends in Turbo or Strobe.

LED and Beam

In this version of the Olight Baton 3 Pro flashlight is probably a Luminus SST-40-W emitter, just like we saw on the S2R Baton II. But Olight doesn’t say. Either way, that emitter is coupled with a TIR and provides a very pleasant beam profile.

Olight is using a neutral white (rated 4000K-5200K) emitter.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

Here’s really the main issue with this emitter. It’s green. This is more noticeable on the low modes. In the highest couple of levels, it’s more or less ok, but the positive Duv on the lower modes is not something I look for in an emitter.

It’s noteworthy though, that the CCT is right within the range that Olight claims – between 4000K and 5200K.  Nicely between, actually – 4500K to 5000K by my measurements! The CRI that Olight claims on the bezel is 70, but by these tests that number seems a bit optimistic – I’m seeing between 64 and 65 CRI. That’s quite low!

Beamshots

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

Conclusion

What I like

• Build quality is quite good
• Complete package includes charging and cell
• The UI retains neat features from previous models, like the 3 or 9-minute timer
• Knurling makes for great in-hand feel and usage
• Great neutral white CCT!
• Timer feature is neat

What I don’t like

• Proprietary cells
• Very green tint
• Very low CRI

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Notes

• 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!
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