Olight Seeker 4 Mini Flashlight Review
Olight just introduced the Seeker 4 Mini, a three-emitter 18350-sized flashlight perfect for all sorts of things! Read on for some testing.
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a referral link to the Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight product page.
Versions
There are a number of body colors available: black, OD green (seen here), and red. At least one of those is available in different emitters, too: neutral and cool white (seen here) are both available. Any version has one UV emitter, too.
Price
As an introductory price, Olight is offering the Seeker 4 Mini flashlight at $55.99. MSRP will be higher, at around $80, so bear that in mind!
Short Review
I’ve been after Olight for ages to make an 18350 light sort of like this. What I really wanted (and still want) is something like the Warrior Mini in 18350. Maybe we’ll get there, but I’ll say… I’m pretty pleased with a lot of the features of this Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight. If you know me, you know I don’t love UV (I’m super sensitive to it!), so I’m hopeful that (like the Arkfeld), it’ll come out with a different second emitter. And in orange!! But as it is, I like it quite a bit anyway. The build quality is great, of course. I don’t love the proprietary 18350 cell or the magnetic charging, but if you’re in the Olight ecosystem, this won’t really be a concern.
Long Review
The Big Table
| Olight Seeker 4 Mini Flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Unstated (Cool White) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $55.99 |
| Cell: | 1×18350 |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | No – Cell is protected |
| Switch Type: | E-Switch |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | ? |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | Proprietary magnetic |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1200 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 985 (82.1% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 3.93 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 120 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 194lux @ 4.849m = 4561cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 135.1 (112.6% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | 5700-6700 |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | |
| Item provided for review by: | Olight |
| 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 Seeker 4 Mini flashlight
- Olight 1100mAh 18350 (customized, proprietary)
- Charge cable (USB to proprietary charge base)
- Manual(s)
- Lanyard
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
I find it ever so slightly interesting that this light gets the “Seeker” moniker. It’s not not a seeker – I get it. But it’s also different enough from other seekers (which have typically been bigger – like 21700 cell lights) and mainly had one type of triple emitter setup. But the design does seem very Seeker-ish, and the build quality is certainly on par. Here’s the Seeker 3 Pro for comparison’s sake.
Cooling finds on the head are minimal depth, but according to the test, they do the job just fine.
On the tailcap is reeding, which is shallow but provides enough grip.
With the tailcap removed, you can see the square-cut, anodized threads. These threads are fairly short and also exceptionally smooth.
Both head and tail have springs, but those too are customized. This is also one design change from the other Seekers. This has the spring setup of the Warrior line, so the cell goes into the Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight in the normal way.
Size and Comps
Length 3.43 in（87 mm）
Head Diameter 1.18 in（30 mm
Body Diameter 0.94 in（24 mm)
Weight 3.95 oz（112 g)
If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo). If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that (usually in 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 above on the left is a new feature light!! Laulima Metal Craft sent this titanium Todai for some size comparison photos like the ones above. Laulima has a bunch of incredible items. I’ve tested one (the Laulima Metal Craft Hoku) (the official site for Hoku is here) that was a Friend Fund Friday review. I was impressed enough by that Hoku that I bought a Laulima Metal Craft Diamond Slim (also in tumbled aluminum) (review is upcoming!) These lights by Laulima have impeccable build quality and not only that, they’re quite configurable. There are some (great, actually) default configurations, but Joshua Dawson (of Laulima Metal Craft) is open to ideas and emitter options and the like. I haven’t reviewed this Todai, but I have to say, it feels absolutely fantastic and I love it thus far. (Notably, I love how warm and eggy those emitters look through the TIR.)
Retention and Carry
The main way for carrying the Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight is this pocket clip. The two-way clip is basically Olight-standard by now, but doesn’t have any lanyard holes.
The clip does differ from previous generation clips in that it has two fingers on each side that grab the body. The clip can go only in one spot exactly. This puts the clip opposite to the e-switch.
The clip is removable.
Also included is a lanyard, which attaches through this hole in the tailcap.
And finally, along with the charging properties of the of the magnetic base, the magnetic base can be used to hold the Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight in place very securely.
Power and Runtime
The Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight is powered by a proprietary 18350 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 18350 cells will not work in the light, and can’t be charged by the light.
Fortunately, the cell does at least go into the Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight in the normal direction (not that that really matters since it’s such a specific cell requirement anyway.) But I prefer normal.
Below are a few runtime graphs. The ending voltage is logged (accurately) as “0V” but that’s because the cell protection is tripped. That doesn’t mean the cell is in danger, it just means the cell has been protected. Output is fairly nice and flat after stepdowns have been managed. One thing to note is that it’s nice Olight doesn’t seem to be gaming FL1 standards by stepping down at 30 seconds, but output doesn’t seem to quite meet the claim. It’s pretty close though, so all in all I don’t really have any complaints here.
The indicating switch also gives notification that the cell voltage is low, as follows:
Green: ≥60% power
Orange: 10-60% power
Red: 5-10% power
Red flashing: <5% power
Charging
The Olight Seeker 4 Mini has onboard charging via a USB to magnetic connector.
This is the standard MCC charger. Note that it’s the 1A version!
Charging with the 1A version is fairly respectable at around 1.5 hours. It’s also very consistent and looks great.
I had a spare charge cycle so I threw the light on a 0.5A/1A/2A charger to see what would happen. Charging looks about the same in that the light seems to somehow manage a max charging rate of around 1A (that is to say it doesn’t seem like you’ll get quicker charging if you use a 2A charger you might have on hand.). In fact, this looks somehow worse, because charging seems to have a confusing termination, take way longer, and still not charge at a faster rate. So just stick with the included charger.
While charging, the indicator will show red and then turn green when charging is complete.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 1200~600~120 | 3m~41m~25m | 976 | 2.38 |
| High | 600~120 | 50m~25m | 510 | 0.99 |
| Medium | 120 | 5h20m | 101 | 0.18 |
| Low | 15 | 33.5h | 14 | 0.02 |
| Moon | 2 | 12d | 1.2 | [low] |
| UV | – | – | – | 0.63 |
Pulse Width Modulation
Surprisingly, the Olight Seeker 4 Mini seems to be picking up a bit of wiggle where we usually see flat output from the Seeker line. I don’t think this is PWM, and I’m sure you’re unlikely to notice it. The rightmost output is UV.
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
The switch used on the Olight Seeker 4 Mini is not unlike what we saw on the Marauder 2 or other Seeker lights. It’s a plastic-covered e-switch that has an indicating feature. One thing this version does drop is the rotary e-switch. I like that on the bigger seekers, but I’m not sure I’d say I miss it on this one.
Below you can see the switch indicating in orange.
Here’s a user interface table! The user interface is probably more like the Baton series than it is like the other Seekers, though. It even still has the timer modes, a popular feature on the Batons.
| 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 |
| On (white) | Double click | Turbo |
| Any | Triple click | Strobe (technically it’s UV then 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. |
| Off | Double Click | UV |
LED and Beam
Olight disappointingly doesn’t state what emitters are used in the Seeker 4 Mini flashlight. The white emitters in this cool white version are stated as 5700K-6700K, and the UV is 365nm.
Each has a shallow smooth reflector.
The bezel has some teeth and so light can escape when headstanding.
The white and UV emitters can not be used at the same time (thankfully)
Also thankfully, there is no proximity sensor on the Olight Seeker 4 Mini flashlight!
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
CCT is approximately in the cool white range claimed by Olight, with a max of 7200K on Turbo. UV is very uvish. Actually, the UV is great on this light – it’s quite usable and not a joke. I don’t care for UV, but it’s easy enough to avoid.
Beamshots
These beamshots are always with 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
- Finally a 18350 light from Olight!
- Great build quality
- Useful if you need UV
- Available in neutral white
- Nice complete package
- Size is fantastic (Very much in that sweet-18350-spot)
What I don’t like
- Proprietary 18350
- Proprietary magnetic charging
- UV emitter (hoping for red or amber or even just a high-CRI warm white!)
- Doesn’t hit the output specification
Notes
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