OLIGHT T15 and Infinitum I25 Dual Review

[Mr Jon]

Dual Review:

OLIGHT T15
OLIGHT Infinitum I25

For more information on the full OLIGHT line up visit www.OLIGHTworld.com

Available at: www.airsoftparts.ca


” I'm thinking I might take that new chick from Logistics. If things go well I might be showing her my O-face. "Oh... Oh... Oh!" You know what I'm talkin' about. Oh!"

Review By: Jonathan F
Original Review Date: February 27th, 2010

I’ll admit, I have an airsoft addiction as much as most of you, but I also have a sizeable collection of various lights and lasers to go with them. Everybody needs to light up dark scary corners, and figure I share my experiences with a couple of new torches I recently acquired. Few of you have probably heard of OLIGHT (iTP light electronic Co., Ltd). They are a new company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong China that have been producing illumination products over the last 2-3 years. What made me choose these torches is that they were advertised as high output lights that don’t take terribly expensive CR123A cells; but instead cheap AAs you can find just about anywhere. I needed a new pocket/glove box light so I figure I give OLIGHT a try.

The Collection

Left To Right: SureFire L4 Digital Lumamax, SureFire C3 Centurion with KL5 LED Head, SureFire M3T Millennium Combat Light, UltraFire WF-502B with Cree LED head, OLIGHT I25, OLIGHT T15

As you can see I have a variety of different torches of many different brands and qualities. So I know a good light when I see it.

First Up – OLIGHT T15


If you need a good pocket illuminator this may just be the light for you. This mini torch is only about 4” in length and is perfect to toss in the glove box or carry around with you for general utility lighting. The OLIGHT T15 utilizes a 3W Cree 7090 XR-E Q5 emitter to provide a good punch in a compact size. Power demands are minimal and require 1x AA sized cell so it’s cheap to run!

Initial thoughts and build quality


The build quality of the T15 is definitely right for the price point and consists of a reasonably thick walled aluminum body. The T15 is also noted to have a Type III Hard Anodizing finish and is built to MIL-STD-810F standards. Inside the nicely packed box you’ll find a couple spare o ring seals for keeping the water resistance maintained. Also packaged is a nice wrist lanyard and a spare user replaceable rubber tail cap switch in case you destroy your original one over years of rough use.

Light Output

This light is advertised to be able to produce up to 190 lumens of light. Now one thing you must note when you purchase this torch is that you will be able to get the 190 lumens of light provided you are using high voltage Lithium 14500 cells which provide anywhere from 3V-4.2V whereas a regular alkaline battery from the corner mart can only provide 1.5V. Rechargeable AA NiMH batteries may provide even less voltage (as low as 1.2v). 14500 Cells are widely available on ebay or www.dealextreme.com on the cheap so it doesn’t make it price prohibitive to run. However you will be waiting 2-3 weeks while your cells arrive from overseas. This is another reason why a lot of torches utilize 3V CR123A cells is because they pack higher voltages in a smaller size. So you can expect perhaps only about 100-120 lumens of output from your average battery unless you move to 14500 cell. However from what I’ve noticed, that this seems to produce slightly less light than my 100 lumen SureFire L4 and Streamlight TLR with 1 standard 1.5v AA cell. I highly recommend the purchase of 14500s as you’ll get serious long lasting light output guaranteed.

Another thing I noticed is that they applied the “orange peel” stippling only to the bottom half of the reflector. This was done to allegedly give this tiny light a 150+ meter long throw capability. It’s the first time I’ve encountered a half texture lens.

Functionality

Now here comes the unique features of this light. First off, it offers 3 modes of function (constant on, strobe and SOS signal) as well as 5 brightness settings. To access the different modes of function it’s very simple. Press the button once for constant on, quickly press it again to activate strobe functionality, and once again to activate the SOS signal. If you leave the light alone (more than 2 seconds) the light will automatically revert back to constant on mode when you cycle the switch again. So if you last used it on strobe, turned it off, then turned it on 3 seconds later you will be back at constant on mode.

Also as a quick note, people are probably wondering wtf the SOS mode is. It’s used for signaling more than anything if you are stranded out in the boonies and are trying to signal a rescue crew. The light flashes the well known Morse code distress signal (• • • — — — • • •). Handy if you need to flag somebody down. Operates in only 120lm (2hours) or 17lm (30hours) mode. With the flat bottomed base it can stand up on its own and point skywards. As if there wasn’t already enough reasons to keep this torch on you at all times!

I’m now going to expand on the more ‘advanced’ operation of this light. Ok well it’s not that advanced, but it’s certainly a nifty feature to have on any flashlight for that matter. This light can cycle between 5 modes (120lm, 85lm, 28lm, 15lm, and 6lm). All you have to do is give the barrel an 1/8th of a turn CCW then CW to cycle between all the modes. The 6lm mode is handy when looking for your keys and so you don’t blind yourself with the full power light if yours eyes are adapted to the dark.

Conclusion


Well simply put after rambling on for damn near 1000 words I will more than happily recommend this light to you for all the reasons above. The OLIGHT T15 is compact, light weight, has high power capability, adjustable output and multifunction modes. What more could you ask for (other than a momentary on switch) for a pocket flash light? It’s built to mil-spec standards for god sakes!

Pros:

- Durable Type III Hard Anodizing
- Built to meet mil-spec standard MIL-STD-810F
- Affordable high output torch
- Adjustable power/output consumption
- Included spare o rings and lanyard
- Compact carry anywhere size
- Multifunction

Cons:

- No momentary on switch
- Requires 14500s for maximum 190lm output (www.dealextreme.com for cheap AA or 14500 cells)

Expanded Details Here

http://www.olightworld.com/product_show.asp?id=158

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OLIGHT Infinitum I25 “Tactical Special Edition”


If your eyes haven’t bugged out yet from reading that essay on the T15 you’ll thoroughly enjoy the following review on the Infinitum I25 TSE series light.

Initial thoughts and build quality


Just like the T15 the I25 is excellent and too consists of a reasonably thick walled aluminum body. The I25 also has the Type III Hard Anodizing finish and is built to MIL-STD-810F standards. Inside the nicely packed box you’ll find an instruction manual, and a couple spare o ring seals for keeping the water resistance maintained. Also packaged is an adjustable lanyard, holster and an alternate user replaceable glowing rubber tail boot switch in case you destroy your original one or want to have a glowing one.

Now the I25 allegedly runs a Cree 7090 XR-E R2 emitter but the website states it to be a Cree 7090 XR-E Q5 like the T15… but with its advertised 206lm output it could be either. This light can be powered by 1.5v Alkaline or 1.2v NiMH. It is not noted that it can use 14500 cells so I won’t recommend them incase it damages the torch, but with initial testing the output is wonderful with 2 standard 1.5v cells anyways. However I have a strange feeling that the 206lm output may only be able to be achieved with 14500 cells as the AAs I’m using only produce light that is just slightly brighter than my 100lm SureFires.

Light Output

This is where the I25 really shines. On just 2 crappy ass 1.5v batteries it’s already producing light that completes against my real SureFires. This is a real joy to finally have a light that can produce the light I want without chewing through expensive CR123A batteries. When you need batteries in a pinch and don’t have 3 weeks to wait until your cheap cells arrive from overseas it’s a life saver to be able to walk over to the corner mart for a couple AAs. Again this 206lm output with 200 meter throw on AAs which is advertised still doesn’t seem exactly right to me somehow. But then again I can’t ever remember any company who has measured their light output properly to any particular standard. Its bright, throws a fair distance and looks great, so it’s more than doing the job!

Functionality

Just like the T15 above this offers the exact same 3 modes of operation so no further explanation is really necessary. The bonus aspect of the I25 is that not only does it offer full click on it actually has a momentary switch!! Honestly I don’t know how much more money that could have possibly cost to have made this a standard function on all of their damn lights but I can really appreciate it being here.

Now the only difference here in operation is the way you change light output settings. Unlike the T15, the I25 smoothly transitions the light down until you lock it off to a desired setting. There are no presets. Once you turn the barrel 1/8th inch CCW the light will swiftly begin the transition down until you screw it back full clockwise to stop it at your desired level. From 206lm to 6lm in just a couple seconds it doesn’t leave much room for you to gauge your desired output, but if you are quick enough at it you can lock it off before it hits the 6lm mark. But just like the T25 the 6lm output is great for when your night adapted vision will be fried by anything brighter than a candle.

Changing Tail Boots

For those who have purchased the light are probably wondering how the hell do you swap the boot. It’s actually quite simple, but a bit annoying of a process. For it you’ll need some snap ring pliers, or some pliers like I have above. You’ll need them to jam into the 2 holes on each side of the 2 support discs as you can see in the picture below. All you do is unscrew the first disc, pop out the switch assembly, then unscrew the tail boot retaining disc. Once done, just exchange the boots and replace the parts. Make sure you are very careful during this process as to not cross thread the inside of the tail cap. The threading is extremely fine and you can easily fark them up leaving you with a useless light or find yourself having to shell out extra cash to find a replacement. There are a LOT of threads and it took me like a minute to unscrew the bloody thing. But once done you’ll likely never see yourself having to do it again.




Conclusion


This light is extraordinarily cheap to run considering the high output light on 2 AAs. I need not say more. It includes some nifty accessories straight out of the box and is built to mil spec standards. It’s a beautiful torch that I will be definitely carrying on my person whenever I can!

Pros:

- Durable Type III Hard Anodizing
- Filters (Red, Green or Blue), beam diffuser available as an option
- Long battery run time
- Built to meet mil-spec standard MIL-STD-810F
- Adjustable power/output consumption
- Included spare o rings, glowing tail boot, adjustable lanyard and holster
- High light output
- Multifunction

Cons:

- Glowing tail boot doesn’t come pre-installed
- Finicky adjusting power output

Expanded Details Here

http://www.olightworld.com/product_show.asp?id=163

Where to purchase OLIGHT products?

I purchased these lights at www.airsoftparts.ca as well as many other items from this reliable retailer and couldn’t recommend him enough. Check out the full OLIGHT lineup on his website for more lights and bits!

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with airsoftparts.ca, OLIGHT or any of its subsidiaries and am an independent reviewer of these products.

[jamuke]

The I25 was one of my purchases at Airsoftpart table at the TAC convention today.

I am very pleased with this .

Brightness adjustment is pretty easy and the max output is definitely"blinding"
and the build quality is verygood, The accesory holster is well made and a nice bonus. The lanyard is a lanyard though for the Tactical Special edition maybe a silver lanyard is a little flashy.

Considering the lanyard is all the fault I can find I'd say $70 was a very good
price considering the overall feartures and the convenience of regular AA batteries,or rechargable

That's what caught my interest as I got feeling pretty silly hoarding and grudgingly using cr123

My primary use would be for daily use and it fits nicely on the belt providing lots of shine without lots of bulk and after expenses, the strobe and SOS
feature is also nice for an impromtu dance party