Preface
The Olight Olantern is the first lantern produced by Olight and comes with 2 different LED Module options (White Lamp and Flaming LED).
Let’s check out the merits and demerits of this new Olight Olantern model.
Note: At the point of writing, there are 3 colors available (Wine Red, Moss Green & Basalt Grey). The lantern shown in this review is the Basalt Grey color variant.
Packaging & First Impressions
This is what the lantern will come with as shown below.
- The shrink wrapped packaging slides upwards to reveal the Olantern and its included accessories.
- The lantern’s head and tail is covered with a type of elastomer (rubbery-style).
- The o-ring was mildly lubricated.
- The recessed side electronic switch requires a firm, direct and deliberate press to activate and helps in preventing any unwanted activation of the lantern.
- Folding Hanging Hook locks in place (when stowed). It has some flex and should be able to withstand day-to-day normal usage without issue.
- The Hanging Hook has an integrated notch in the middle that allows for hooking onto edges and objects; and can act as a kickstand too.
- The White Lamp LED Module comes pre-installed from factory.
- No lanyard or pouch is provided.
- The lantern comes with a microfiber cleaning cloth, this is probably to help ensure that the LED modules and the detachable cover remains clean during LED modules’ swaps.
- The sealed battery compartment holds the included 4 x Olight 18500 1900mAh batteries.
Note: Do not attempt to unscrew the 3 Philips screws situated on the tail portion as it will affect the water-resistance rating and possibly void the warranty too.
Sides:
Top:
Bottom:
Box Contents:
Quick Overview (Manufacturer Specifications)
- LEDs: No information provided (Neutral White LED for White Lamp LED Module and Warm White LED for Flaming LED Module)
- Color Options:
- Basalt Grey
- Wine Red
- Moss Green
- Battery Format: Built-in 4 x 3.7V 18500 batteries
- Output & Runtime (with built-in 4 x 3.7V 18500 1900mAh batteries):
- White Lamp LED Module
- Low (30 lumens / 3days 3h)
- Mid (120 lumens / 20h)
- High (360 lumens / 6h 30min)
- Flaming LED Module
- Low (1 lumen / 3days 8h)
- White Lamp LED Module
- Max Beam Distance : No information
- Beam intensity : No information
- Waterproofness: IPX4 Standard
- Impact Resistance: 1m
- Dimension: 136.3mm (height) x 66mm (diameter)
- Weight: 347g
- Accessories Included:
- 1*Built-in (4 x 3.7V 18500 1900mAh) batteries
- 1*Olight MCC3 USB Charging Cable (1.2m length)
- 2*LED Modules (White Lamp & Flaming LED)
- 1*Microfiber Cleaning Cloth
- MSRP: ~$80
UI (User Interface)
UI for this lantern is rather straightforward to use.
Switching ON and OFF for the lantern or flashlight is done by the electronic switch on the side of this camping lantern. Hence, there is no momentary activation.
Normal Operation (White Lamp LED Module)
From OFF:
- 1 Click – Light will switch ON to last brightness level (all modes are memorized only).
From ON:
- HOLD – Mode change (light cycles through LOW, MID, HIGH → LOW, MID, HIGH).
- 1 Click – Light will switch OFF.
There is no blinky (STROBE or SOS) modes for White Lamp LED Module.
Normal Operation (Flaming LED Module)
From OFF:
- 1 Click – Light will switch ON.
From ON:
- 1 Click – Light will switch OFF.
There is no blinky (STROBE or SOS) modes for Flaming LED Module.
Switching LED Modules (White Lamp LED ⇔ Flaming LED)
The following steps has to be carried out to switch LED Modules:
- Turn the Detachable Cover anticlockwise for half turn and gently remove the Detachable Cover.
- Turn the LED Module anticlockwise till it unscrews completely.
- Swap in the other LED Module and screw it clockwise till tight (avoid over-tightening).
- Test if the lantern can be switched ON. Repeat Steps 2 to 3 again (unscrew and screw back LED Module).
- Gently replace the Detachable Cover and turn clockwise for half turn to lock it back in place.
Notes:
- If the White Lamp LED Module has been used on extended duration (especially when on HIGH mode), it is recommended to allow the LED Module to cool for awhile before attempting to switch LED Modules.
- Ensure that the Detachable Cover is tighten as required, to ensure best water-resistance capability.
Power Indicator
There is only 1 type of Power Indicator for this lantern.
From ON, the Side Switch LED will glow one of the following colors:
- GREEN – Power is >70%.
- YELLOW – Power is between 30% – 70%.
- RED – Power is between <30%, do recharge the batteries.
- BLINKING RED – Power is <10%, do recharge the batteries immediately.
Note: If the lantern detects movement (motion-sensitive/motion activated) when it is switched OFF, the battery level indicator will activate and pulse one of the above colors for ~5 times. This feature is deactivated when electronic lockout mode is activated.
Electronic Lockout
From OFF:
- HOLD (till LOW is activated & deactivated) – LOCKOUT mode is enabled; HOLD (till LOW is activated) – LOCKOUT is disabled.
When Electronic LOCKOUT mode is activated, any button presses will cause the RED LED on the switch button to activate for about 3 sec.
Form Factor
For lanterns that are intended to be carried around and used for possibly an extended period of time, form factor is extremely important.
This lantern is fairly compact and its weight is reasonably acceptable especially considering it has 4 pieces of 18500 batteries built-in. The Hanging Hook (with integrated notch in the middle) allows for attaching/hooking this lantern to almost all objects or edges and can even act as a kickstand if required.
The rubberised grip on the head and tail of the lantern ensures that it remains “grippy”, even with wet hands/gloves.
The lantern is able to tail-stand and head-stand perfectly without the slightest wobble.
Charging Process
With the provided Magnetic Charging Cable 3 (MCC3), the battery was charging at ~1.47A.
The lantern is capable of operating on all modes when charging (at the expense of a slower charging rate). However, it is recommended to use “LOW” mode only, to ensure that the battery does get charged.
Solid RED indicator on the TAIL portion of the MCC3 Charger depicts charging in progress.
Solid GREEN indicator on the TAIL portion of the MCC3 Charger depicts charging has completed.
Notes:
- For this lantern, the MCC3 requires a minimum power source with 5V 1.5A, to function at its optimum charging speed.
- Charging the lantern will not automatically deactivate Electronic LOCKOUT.
Beam Style/Beamshots
For this lantern, the 360 degrees beam pattern (pure flood) for the Lantern is predictable due to the opaque lens covering the LEDs for both LED Modules.
The beam has soft flood for recognizing items in the up-close and near distance only.
White Lamp LED Module:
Flaming LED Module:
The above beam profiles are a rough interpretation of what is seen when white wall hunting.
The Lantern beam has a wide 360-degree “wall of light” diffused spill with no visible hotspot or corona. There are no beam artifacts in the beam when whitewall hunting and in real world usage.
All of the beamshots taken below are done so with the following camera settings:
[White Lamp LED Module] LOW: 0.8sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, MID: 1/4sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB & HIGH: 1/6sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB
[Flaming LED Module] LOW: 1.6sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB
Some pictures have been adjusted slightly to depict as close as to what is seen in real life. The distance of the light from the door is 4.6m.
White Lamp LED Module
Control shot:
LOW (30 lumens):
MID (120 lumens):
HIGH (360 lumens):
Flaming LED Module
Control shot:
LOW (1 lumen):
Mode (Output) Spacing
Mode spacing appears to be progressively brighter to the eye and the modes are well spaced enough to be able to know which mode one is currently in. With that in mind, TLR tend to view mode spacing as battery life indicators (amount of runtime left) rather than the specific output (lumens).
There is no MOONLIGHT mode for this lantern when using the White Lamp LED Module. In order to get MOONLIGHT mode, the Flaming LED Module must be used instead. However, as its name suggests, the Flaming LED Module produces a flickering warm tint light that mimics a burning candle’s flame.
Tint & CRI
White Lamp LED Module
Olight did not disclose the tint (color temperature) and/or the CRI (Color Rendering Index) for the Neutral White LED used in their lantern. For this lantern, a guesstimate would be in the 5000K and 75CRI ballpark.
There are no tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The floody spill is a neutral white tint.
Flaming LED Module
Olight did not disclose the tint (color temperature) and/or the CRI (Color Rendering Index) for the Neutral White LED used in their lantern. For this lantern, a guesstimate would be in the 2700K and 80CRI ballpark.
There are no tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The floody spill is a warm white tint.
Waterproofness
As the lantern is rated for IPX4 only, the lantern was subjected to being left under room temperature running water whilst running on HIGH.
No signs of water intrusion in the head or battery pack area was seen.
Lockout Capability
No Mechanical lockout but Electronic lockout is possible when needed, like during transportation in a bag.
For Electronic lockout, see above “Electronic Lockout”, on how to activate and deactivate Electronic LOCKOUT.
Note: Charging the flashlight will not automatically deactivate Electronic LOCKOUT.
Scale Comparison (Ruler)
Summary
To sum up, we believe that the most important part of any review is if given the chance to purchase the same lantern for our own usage or to gift to our loved ones out from one’s pocket (wallet), would we still do it?
For this lantern, it is a YES if the built-in batteries is not an issue for your usage.
The fairly compact form factor, inclusion of 2 types of LED Modules (White Lamp LED & Flaming LED), motion-activated battery indicator which can act as a location beacon (to find the switch in the dark), 3 color options, usage of the fastest available charging (MCC3), Flaming LED Module for low light usage/creating comfortable candle-lit type of ambience and hooking/kickstand options are all plus points for this lantern.
However, it would be nice if Olight had included a suitable container/box to store the 2nd LED Module safely during transportation in a bag, handbag or etc.
Here are 2 bonus size comparison pictures with some of the other lanterns we reviewed previously and other Olight models.
From Left to Right: Streamlight Siege X USB, Nitecore LR50 and Olight Olantern.
From Left to Right: Olight Warrior Mini, Olight Seeker 2 Pro, Olight Olantern and Olight Warrior X Pro.
As with all gears, two is one and one is none.
Stay safe,
The Lite Review
Disclaimer: Lantern was provided for by Olight for this review. No other compensation was provided.
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Olight Olantern
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