[selfbuilt]

Warning: pic heavy, as usual.




The Baton series of lights from Olight now have a new member – the 1x26650 Li-ion S80. How does it compare to the earlier multiple-AA versions, the S35 and S65? Let us see …

Manufacturer Reported Specifications:

• CREE XM-L LED
• Three adjustable brightness levels with a strobe
• Luminus flux: 750 lumens
• Low: 10 lumens, 80 hours
• Medium: 180 lumens, 8 hours
• Hi: 750 lumens, 1.5 hours
• Strobe: 10 Hz, 5 hours, 750 lumens
• Max beam distance: 260 meters
• Peak Beam intensity: 16650 cd
• Warning voltage: 3.15V +/1 0.05V
• Idle current: <10 uA
• Memory mode
• Active thermal management
• Rugged aluminum body with anti-scratching type-III=Hard Anodizing
• Orange peel aluminum reflector
• Hardened glass lens with AR coating
• Side button switch
• Water resistant to IPX-8 standards 1.5m
• Impact Resistance: 3.9 ft (1.2 m)
• Weight (with battery): 277 g
• Size (L x D): 154 x 39.6 mm
• Includes: battery, AC charger, holster, key ring, and diffuser
• MSRP: ~$125

Packaging is the typical high-end Olight display/carry case, with cut-out foam for all the components. Included are the light (custom 26650 battery installed), AC charging power cord, diffuser, split-ring, holster, extra o-rings, and manual.




From left to right: Duracell AA; Olight S80, S65, S35; 4Sevens X10; Jetbeam PA40.

All dimensions are given with no batteries installed:

Olight S80: Weight 162.5g, Length: 151mm, Width (bezel): 38.7mm, (tail) 32.5mm
Olight S35 3xAA: Weight 177.3g, Length: 127.7mm, Width (bezel): 38.7mm, (tail) 36.0mm
Olight S65 6xAA: Weight 215.4g, Length: 180mm, Width (bezel): 38.7mm, (tail) 36.0mm
Foursevens X10: Weight: 156.9g, Length: 135.5mm, Width (bezel): 46.0mm
JetBeam PA40 4xAA: Weight: 184.0g, Length: 183mm, Width: 40.8mm (bezel), 42.1mm (max width)

As you can see, the Baton lights are quite petite for their battery configurations. The S80's battery handle/body is a bit narrower than the earlier S35/65 lights (although the head diameter is the same).





Build remains distinctive, with the very cylindrical shape. Anodizing remains a glossy black, and there were no chips or flaws in the anodizing on my S80 sample. Labels are bright white against the black background. There is no real knurling as such, but Olight uses a series of fine ridges along the bodies of all the Baton lights (similar to the Fenix TK45). Light may be slippery when wet.

Light can tailstand, but there is a metal lanyard attachment hole on the tail. There is an attached rubber plug that covers the charging port

As before, the light has a flat stainless steel bezel ring (the heads look identical across the models).

Lights use an electronic switch, located near the head. The switch appears white, but actually has a red LED underneath that illuminates as a low battery warning indicator.

Although the battery is user-replaceable, the tailcap is securely tightened. Most users should never need to open the light up. If you want to, you may need to use snap-ring pliers to loosen it the first time.






Light uses square-cut screw threads as before, but no longer anodized (i.e. no lock-out possible). There is a very clear o-ring visible on the tailcap. There is a spring on the positive contact plate in the head of the light.

The included 26650 battery lacks any kind of label, except for the positive terminal indicator.

In actual fact, the "negative" terminal of the battery actually has both positive and negative contacts – this is how the integrated charger in the tailcap functions.



Above is a comparison of the S80 custom 26650 next to a standard 26650 (from my 4Sevens X10). The S80 battery has the traditional negative terminal in the center – but the outer ring is continuous with the positive terminal (confirmed with my DMM).

If you look at the tailcap pictures, this makes perfect sense. There are two spring-mounted contacts on the underside of the tailcap. When charging using the integrated charger, charging occurs between these two regions of the tail plate of the battery.

This means a couple of things:

• While standard 26650 should work fine in the light (thanks to the center contact), do NOT attempt to charge a standard 26650 with the integrated charger. This would cause an immediate short in the tailcap.
• The custom 26650 bundled with the S80 will not work in most other lights, unless the negative terminal spring is small enough to ONLY make contact with the inner negative plate on the battery. Attempting to use this cell in most lights (where the spring makes contact with both terminal plates) would lead to an immediate short of the battery. This is most absolutely to be avoided – you never want to short the contacts of a battery!
• Similarly, the custom 26650 from the S80 should not be charged outside of the light, as most spring-loaded charging trays could also short out the two terminals across the base of the battery.

Moral of the story – do not try to use this custom 26550 battery in other lights, and be careful in trying to use a standard 26550 in this light.

User Interface

UI is unchanged from the S35/S65. The lights use an electronic switch for on/off and mode control. Press and release for constant on.

Mode switching is controlled by holding down the electronic switch. The light will cycle between Lo – Med - Hi, in repeating sequence. Simply release the switch to select your desired mode. The light has mode memory – if you turn it off/on, the lights return to your previous level.

There is a "hidden" strobe mode, accessed by double-clicking the switch when on. Double-click again to return to constant on.

Light use the typical Olight "soft lock-out" - if you hold the switch down from On, after three cycles through the output modes, the light turns itself off. It cannot be turned back on until you rapidly press the switch three times. This is a soft lock to prevent accidental activation. Since the light doesn't have anodized tailcap threads, there is no other option to physically lock-out the light.

For a more detailed examination of the build and user interface, please see my video overview:

Прямая ссылка на видео YouTube

Video was recorded in 720p, but YouTube typically defaults to 360p. Once the video is running, you can click on the configuration settings icon and select the higher 480p to 720p options. You can also run full-screen.

PWM/Strobe

As before, there is no sign of PWM that I can see, at any output level. The Baton lights appear to be current-controlled as claimed.



Strobe was measured at 10 Hz on the S80, consistent with the earlier S35/S65.

Standby drain

Since the switch is an electronic switch, there needs to be a standby current when the tailcap is connected. I measured this current at 6.0 uA, which is very consistent with what I measured on 3xAA on the S35 (6.3 uA) and 6xAA on the S65 (5.8 uA).

With the 4000mAh rated 26650 Li-ion on the S80, that would translate into 76 years before a fully charged cell would be depleted. Since that is a lot longer the lifespan of a Li-ion (and about the typical lifespan for a human ), I don't think we have much to worry about.

Note however that unlike the S35/S65, you cannot break this current by locking out the tailcap on the S80 (i.e. threads are not anodized here).

Low Battery warning

The low-battery warning flash is integrated under the on/off button, as shown below from my S35 review:




I actually found the indicator a lot more useful on the 26650-based S80 than I did on the S35/S65.

As you will see in the runtimes below, the fully-regulated S80 steps down in output as the battery starts to run low. Approximately 5-10 mins before each step-down occurs, the warning LED indicator starts flashing slowly (and immediately shuts off after step-down).

This is a very useful contextual indicator, as it warns you of the imminent step-down to the next regulated level. Note the light steps down from Hi, to Med, to Lo, to Off – with consistent advanced warning at each level.

This is more useful than the AA-based S35/S65, where the warning light typically only comes on after the lights fall out of regulation. As the S80 is fully regulated at al levels, the consistent pre-step-down warning is very useful.

Integrated Charger

The intergrated charger worked well in my testing, taking approximately 5.5 hours to completely charge a battery that was fully drained (i.e. ran until the protection featured kicked in).

I don't know if the charger shuts off or simply drops to a trickle charge once fully charged (and the charger light goes green). I tested the resting voltage of the included 26650 cell after the green status indicator came on, and got 4.22V on my Uni-T DMM. As this is the maximum you would want to charge a cell, I recommend you don't leave the charger plugged in once the light goes green, to be on the safe side. You may also want to discharge a bit of capacity by running the light for a minute or two once fully charged.

Beamshots:




S80 head is unchanged from the S35/S65. Below the stainless steel bezel ring is a red o-ring, holding the lens in place. The reflectors have a medium orange peel (textured) finish. Light uses a Cool White XM-L emitter, well centered on my sample as always.

And now, what you have all been waiting for. All lights are on Sanyo Eneloop NiMH, at the maximum supported number for the given models (3x or 4x). Lights are about ~0.75 meter from a white wall (with the camera ~1.25 meters back from the wall). Automatic white balance on the camera, to minimize tint differences.














The S80 has an identical beam profile to the S35/S65, very even and smooth. I haven't done the S65 beamshots, since the patterns are comparable – only overall output changes.

Initial overall output is reasonable for this size light, but is clearly not as bright as my other 26650-based light, the 4Sevens X10. The X10 also has more throw, but at the expense of a less uniform beam (i.e., defined rings and pronounced tint shift in the corona on my sample).

For outdoor beamshots, these were done in the style of my 100-yard round-up compendium 2011 review. Please see that thread for a discussion of the topography (i.e. the road dips in the distance, to better show you the corona in the mid-ground).



As you can see, the S80 is pretty comparable to the S65 initially. The 4Sevens X10 has a definite advantage in throw and overall output (although is rather ringy in comparison).

Testing Method:

All my output numbers are relative for my home-made light box setup, a la Quickbeam's flashlightreviews.com method. You can directly compare all my relative output values from different reviews - i.e. an output value of "10" in one graph is the same as "10" in another. All runtimes are done under a cooling fan, except for any extended run Lo/Min modes (i.e. >12 hours) which are done without cooling.

I have recently devised a method for converting my lightbox relative output values (ROV) to estimated Lumens. See my How to convert Selfbuilt's Lighbox values to Lumens thread for more info.

Throw/Output Summary Chart:

My summary tables are reported in a manner consistent with the ANSI FL-1 standard for flashlight testing. Effective March 2012, I have updated the Max Output ANSI FL-1 lumen estimates to represent peak output measured at 30 secs (my earlier gray tables were based on a later time point for Max output). Please see http://www.flashlightreview... for a discussion, and a description of all the terms used in these tables.



Overall performance of the S80 is very similar to the S65, at least initially. Note all the measures above are taken at the ANSI/NEMA FL-1 standard of 30 secs after activation.

Max overall output is lower on the S80 than the reported specs indicate. This is due to a rapid drop-off in output over the first few mins of runtime on the S80 – a feature that differs from the controlled step-down of the S65. This is illustrated in the summary table below, as well as the detailed runtimes further below.



Output/Runtime Comparison:



First off, the regulation pattern: the S80 has a very well-regulated step-down pattern, with ~60 mins of runtime at each lower step-down level before final shut-off.

Runtime on the Med level is quite good, very consistent with the 26650-based 4Sevens X10, and the reported ANSI FL-1 output/runtime specs for the S80.

However, overall efficiency on Hi seems lower than the X10, with lower initial output and greater runtime after the Lo/Med step-downs occur.

Compared to the earlier Baton lights, the "regulated" Hi output level of the S80 seems much closer the 3xAA S35 than the 6xAA S65. To better compare the initial output of these various lights, I have re-plotted the first 10 mins of runtime in estimated lumens:



The S65 and X10 both have a regulated step-down in output after 2.5 mins and 3 mins, respectively. In contrast, the S80 shows a fairly rapid continuously drop-off in output over the first 3 mins, stabilizing at a level slightly higher than the S35.

To confirm that there was no issue with the particular cell in question, I compared runtimes to my 4Sevens X10 26650 cell in the S80 light:



As you can see, runtime pattern is very comparable – but the X10's 26650 seems less well optimized for the S80 (i.e., it spends even longer on the Lo and Med output modes, and less time on Hi).

Unless there is an issue with the circuit on my sample, I find it rather misleading to be labeling this light as "750 lumens" - it literally spends less than 3 secs at that level before starting to rapidly drop down.

Potential Issues

baton lights all use an electronic switch, and therefore require a stand-by current when fully connected. Tailcap lockout is not possible on the S80 (i.e. threads are not anodized), but you can still temporarily soft-lock the light out at the switch. In any case, the standby drain is so low (6 uA) as to be negligible on the lifespan of the battery (i.e. many decades).

Overall build of the Baton lights is fairly smooth, and grip is relatively low. Lights also roll easily.

On the S80, output dropped rapidly on Hi over the first several minutes of runtime on my sample (i.e., from ~750 estimated lumens initally, to ~450 estimated lumens once regulated).

Runtime on Hi (before step-down) is lower than I would have expected for a 26650mAh battery.

Preliminary Observations

It's nice to see the 26650 Li-ion addition to Olight Baton series of lights. This adds another option for those looking for a dedicated rechargeable version of this compact carry light.

The integrated charger worked well in my testing, but please don't try to charge standard 26550 cells in this light (or charge this custom 26550 outside of the S80). See my discussion of the charger performance and the custom battery features earlier in this review.

Use of a dedicated Li-ion cell works very well with the Baton's overall build and circuit/user interface. The fully-regulated step-down pattern - with appropriate contextual battery warning at each level - is very well implemented. This is even better than the S35/S65, as the fully regulated Li-ion allows much finer (and stabilized) control of output - with much greater predictability for warning indicators. This is exactly the sort of thing I would like to see on more lights with integrated battery/charging solutions.

Battery capacity is certainly acceptable, but I was surprised to see the lower regulated output on my sample (i.e. only ~750 estimated lumens initially, quickly drops to closer to ~450 estimated lumens within a few minutes). I would also have expected a little more runtime on Hi, given how long the XM-L-based 4Sevens X10 lasts on its 26650 battery (which seems to have equivalent overall capacity). It's too bad the S80 isn't closer to the X10 in output on max, because I prefer the interface and level options of the Baton lights over the X10.

That said, I find the output perfectly acceptable for any needs I would have - and I quite like having the bundled diffuser for full flood. Build remains good, with useful ergonomics (e.g. switch near the head, as in traditional flashlight design). Although as before, I would prefer a few more grip elements on the Baton series.

A worthy addition to the Baton line - I recommend you check it out if you are looking for an integrated charging light with minimalist build and sensible user interface. If you are interested in AA-based options, check out my earlier S35/S65 review.

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Olight S80 supplied by goinggear.com for review.

[Kirilll]

Здравствуйте!
Приобрел S80, доволен. Фонарь держит примерно 700 Лм около 15 минут, далее в течении следующих 10 плавно скатывается до 450 Лм и работает еще 2 часа на стабильных 450 Лм.

Но есть одна НЕПРИЯТНОСТЬ. Такой момент, если фонарь сильно потрясти - слышно дребезжание (такой звук будто что-то небольшое болтается внутри)?

Меня это беспокоит, разбирать не хотелось бы - нету опыта, боюсь испортить.

Быть может кто-то сталкивался с подобным?
Что это может быть? И к чему может привести?
Заранее спасибо!