Olight SR90 Intimidator Review

[ArkAngel]

Orlight SR90 Intimidator review.

2200LUMENS! Was the battle cry that registered on my Jamie radar. Easily the most affordable eye scorcher I had seen to date.
I like a good range of torches from the relatively low powered Malkoff M30F to my current high lumen monster the well known Ultrafire WF-1000.

After checking the money fund…..”please babe can I just have one more torch!?” I pre-ordered one from flashaholics www.flashaholics.co.uk . I had never used them before but they were easy to use and Antony let me know when it had arrived and was being shipped out to me.

Full specs from Olight
http://www.olightworld.com/product_show.asp?id=174


First Impressions

On opening the box this morning I was pleasantly surprised to find a well bubble wrapped metal case bearing the legend “Olight”. Inside I found what has to be one of the biggest torches I have ever seen.



Provivded in the case is the LED head assembly, battery pack, charger, strap, 2 spare o-rings and instructions. To install the battery pack you unscrew the protective cap and attach to the head. I was pleased to see there was ample grease on all threads which made the process stiff but easy. I was surprised to find that there was no protective cap on the head assembly. If you provide a cover for the battery pack to keep the muck out doesn’t it make sense to do the same for the bit It screws into?



Review

Right down to it.

This is a BIG torch, no arguing. It weighs in at a hefty 1584g according to my kitchen scales. This is nearly 100g heavier than the claimed 1500g. It feels big in the hand and quite front heavy. There is a large and thick looking lens with what is billed as a ‘striking bezel’ at it’s best it’s 6mm deep so I don’t know what you are expected to strike with it, better just to club them with it!

The LED



There is a lot of heatsink around the very smooth refelector. This is designed as a thrower no question. Moving further back you find the power switch. It stands a little proud and has a nice soft click to it. Quite small though so operating with gloves could be a problem.
The user interface is press once- high, press again and hold to switch down to low mode. A quick double press activates the strobe. It also has a memory so it turns on at the last setting you turned it off at

The grip on the battery pack is chunky and deep and provides plenty of grip without feeling like it is going to strip the flesh from your hand.

Moving to the back of the torch we find the charging and battery life lights. A quick press of the white switch gives you a 5 second reading from the 4 LED’s.



4 led’s indicate 85%+ power remaing
3 indicate 60-70%
2 40-60%
1 20-40%
No lights indicate less than 20% power remains and needs charging.

When I tested this morning all 4 lights came on immediately. I did decide to top it off though. An intelligent charger is included very reminiscent of a laptop power supply. Charging is shown by a red LED that turns to green when fully charged and I assume switches to trickle charge.

On a recharging note the instructions say the batteries are “just like those in a laptop computer; their service life will be optimized if you charge your light after every use”
Also they recommend if the light is not used regularly then charge the pack every 3-4 months “without fail”.

One main thing I don’t like about is the cover for the charging socket. It is made out of what feels like a very thin rubberised cover. It feels very soft, pliable and is quite difficult to remove. I have little doubt if there is one thing that will break on this light this is it.

2 strap mounting points are also on the body and look like they are brass. They are chunky and look very much up to the task. They rotate 360 degrees. the strap provided is good quality with 'Olight' embroidered into it.

Modelled by my lovely wife



Close up of the stitching


Overall I like the whole package. There are a few little niggles but they are only small. The light feels well built and engineered and fit and finish are overall very good.


Comparison between some well known lights
Surefire 6P, AA minmag, 2D Maglite, SR90


Lens Sizes




Beamshots

OK so you have been patient enough to read through my drivel so we’ll get to the parts you want to see.

I decided to try to get a “real world” effect to the beamshots. Meaning to try to show in the picture what is seen with the human eye. It is all too easy to overexpose the shot and make these things look like a lightsabre or laser cannon.

Technical stuff

Camera- Nikon D300
Focal length- 35mm
Manual mode
Manual focus
ISO- 200
f-stop- f4.8
Exposure- 4 seconds
Mounted on a tripod with a cable release

I used 4 other lights i use on a regular basis

Surefire 6P with Malkoff M30W (warm tint)
Surefire 6P with Malkoff M60
Wolf-eyes Explorer MC http://www.heinnie.com/Flashlights/W...p-97-299-4082/
Ultrafire WF 1000-L


This is the best i could do for a control shot, the weather has just been too lousy to get a daylight shot. This is the view from my front garden.
The distance from camera to the gates is 62metres
The telegraph pole behind is 81metres away
The small grey board you can see is the back of a sign, that is 113metres away



So

Malkoff M30W


Malkoff M60


Wolf-Eyes (on high)


Ultrafire (on high)


SR90 (on high)


VERY impressive i think you'll agree

I couldn't resist a bit of beamshot porn
30 second exposure


Hope that gives most of you an idea of just how powerful this light is. For the price this is an unbeatable package in my opinion.

Anything you think i should add or you want to know feel free to ask.

Thanks for looking

[ArkAngel]

Just been for a bit of a wander with it.

A very impressive beam pattern with a obvious hotspot. There is still plenty of usable side spill that makes it easy to see where you are walking.
Temperature wise after about 10 mins the head was warm but not desperately so.
After about 20mins of total use the LED meter has dropped to 3 lights so that is on course with claimed runtimes.

If you hold it just behind the head it helps the balance a lot. If you hold it by the grip then you will get a good workout

I will admit that there is no low power shot as i thought i had it sussed but it would seem I'm an idiot. After reading the instructions i got it sorted. It's snowing outside at the moment but i may add that shot in the future.
Still very impressive on low power, looking a little dimmer than the Ultrafire but still incredibly bright and helped no doubt by the large reflector.

[TallNHairyDave]

Thanks for an excellent review.

Holy Mother of God! That is well into HID territory! Wow. Just Wow. And not as blue beam as it appeared in the promo pics - which is good!

I so want one of these now!

Can you do a longer run and let us know how hot the head gets?

P.S. I've posted a link to your review over on CPF.

[tx101]

Very impressive

I'm surprised that the head only gets warm after 10 minutes, I was expecting thermal
meltdown

Great set of pics .... let me see if I can work some magic



EDIT ... here is a small animated GIF of your beamshots

[gorilla]

i'd love to see a shot of this lighting something up at it's limit, distance-wise - just how far away can you see with one?
great review, and it is a hefty lump - you could smuggle a small dog through Customs in that (if you had the inclination)

[ArkAngel]

I was quite surprised about the temps myself.

Allowing for the fact it is 0 degrees here i was expecting far greater output.

I intend to update the review as i use it more, and can give some better feedback on what it's like to live with.

[ArkAngel]

i'd love to see a shot of this lighting something up at it's limit, distance-wise - just how far away can you see with one?
great review, and it is a hefty lump - you could smuggle a small dog through Customs in that (if you had the inclination)

Still a bit foggy here at the moment so that cuts it back quite a bit.

I can use it to see the Crimple Viaduct from my back garden and that must be about 800m. Quite dim at that point though, i would say usable beam of about 600m to identify what you are looking at.

[TallNHairyDave]

Still a bit foggy here at the moment so that cuts it back quite a bit.

I can use it to see the Crimple Viaduct from my back garden and that must be about 800m. Quite dim at that point though, i would say usable beam of about 600m to identify what you are looking at.

Whoa!

That's damn impressive.

I'd heard people refer to the SR90 as a "Thrunite Catapult on Steroids" and it certainly seems like it is!

[Croyde]

Excellent beam shots and review.

That is one big, mean light. Now you really can carry a little sunshine with you.

[ArkAngel]

Excellent beam shots and review.

That is one big, mean light. Now you really can carry a little sunshine with you.

Not so little mate!

[ArkAngel]

very impressive

i'm surprised that the head only gets warm after 10 minutes, i was expecting thermal
meltdown :p

great set of pics .... Let me see if i can work some magic :d



edit ... Here is a small animated gif of your beamshots

nice!

[Essexman]

Thanks for taking the time to write the great review, wow what a beast!

i would say usable beam of about 600m to identify what you are looking at.

Or in other words, just over half a Km. From one single LED, I would never of thought it possible a few years ago.

[gorilla]

Still a bit foggy here at the moment so that cuts it back quite a bit.

I can use it to see the Crimple Viaduct from my back garden and that must be about 800m. Quite dim at that point though, i would say usable beam of about 600m to identify what you are looking at.

now there are lots of things 600m away that i need to see goddamnit
but this torch costs more than my car

[TallNHairyDave]

Ohhhh damn

I have a nice kidney for sale. One careful owner.

Need to have a sort out, see what I have in cupboards that I'd be willing to part with to help fund one of these!

Hmmmmmm.

No. Not my Malkoff!

[benp1]

Corr, that is a beast!

It's a chunky light but my it puts out. I find the problem with lights like these (uber bright) is you that you talk them out, turn them on and BAM, night vision gone! They are fun though. Would be good shooting or similar