BatteryJunction.com Introduces the Olight SR90 - 2200 Lumen LED Searchlight

[276]

Good thing i sold some lights to save up for this!!

[celler]

Originally Posted by FILA BRAZILIA

What?
No disrespect, celler, but there are probably 100`s of lights offering days-and-days of runtime on low- this HUGE light would be.....heavy....to care for longer periods of time..
The Olight SR90 is in fact in the same league as HID lights. How many would appreciate HID`s with very-low output (say 50 lumens) and days of runtime? Probably NONE!

You are missing my point. An LED light should take advantage of LED technology to make it a better alternative than the HID competition. That is the market niche for this light. Runtime is one advantage. Selectable levels is another. Why hit a home run on one point and strike out on the other. There are plenty of HIDs in this price range with superior output. And I don't think two more levels, a real low and an ultra low makes the user interface that complicated. Of course, as suggested, I could just carry two lights, but in that case I would likely carry an HID and a MC-E LED light.

My intention is to be constructive, not to bash this light. I've followed the announcement tread for months and would just like to see this light be all that it can be.

[ergotelis]

damn....i think that if price was 300 dollars it would sell 3x .

[rickypanecatyl]

Originally Posted by celler

You are missing my point. An LED light should take advantage of LED technology to make it a better alternative than the HID competition. That is the market niche for this light. Runtime is one advantage. Selectable levels is another. Why hit a home run on one point and strike out on the other. There are plenty of HIDs in this price range with superior output. And I don't think two more levels, a real low and an ultra low makes the user interface that complicated. Of course, as suggested, I could just carry two lights, but in that case I would likely carry an HID and a MC-E LED light.

My intention is to be constructive, not to bash this light. I've followed the announcement tread for months and would just like to see this light be all that it can be.

Great point celler. Its a search and rescue light and personally I would find comfort in a battery pack that size knowing I had the ability to put out 100 lumens for several nights if an emergency arose.

I have no idea how difficult it would be to do. I'm sure O light has done there demographic research and probably more people would prefer a simple UI without the lower power ;evels. IF however it was really simple to make an option with several levels that is the one I would buy. I have at times thought I was going out for 6 hours and been stuck out for several days.

That being said I think it is an amazing light and may just get one so O light has enough money in their R&D to put out one with lower levels

[Hammer Train]

I've edited this post so as not to trash the thread in any way as that was not my intention.

Matt, I'm not a snob - that was mean.

However I think the light is great, the pricing is what the market is willing to pay and Olight have probably got it right. I wish you all the best with the sale - I'm sure it will be very popular.

[MattK]

Hammer Train - I welcome an open conversation but if you make a statement you need to have the facts; even an opinion needs to have some basis in or derivation from fact, right?

The SR90 is hand assembled. The first production batch is tiny. These things, IMO, mean that it is not, 'mass manufactured.' Sure, some 'custom' products, like Data's Spy or Walter's GatLight transcend their mundane functionality and become art, I get that, but I would bet those guys both also apply as many 'mass manufacturing' processes as they can.

That said, whether a product is 'mass manufactured' or not really isn't an indicator of quality or value and in this case the SR90 it's not a mass manufactured product anyway. For example, a Porsche or a Ferrari is 'mass manufactured' but they're made of very expensive components and result from tons of R&D, etc. Is one of those cars too expensive for a, 'mass manufactured,' product or does the higher grade of materials and hugh amounts of extra R&D justify the price?

I welcome informed opinions both positive and otherwise but do be prepared to back those opinions up.

[FILA BRAZILIA]

Originally Posted by celler

You are missing my point. An LED light should take advantage of LED technology to make it a better alternative than the HID competition. That is the market niche for this light.

Advantages Olight SR90 VS HID:
1. INSTANT on. When you push the "ON" button, absolutely NO waiting time is required. HIDs normally reach full power after 15-20 seconds (or even more, actually, exception Polarion and SHORT ARC HIDs like the Maxabeam)
2. Weight. Olight SR90 is lighter than many HID lights out there. It is probably easier to hold?
3. Lifetime on LED 60.000 hours. Lifetime on HID 1000-2000 hours. Very expensive to change bulb on HIDs.

[easilyled]

Too many levels means sacrificing some efficiency on the part of the driver as far as I know.

I think this also applies if there's a very large contrast between the highest and lowest levels.

In any case if you ask 100 people what levels and what UI they would like in a light, you will probably find at least 10 main variations.

Clearly, it is not possible to please everybody.

[MattK]

That's an excellent point about driver efficiency easilyled.

I'm not an EE so I cannot explain WHY that is but I know it's defiinitely an issue maintaining efficiency when there are widely disparate output levels.

As I stated above; a simple, quick and clear UI was the primary design obnjective with the UI.

I can tell you one thing for sure; if you ask 100 ppl on CPF what the UI should be you'll get a LOT more than 10 answers.

[leru]

MattK

Why to Russia does not sell?

[jtrucktools34]

Originally Posted by Lightcrazycanuck1

For 400.00 it should be.

Hey Now!!

That's $393.03

-5% and + ground shipping.

[Henk_Lu]

As a buyer of little customs, which sell at prices up to 1.000$ I find the price of this Lumen-Thrower quite OK. In the presentation thread, I guessed that it would sell at 350$ minimum, well, we're not far away here. Keep in mind that the battery pack alone is worth 90$ at normal selling prices.

I'm no into search lights, 2 x CR123A is my personal maximum size, but I would have bought this monster right away this afternoon when I saw the thread if I was. Developement for this light has been at least 5 months, probably longer, this should be an Olight like no other before!

[windstrings]

I think 6 - 18650's were an excellent choice!
The only thing I'm concerned about is that knowing the nature of batteries in general, having a proprietary battery pack is the weakest link with this light.

I wonder why they didn't allow us to put in which brand we preferred?... "Like AW?"

There are 6 points of vulnerability of which if any one of those batteries go bad, the whole pack is no good.

How hard will it be to replace a bad battery?... simply take apart the pack and put another in its place?... of course that won't be a perfect match.

How much do you anticipate just the battery pack will cost?

It looks like you can charge it in or out of the light, that means you could have a backup always on the charger.

P.S. Folks when analyzing the price... consider how much 6 - 18650's, and a charger cost! and deduct that from the price of this light.... thats how much your really paying for it as most of these types of lights don't come with batteries.

[windstrings]

I couldn't stand it... I had to have one of these!

USPS 2 - 3 day is cheaper than ground for me....."only 12.95" for a total price = 392.90 "after 5% cpf discount"

There are just too many things I love about this light..... love at first sight!

[Nitroz]

Originally Posted by windstrings

I think 6 - 18650's were an excellent choice!
The only thing I'm concerned about is that knowing the nature of batteries in general, having a proprietary battery pack is the weakest link with this light.

I wonder why they didn't allow us to put in which brand we preferred?... "Like AW?"

I think this was done so it could be standardized and made safe from unbalanced cells in the pack. I am sure it is built like a laptop battery with protection for all of the cells in the pack.

When using this many cells I think it was a smart move that Olight made.

If people were allowed to use their own cells I know we would hear stories.

[celler]

Originally Posted by FILA BRAZILIA

Advantages Olight SR90 VS HID:
1. INSTANT on. When you push the "ON" button, absolutely NO waiting time is required. HIDs normally reach full power after 15-20 seconds (or even more, actually, exception Polarion and SHORT ARC HIDs like the Maxabeam)

Actually, my HIDs are a bit quicker than that. But remember, this is marketed as a search and rescue light, not a tactical light. Instant on is really no big advantage for that environment.

Originally Posted by FILA BRAZILIA

2. Weight. Olight SR90 is lighter than many HID lights out there. It is probably easier to hold?

Not really. A modern HID with a lithium ion battery weighs about the same.

Originally Posted by FILA BRAZILIA

3. Lifetime on LED 60.000 hours. Lifetime on HID 1000-2000 hours. Very expensive to change bulb on HIDs.

Potentially true. Big deal for a MaxaBeam, not so much for a UK Light Cannon. But in exchange for that you get more neutral color and more lumens.

Again, I think this is a really great light. I would just like to see it become the HID-killer it is aiming to be.

[Lightcrazycanuck1]

[MattK]

Originally Posted by leru

MattK

Why to Russia does not sell?

If we don't ship to your country the reason is usually pretty simple: Credit card fraud runs rampant in Russia and the handful of other countries that we do not ship to. For long time CPF members with verifiable posting histories we frequently make exceptions and will ship to anywhere that we legally can.

Originally Posted by windstrings

I think 6 - 18650's were an excellent choice!
The only thing I'm concerned about is that knowing the nature of batteries in general, having a proprietary battery pack is the weakest link with this light.

I wonder why they didn't allow us to put in which brand we preferred?... "Like AW?"

There are 6 points of vulnerability of which if any one of those batteries go bad, the whole pack is no good.

How hard will it be to replace a bad battery?... simply take apart the pack and put another in its place?... of course that won't be a perfect match.

How much do you anticipate just the battery pack will cost?

It looks like you can charge it in or out of the light, that means you could have a backup always on the charger.

P.S. Folks when analyzing the price... consider how much 6 - 18650's cost! and deduct that from the price of this light.... thats how much your really paying for it as most of these types of lights don't come with batteries.

Well 'AW''s is not a manufacturer of li-ion cells. AW is a guy who has a factory or assembler labelling a variety of single cells and making some cells with integrated PCB's so this was not a realistic choice for Olight.

Keep in mind that the included pack has basically 6 point of failure - 6 batteries and 1 PCB. 6 single cells have 12 potential points of failure and there's no adequate charger for 6 18650's nor a way to keep 6 seperate cells balanced which will significantly affect runtime and safety.

The factory and I had numerous conversations on 6 single cells vs a pack but, as explianed above, their concern was people use mismatched, unbalanced cells. This light draws a ton of current - we didn't want to give people the chance to, frankly, do something stupid and dangerous purposely or accidentally. If you had a short, a bad cell, a misinserted cell, etc, you could theoretically try to suck up to 9A or more from a single cell.

As I note above, EVERY LIGHT IN THIS CLASS (HID's really) USES A PROPRIETARY PACK; there's a number of good reasons for this.

We don't want, nor we will encourage anyone to 'self-service' repair or replace cells in their SR90 packs.

Yes, batteries can be charged in or out of the light.

We don't yet have finalized pricing on the spare battery packs but I'd expect under $150 - that's seems likely.

Originally Posted by windstrings

I couldn't stand it... I had to have one of these!


There are just too many things I love about this light..... love at first sight!

LOL

[windstrings]

Originally Posted by celler

Again, I think this is a really great light. I would just like to see it become the HID-killer it is aiming to be.

I will take a whole new technology of LED or a way to run several of these at once with a very large reflector "and battery" to be an HID killer.

I can't even think of an HID that has this much output from such a small reflector, but I"m sure there are some out there..... I'm not too versed on the smaller ones.. only the big boys!.... my Mule puts out close to 10000 lumens!

As LED improves... so does HID!

But you have to admit, HID is no good for instant on for mounting on a gun or to have a great startling effect upon an assailant.

Much of the power of instant on is the fact that the human eye is dilated to receive maximum light at dark and when instantly hit with 2200 lumens, it will have more of a blinding effect than 8000 lumens that takes 15 - 30 seconds to get up to full because the pupil will have plenty of time to not only constrict but the person will even have time to squint and close their eyes and even look the other way!

Can you imagine what 2200 lumens in your face would be like when your hit without warning while your eyes and pupils are wide open!

Can you say "fried eggs?"

This light will be very effective in law enforcement or to keep by your bedside!

[276]

[Dioni]

Finaly!

[Duc Nguyen]

Hi Matt,

I just order one , order # 162144 for 394.04

Duc

[Frank_Zuccarini]

PayPal Sent.

Thank-you Matt......................Frank

[windstrings]

I don't want to rub salt in anybody's wound, but Matt you really got the jump on this one!

It will be interesting to see what the counter will be to this!....

Wow!... no time limit, terrific runtime!......

I imagine this little baby will get plenty hot!

It will take a good dose of common sense to not cook it.

When the sweat starts steaming as it runs down the sides of the light when it rolls off our hand, does that mean we need to turn it down?

With all the heat struggles we were hearing with other lights with half the lumen output with the SST50, I wonder what they did to make this happen without a meltdown with the hotter running SST90?

There must be a secret?

[ptolemy]

very nice light, priced as where we expected it.

i guess if i was to look negatively at it, since it's hand assembled./small quantities, 2 things could have been done

1. sapphire crystal
2. higher quality li-ions, like aw'.s...

but i am just looking for a reason not to get this..perhaps when my tuition paid off

good luck with the sale, it certainly looks handsome!

[Free]

Matt, I ordered one this morning, but I have one question I haven't seen discussed about the UI.

Does it go Low>High>Strobe, some other sequence, or do you access the strobe separately from the Low and High, such as pressing and holding the button? Also, I assume it remembers the last setting?

[rickypanecatyl]

I don't know much about HID efficiency ... anyone know how this one compares? 2200 lumens for 30 watts or roughly 75 watts per lumen ... that's just as good if not better isn't it?

The fact that you can go 700 lumens for 7 hours is pretty cool. If you got stuck out in the woods at night that would just about get you to sunrise.

I know where I'd love to use this - in the boat. I can think of several times when I was looking for a suitable landing for miles of shoreline in a small zodiac and wanted to be outside the wave break zone. I've never had a flashlight strong enough to light up the beach from there and consequenly have dug my prop into the sand I bet this one could do it!

[windstrings]

Originally Posted by rickypanecatyl

I don't know much about HID efficiency ... anyone know how this one compares? 2200 lumens for 30 watts or roughly 75 watts per lumen ... that's just as good if not better isn't it?

There is nothing wrong with the efficiency of HID..... the SST's use a ton of energy for what they give but there is no LED thats brighter we can get out hands on.
The benefits of LED such as ruggedness, 60000 hours life, instant on make it a different animal from the HID.

As you can see here, the 30 watt HID gives about 3200 lumens with 3000 hours bulb life and the 35W HID gives about 3500 lumens.
These HID are totally cool, and brighter, but they are not LED.

LED is the latest and you can expect it to last the rest of your life and take a beating without an issue barring battery failure.... not quite so with HID.

[csshih]

Originally Posted by MattK

I can tell you one thing for sure; if you ask 100 ppl on CPF what the UI should be you'll get a LOT more than 10 answers.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...ts&pollid=1365

lol, indeed.

Originally Posted by ptolemy

1. sapphire crystal
2. higher quality li-ions, like aw'.s...

that big a piece of (artificial?) sapphire crystal would be astronomically expensive...
higher quality? what Li-ions are being used in the pack, and what makes AW higher quality than other cells like, say, sanyo, panasonic, sony? I believe AW cellls are sourced from various different factories...
We don't need his protection circuit in that battery pack?

[windstrings]

AW cells are already protected.

- Designed for incan lamps and high power LEDs. Good performance even under 3A - 5A draw.

- Powers up a WA1185/1111 with a single click.

- Three triangulated raised dots ensure solid cell to cell connection when used in series.

- PCB protection against overcharge/ over discharge / short circuit.

- Safety vent with thermal cut off protection.

The reason they are so much in demand is many cpfers have done real runtime tests and they are the closest to true AH ratings over the competitors. Are they worth almost twice as much?

Well, they also are more consistent so putting several in one flashlight will likely give you a better balanced pack than the competitors.... still worth it?

Well, they also hold their voltage to deliver the amps to the bitter end better than the competitors... many others grossly over-rate themselves and only qualify for the rated settings at low current draws.

To get a light that gives good runtime is one thing... but at what current draw?.... can it do both and give good current draw "and" stand the test of time?... that means true AH rating. The term "Amp/hour" can get abused and attention is only given to the "hour" and they fudge on the "AmP" during those hours.

All in all they are for serious users that want predictability "such as RC users who don't want their RC plane falling out of the sky" or fanatics like we all are, we want the best of the best.

For those on a budget, the others are good to... but the QA is not to the level of AW's.

I notice he has his own stickers on them..... I don't know if he tests each and every one, but they have become quite trusted among CPF hence the high price.