I don’t know how Olight do it. Of course, technology has advanced since I was a kid, but still, these lights are something else. I remember being a kid and being on an Army Cadet camp one weekend, and I had a small version of a light from what was considered one of the best light brands at the time. For the time this light was considered powerful, and I remember being impressed with it. I had a bunch of spare batteries with me, and before the end of the second night my light had nearly completely died. It chewed through batteries and was not that bright anyway, in today’s terms. Back in those days if you wanted a good light you had to buy one of those large lights with a handle, the search light that all the leaders had. Wow, have things changed.
Now, you can have an epic light in the palm of your hand, that is tiny, can fit into your pocket, with your keys and you will barely even notice it is there. That light is the Baton Turbo. No kidding, this light is epic.
Figure One: Baton Turbo in packaging.
First, let’s have a look at what you get in the box.
Figure 2: What is in the box.
I make sure to mention this in my reviews because it is very important, that the Olight products come in very solid and sturdy packaging. This is important because these are not cheap lights, they are a premium product. I have ordered things from online and sometimes they come in a slip case, or maybe a plastic bag, or flimsy box of some kind, and this is not the case with Olight products, they always come in a solid box that will protect whatever it is you purchase from their online store, and this includes the Olight Baton Turbo.
In the box you get the light itself, a pouch, a very high-quality pouch actually, a lanyard, and a sleeve for a CR123A battery, and a magnetic charging cable. You don’t need to buy a CR123A battery of course, because the Baton Turbo comes with an Olight 18350 rechargeable battery already in the light. All you need to do is unscrew the light and remove the little plastic yellow slip, and then you can charge the light with the USB magnetic charger.
Figure 3: Baton Turbo, open,
next to the 18350 battery.
Of course, it is good to know that you can use other batteries in this light as well, because there may be a time when you need to use one. But you can get an Olight Lithium CR123A battery off the Olight website for only $2.95, plus delivery. These batteries are disposable of course, but the proprietary battery that comes inside the Baton Turbo is rechargeable, so you probably won’t need to buy an extra one for some time, unless you were going to taking this light camping and were far away from any charging options for an extended period of time. Though, you still would get plenty of life out of the one 18350 battery, because it is an 1100 mAh 3.6v battery, and it can last up to 50 days of constant use on the lowest possible setting of 1 lumen.
You’ll notice in the image above I have taken a photo of the light on top of the instruction manual that also comes in the box. I love the quality of the information in these Olight instruction manuals. These torches are easy to use, once you understand their different settings, but it is good to have something which lays out how you can access those different settings. Everything on this light is controlled by one switch, and if you are not aware of how Olight lights work, you don’t have to stress as the manual explains it all really simply and well.
The Baton Turbo has a lockout setting, to lockout the light, hold down the on/off switched for a couple of seconds and the light will flash and then turn off. Do the opposite to turn it one. Once the light is unlocked, you press the button once to turn it on and then you hold down the switch to cycle through low, medium and high settings for the light. Low is very low, it allows you to use the light on 10 lumens. But there is an even lower setting, Moonlight. To use this make sure the light is not in lockout mode and hold the switch down for about two seconds. This setting is the one which you can use for 50 days straight. Of course, you would not use this setting to navigate a cave at night, or a bush track in the dark, but it is very useful for when you wake up late at night in a tent and don’t want to wake anyone else up. It will allow you to find stuff in the tent without using too much light. It is actually a very clever setting.
The standard settings are High, 300 lumens, medium, 60 lumens, low, 10 lumens. All of these settings are very useful for general use. A 300 lumen light is a good light to have on hand for most uses. In fact, if you only had this as a 300 lumen light the Baton Turbo would be an excellent general purpose torch that you could carry with you on a daily basis, take camping, hiking, as a backup light while hunting, or fishing and a whole bunch of other uses. But it has another setting, turbo.
The turbo setting on this torch is truly incredible. I did a review on the Olight Prowess not too long ago and that light is epic in its nature, it is definitely one of the best Olight products I have seen, and one of my favourite torches that I have ever used. But this Baton Turbo carries a similar kind of punch in a much smaller package.
Don’t get me wrong the Prowess is the more powerful torch, of course, it is larger, has a more powerful LED array, and a more powerful battery, and on turbo mode it lights up to 5000 lumens on a full charge. But the Baton Turbo does very good for something that is much smaller. It has a turbo setting of 1000 lumens, so more than triple its high-power setting, and this is bright. I showed it to my son, next to the Prowess and he exclaimed, “Wait is that a mini version of the same light?” He was amazed at how powerful it is. And while the Prowess is the more powerful torch, the Baton Turbo will fit in your pocket with ease. Which makes it a great choice for an everyday carry light. The clip is strong, it will not fall out of your pocket, and you will not be let down by the brightness of this light. Like the Prowess it charges with a magnetic cable, so this light can be attached to any metal surface. You can use it to light up your office or bedroom in a blackout:
Or you can use it to light up your work shed while you work at night, even if you do not have power”
Figure 5: Baton Turbo in my storage shed.
Left is on high, right is on turbo mode.
As you can see the light lights up my shed very well. It is not quite as bright as the work light that I have set up in the shed. But my work light can’t fit in my pocket with my keys, the Baton Turbo can. The magnetic function on the backs of these lights makes them so useful in so many settings. You can use it to work on your engine bay if you are pulled over by the side of the road at night, you can attach it to the center of a ceiling fan in your living room to use as a light in a blackout, or you can put it on the low setting and use it as a mood light. This magnetic function makes these lights all the more useful.
And of course, this light is waterproof to an IPX8 rating, can be dropped 1.5 meters without breaking, and has a light distance of 510 meters, so it is bright, useful and built for rugged use. I have another Olight torch with a 1.5 meter drop rating and I have dropped it twice, by accident, from that height, and it still works perfectly. So, these ratings tell you that you have a good product on your hands here. I really like this little light, for me it is the smaller version of the Prowess; the portable, take wherever you are going version. I highly recommend it, this light is a great product, and is a testament to the engineers at Olight and what they are capable of making.
