Olight’s Reputation in the Gun Community
O Light is a brand that is pretty frowned upon in the gun community due to reports of a few of their models having issues with overheating or even catching on fire. Friends don’t let friends buy O light is a common saying.
Is the reptuation well deserved? We’ll find out
However are their lights actually bad? I wanted to find out for myself. I specifically picked the O-Light PL 2 Valkyrie Turbo model. It boasts an 800 lumen brightness with a max throw of 66k candella, or lower lumens but 3x times the candella of my Streamlight TLR-1 HL weapon mounted light. Moreover, it is designed to have a very similar body to the TLR-1, thus it has been reported (on Reddit) to be cross compatible with some TLR-1 holsters (spoiler alert, in my experience it is not).
Olight PL Turbo Weaponlight
The Olight PL Turbo is really powerful and has some great features for the price. It makes a great light for a backup gun. However, I don’t think this replaces the TLR-1 for your primary home defense or EDC pistol.
Cool Features other Brands don’t have
The O-Light even has some cool features that a TLR-1 doesn’t have, like 6 way adjustability to allow for a tight fit on a variety of rails, meaning it can be adjusted for a variety of pistol rails.
Spec Sheet
From O-Lights own spec sheet, the light is supposed to function at greater than 90% output for the first 3 minutes of runtime, then significantly dropping off to about 50% at the 3 and a half to 4 minute mark.
To be fair, a whitelight if used properly should be used as sparingly as is possible, so this performance is probably good enough for most home defense contexts.
Durability Claims
O-Light also claims to have been tested to 30k rounds of simulated recoil. Lets be honest, if you’re running an O-Light, you probably aren’t running 30k practice rounds through your weapon, so this is probably more than enough for your average gun owner. I definitely don’t have that kind of round count through pistols with this flashlight so I can’t speak to that longevity.
Olight PL Turbo Features
The flashlight features a strobe feature which is standard for most weapon mounted lights on the market. It weighs in at a heftier 4.48 ounces as compared to other lighter flashlights, and it is not rechargeable, which is my personal preference when it comes to batteries. It takes two CR123A battery just like the streamlight TLR-1.
Price of the Olight PL Turbo
Price is the biggest pro of this flashlight. With an MSRP of $89.99, it is priced at least $50 to $60 times cheaper than the USA based Streamlight TLR-1 HL. I actually bought mine for $50, in a Christmas bundle, with OLights I3T EDC flashlight, a flashlight that seemed like it could be a direct competitor of my Streamlight Microstream EDC flashlight. I’ll be cross comparing those two flashlights in another video as well. So in the end it ended up coming in at 1/3 of the price of my Streamlight TLR-1 with the bonus flashlight.
Olight PL Turbo Weaponlight
The Olight PL Turbo is really powerful and has some great features for the price. It makes a great light for a backup gun. However, I don’t think this replaces the TLR-1 for your primary home defense or EDC pistol.
First Impressions, A Mixed Bag
Overall the O-Light was pretty impressive on paper, and for that price and the fact that it is cross compatible with my TLR-1 holsters, I just had to try one.
However the OLight didn’t fully live up to my expectations, even if it exceeded expectations in other areas.
The OLight wasn’t compatible with any of my TLR-1 holsters. It wasn’t compatible witt the universal fit Blackhawk omnivore. It also wasn’t compatible with kydex holsters made for the TLR-1. There definitely are plenty of aftermarket options made specifically for the Olight PL2 models, but not to the extent that the TLR-1 is supported by just about every manufacturer.
Really Focused Beam More Suitable for Outdoors
As far as flashlight performance goes, the OLight PL2 Valkyrie Turbo definitely does have higher candella than the TLR-1 HL I own. Honestly almost blindingly so at close ranges. But its important to note, while it has more powerful throw, it has overall less powerful lumens. The TLR-1 HL has a wider range, more like a flood light, and it is more evenly dispersed. The PL2 achieves its high candella by having an extremely focused beam. Which one is more practical? For me the TLR-1 HL is, because within home defense contexts a wider, bright light is more important than a powerful, extremely focused light. That isn’t to say the OLight is bad, the TLR-1 just makes more sense for my use case. If you are defending a property with a lot more real estate, the more powerful throw of the OLight may make more sense for you.
Disclaimer: Haven’t Owned Long Enough to Comment on Durability
As far as reliability goes, I’ve owned the TLR-1 a lot longer. So that for me is proven. The Olight I don’t have a lot of range time on. I’ll pin a comment on this video if the OLight stops working on me in the future.
Controls and Ease of Usage are Better on TLR-1
Lastly I much prefer the controls on the TLR-1 versus the Olight. The lever activation of the TLR-1 is more intuititive to me. To get the strobe to engage on the Olight, you have to push both buttons at the same time on opposite sides of the pistol. This is harder than just flicking the lever twice. To engage the Olight, it is difficult to do without taking your support hand off the weapon, which is annoying if you’re using the whitelight sporadically in a home defense situation. You would have to train a bit more with the Olight, the TLR1 activation is stupid simple. This is the number 1 reason why I prefer the streamlight TLR-1 HL over the OLight design.
Does it Kill the TLR1? No. Do I like the Olight? Yes.
So do I like the OLight PL2 Vakyrie Turbo? Yes, I like it a lot. However, it suits a different need than what the TLR1 Serves, as the TLR-1 is better for the types of scenarios I’m most likely to face, that is, home defense within 20 yards. The Olight is still a great light and can serve the same roll, but its more targeted focused beam is probably more suitable for outdoor contexts.
Olight PL Turbo Weaponlight
The Olight PL Turbo is really powerful and has some great features for the price. It makes a great light for a backup gun. However, I don’t think this replaces the TLR-1 for your primary home defense or EDC pistol.
Then couple that with the few anecdotal cases of users reporting quality control issues with Olight, I would say proceed with caution. However, my personal experience has been very positive and I’ll continue to keep the Olight, although the Streamlight TLR-1 will continue to be my go to for the majority of my pistols.
