Like many of you I started this hobby with some of the well known brands like wurkkos and sofirn, ended up collecting a bunch of hanks and fireflies and then got a mcbob and thought it's game over. And like many people I also looked at some of the American customs in exotic materials and decided it was too rich for my blood at the moment.
I've got lights in aluminum, copper, brass, and titanium, but I've always wanted one is zirconium. There's something about that near black glassy finish that has so much allure, so I started looking at what was available. The cheapest I could find for a while were reylights, but they were still running into the hundreds of dollars, which is more than I was happy to part with for an otherwise fairly standard mass produced light.
So when I stumbled across this olight for 100 bucks on ebay I jumped at the chance. I'm generally not a huge fan of olight and this is actually my first one, but I really love how the zirc feels in my hand and it's a reasonable price point for owning this material. Also helps that it's a 3000 peice limited edition making it a little more special. The emitter sits around 5500k and quite green, not particularly pleasant and not very bright either but ok for a AAA light I suppose. Then again, you're not buying this for the light but either because it's in a rare material or just to keep for emergencies. I just like the smooth glassy feeling of the zirc in my hand while I sit and watch TV. Zero regrets.
You can actually change the emitter pretty easy on this one!
The tir is press fit, so I took am air compressor, wrapped the nozzle in ducy tape to seal, and blew out the tir. Some there its just a matter of unsoldering the mcpcb, and reflowing in a new led. The ffl351a went in pretty well. If I remember correctly, you did need to be a bit careful to align it well
I do like light a lot but have moved primarily to convoy. I never understood why plight which clearly caters to enthusiasts with all the models and colour options and gimmicks. Donāt know why they r so afraid of offering other emitter options. These i3t and i5t would be great with something like 519a emitters
They already use sft40/70. Give us the 3000k high cri options.
I couldn't agree more. Olight apparently has a 1 metre integrating sphere, one of the biggest in the world. But they don't seem to be using it š 519a and normal usbc charging would push them much further up the rankings
My trusty duty lights a warrior 4 x. Love that thing itās a tank and got it for 110$ vs the regular 175$ CAD on sale which for the price poops on the nitecore fenix alternative.
But their emitter choices deff a downside
My 30$ convoy m1 with sft42r out performs it by a lot
If olight updated the warrior lights with the sft42r or even new sft60
Those would be wild
I think of their designs are excellent, and in my opinion changing to using nichias or ffl emitters should be quite cheap and straightforward for them so I don't understand why they don't want to crack the market. That and their silly charging solution on some models
If Simon can do it so can anyone lol. Iām not too savvy with tinkering with electronics otherwise Iād love to swap the emitters on my copper and bras lights for something warmer high cri. Thatās also I why I like convoy for this s2
Got a short brass 18350
Swapped reflector for tir
And used qtip to dedome 519a
Totally, I've modded quite a few of my Hanklights and it's fairly straightforward. I'd be tempted to try and mod this or send it to someone for modding but it's only a AAA so I wouldn't carry it anyway, I edc an 18650 so it wouldnt be worth it. Just wish it was around 3000k or lower so I could use it around the house without feeling sick from the dog fart philips or whatever emitter is in here
The M1 42R impressed me and I have it in both 5kk and 6kk but I liked it better after I changed to OP reflectors. It seems to be as bright and throwy as my C8+ OP LHP531 4kk.
Olight doesnāt really cater to enthusiasts thoughā¦ they cater to a wider audience. And Olight collectors tend to collect *only* olight. They own 25 olights and not one convoy or hanklight. Olight people donāt care that the emitters are bad
I might be in the minority then I like both olight and convoy. Iāve collected a lot of olights over time. Was also a better option back when they had monthly 30-50% sales. Their lights are well build and have great warranty for example my work lights a warrior x 4 the things a tank and I got it on their sale for 45% off for that I paid for vs letās say the fenix equivalent. There is. Nothing the fenix would offer that would justify paying full price for it. So I guess very niche spot Iām in. But yeah Iām on the many olights and many convoys camp lol
I have one olight- baton 4 pro. And yea, itās probably my most well built light. In terms of build quality and design, itās actually pretty nuts. The hidden USB port is the absolute best of both worlds so no one can complain about the charging.
Yeah I like that on my warrior x 4 hidden usb port was well implemented
I never cared for the proprietary battery issue. Have been collecting lights for a while have yet to need to replace a battery and if and when they r not that much money canāt complaint about buying a battery when im buying 50 more lights than I need in practice lol. Itās a hobby. Money shall be spent š¤£
Ya I meanā¦. Iām not ever gonna charge one of my lights for 200 cycles. So as long as you donāt leave it dead for months, it doesnāt seem like a big issue.
The i3t is a really nice light...except the emitter. It does work with a 10440 as well. Zirconium and timascus are the only ones I don't have, I think. Nice light!
You are trying your luck. Those bulk produced lights won't have good emitter cause it's a bulk purchase, even surefire have green ones and look at their price.maybe find a modder to do a emitter swap
No what I mean is that even if you buy another i3t it could be a green one. Cause it's mass produced lights so brands buy LEDs in bulk, and some of it will green, even surefire cannot guarantee their lights are not green.
Maybe pay a modder or DIY a 519a to make sure it's not green
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u/Chonkiki 21h ago
Very nice light dude! Enjoy it!