This is the perfect item for a midi-review. And yes, I know I said I would review the briefcase, but this is more fun.

I have had a hate-hate more relationship with oLight products. I think I am the only person in the Gear Community that has this opinion, but oLight stuff is pretty terrible with squashy optics, proprietary batteries, and pukey tints. But they are cheap-ish, bright, and compact, so lots and lots of people love them. I have reviewed multiple Batons, the Arkfeld. They were all underwhelming. But like Al Pacino in Godfather 3, every time I think I am out, they keep pulling me back in. This time it was an upgraded optic. In the past I have been pretty charmed by turbo optics, like the Mini Turbo Mk3 and the Surefire EDC DFT. That makes me hopeful that THIS time oLight sings the siren’s song.

Here is the product page. Here is a written review. Here is a video review. Here is a purchase link. There are a few color variations, with a black and green model in addition to the Gulf colorway I got. Here is the review sample:

TLDR: Finally, a competent light from oLight—competent but not perfect.

The Turbo Baton is a vastly better light than the Baton 4. It is a better light than the Arkfeld. In fact, it is a pretty good light in general. The emitter is okay (let’s not go crazy—this is still an oLight with their bargain bin, purchased-in-bulk junk emitters), but some of the light’s other features are really good. The reflector here is a large, smooth dish-style (as opposed to TIR-style) reflector. The result is a clean, well-collimated, and tight beam that can hit objects a thousand feet away with ease. Its not just good for an oLight, it is actually good. I still think it is below the Surefire, but it is better than my go to—the 47s Mini Turbo. Now that light is substantially smaller than this one so the size versus throw tradeoff is something that makes both valid choices. The reflector is good enough that even on low mode, it still performs quite well. But there is more that makes me really like this light.

Around the side mounted e-switch is a ring with four LEDs on either side. The left side (when looking down with the head pointed away from you) shows the output mode, while the right side shows the battery charge that is left. This is a great set up and is very, very easy to use. It strikes a nice balance between traditional “blind torches” that tell you nothing and the crazy complex ones found on some of the new flat bodied lights like the Nitecore Tini 3 (which will be in for review soon). The oLight system is informative without being distracting. Finally there is the size. This is a bigger light—taller than the aforementioned Mini Turbo, but it is not huge. It is half the size of the Surefire EDC-1 DFT, another 1xCR123a light with a throw head. As a compromise between those two sizes, I like the Turbo Baton.

But this still an oLight, so there are problems. First, let’s address the elephant in the room—proprietary batteries. Over the years, oLight has slowly morphed into a series of closed flashlight “systems” and the Baton/Warrior/Perun system has batteries that just don’t work. You can’t charge them on anything other than oLight systems. And, worse yet, regular batteries don’t work in the oLight without a sleeve adapter that you will instantly lose the minute you open the package. Here is what I don’t understand—why would you bother making a removeable battery if it is this limited? I am still not convinced of the utility of non-removeable batteries, but if are going to make them removeable at least make them replaceable and swappable. This is the worst of both worlds—more limited capacity AND no ability to buy and off-the-shelf option in a pinch. oLight, its time to drop this system. If you want to see how these closed systems work in consumer electronics take a look at the Minidisc, the DAT, the DCC, Betamax, Laserdisc, HD-DVD, SuperCD, or any of another dozen failed “closed” product systems. That is by far the biggest drawback of the Turbo Baton.

But there are others. While the beam shape is beautiful and the throw is great, the tint is, well, par for the oLight course, which is to say barforama. I don’t need everything to be a perfect HiCRI rosy tint mini suns, but oLight could pretty easily upgrade. The Nichia 219b is old, but it would be a huge improvement. Of course, Batons aren’t the most enthusiast driven lights—they are the Spyderco Delica of the flashlight world (interestingly the Delica comes in lots of high end steels). And these emitters are definitely the VG10 of emitters (VG10, long time readers will remember, is a steel I hate). The other things I dislike. I think pretty much every light needs light escapes (sublte crenellations around the bezel). I’d also like to see RGB secondary emitters as locaters (the Lumintop Tool AA v3 spoiled me). Finally, I think the tail-mounted magnet thing has run its course. It can snap to keys and knives making extraction a pain in the butt.

The thing that kills me is that all of these improvements make the Turbo Baton basically a poorly tinted, better throwing 1xAA Zebralight with a gimmicky magnetic tail. So yes, it is better, and yes I love the info ring (BTW, the battery indicator is backwards—oLight, please do better), but this is not the best light in the world. It is the best oLight for EDC, but there is always a smartest Kardashian (even if she has failed to pass the Bar and failed some made up thing just for her called the “Baby Bar” three times).

Score: 17 out of 20 (1 off Design for proprietary batteries, 1 off of Carry for the combination of a bulkier than average head AND a magnetic tailcap, and 1 off of Beam Quality for blah tints)

The Turbo Baton is the best EDC made by oLight and while that is kind of damning it with faint praise, the reality is this is a very good flashlight with innovative features and real, meaningful throw.

Competition

I normally skip the comps for midi-reviews, but they are really relevant here. First, there are the throw comps. Personally there are very few instances other than night hikes or walks where this much throw is useful for an average person. If throw matters but size matters more, I’d opt for the 47s Mini Turbo Mk. 3, which is still the best light in its size class. But if throw REALLY matters and you told want to carry a metal tube the size of a baguette in your pants, go for the Surefire EDC-1 DFT. It is a genuinely good throw light. If you want all around goodness in a side switch format, I think Zebralight does it better than oLight as they offer all of the features with none of the drawbacks. The SC65 is the actually almost identical in length but smaller around. Whatever the latest 1XAA is smaller in all dimensions. Neither have the throw of the oLight, but they are still pretty good in that respect with much better tints and swappable batteries. This might sound like a bunch of negative comps, but in reality, they prove how good this light really is. If it is good enough to hang with the Mini Turbo, the EDC-1, and the SC65 and not look TERRIBLE, its doing pretty darn good.

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