I got this notice in my email inbox yesterday.
https://www.olightstore.com/article....4-d879a9c5098e
I got this notice in my email inbox yesterday.
https://www.olightstore.com/article....4-d879a9c5098e
If memory serves, that model was cursed from the get-go. They would just stop working almost right out of the box. I hate that so many gun community "influencers" pimp Olight. Don't see it with Nitecore or Fenix, maybe a bit with Surefire.
That said, I'm ok with people who don't want to spend $300 on a flashlight.
You can buy a perfectly capable Surefire G2X Tactical 600 lumen light for $70…
To be fair, any high performance light will get quite hot if turned on in a pocket. The problem is that (apparently) unlike others, an Olight has actually killed at least one user.
https://www.courthousenews.com/gruesome-death-2/
Presumably, headlines like that make for a conservative approach when other issues come up with the same brand.
(And yes I know about the X300 lawsuit, but that involved pulling a bang switch rather than a light switch.)
Last edited by Archer1440; 03-12-2022 at 09:29 AM.
From the link: "The Estate of the late Caleb Michael Joyner sued Olight Technology, Mica Electronics, both of China, for fraud and negligence, claiming Nuon brand lithium batteries in an Olight flashlight exploded while Joyner held it in his mouth fixing his car, killing him,"Originally Posted by Archer1440
Nuon sees to make both lithium primary (CR123) and lithium ion rechargeable (RCR123, 18650, etc) batteries.
The case ( http://drmemory.com/Olight/Lawsuit.pdf ) says:
"Mr. Joyner’s Olight flashlight was powered by two Nuon brand batteries manufactured and sold by Batteries Plus
...
Had the Nuon battery inside the Olight Flashlight used by Caleb Michael
Joyner not exploded, Caleb Michael Joyner would not have received fatal injuries and
would not have suffered a wrongful death."
So it doesn't look like this is a case of Olight supplying a defective battery. IANAL, and I skimmed the 50 odd pages saying what Olight supposedly did wrong, and didn't see any allegation that the particular flashlight in question was hazardous in some way that, say, a Surefire wouldn't have been if the same battery had exploded in a Surefire.
Maybe more details came out at the trial? But off the top it doesn't look like 'Olight has actually killed' is a fair summary of the case.
(Disclaimer, not an Olight fanboy, got one of the weaponlights when there was a thread here, wasn't really impressed.)
(Lithium ion batteries can fail spectacularly ... if I can get the performance I want with NiMH, I prefer that. When I avoid off-brand lithium ions)
ooops ... should read "if I can get the performance I want with NiMH, I prefer that. When I +++ can't I +++ avoid off-brand lithium ions
True. You can also buy a Fenix TK16 v2.0 3100 lumen light for just a little bit more. Lots of options out there.
I agree with your comment, and I should have phrased that differently.
I hated the same so much that I bought two weaponlights and beat the tar out of them to see for myself. My mechanic and I even played softball with one and the butt of a large flathead screwdriver. He's owned that light for a year after I gave it to him and it is on his current car lockbox gun. The other is on my bedside PCC which has since been through a carbine class and couple outlaw 3 Gun matches. A third was susequently purchased and sits in my safe next to a couple Streamlight TLR-1 lights to go on whatever won't fit the bigger lights.
The business practices suck and I hope to see an influencer choke on a livestream during one of those undisclosed native advertisements but I can't complain about the product itself.
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