OLight Odin – Affordable Tactical Weapon Mounted Light with 2000 Lumens

Feed from AmmoLand
Forum Information
You will earn 1.5 pts. per new post (reply) in this forum.

**Registered members may reply to any topic in this forum**
User avatar

Topic Author
NHGF [Feed]

FeedBot
Posts: 17274
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 5:16 pm
Contact:
Status: Offline

Posting Badges

#1

Post by NHGF [Feed] » Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:56 pm

ImageOLIght Odin mounted on Radical Firearms 458 SOCOMU.S.A.-(AmmoLand.com)- OLight has a new tactical flashlight out called the Odin that throws an impressive 2000 Lumens as far as 300 meters. They sent us one to test and evaluate and we mounted it on a homebuilt AR. The Rifle This was a special kind of build. The lower receiver is a billet Battle Born lower made about 10 years ago by US Firearms Academy in Reno, Nevada, and is one of my favorite lowers to build a rifle on. The lower receiver parts kit was sourced from different manufacturers as LPKs were extremely difficult as I literally took possession of the lower on December 11, 2012; the day before the tragic events of Sandy Hook, and LPKs were gone from everywhere. There is nothing like building a lower in the midst of a full-blown panic! I started with leftover parts I had in my parts boxes from builds gone by. The hardest part was sourcing a trigger. I originally found one from Brownells as individual components but found a better one at Rise Armament. For a pistol grip, I added a Hogue version and the stock was a MAGPUL UBR. Originally the rifle sported a 5.56 upper receiver similar to my go-to AR that I used for carbine classes, etc. This was going to be my backup gun in case my primary rifle broke down or became inoperable during a class. Eventually, the rifle took up space at the back of my safe and eventually the upper made its way to another build and the lonely lower sat. After trying 458 SOCOM and writing a number of reviews, I decided I would eventually use this lower for a 458 SOCOM build and obtained an upper receiver from Radical Firearms. The rifle proved to be a winner and I decided I was going to have it Cerakoted. I reached out to my good friend Russ Bacon at Nevada Cerakote and told him that I wanted to do a Mandalorian type paint job. Russ likes Star Wars as much as I do, so I gave him those instructions and let his artistic creativity do the rest. I was not disappointed. ImageBeskar Build in 458 SOCOMFrom the Beskar look on the receiver to actual Mandalorian script reading “Weapons are part of my religion” to Mandalorian crests and insignias on the EO Tech sight. Nevada Cerakote really set off this rifle to stand out in my collection. This is the Way! For more info on the rifle itself, check out the build story here. O-Light Odin If there are two aftermarket accessories that every AR needs; they are a sling and a flashlight. For the light, I decided on the OLight Odin. ImageOLIGHT OdinI had never used an OLight weapon light before but was familiar with their handheld lights. About a decade ago I actually rewrote the copy for their website when a new management team took over as the prose on the site was written via a very poor translation program. Ironically in all that time, the company never sent me a light to test; although I imagine the management team has changed over a few times. The packaging this light is sent in resembles something more akin to an Apple product as opposed to a tactical one. It is nice and robust and will allow storage of the additional pieces that come with the OLight Odin. While unboxing the light I was wondering if there were batteries included. It turns out that this is a rechargeable light via USB. The OLight Odin is powered by a single customized 5000mAh 21700 rechargeable lithium battery. ImageOLIght Odin mounted on Radical Firearms 458 SOCOMThe OLight Odin comes in a dual locking mount that attaches to a Picatinny rail. The light is easily removed from this mount in order to charge it up or use it as a powerful handheld light. The tape switch comes with a rail mounting bracket or can be attached to the rifle by other means if necessary like with 3M double-sided tape. ImageOLIght Odin mounted on Radical Firearms 458 SOCOMAccording to OLight the Odin is capable of 2,000 lumens for approximately 2 minutes. After 2 minutes it drops to 1,000 lumens, then to 760 lumens, and finally to 300 lumens. The battery has a 7-8 hour runtime and seems to hold a charge well without parasitic drag on the battery. Part of the reason I chose to mount the OLight Odin on a 458 SOCOM was to see how the light would stand up to recoil. Being that ammunition is a bit hard to find and a bit spendy when you do find it; I thought 100 rounds of 458 SOCOM would be similar to 1000 rounds of 5.56. I fired 20 rounds with the light activated and the step-down from 2000 Lumens to 1000 on the light threw me for a second. I fired 10 with the light off and turned it on again with no issues. At the end of my 100 round test the light was functioning as it was out of the box. ImageOLIght Odin mounted on Radical Firearms 458 SOCOMFinal Thoughts I found the OLight Odin to be a tremendous value. I was not too happy with the stepdown on the light performance of dropping its Lumens and wish there was a way to run it somewhere in the middle range for a longer period of time. Some people may be put off by the 300 Lumens it ultimately drops to, but I have successfully run lowlight courses using that level successfully in the past. ImageThe tape switch can be attached to any flat surface with 3M double-sided tape if you don't run MLOK or PicatinnyThis is a well-made, low-cost tactical weapon light with some pretty cool features. An MLOK mount might be a nice factory addition instead of Picatinny, but in keeping the price point below $200, that might be a bit much. Currently, OLight is running a sale on these for much less than the $200 MSRP. You can check it out here. About Mike Searson: Mike Searson’s career as a shooter began as a Marine Rifleman at age 17. He has worked in the firearms industry his entire adult life as a Gunsmith, Ballistician, Consultant, Salesman, Author and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1989. Mike has written over 2000 articles for a number of magazines, websites, and newsletters including Blade, RECOIL, OFF-GRID, Tactical Officer, SWAT, Tactical World, Gun Digest, Examiner.com and the US Concealed Carry Association as well as AmmoLand Shooting Sports News. Image