If i had to pick a favorite flashlight of mine, it would be a tough decision…both would be olights but one would be a bigger light, possibly a bit too large for EDC in a pocket, and the other would be something more the size of the S2R Baton. Until 2 weeks ago, the big light choice would be the M2R Warrior, but that light has been dethroned in every way with the newest Warrior 3 from olight.
Improving on nearly every part of the fantastic M2R Warrior Pro, the Warrior 3 adds some unique features like a battery meter, a more aggressive front strike bezel, and in the instance of the light Olight sent me for this review – the COOLEST paint scheme of any flashlight I have ever seen.
In The Box
anyways lets get into the meat and potatoes here…so the light comes in the standard olight packaging, which is better than most lights you’ll find in the stores these days. I tend to reuse the boxes for parts, and other EDC tools, which makes them quite convenient – they are the only flashlight boxes that do not find their way into the trash.
This light comes with a handy dandy belt pouch, which makes sense as if you were to carry this in your pocket – it would absolutely tear up your thigh with the aggressive bezel that comes on this light.
Similar to the M2R, this light has several different modes, but this light puts out 2200 lumens in Turbo mode, as opposed to 1800 of the former gen. The light does get quite a bit brighter in this version but also gets hot after a few minutes of use. The creative aluminum work on the body of the flashlight isn’t only for grip but also functions as a heatsink – and the ridges actually give the body more surface area, allowing for better heat displacement as the light is being used.
Areas for improvement
The light gets hot
This is a tough problem to solve with such a strong LED powering this puppy but still worth noting.
Touch battery level
Right now in order to get the light to display the LEDs on both sides of the side switch, you need to turn the light on – which somewhat defeats the purpose – in a next gen of this light id love to see just a soft press toggle the battery nad mode indicators so that you could easily check out the battery levels and output mode without toggling the light on.
With that being said, this light is currently my favorite and is helping me make quick work of all of this night time yard work I’ve been doing over the past few weeks.
Zach Belmont has been working in the outdoor apparel industry in one form or another for over 20 years. During his career, he has worked at some of the most well-known adventure brands including Patagonia and The North Face in marketing, operations and product development. Zach currently lives in Wyoming with his wife and 2 kids.
