Contents

• Pricing & Availability
• What comes in the box?
• Design & Construction
• Stretch
• Size & Measurements
• User Interface & Switches
• Emitter & Beam
• Mode Chart
• Runtime
• Driver & Regulation
• Carry & Ergonomics
• Batteries & Charging
• Competition
• Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Olight sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here are links to their website and the official product page to view current pricing and color options. At the time of writing, MSRP is $120 and it’s on sale for $95 if you log in. Those affiliate links let them know I sent you, but I’ve chosen not to earn any commission. Code “tgreviews” is 10% off most items in the store.

Much of this review is going to be a comparison with BLF LT1. It’s a popular choice for the other enthusiasts that read my reviews and it’s been my favorite lantern for several years.

What comes in the box?

The box is made of white cardboard with high-quality printing all over. Inside is:

• The lantern itself
• User manual
• USB C-to-C charging cable

Design & Construction

This model has a classic camping lantern design, completely different from enthusiast lanterns like the BLF LT1. It’s made of plastic and stamped steel with a brushed copper finish. I think it looks fantastic. I love the detail of the cage around the “bulb” and the three filament-looking LEDs inside.

It feels well made, but it’s not rugged like BLF LT1 and some of the competition. It will work great for use around the house or casual camping, but it would be a poor choice for backpacking or work environments.

Stretch

Right in the middle of Olantern Stretch is a telescoping mechanism. It’s robust and stable with most of the weight down in the base. There’s even a detent when you collapse it so you can carry it by the bail without it extending by accident.

I love this feature. It gives it so much more reach across the ground or a table without creating glare. Since I got this sample for review, I’ve used it in this extended mode almost every day for changing diapers, lighting my workbench, lighting my nightstand, and even lighting a table at a Texas Flashlight Club meeting. The shade and stretch mechanism make it dramatically more useful for me than my BLF LT1.

Size & Measurements

Maglite 2D | Sofirn SP60 | Olantern Stretch | Sofirn/BLF LT1 | Olight Warrior 3S

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Shade Diameter	124 (4.9″)
Base Diameter	111 (4.4″)
Height (collapsed)	222 (8.8″)
Height (extended)	~400 (~16″)
Weight	1kg (1006g)

User Interface & Switches

This UI is just about perfect. It’s dead simple and intuitive. Anyone can pick up this lantern and immediately understand how it works without any instruction. To me, it’s vastly better than a complex single-button UI like Anduril, at least for a lantern.

The only thing I’d change is to get rid of the smooth-adjustment timer/delay. Adjusting brightness takes 2-3 seconds to slowly and smoothly change to the new brightness setting.

There’s a prominent rotary knob on the front of the lantern for brightness control. When you start to turn it clockwise, it will “click” on and then increase in brightness as you turn. Turning counterclockwise will lower the brightness and eventually click it off.

Below the knob is a toggle switch. It lets you choose between warm light and white light. If you switch it while the light is on, it will briefly turn off and then slowly ramp up the brightness in the color you selected.

Emitter & Beam

There are two banks of LEDs. The “warm” LED bank consists of three diodes that look like incandescent filaments and eight SMD diodes in the top that shine down. The “white” bank consists of 28 diodes inside a frosted ring. This is a fantastic emitter setup that provides the classic old-school aesthetic of incandescent bulbs and also a bright, diffused, white light.

The “warm” mode has some shadows from all the non-diffused LEDs and steel cage. They appear dramatic in the above photo, but I don’t find the shadows problematic or distracting during use. The “white” beam is nicely diffused and even.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed. The bench is 10 meters away and the back fence is 11 meters away.

Here are some indoor shots too. Camera settings are fixed.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: I did not do any lumen or candela measurements for this review. I don’t have the equipment to do lumen measurements on a lantern, and candela measurements would not be useful. All brightness figures are based on the advertised brightness figures from Olight. Runtime tests were performed using the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone.

Above are the official specs, followed by my own measurements below.

Level	Lumens (Advertised)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Warm High	130	91	2000	0.0011
Warm Low	10	92	1990	-0.0007
White High	500	87	3600	-0.0048
White Low	130	87	3580	-0.0056

Runtime & Regulation

Performance is solid. Nearly 24hrs of runtime on the highest Warm brightness and over 12hrs at ~350lm on White. I’m surprised to see a brightness stepdown at ~5 minutes because I never noticed it getting hot.

Brightness/Voltage regulation is excellent. Output is extremely stable throughout the entire runtime.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): It will shut off when the batteries are effectively empty. It can be reactivated in an emergency.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears. I also tested for PWM with my Opple and found none on either channel at the dimmest, brightest, or medium-ish settings.

Parasitic Drain: I can’t measure parasitic drain because the batteries aren’t user accessible.

Carry & Ergonomics

It’s very comfortable to carry and use for illumination while walking. The bail is wide with a plastic grip section. The shade on top also does a fantastic job of keeping the light out of my eyes. This is worlds better than my BLF LT1 for this use case.

A notably missing feature is a tripod mount. There’s even a hole in the bottom already, but it’s not threaded.

Batteries & Charging

The battery is built-in and not user-serviceable. That sucks because you can’t swap in a new battery when it gets low and you can’t replace the battery when/if it wears out after a few years. I would have strongly preferred a user-serviceable battery solution here, even if it were just several of Olight’s proprietary 18650 or 21700 cells. It’s labeled as a 3.7V 16000mAh pack made of 21700 cells. I couldn’t find a way to disassemble the base even after I removed the screws under the rubber feet.

The non-user-serviceable batteries are a big issue. It’s not problematic enough to be a deal breaker for me, but I see no reason to use a built-in battery here other than planned obsolescence. I hope Olight allows the user to replace them on future versions, even if they have to install some kind of balance system between the cells.

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port on the bottom front of the lantern. It’s covered by a nice rubber port cover that should keep dirt and rain out. It supports USB-PD charging up to 18W.

It also functions as a powerbank with both a USB-C port and a USB-A port for output. Both ports support USB-PD output up to 18W. Both ports can be used simultaneously, but I don’t know if they can both supply 18W simultaneously. Pass-through charging works too so you can charge the lantern and another device off its USB-A port simultaneously.

Competition

Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.

Sofirn/BLF LT1: enthusiast alternative

• lower price
• smaller and more portable
• a bit brighter
• warm is not as warm, cool is cooler
• not comfortable to carry in your hand for illumination while walking
• one USB-C in/out, no USB-A
• four user-swappable 18650 batteries (3000mah included)
• single button
• Anduril 2 UI (feature-packed, but unintuitive compared to Olantern Stretch)

Streamlight Super Seige: duty alternative

• similar price
• much more rugged
• about 2x peak brightness
• diffuser is removable, can be hooked upside down
• storage compartment
• removable half-shade
• USB-A out
• Barrel jack in (not USB)
• Built-in 10,400mAh battery (smaller)

Fenix CL30R: compact alternative

• marginally less expensive
• dramatically smaller
• three user-serviceable 18650 batteries
• about half the battery capacity (with the included batteries)
• micro-USB in, USB-A out
• no shade
• tripod mount
• higher peak brightness
• single LED color

Astrolux CL03: out-of-left-field alternative

• pivoting light head (can point any direction, even forward like a flashlight)
• built-in optional shade
• built-in tripod with magnetic base
• telescoping mechanism (over 2x as tall)
• 1800-6500k adjustable color temp
• water-bottle-shaped
• power bank feature

This section is not comprehensive. If I didn’t include a particular light here, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or doesn’t deserve to be here. I simply cannot list every possible competitor.

Conclusion

I hadn’t given the Olantern series much though before I got this sample. It seemed like a cheap gimmick that could never live up to the greatness of the BLF LT1. Boy, was I wrong.

Olantern Stretch is phenomenal. The UI is intuitive with no multiple-click nonsense. It looks fantastic. The “beam shape” is excellent thanks to the downward-facing LEDs and shade. The color properties are perfect. The charging/powerbank solution is ideal. Runtime is superb. Brightness is great. My only complaint is the non-user-serviceable batteries. It’s just so pleasant to use around the house and day-to-day, especially compared to a BLF LT1, which sometimes feels a little clunky.

This light is perfect for my own lantern needs. I like it so much that I sold my BLF LT1 before I even finished this review. If you’re in the market for a rechargeable lantern for casual camping and around-the-house duty, look no further!

Thanks to Olight for sending me this light for review!