Olight Warrior Ultra Review – Warrior 3S+

1. Pricing & Availability
2. What comes in the box?
3. Design & Construction
4. Size & Measurements
5. User Interface
6. Emitter & Beam
7. Proximity Sensor
8. Mode Chart
9. Runtime
10. Driver & Regulation
11. Batteries & Charging
12. Switch
13. Carry & Ergonomics
14. Competition
15. Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Olight sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. MSRP is $140 USD but at the time of writing.

What comes in the box?

The box is premium and made of black cardboard, just like Arkfeld Ultra’s box. Inside is:

• The light itself
• Battery (inside the light)
• User manual & safety booklet
• Magnetic USB charging cable (MCC 1-2A)
• Belt holster

Design & Construction

The design is similar to Olight’s existing Warrior 3S model, but all the machining is a bit fancier and it’s finished in the champagne OAL color. It’s also available in navy blue and all black.

Build quality is excellent. It feels dense and high quality in a way you can’t get from budget lights.

Size & Measurements

Nitecore MT2C Pro | Surefire G2X Pro | Olight Warrior Ultra | Olight Warrior 3S | Mini Maglite

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	26.6
Maximum Head Diameter	32.1
Length	139.9
LED Footprint	5050
Body Tube Diameter	25.6
Pocket Clip Slot Width	4.5
Pocket Clip Slot Diameter	24.3
Tailcap Diameter	26.6
Tailcap Length	29.7
Included Battery Length	75.0
Weight with included battery (g)	180

User Interface

This is an excellent UI that offers all the utility and tactical features you need.

Basic side switch UI Checklist: 9.5/12

• 1C on/off✅
• 1H to change brightness✅
• Stepped levels✅
• Main rotation is Low-Med-High✅
• Moonlight shortcut: 1H from off✅
• Low shortcut: 1H from Moonlight✅
• Turbo shortcut: 2C from anywhere✅
• Strobe shortcut: 3C from anywhere✅
• Mode memory for Low, Medium, and High✅/❌
  • High mode is only memorized for about a minute. If you turn off High mode and wait more than a minute, it will turn on in Medium the next time. This is weird, and probably really frustrating for people who like to keep High mode memorized. Half point.
• No mode memory for Moonlight, Turbo, and Strobe❌
  • Moonlight is Memorized. Fortunately Turbo is not memorized, unlike many other Olight models which memorize Turbo as High mode. I wanted to point out that improvement even though it fails this checkpoint.
• 4C to lock/unlock❌
  • A long hold enters/exits lockout, which is slow and can easily be done by accident in a pocket or bag. There is no mechanical lockout option on this light either.
• Does something when you click the switch in Lockout mode✅

Tailswitch UI:

• Two mode groups: Medium/Turbo or Turbo/Strobe. Hold the tailswitch and click the side switch to toggle between the groups.

• Med/Turbo group: Quick press for constant on. Long hold for momentary on, release to turn off. Half-press does medium. Full-press does Turbo.
• Turbo/Strobe group: Half-press for momentary Turbo. Full press for momentary Strobe.

Notes:

• The tailswitch is just fantastic. Instant access to Medium or Turbo, momentary or constant. It’s quick and reliable and just works so well. It also has a Turbo/Strobe group for duty/tactical use.
• I wish the side switch UI contained the 3 and 9 minute timers like Olight’s Baton and Arkfeld series’.

Emitter & Beam

Warrior Ultra uses a Luminus SFT70 6500K LED (it’s actually specified in the manual, which is the first time Olight has specified and LED in recent memory). That’s the same LED that Warrior 3S uses, and it provides great brightness, throw, and efficiency. I think it’s a great fit for this model. A few enthusiasts have swapped high-CRI XHP50.3-HI LEDs into their Warrior 3S’s and I imagine swapping this Warrior Ultra would be a similar process. The bezel unscrews easily by hand but the optic didn’t want to come out without tools, so I didn’t force it.

The beam is just great. It’s got a well defined hotspot that’s small enough to be pointed, but not so small that it’s too intense close up. The spill fades out from the center to provide plenty of peripheral illumination without a harsh cutoff. I really like this beam.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are as similar as possible and the wall is 2.8M away.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed, the basketball goal to the right of the hotspot is 39M away, and the power pole in the center is 185M away.

Proximity Sensor

Warrior Ultra features a proximity sensor (the black cutout on the front) to prevent the light from burning stuff in a pocket or bag if it gets turned on by accident. It works in High & Turbo modes. If the light senses too much bounce back, it will lower the brightness to around Medium level. When the bounceback/obstruction goes away, it will step back up to High or Turbo mode.

It can be temporarily overridden by double clicking after it has stepped down, but that only lasts until the light is turned off and back on. There’s no setting to permanently disable it as far as I know. It gets in the way occasionally (like if I need to look through a window or charge up the lume on my watch), but not frequently.

Some other recent Olight models with this sensor have had a timing feature built in, where the sensor only works for the first few seconds after the light is turned on. If you turn it on when it’s already up against something, the sensor will dim the light.  If you turn it on and then put the light up against something, the sensor won’t dim the light. I wish Warrior Ultra had that time feature too.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at turn-on. Lumen measurements were taken on a Texas Ace 3.5″ Lumen Tube. A candela measurement was taken at 10 meters with an Opple Light Master III on the highest brightness, and other candela figures were calculated relative to that. CRI, CCT, & DUV data were taken for each mode from a few feet away at the center of the hotspot with the Opple Light Master and Waveform DUV Calculator. Runtime tests were performed with the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone. These tests were performed with a fully charged included battery unless otherwise specified. I cannot measure moonlight directly, so moonlight readings are calculated based on the brightness relative to the next-lowest mode. None of this is professional equipment, so take these measurements with a grain of salt.

The official specs are above, followed by my own measurements below.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	2400	26000	320	67	6050	0.0051
High	730	7900	180	65	5740	0.0087
Medium	200	2200	93	64	5630	0.0101
Low	15	160	25	64	5890	0.0108
Moonlight	0.7	07	05	64	5620	0.0116

Runtime

Performance is good. Sustained output around 700lm is a little lower than competing lights, but this model stays cooler than others so you can actually hold it. Total runtime is excellent thanks to the efficient LED, driver, and large battery. I like how flat the runtimes are overall.

Thermal regulation: My Turbo and Turbo Cooled tests are virtually identical, so there’s no active thermal regulation here, just timed stepdowns. That means performance will be consistent, but not optimized for ambient temperature.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection) is not present. It relies on the battery’s built-in protection circuit to cut power when the battery is empty. That means you can’t re-activate the light in an emergency unless you connect it to a charger first.

Driver & Regulation

The driver must be a boost circuit because it’s driving a 6/12V LED from a single ~3.6V battery. Boost drivers typically provide great efficiency and regulation… typically.

Regulation performance is below average, but better than Warrior 3S. Warrior Ultra loses Turbo mode around ~40% charge. Usually I like to see that last until ~25%. It loses High mode below ~20% charge.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or nor audible to my ears. My phone camera showed flickering on all modes except Turbo though.

Parasitic Drain: I can’t measure parasitic drain in this model because of the proprietary battery.

Batteries & Charging

The battery included is an Olight-branded proprietary 21700 cell. It’s the same one they’ve been using for a few years now, so when it eventually wears out you won’t have any trouble finding a replacement. It’s unfortunate that it’s proprietary, but it helps keep the light (relatively) small. You cannot use standard 21700 cells in this light.

Charging is facilitated by Olight’s proprietary magnetic charging system. It’s great if you’re someone who wants to recharge their light in the same place every night, but a hassle if you travel and have to bring one more cable with you everywhere. An additional USB-C port would have been an “Ultra” improvement, like on Warrior X 4 or Javelot Turbo 2, which have magnetic and USB-C charging. The light is fully functional while charging and charging takes around 3.5hrs.

The battery indicator is a series of four lights on the right side of the switch. There are a matching set of four brightness level indicators on the left side, which is fun. I like four LED indicators like this because they’re intuitive and glanceable.

Unfortunately, this “Ultra” indicator is actively worse than the Warrior 3S indicator. It’s an irregular shape and much dimmer so it’s hard to see unless it’s dark. I wish Olight would stop using this “micro perforation technology” for indicators and go back to the bright circles like Warrior 3S has.

Switch

Warrior Ultra has a side switch for utility tasks and a tailswitch for duty/tactical tasks.

The side switch is a flat metal button with “Ultra” engraved in fancy script. It doesn’t really fit a light called “Warrior”. Aside from the odd aesthetic choice, the switch works well and I don’t think it’s likely to be clicked by accident.

The tailswitch is 2-stage and can be customized to activate Medium and Turbo, or Turbo and Strobe. In the Med/Turbo group, a quick press is constant-on and a long press is momentary-on until you release. It works very well and may be this light’s best feature. In the Turbo/Strobe group, it’s momentary only.

Notably, this is not the latest mostly-flat tailswitch design Olight has used since Warrior Mini 3, but is a textured version of their older Warrior 3S-style tailswitch. There’s a distinct wall between the first and second stage, so you won’t accidentally hit Turbo when you meant to use Medium, or use Strobe when you meant to use Turbo.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are excellent. It fits great in a forward, reverse, or cigar grip. The special OAL anodizing is grippy and the body tube has plenty of texturing. My thumb naturally lands on the switches in any grip, and the pocket clip helps with orientation in the dark.

A belt holster is included. It’s made of light tan colors nylon. There are two belt loops: one fixed and one Velcro-opening. The latch is pretty tight, to the point that it’s difficult to close. It may not be possible to holster it one-handed. Opening the latch is super easy, just push on it and it pops open.

Magnet: The tailcap has a magnet to facilitate charging, but it can also hold the light up on a horizontal surface. It’s not strong enough to hold on a vertical surface.

Competition

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

Olight Warrior 3S: the same light, just a bit less expensive

• marginally lower price
• identical performance except for worse regulation
• virtually identical size, shape, and layout
• identical UI with very similar switches
• less-grippy texturing and finish (won’t tear up pockets, I know because I carried mine for 9 months)
• better battery indicators
• various color options, but no OAL

Fenix PD36R Pro: non-proprietary alternative

• marginally lower price
• similar size and layout
• same LED
• slightly brighter with a bit more throw
• dual tail switches, no side switch
• USB-C charging port
• no magnet in the tailcap
• less aggressive body texturing

Wurkkos TD04: budget alternative

• dramatically lower price (about 1/4)
• more brightness and throw
• CREE XHP50D-HI LED
• USB-C rechargeable
• Traditional dual switch UI (tail on/off, side changes mode)

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

The build quality, beam, brightness, throw, UI, switches, and ergonomics are all excellent. The regulation is sub-par but better than Warrior 3S. The proprietary battery and polarizing as always. The battery indicators are worse than Warrior 3S, and the price tag is higher too. The machining and anodizing are grippier than Warrior 3S, so the clip landing on the body tube is likely to wear a hole in your pocket.

Overall it’s a pretty good light, just like Warrior 3S. To me, this feels like another color options for the Warrior 3S, maybe a “Warrior 3S+” or a “Warrior 3S OAL”, not a separate model like “Warrior Ultra” would suggest. Personally, I’d rather have a Warrior 3S for the less-aggressive texturing/anodizing that doesn’t wear on my pocket, and its better battery indicators and lower price tag would be bonuses.

Thanks to Olight for sending me this light for review!