Olight ArkPro Ultra Review – New Top Of The Line

1. Pricing & Availability
2. What comes in the box?
3. Design & Construction
4. Size & Measurements
5. User Interface
6. Emitter & Beam
7. Mode Chart
8. Runtime
9. Driver & Regulation
10. Batteries & Charging
11. Switches & Indicators
12. Carry & Ergonomics
13. Competition
14. 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. That’s a tracked link so they know I sent you, but I’ve chosen not to earn any affiliate commission. At the time of writing, MSRP is $130 USD.

What comes in the box?

ArkPro Ultra comes in a very nice, thick box. It’s got a textured finish on the outside and the top slides off to open it. Inside is:

• The light itself
• Paperwork
• Magnetic USB charging cable

Design & Construction

ArkPro Ultra has similar lines to the standard ArkPro, plus a few more facets, and the same materials and coloring as the outgoing Arkfeld Ultra. It’s made of Olight’s proprietary O-Aluminum (OAL) that they claim to be even better than grades typically used for flashlights.

Build quality is excellent. It feels robust in the hand, like you could toss it out of the car on a freeway and it would be fine. The OAL material & anodizing are supposed to be substantially more resistant to wear than the standard aluminum and anodizing used on other ArkPro models.

Size & Measurements

Olight Warrior 3S | Nitecore MT2C Pro | ArkPro Ultra | ArkPro Lite | Maglite 2AA

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Width	27.6
Thickness (not including clip)	16.5
Length	124.4
Weight with included battery (g)	121

User Interface

This is largely the same UI Olight has been using for years. It’s got some quirks, but is mostly industry-standard and well suited for daily use. I love the new separate-switch laser UI and the big rotary selector switch.

Basic E-switch UI Checklist (white light only): 9/12

• 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 doesn’t stay memorized. If you turn the light off in High mode, it will memorize High mode but only for a minute or two after you turn the light off. Then, mode memory will revert to Medium mode. That’s inconsistent, confusing, and inconvenient.
• No mode memory for Moonlight, Turbo, and Strobe❌
  • Moonlight is memorized, and Turbo is memorized as High mode. They shouldn’t be memorized because they each have their own dedicated shortcut for quick access. Ironically, the previous issue actually helps fix this Turbo memorizing issue, because mode memory reverts to Medium mode after 1 minute anyway.
• 4C or separate switch to lock/unlock❌
  • Lockout is a long hold. That’s too easy to do by accident, especially on a light with UV and laser and no mechanical lockout method.
• Does something when you click the switch in Lockout mode✅

Notes:

• You can’t activate throw and flood at the same time. Not that you need to. If you could, it wouldn’t be that much brighter and it would heat up even faster.
• UV UI: Click on/off. Always starts on low. Hold from on to get to High mode. I wish it remembered the last brightness level used.
• Timers: A click-release-click-hold will activate a 3-minute timer. A click-release-click-release-click-hold will activate a 9-minute timer. After the timer expires, the light will turn off.

Emitter & Beam

Olight declined to tell me which LEDs they’re using. I believe the spot LED is a Luminus SFT12, a great choice. They advertise this light has a “proprietary EIP 1 LED” that’s “self-developled” and I suspect that’s what’s producing the flood beam. Unfortunately, this “Ultra” version is not available in neutral white like the regular ArkPro is. It would be nice to have a high-CRI neutral-white option like a 519A for the flood LED.

The flood beam is nice and wide. It’s a bit square-ish but it’s not something you notice during use. The spot beam has a crisp, (relatively) narrow hotspot that I love. Its spill has two flat sides and a corner from the bezel so it’s not a perfect circle. I really dig the spot beam and wouldn’t really miss the flood beam if it weren’t present.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed and the wall is 2.8M away.

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

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	1500	2700	100	67	6240	0.0023
High	430	780	56	66	5970	0.0048
Medium	89	160	25	64	5800	0.0071
Low	12	22	9	64	5770	0.0074
Moonlight	1.2	2	3	65	5730	0.0073

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	800	12000	220	70	6770	0.0012
High	370	5600	150	67	6120	0.0057
Medium	94	1400	75	63	6100	0.0105
Low	12	180	27	65	5880	0.0096
Moonlight	1.2	17	8	64	5750	0.0110

Runtime

Performance is good and in line with most competitors. Sustained brightness is ~400lm for 2hrs on the flood channel. Turbo lasts ~2 minutes before a slow stepdown. The spot channel is a similar story, just not as bright. The only performance difference compared to a standard ArkPro is a 1-200lm brighter Turbo. However, I recalibrated my Lumen Tube since the ArkPro review, so I don’t know if that’s a real performance increase or just a calibration difference. Either way, it’s not a big difference.

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): The light will shut off when the battery is effectively empty, and it will give you plenty of warning by dropping in brightness and turning the battery indicator red. Unfortunately, after it shuts itself off, you can’t reactivate it without plugging it in to charge.

Driver & Regulation

The driver is different for each light source. The white lights use a buck driver, the UV uses a buck-boost driver, the laser uses a boost driver. That should provide great efficiency and regulation… ostensibly.

Regulation performance is poor, but normal for Olight and I think it’s by design to extend runtime. I believe they program their lights to make Turbo mode inaccessible below ~2/3 charge and I don’t like that. I’m OK with automatic stepdowns to conserve battery (as shown in the runtime graphs) but I want the ability to use a brighter mode if I think I need it.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears.

Parasitic Drain: I can’t measure because the battery is built in.

Batteries & Charging

The battery included is a built-in 2000mAh pouch cell. That’s a decent increase from the 1500mAh cell in Arkfeld Ultra. It’s not user-serviceable, so when the battery eventually wears out, you can’t replace it. That sucks, and it comes with the territory. Virtually all of these flat-style EDC lights have built-in batteries.

Charging is facilitated by an MCC port and a USB-C port! That’s a huge improvement over Arkfeld Ultra. Now existing Olight customers can use their existing chargers, and new customers don’t have to carry around a proprietary cable! The port is covered by a spring-loaded metal flap, and the light works while charging except Turbo. It’s IPX7 rated, but that may only be with the port closed. Charging takes under an hour and 45 minutes.

The battery indicator is on the right side of the switch. It’s four discrete LEDs, my favorite kind of indicator. There’s also a brightness level indicator on the left. It’s gimmicky but looks nice.

Switches & Indicators

Switches: ArkPro Ultra’s switches are excellent. The main button is comfortable with a tactile actuation. The selector switch feels very nice, with smooth movement and crisp detents. Selector switches like this are my favorite way to handle multiple channels in a flashlight. Plus, now, the laser has its own dedicated switch! Fantastic.

Indicators: There are four indicators on this light: battery, brightness, lockout, and arkbeat.

• The battery indicator is four discrete LEDs to the right of the switch. It’s intuitive, glanceable, and my favorite kind of indicator.
• The brightness indicator is four discrete LEDs on the left side of the switch. Its unnecessary, but it looks nice and doesn’t get in the way.
• The lockout indicator is above the switch. It’s a lock symbol and only appears when the switch is pressed in lockout mode. That’s a really nice touch.
• The Arkbeat indicator is below the switch. It glows different colors based on how long you’ve used the light, and eventually lets you select a color. This is one of the gimmickiest things I’ve ever seen on a flashlight, but it doesn’t get in the way.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are great. It’s very comfortable in a forward grip.

Clip score 8/8: perfect score!

• Attachment doesn’t pop off or rotate accidentally✅
• User serviceable✅
  • The screws are not permanently glued in place like previous Arkfeld models!
• Mounts near the tailcap✅
• Deep carry for EDC, shallow-carry for duty/tactical✅
• Landing location is smooth, not on the charging port, and away from the bezel✅
• Mouth/ramp and loop(s) are wide enough for pants material✅
• No bidirectional clips if the light is too big or heavy to clip to a hat✅
• Finish is durable✅

The magnet in the tail is plenty strong. It holds the light up on a vertical surface no problem.

Competition

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

Olight ArkPro: not quite ultra alternative

• marginally lower price
• virtually identical performance
• normal aluminum and anoziding
• no “ArkBeat” gimmick
• also available in neutral white color temperature

Olight Arkfeld Ultra: the outgoing model

• similar price
• smaller battery
• no filter on the UV beam
• no spot beam
• no USB-C charging

Thrunite Defender: budget alternative

• less than half the price (at the time of writing)
• lower build quality (still good, but not as good)
• no throw beam (still has flood, UV, and laser)
• lockout on the rotary switch
• weaker magnet
• more visible light in the UV channel
• normal aluminum and anodizing

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

ArkPro Ultra is pricey, but you mostly get what you pay for. The build quality, switches, ergonomics, pocket clip, all four beams, and dual charging options are excellent. The UI great. Brightness and runtime are good, but regulation is bad like most Olights. The built in battery is unfortunate but comes with the territory. The “Ultra” features (OAL material, Arkbeat, different Aesthetic) seem pretty trivial to me, but it’s still got everything that makes the standard ArkPro great. Overall, this is the nicest flat EDC light on the market right now. That’s something I’ve said in several Arkfeld-series reviews because Olight just keeps making them better and better.

Thanks to Olight for sending me this light for review!