Pricing & Availability
Olight sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the Amazon US product page where you can see current pricing. That’s a tracked link so Olight knows I sent you, but I’ve chosen not to earn any affiliate commission. At the time of writing it’s $170 USD.
What comes in the box?
Seeker Ultra comes in Olight’s premium black ultra box. Inside is:
- The light itself
- Battery (inside the light)
- User manual
- USB A-to-C charging cable
- Belt holster/charging dock
- Wall mount & mounting hardware for dock
Design & Construction
Seeker Ultra’s design iterates on previous Seeker models, this time with a USB-C charging port and OAL construction.
Build quality overall is top notch. It feels dense and well-made in the hand. Even the spring loaded metal port cover feels premium. My only build-quality gripe is the switch.
Size & Measurements
Surefire G2X Pro + Switchback | Streamlight Microstream | Olight Seeker Ultra | Olight Warrior 3S | Mini Maglite
| Measurement | Measured (mm) |
|---|---|
| Bezel Diameter | 35.0 |
| Length | 138.4 |
| Switch Diameter | 14.5 |
| Lens Thickness | 2.0 |
| Lens Diameter | 29.5 |
| LED Footprint | 3535 |
| Body Tube Diameter | 28.0 |
| Tailcap Diameter | 29.6 |
| Tailcap Length | 21.1 |
| Included Battery Length | 75.3 |
| Weight with included battery (g) | 218 |
| Holster weight (g) | 50 |
Switch & User Interface
Seeker Ultra has a combination knob and switch. Pushing it down actuates it like a switch. Rotating it adjusts brightness like a knob. Personally, I would have preferred a nice, plain button like the side switch on Warrior Ultra. I don’t particularly care for this rotary knob button.
- It feels & sounds cheap. It can rock side to side / forward and back. It’s also weirdly noisy, making popping and clicking noises any time you touch it (even if it isn’t actuating or rotating).
- The knob must stick out from the light so you can get traction on it to rotate it. The whole button is easier to press by accident, and I think that’s why Olight added the auto-lockout function.
This UI is decent and usable if you don’t mind auto-lockout.
Basic E-switch UI Checklist: 8/12
- 1C on/off❌
- The auto lockout requires you to rotate the switch about a half turn before you can then press to turn the light on.
- 1H to change brightness✅
- 1H steps through the middle 3 brightness levels. Rotating the knob gives you more granular control.
- Stepped levels✅
- 1H steps through the middle 3 brightness levels. Rotating the knob gives you more granular control.
- Main rotation is Low-Med-High✅
- Moonlight shortcut: 1H from off✅
- Low shortcut: 1H from Moonlight✅
- Turbo shortcut: 2C from anywhere✅
- From anywhere except lockout, which happens automatically.
- Strobe shortcut: 3C from anywhere✅
- From anywhere except lockout, which happens automatically.
- 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.
- 4C or separate switch to lock/unlock❌
- It auto-locks after 10 seconds after being turned off which isn’t cool. Unlock by rotating the switch a quarter turn. You can also unlock by holding the switch for ~1 second, but you have to turn that feature on and it’s covered in the user manual. I would have liked a way to disable the auto lockout rather than a minor alternative unlocking method.
- Does something when you click the switch in Lockout mode✅
- There’s a little glowing lock icon above the switch. That’s excellent.
Notes:
- 2H from on will activate the auto-off timer. If you release the switch after one blink, it will turn off in 3 minutes. If you release the switch after the second blink, it will turn off after 9 minutes. Handy!
- Inserting the light into the holster locks it and removing it from the holster unlocks it. If you plan to use the holster, that will substantially reduce the headache from the auto-lockout.
- The “stepless” dimming is not truly stepless. There are ~25 visible steps and they do not always line up with the detents in the knob. Usually one detent = one step in brightness but sometimes it takes two detents to go one step.
Emitter & Beam
The LEDs aren’t specified. There are four, domed, ~3535 LEDs in cool white ~70 CRI behind a quad TIR optic. The beam is floody with a wide hotspot and soft spill, typical of TIR optics.
In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed and the wall is ~2.5M 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 | 4200 | 18000 | 270 | 70 | 6120 | 0.0062 |
| High | 1100 | 4700 | 140 | 69 | 5870 | 0.0070 |
| Medium | 270 | 1200 | 68 | 68 | 5910 | 0.0073 |
| Low | 43 | 180 | 27 | 69 | 5850 | 0.0071 |
| Moonlight | 3 | 13 | 7 | 69 | 5990 | 0.0059 |
Runtime
Performance is great. Turbo time is pretty typical at about one minute. Sustained output is excellent at over 1000 lumens, and the light stays a holdable temperature. Total runtime is great too, particularly on Medium mode providing ~240 lumens for twelve hours. I love how High mode matches perfectly with the light’s maximum sustainable brightness.
Thermal Management: My Turbo and Turbo Cooled tests are virtually identical, so there’s no active thermal throttling here, just timed stepdowns. That means performance will be consistent, but not optimized for ambient temperature.
LVP (Low Voltage Protection): This light relies on the battery’s built in protection circuit to cut off when the battery is empty. That also means you can’t temporarily re-activate it in an emergency after shutoff. If it turns itself off you must connect it to a charger before it will turn back on or even show a low battery warning. I wish it had low voltage protection built into the driver instead of relying on the battery to cut off.
Driver
The driver isn’t specified but it must be a boost circuit. I measured the voltage to the wires on the MCPCB on Moonlight at a little over 10V. It has Olight’s proprietary dual battery contacts, requiring users to use a proprietary battery from Olight.
Voltage immunity is poor, as is typical from Olight. You completely lose access to Turbo mode below 3 bars. I expect a light to be able to reach pretty close to its peak brightness down to ~25% charge or so.
PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes nor audible to my ears. My phone camera picks up some flickering on Moonlight mode, but that’s it.
Parasitic Drain: I can’t measure parasitic drain because the battery contacts are buried inside the light and are inaccessible when the battery is installed.
Batteries & Charging
The battery included is a 5800mAh proprietary 21700 cell. Olight has been making this style of battery for years so I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding spares or replacements in the future. This cell is has 16% more capacity than the 5000mAh cells they’ve used in the past.
Charging: Several charging options are available. The first is a new USB-C port built into the side of the flashlight and covered by a spring-loaded flap. The second are some magnetic contacts on the tailcap that support either a standard Olight MCC charging cable or the included charging dock/holster which has a USB-C input.
Charging takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes via the USB-C port on the light. There is no powerbank function. There really should be on a light this expensive with a battery this big. It does work while charging, but Turbo is inaccessible.
The battery indicator is somewhat dim, but it’s the four-diode style I prefer. I find them to be the most glanceable and intuitive solution. There’s a matching brightness indicator mirrored on the other side of the switch and a lockout indicator above.
Carry & Ergonomics
Ergonomics are great. It fits naturally in the hand and the rubberized grip feels nice. My thumb lands naturally on the switch.
Holster/Dock: The most interesting accessory for this light is the included holster/dock. It’s a piece of injection molded plastic that holds the light securely with a friction fit and magnet. There’s a belt clip on the back to attach to a belt or the included wall mount. Plus there’s are magnetic charging contacts and a USB-C port built into the bottom, so you can use it as a wall-mounted charging dock. Neat!
Pocket clip: A clip is not included in the box. The existing clip for previous Seeker models will fit, but it blocks the USB-C port and will no longer fit in the holster/dock.
Magnet: The tailcap magnet is plenty strong to hold the light on a vertical surface. There are charging contacts on the tail though, so keep this one away from metal shavings if you want those contacts to work and stay clean.
Competition
Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.
Acebeam E75: no-frills alternative
- significantly less expensive
- wide variety of colors and patterns available
- various LED options for similar brightness, more throw, or nice colors
- excellent pocket clip
- no holster nor wall mount included
- side switch instead of rotary knob + switch combo thing
- better UI with no auto-lockout
- worse battery indicator
- quad reflector instead of quad optic
- non-proprietary battery
Wurkkos TS26: budget alternative
- similar size and layout
- dramatically less expensive
- advanced Anduril firmware with better smooth ramping
- RGB auxiliary LEDs
- non-proprietary battery
- no holster / dock included
- sub-par pocket clip
- worse battery indicator
- side switch instead of switch + rotary knob
- high-CRI LEDs
- not quite as bright
Fenix WF26R: alternative with a dock
- less expensive
- larger size
- dual tail switch layout
- charging dock included
- single LED with large reflector
- not quite as bright, more throw
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
What I like: The brightness, runtime, size / weight, ergonomics, overall build quality, indicator lights, holster / charging dock / wall mount, and USB-C charging
What I don’t like: cheap-feeling rotary knob, annoying auto-lockout, poor voltage immunity, no powerbank feature, and high price tag
Thanks to Olight for sending me this light for review!
