Olight Odin

Olight Odin review: 2000 LUMENS

(updated info for the Limited Edition)

Introduction:

The Olight Odin was made with one purpose in mind – to be a badass, tactical, weapon-mounted light. Just how well does it fulfill that destiny? Read on and find out!

With a name like “Odin,” you suspect that there might be more behind the name. And according to Wikipedia, you’d be correct. Odin was a revered Germanic/Norse god. He was associated with war, victory, wisdom, and battle. I’d say that evokes the right mindset for talking about the Olight Odin.

What you’ll get:

When it comes to packaging, Olight never disappoints. The presentation of the Odin is no exception. After removing the shrink wrap, you arrive at a sturdy box with magnetic closure. Opening that reveals a panel of brief instructions sitting atop the Odin which is surrounded in dense, cut-out foam. The accessories are neatly wrapped and set aside in their own compartments. You’ll find the following in the box:

  • Olight Odin
  • Dual-position Picatinny rail mount (pre-installed)
  • 5000mAh 21700 battery (Olight proprietary)
  • Magnetic remote switch with rail mount
  • MCC3 charging adapter
  • Allen wrench & screws, zip-ties
  • Manual

Olight Odin specifications

Brand / ModelOlight Odin
LEDUndefined
Lumens2000 lm
Beam intensity22500 cd
Battery config.1*21700
MaterialAluminum
Modes2
BlinkiesN/A
ReflectorTIR
WaterproofIPX8
Review dateJuly 2020

Handling of the light

Upon opening the box, my first reaction was “wait, I thought the Odin was a 21700 flashlight?”  Yup, it sure is! It’s just skinny enough that it looks like a solidly-built 18650 light, just a bit on the long side.

Despite its intentions of being a weapon-mounted light, the Olight Odin sits very well in the hand.  When used as a handheld flashlight, it can be operated by a single metal silent switch located in the tailcap. The switch is of the dual-position momentary variety. The switch is flat and allows it to tail-stand easily. In addition to serving as a switch, the tail also serves as the contact for the MCC3 (“Magnetic Charging Cable”) adapter and as the attachment point for the magnetic remote switch.

The attachment point for the rail mount protrudes from the side of the Odin and will prevent it from rolling away should you set it down on a flat surface. The rail mount itself should be affixed to a Picatinny rail and tightened down with the included Allen wrench. The mount provides two locations for attaching the Odin – on the top of it or offset to the side. Your gun setup will dictate which position makes the most sense. With the mount in position, the Odin slides in easily and will give a reassuring “click” when it’s in place. From there, a locking knob should be turned on the rail mount to ensure the Odin will tightly stay in its location. Put the knob back into the unlock position and depress it to easily remove the Odin again.

The Olight Odin also comes with a remote switch. It connects magnetically to the tail of the flashlight and has a detent ring to hold it firmly in place. The remote switch has two silent pressure pads, one for momentary function and one for on/off.  The switch comes mounted in a Picatinny rail adapter, but could also be removed from the adapter and attached to the gun by other means (such as two-sided tape) if you don’t have a rail where you would like to mount the remote switch.

Olight Odin Mount

Olight Odin Limited Edition

Build Quality, knurling, threads, and anodization

The Olight Odin has beautiful, satin anodization. Overall, it is quite smooth with absolutely no knurling. That can be a bad thing, but the Odin isn’t meant to be in your hand – it’s meant to be attached to a gun. So for its use case, I don’t find that to be a problem. There are some grooves along the head and tail that do provide some grip when needed.

Everything mates together very well on the Odin. The threads are well-cut. The MCC3 charging adapter snaps on with reassuring force. Both the remote switch and the rail mount attachments operate smoothly, just like they should.

LEDs, Lens, Bezel, and Reflector

I see a lot of hating on Olight for the use of cool white LEDs, so I was pleasantly surprised when I turned the Odin on for the first time and was greeted with a nice, neutral white light. Very pleasing to my eye actually. The LED isn’t specified other than being a “high-performance neutral white.” After doing a brief teardown of the business end, I can confirm that the LED used is a quad-die arrangement but it isn’t one that I’ve seen before. It appears to be neither the Cree XHP35 nor the Lumileds Luxeon MZ. Whatever it is, it seems to fit well in this light.

The Olight Odin uses a PMMA optic that is fairly narrow. At the proper operating distance, you’ll see almost no spill – just a nice, even, tight spot. It does a really good job of putting light where you’ll need it and nowhere else (places that might just otherwise cause distraction).

The bezel has an interesting machining profile. It’s crenulated but in a cool looking spiralized manner. It’s a small detail but provides some visual character that sets it aside from other lights. The bezel is not glued and can easily be removed by hand.

Olight Odin Limited Edition has the same LED

Dimensions:

  • Length: 136.5 mm / 5.37″
  • Head diameter: 29.0 mm / 1.14″
  • Body diameter: 26.6 mm / 1.05″

Odin Weight:

  • With cells: 216 grams / 7.62 oz

Tactical Flashlights comparison

Compared to other popular LED flashlights

Image 1+2: Wuben TO50R > Olight Odin > Convoy S2+ > Wurkkos FC11

Imag 3+4: Tactical flashlights: Olight Odin limited edition vs Olight Odin Mini

Driver & User Interface:

Compared to a lot of flashlights, the UI of the Olight Odin seems simplistic. In a purpose-built light, I consider that a good thing. Too many modes or options can lead to confusion sometimes. A weapon-mounted light is no place for confusion or complex UIs.

Modes:

From OFF:

  • Half click: constant on, low mode
  • Half press (> ~0.5 sec): momentary on, low mode
  • Full click: constant on, high mode
  • Full press (> ~0.5 sec): momentary on, high mode
  • Click (remote switch, one side): constant on, high mode
  • Hold (remote switch, other side): momentary on, high mode

From ON:

  • Click: off

Mode memory:

  • Nope!

Low voltage warning:

  • Yes.  This is a new one on me – it’s a vibration low voltage indicator (apparently a feature that debuted on the Warrior X)
  • Power < 20%: vibrate once every 5 minutes
  • Power < 10%: vibrate once per minute
  • Power < 5%: vibrate once every 10 seconds

Strobe/blinkies

  • Nope!

Lock-out mode: 

  • No electronic lockout nor physical lockout.  Loosening the tailcap does not disable the switch until the tailcap is almost ready to fall off.

PWM

  • None

Add additional info: the operation of the Olight Odin is refreshingly simplistic.  In the midst of “how do I turn this one on?” UIs, the Odin is dead simple to operate.

Batteries and charging:

The Olight Odin uses a proprietary 21700 battery. You can’t live with proprietary? Then don’t get the Odin. Normally I might throw a fit about this. But in a purpose-built light, it’s not light you’re going to be switching batteries in and out all of the time. It does what it’s intended to do and it does it well. In order to use the Odin, you need to use the included battery.

Once you’ve removed the protection disc that comes installed from the factory, you just leave the battery in the Odin and forget all about it. Once it’s time to recharge, just attach the included Olight MCC3 (Magnetic Charging Cable) connector. It will charge at up to 2 amps, assuming you plug it into a 2 amp capable USB outlet. The MCC3 cable has a red/green charging/charged indicator that functions well, assuming you’re not colorblind like myself and the other 1-in-12 men in the world. I can’t necessarily fault Olight here as nearly everyone uses red/green for charging status indicators, but I do wish that it would stop.

Performance:

The Olight Odin delivers on performance exactly as the company promises (at least within the range of accuracy provided by my amatuer-grade equipment).  It starts out around 2000 lumens and will step down as needed until it runs out of juice.  The beam created by the narrow angle PMMA (TIR) lens makes a nice, concentrated spot of light with minimal spill.

Lux was measured by a UNI-T UT383 BT at 5 meters.  Lumens were measured in a homemade lumen tube using a TSL2591 sensor, calibrated against a Wuben TO50R.

  • Due to the design used by the Odin (glued head and a battery that provides the main current path at the driver end of the battery), amp measurements were not able to be taken.

Runtime:

Olight odin runtime graph
runtime graph

Runtime Graphs: Olight Odin Limited Edition

Now the runtime graphs for the special edition Olight Odin.

The runtime looks identical.

Lumen measurements (for each mode) original

  • Low: 293 lm (spec: 300 lm)
  • High: 1890 lm (spec: 2000 lm)

Lumen measurements (for each mode) Limited Edition

  1. Level 1 (high): 1999.4 at the start, 1884.05 at 30 seconds
  2. Level 2 (low): 307.6 at start (didn’t change after 30 seconds)

Throw numbers: Original

  • Lux at 5m: 828 lux
  • Candela: 20,700 cd (spec: 22,500 cd)
  • Throw: 287 m (spec: 300 m)

Throw numbers: Olight Odin Special Edition

Measured by Nick, with te Uni-T 383S

  • Level 1: 25,750 cd = 320.93 meters
  • Level 2: 4100 cd =  128.6 meters

All outdoors beam shots are taken at 25m (82ft) using a Pixel 3 set to ISO 200 with ½ second exposure time

  • Odin beam side profile on paper
  • Olight Odin
  • Brinyte PT18pro
  • Convoy C8 XP-L HI
  • Sofirn SP33 v3

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost, by Olight. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.

Overall conclusion

Pros:

  1. Solidly built
  2. Well executed attachments
  3. Great PMMA optic
  4. Neutral white light
  5. Good regulation

Cons

  1. Proprietary battery
Reviewer Gabriel
Author: Gabriel

Rating: 5 stars ★★★★★

The Olight Odin is built to be an exquisite, tactical, weapon mounted light. Olight absolutely nailed it. I was pleasantly surprised by the neutral white LED. Beam profile is perfect for its purpose. The functionality (UI) is necessarily simplistic and reliable. The switches are silent and smooth. The machining of the rail mount attachment is great, the Odin attaches firmly in place and detaches seamlessly. The Olight Odin does exactly what it means to do, and it looks awesome doing it. Need a full-sized Picatinny-mounted light? Look no further.

Olight Odin discount code

Use our exclusive 1lumen discount code to get an extra 10% off anything you order at Olightstore.com (USA). Coupon code: 1lumen

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