Are you looking for a new everyday carry light? Maybe you are a mechanic who needs a good torch for getting under cars in the shop to inspect them? Maybe you a working woman who wants a versatile light to carry in your purse when you find yourself heading home after dark? Maybe you are a police officer who wants to carry something with you at work with a little bit of extra portability and options? Or you might just want a good torch for general use in everyday light? Well, look no further, the ArkPro Ultra has got everything you need in one light or more.
First, let’s look at our light for today’s review, because that is what you are most interested in.
Sleek Design and Premium Build Quality
As you can see this is a sleek, good looking and high quality light. I have put my Swiss army knife and my Olight i1R 2 pro next to the ArkPro Ultra, so you can get an idea of its size and dimensions. This is a sleek torch. It is not very large, but despite its small size it does not feel cheap or unsubstantial in the hand.
The ArkPro Ultra has a narrow rectangular style design so that it can easily fit in your pants pockets, or a top pocket in your shirt. It comes with a two-way clip which is bolted to the torch. With the right tool you could take this two-way clip off if you wanted to, which would give this torch an ever smaller profile in your pocket. However, the benefit of a clip like this is that you can secure it in your pocket better, or you can clip it to the brim of a hat, so that you can use it as a head lamp. This would be especially useful if you are working on your car at night and your garage light does not light up the area where you are working well enough.
You could also use the charging magnet on the rear of the torch to attach it to the bonnet of your car for the same purpose. In fact, because the torch comes with both a narrow beam focus and a wide beam focus, then you could easily use it light up a substantial area to work under at night. This is just one of the many ways you can use this light.
Advanced Materials and Charging Options
I want to describe what you are looking at here in Figure 1 and 2. The torch is made of OAL which is Olight’s proprietary aluminium alloy. This material is of the highest quality, so this is why the light can be so small but still also feels substantial in your hand. It has textured sides for grip. And the function buttons have light up displays which show you how much battery you have left, and what function your light is on. These lights do not stay on, so they will not drain your battery, they come on when you use the centre button. There are four main lights on this torch, a wide beam white light, a narrow beam white light, a UV light, and a level 1 laser light. I will come back to those functions in a moment.
There are two ways to charge this light. You can use the supplied magnetic charger with an compatible USB charger or USB port, or you can use the USB-C charging port on the side. In fact, while I write this review I am charging the ArkPro Ultra from a USB-C port on my laptop with a high quality cable I would use to charge my phone, or any other USB-C device. I stress high quality cable, as this is not a cheap light, coming in at around $199.95 (or cheaper on special), so you want to make sure that you use a charging cable that is not going to wreck it. You can use the provided magnetic charging cable or you can use an Olight USB-C cable, if you have one, or the one you use for your phone. This is actually really useful, because if your wife has this in her purse, she can charge her phone and her ArkPro Ultra with the same cable from the same portable battery bank, and not have to worry about carrying multiple cables around with her.
Unboxing and Intuitive Functionality
While this light has many functions, they are quite openly marked, and it is very intuitive to use. When you get the light, it will come in very high-quality packaging. Which is important, because you want your high-quality light to come to you in perfect condition. The packaging with this light is exceptional. My kids like to use the empty Olight boxes to store toys and other trinkets in, because they are so reusable. When you open the packaging you will see that the light comes with a sticker on the front and the back. Pay careful attention to both, but especially the one on the front, as it clearly marks out the functionality of the torch.
Once you remove the sticker, you will still see that the light has markings on it. But they blend into the torch. They are etched into the aluminium. So, they are there, but you won’t be able to see them marked out as clearly. Don’t fret about this though, because as I said, this light is very intuitive to use. You can move the circular switch to the left or the right and pick up the functions very quickly.
Versatile Light Modes: UV, Spotlight, and Flood
Push it to the right at the bottom and it will move the top of the switch to the left and there you have the UV function. This light is incredible, but beware, it might reveal more than you are ready for. The UV light mode has both high and low brightness.
Push the switch to the left at the bottom and it will move the top of the switch to the right, and you have focused beam mode, or spotlight mode. This mode has 5 brightness levels. Moonlight, low, medium, high and turbo. To use moonlight when the torch is off, but unlocked, hold down the on switch until you have a very dim light, if you hold it slightly longer it will move into lockout mode. When it is on lockout mode you will see the small padlock light up when you press the on/off switch. To use turbo mode when it is on or off double press the centre button, the on/off switch. This is your brightest setting, this is where you will get the powerful 1700 lumens, which is an epic brightness for a light this small. Coupled with a 2000mAh battery, you can get this brightness level for 3 minutes, and 520 lumens for 140 minutes.
If you leave the circular switch in the middle you will have it on pure flood mode. This will allow you to light up a large area to work under at night, or a large area on a path if you are doing a bushwalk at night. You get the same brightness levels for pure flood and spotlight mode, and they are used in the same way as each other.
The lumen count from highest to lowest settings are 1700, 520, 60, 15, and 1. These numbers, as noted, apply to the pure flood and spotlight modes. The max intensity is 10,640 Candela, and it has a maximum range of 205 meters.
Both pure flood mode and spotlight mode also have strobe light function. Just press the centre switch three times when the light is off to activate this strobe light. This function would be very useful in an emergency, as you cannot miss this light when it is on strobe function, it is very distinctive. It would also be useful on your bike or motorbike to make you more visible in low light environments, say in a storm, or when one of your lights is out.
Integrated Laser and Custom Mounting
There is also a laser function. Useful for pointing out specific objects. If you were hunting you could use this to indicate where your friend should point their rifle, so they know where to shoot. Or you could use it in the workplace for giving directions at a distance. The laser is bright green so it stands out everywhere, and it is class one so it is very safe to use. The laser will also work in tandem with all three other lights on the ArkPro Ultra.
There is an option for a wall mount or a belt mount. For $14.95 you can purchase the optional Olight Holster for ArkPro. This holster can be mounted to a wall using 3m adhesive, or it can be clipped to your belt. This is just a useful extra function that is handy to know about. If you wanted to keep it mounted in your car I would recommend this holster, as it is purpose built for this kind of application.
Performance Upgrades and Durability
It should also be noted this this is an upgrade to the older Arkfeld light. It has a 27% longer battery life, and a 33% larger battery capacity. This is also the first Olight to come with the EIP 1, Olight’s first self-developed LED. Which shows that this company is just going up in bounds. Their tech is getting better continually.
This light has IPX7 waterproof rating. It can be dropped 1m safely. And it comes with the ArkBeat feature. This is a light underneath the on-off switch which changes colour the longer you have used the light. Just a small symbol of a growing connection with the light. This is just a nice to have.
The use cases for a light like this are plentiful. But you want to know what it looks like in use in the dark, don’t you? Here are some examples, with a comparison to another light, the Olight Warrior Ultra 2500 lumens torch.
As you can see the Warrior Turbo Ultra has a more powerful beam with a longer focused light. It has a higher peak power, but it is a tactical light. Keep in mind that the ArkPro Ultra is a smaller light, more streamlined, and designed to sit in your pocket. So, with a much smaller torch, designed for everyday carry, this is an impressive output. This is an incredible impressive little light. Excellent really.
Real-World Practicality and Conclusion
When it comes to usefulness, I have already noted many different possible applications, but here is an example of a practical way I used the light in my own duties around the home. I spent a whole hour in the garage the other night working on various things, and because of the poor-quality lighting in parts of my garage I had this light on my hat while I worked.
As you can see it fits well, and I would argue this is more comfortable than most headlamps. It was incredible useful having this to work with in the dark. I had to move in and out of the garage at night, and with this light I had not trouble at all.
So, I can highly recommend this light. Both from personal use and the evaluation of the specifications of this light. It is an excellent option for many usage applications.
