I am going out bush again soon and one of the most important things you need to do before going out bush is checking your gear, making sure everything works, and also that you don’t take more than you need. When you have to carry everything you take, then you need to be really selective in what you pack. You have no choice, you need to make sure that everything you have serves a purpose, will be used, and that it will hold up. There is nothing more frustrating than getting into the bush and finding out that the gear you brought is substandard. I went on a hunting trip a year or so ago and both the tents I took, one for me and one for a friend, had perished seals, I had not noticed this before this trip, because I had not gone on a trip with so much rain as this one. Luckily we had other equipment like tarps and awnings that were waterproof, because we were prepared. But when you have to carry everything you need to be very particular and very careful in what you take. The Olight Warrior Ultra comes in here as right near the top of the pile for me to take in my pack when I have to be selective about what I can carry. Let’s go through what this torch is and what it offers.
Firstly, the packaging. This is the box your Olight Warrior Ultra will come in:
Figure 1: Warrior Ultra Sealed Box
And this is how secure your light is in the box:
Figure 2: Warrior Ultra in its packaging.
This is one of the perks of buying Olight products, your light will come to you securely and safely. I could drop this box and the light will not be damaged. Because of the secure and thick foam it is surrounded by. I have ordered products from other companies and had stuff come that is loose in the box or packaging. This is really annoying. In fact, I had one package today that this happened to. Which is why I am emphasizing this for this this review. This is not a small point. You don’t want to get a product that you need for a trip in the mail and then return it and have to wait for a replacement to come. The chances of this happening with Olight are very slim, because they make sure your product is protected.
In the box this is what you will get:
Figure 3: What’s in the box?
In the box you get your Warrior Ultra, this one is in tan/gold colour. You get a molle holster pouch, your MCC3 charging cable, and your instructions. Of course, inside your Warrior Ultra is an Olight proprietary battery, the 3.6v 21700 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery, that has a 5000 mAh capacity. I have several Olights with this battery in them, and it is a long lasting and versatile battery. If you own the Warrior X, the Prowess, the Perun 3, or many of these other similar sized Olights you will have a spare battery for this light, because they are interchangeable with certain models. I use my Prowess every night as a reading light above my bed, and I only need to charge it every few weeks. So, I can testify to long lasting nature of these batteries. We will come back to this when we look at the specs.
Before we get into the specs of this light, I want to draw your attention to molle holster pouch that comes with this torch:
Figure 4: Molle Holster Pouch
This is a fantastic accessory that comes with this product. As a hiker and a huntsman, I love a good molle pouch. They make life much easier when you are in the bush, or even if you need to store stuff in your car somewhere you can get to it quickly. If you take careful look at this pouch, you will see that it is made of high quality tough nylon, it has solid stitching, and there are several ways you can attach this your equipment. You can attach it via a pack hook through the black plastic hoop. You can unclip the back clasp on the pouch to slip it through the molle webbing on your back, or onto your belt. Or you can run a belt through the inner layer of the belt loop for the most secure attachment. Here are some examples:
Figures 5 and 6: Different ways of attaching the light to a pack in the holster.
Of course, if you forget to bring your molle pouch with you, and you can attach this light to your bag directly with the clip that comes on your Warrior Ultra:
Figure 7: Warrior Ultra attached directly to the bag.
In figure 5 above I have the light attached through a plastic loop on my straps at the front of my pack, so that while I am hiking I have access to the light very easily on the walk. You can clip it into your pocket using the clip on the light itself as well. There are multiple ways to carry this light. And the molle pack has drainage holes at the top and bottom so that the pouch will not old water. As an outdoorsman, it is these little extras which really tip me towards getting a product like this over something else.
Of course, as interesting as the molle holster is, the light is the most important part of this assessment. The Warrior Ultra is an upgrade on the already extant Warrior platform, the more recent model being the Warrior 3S. The Warrior 3S has impressive specs. It has a max lumen count of 2300. A light intensity of 23,000 candela. It has the same 3.6v 5000 mAh battery. The same MCC3 charging cable. It also has multiple settings running from level 1 which has light settings of 250, 800 and 2300 lumens. Level 2 has 250 to 800 lumens. Level 3 has 200 lumens. Level 4 has 15 lumens. Level 5 which has 1 lumens. It can run at 2300 lumens for 2.5 minutes at 100%. 800 lumens for 166 minutes. 200 lumens for 13 hours, and can run on the moonlight setting of 1 lumen for 55 days.
As is to be expected with an upgrade the Warrior Ultra exceeds these specifications. The Warrior Ultra has a max lumen count of 2500. It has a light intensity of 26,000 candela, which is impressive. Incredibly impressive. It can run at 2500 lumens for 2.5 minutes at 100% making it 200 lumens brighter at its best compared to its predecessor. It also has 5 levels of light settings, Turbo, High, Medium, Low and Moonlight. It too can run for 55 days on 1 lumen, 13 hours on 200 hundred lumens and 168 minutes on 800 lumens. So, this light has superior brightness, but similar running times. Which is remarkable because it uses the same battery. This light, as with its predecessor, is IPX8 waterproof and the Warrior Ultra has a max range of 320 meters. You can drop it 2meters and it will not break as well, which is good to know because dropping your equipment in the bush is a distinct possibility. So, both Warrior lights are high quality, but the Ultra edges out the win here. It is a worthy upgrade.
As with the Warrior 3S the Warrior Ultra is compatible with the Olight sROD Remote Pressure switch. This switch can be attached to your gun, or other equipment to give you a tactical edge in using this light. There are three ways to turn this light on. The side switch, which gives you access to the full functionality of the light modes. This switch also has a lockout function, which I particularly like. Especially for hiking. You need to be able to lock your light if you are going to put it in your bag. It is not good if you pick your light up and it is half used up because it was accidentally turned on while you were hiking.
But for hunting you have two tactical options. You have the pressure switch at the back of your light, which you can use to turn the light on as well. This gives you the option to have it switched on to stay on, or simply while the pressure of your thumb is on the light. And with the SROD remote pressure switch you can mount this switch to a favourable place on your rifle so that you do not need to shift your hand when hunting at night. You can just press this switch to turn the light on and off.
The light also has a proximity sensor, so that when it gets to close to something the light turns itself down. This proximity sensor can also be turned off by pressing the side switch down 3 times in under 5 seconds.
And last but not least you want to see this light in operation, so here it is in comparison to the Warrior X. The first picture is the Warrior X4.
Figure 9: The Warrior X4 on its highest setting.
Here is the Warrior Ultra on its brightest setting:
Figure 10: The Warrior Ultra on its highest setting.
As you can see the Warrior X4 has a much longer distance. It has a max range of 630 meters, compared to the Warrior Ultra’s 320 meter distance. The X4 would be better for sighting things at a moderate distance. The Warrior Ultra however gives you are a wider field of view in that 320 meter range, for sighting things which might be closer. Both have their separate functions in the field. Both have a similar lumen count, the X4 has 2,600 lumens, whereas the Ultra has 2500 lumens. However, the Ultra is a much more compact light, with more functions. So, both of these lights are excellent, but they serve slightly difference purposes.
The Warrior Ultra bridges the gap between a very high quality EDC light, that can also be used on tactical and outdoors settings and not let you down. When I pack my hiking pack this light is at the top of the list for the simple fact that it is incredibly powerful for its size, versatile, tough, waterproof, and I can attach it to my pack, my belt, or my pocket in multiple ways meaning it is much easier to carry while hiking. But I can also leave it in my glove box, or my draw at home, and attach it to my hunting rifle and still get great use out of it. And because it has magnetic USB charging, I can charge this light almost anywhere. This is a jack of all trades light that I highly recommend. You will like this light.
