The Oclip Pro is a small versatile clip light from Olight and an upgrade to their popular standard Oclip. It has 3 LEDS – a 500 lumens floodlight, a 120 metre spotlight and a bright red LED. All three LEDs can be selected with a tactile rotating switch. It’s waterproof, has USB-C charging and has a handy large spring clip, which also houses a magnet for even more mounting options.
It could be the perfect torch for everyday carry or emergency use. I’ll run through its features and thoroughly test Olight’s claims to find out if it’s the right torch for you.
I’ve done a full roundup of keychain torches, pocket EDC torches and head torches so please do check out those articles if you’re interested. The keychain torch video might be particularly useful for an introduction to some of the terms I use in this article if you’re new to all this.
So let’s take a closer look.
Overview
The Oclip Pro comes with a USB-C charging cable and a user manual.
It’s made almost entirely of Aluminium with a glass lens and feels very well built. I have the black version but Olight has other colours available too. It now comes with an IPX6 weather proof rating – a step up from the original Oclip’s IPX5 rating. But with its larger battery and additional spotlight it is significantly heavier and larger than the standard Oclip.
It weighs 53g (1.76oz) and measures 57 x 28 x 28mm (2.2 x 1.1 x 1.1in).
The 580mAh integrated battery is charged via the USB-C charging port.
There’s a fancy hinged metal flap now covering the port, rather than the fiddly rubber cover on the Oclip. This keeps out dust but the Oclip Pro maintains its IPX6 rating even with the port open.
Just like the Olclip, the Pro charges in 1h 30 mins according to Olight. The battery level indicator lights steady green when it’s charged. I charged it from completely flat in 1h 23 mins at around 0.7A.
You can use the torch whilst it’s charging but you’ll lose the white LED high modes and Turbo.
The sprung clip on the Pro opens to almost 14mm like on its predecessor and there’s a magnet on the base of the clip which adds to the versatility of the torch.
The magnet is strong enough but I would have liked a magnet at the top of the clip too for a little more holding power.
There’s also a hole on the base of the clip for keyring use or a lanyard.
The Oclip has a rotating selector switch to choose between its flood, spotlight and red LEDs. The power button turns the torch on and off with a single press. The battery level indicator shows the charge level when you turn the torch on or move the selector switch.
In flood mode, holding the power button cycles between a 10 lumens 27h low mode, a 100 lumens 3h 30 min medium mode and a 300 lumens high mode that drops to 180 lumens for 100 minutes after just 60 seconds. In spotlight mode runtimes are the same but low mode is 9 lumens, medium mode is 85 lumens and high mode is 240 lumens, again dropping after 1 minute, but this time to 150 lumens. In the white light modes the brightness level is remembered except Turbo which drops back to high.
In red light mode the torch turns on in the 4 lumens 29h low mode. A double press takes you to the 40 lumens 4 hour high mode. Holding down the power button in red light mode toggles between steady and blinking mode. Steady and blinking mode are memorised, but steady mode always turns on at the low brightness level.
In the white LED modes, a double press of the power button with the torch on or off accesses the maximum 500 lumens flood Turbo mode and 380 lumens spotlight Turbo mode. These Turbo modes again only last a minute before dropping to 250 lumens for 50 minutes in flood, and 240 lumens for 50 minutes in spotlight. I’ll test Olight’s claims for output and runtime at its maximum output shortly. A triple press in flood and spotlight mode with the torch off takes you to the strobe mode and with the torch on a triple press accesses the very bright beacon mode.
Holding down the power button in flood and spotlight mode with the torch off accesses the 1 lumen 6 day moonlight. There’s no moonlight mode with the red LED selected, although holding down the power button will always turn on the torch in low steady mode – even if you enabled the red blinking previously.
Finally you can lock out the torch in any mode with a long press of the power button. The selected LED will light up and then turn off. Another long press will turn the torch back on in moonlight or low mode with the red LED is selected.
Performance
Olight doesn’t specify the exact white LEDs they’re using, but the torch is currently only available with cool white LEDs, which I measured at 6479K for the flood and 5946K for the spotlight – both in Turbo mode.
The flood had a Duv of 0.0015 and the spotlight had a Duv of 0.0082. Ideally you want this Duv value close to zero but a negative number resulting in a rosy tint is generally preferred to a positive number with an associated green tint.
Although I didn’t really notice any green tint in either flood or spotlight mode. I like that Olight specifies the CRI or colour accuracy although a CRI of 70 isn’t much to boast about. I measured a CRI of 70 in flood and 69 in spotlight mode with my colour spectrometer.
I tested the runtime in Turbo mode with the flood LED which has the maximum 500 lumens output, using my calibrated DIY lumen chamber. The battery was fully charged. I measured 512 lumens at turn on which dropped after exactly 1 minute to 298 lumens which was held for just under 40 minutes. It then dropped to 98 lumens for another 15 minutes or so. As usual Olight are providing very honest claims on the output of the torch. Runtimes are a little lower than spec’d but they’re not far off and beautifully regulated both in Turbo mode and when the torch drops to its lower brightness levels.
I did measure the temperature of the torch with my thermal imaging camera and it barely gets warm. It looks like Olight is dropping brightness levels – at least from Turbo, based purely on a timer – and not temperature. So they probably could get an even brighter Turbo mode if they wanted, albeit for a very short time.
The floodlight has plenty of light for close-up work and walks.
The spotlight beam has a useful 120m range with 3600cd in Turbo mode. It’s not a super tight spot and has a generous spill so is also useful for hiking and general use. I would have liked a more focused beam on the spot with a longer range, but that’ll come down to personal preference.
I found the red light useful in flashing mode, as an emergency bike light or for road running clipped onto my running shorts. Although for running the standard Oclip is lighter and makes more sense if it has enough runtime for you. You can also use the red light to preserve your night vision, but I prefer to use the white moonlight modes.
Conclusions
Olight have taken one of their most popular torches and improved on it in almost every way. It’s brighter with longer runtimes, now has a spotlight beam and they’ve up’ed its weatherproof rating to IPX6. It is a little more expensive but it feels premium in every way and I think it justifies its price tag – especially when it’s on sale.
But all these extra features have significantly increased its size and weight. It’s really too big now for your keyring, in my opinion at least. Fortunately the original Oclip is still available. It’s tiny and weighs almost nothing. And it still has enough output and runtime for general or emergency use.
Aside from its size, my only real criticism of the Oclip Pro is the user interface which is a little complex. There are quite a few button presses to remember, which have different functions depending on which LED you have selected. For instance a long press of the power button changes brightness levels in white light modes, but turns on blinking in red light mode. And a triple press in the white light modes turns on beacon mode but does nothing in red light mode.
It’s not a big deal, but might just take a little getting used to.
Overall it’s a great little torch with an impressive range of features and output for its size. It’d make an excellent gift.
Don’t forget to take a look at my YouTube video at the top of the page, and again please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’m releasing videos every week on the latest technology and how to get the most out of it. If you tap the bell icon when you subscribe you’ll get a notification as soon as I release a video, and there’ll be a link to my site here for the written article. YouTube is also the best place to leave a comment. I read all of them and respond to as many as I can!
Purchase directly from Olight in their Black Friday Sale, and get an extra £5 off using my code OGIDON5 😊! The code is valid on all products except the X9R. Using the link and code below also helps support my channel – thank you!
Olight Oclip Pro: https://www.olightstore.uk/s/LVM6OJ
And check out the entire Olight Black Friday Sale: https://geni.us/kjOSZK – There are various freebies for new and returning customers!
If you prefer you can also purchase from Amazon: Amazon link:
Olight Oclip Pro: https://amzn.to/3CBxGzX
As an Amazon affiliate, I get a small commission from purchases made via any Amazon links.
Leave a Reply