Olight have upgraded one of their most popular torches, the Seeker 4 Pro. The new Seeker Ultra (UK, US) gets their tough and distinctive OAL finish, along with a small bump in brightness from 4,600 to 4,800 lumens. But the biggest change is charging. You still get Olight’s convenient magnetic charging, but now there is finally a USB-C port built directly into the torch.
Overview
In the box you get the plastic holster, the torch itself, a USB-C charging cable, a mounting clip and the instruction manual.
The build quality is very good. Olight’s Ultra range uses their proprietary OAL, or O-aluminium superalloy, with supposedly additional toughness.
It’s hard to verify their claims, but my Arkpro Ultra that I keep in the car doesn’t get treated very carefully and still looks like new.
I also really like the look of the OAL finish.
The torch weighs a little under 220 g, is 138 mm long and 35 mm wide. It keeps the IPX8 waterproof rating and 1.5 m drop rating of the Seeker 4 Pro, but is slightly heavier and a little longer.
It’s not really an EDC or Every Day Carry torch – more something you carry in your hand or keep in a jacket pocket.
It does feel just right in my hand, and there’s a silicone grip for additional comfort. I always have a slight concern that these textured grips might perish, but I’ve not seen that happen on an Olight torch yet.
They have increased the capacity of the proprietary 21700 battery from 5,000 mAh to 5,800 mAh, a pretty significant upgrade.
This gives a 12 hour 30 minute runtime in the 300 lumen medium mode, up from 11 hours. But it’s the integrated USB-C charging port that I’m particularly pleased to see. The previous version could charge via USB-C, but only through the holster. I didn’t use the holster that much, so that wasn’t particularly useful to me.
Now you can simply lift the metal flap and charge the Seeker Ultra from a standard USB-C cable. Thankfully, unlike the Marauder Mini 2 I looked at recently , the port isn’t deeply recessed, so it should work with most USB-C cables.
Charging is still not particularly fast; a full charge takes just over four hours. There is no magnetic charging cable supplied, but if you already have one, you can still use it. However, a full charge takes even longer – over five hours.
I do find magnetic charging very convenient, but I think it’s probably due for an upgrade. Not only is it slower, but I also find the charging indicator a little unreliable. It will sometimes show green, indicating a full charge, even when I know the torch has been used a fair bit.
The magnetic base also lets you attach the torch to a metal surface for hands-free use. It is quite a heavy torch though, and while the magnet will support its own weight, I probably wouldn’t want to rely on it too much.
This is a very simple torch to use. You need to unlock it by rotating the dial left or right a quarter of a turn, but after that a press of the button turns the torch on and off. If the torch is off, after around 10 seconds it will lock itself again.
Holding the button cycles through the three main brightness levels: low at 50 lumens, medium at 300 lumens and high at 1,200 lumens.
A double tap, whether the torch is on or off, takes you straight into the 4,800 lumen turbo mode, while a triple click activates strobe mode.
Holding the button while the torch is off enters the 5 lumen moonlight mode. It’s not particularly dim for a moonlight mode, but I do find it useful if you just need a bit of light without disturbing someone. Olight claims an impressive 17 days of runtime in this mode.
You can also adjust the brightness by rotating the dial clockwise or anti-clockwise. It’s a very satisfying action and gives you near-stepless brightness control. For me, around 600 lumens is often plenty, and the torch remembers that exact setting even after you’ve turned it off.
I also like the clear display, which lets you quickly check the brightness level, battery status and lockout status at a glance.
If you’re not keen on the quarter-turn unlock, you can switch to a hold-to-unlock mode by holding down the power button while screwing the tailcap back on.
There’s also the usual auto shut-off timer, which can automatically switch the torch off after either three or nine minutes.
I very much see this torch as something to keep by your back door to grab when you go for a walk, or to keep in your car for emergencies. The holster that comes with it includes a mounting bracket that you can either screw in place or attach to a smooth surface using the included double-sided tape.
The holster incorporates a USB-C charging port and clips into the mounting bracket. So you could leave it permanently mounted and charging, meaning the torch is always fully charged and ready to go.
Pulling the torch out of the holster automatically unlocks it, while putting it back locks it again. You can even have the torch turned on whilst in the holster, allowing it to act as a sort of emergency lantern, although brightness is limited to 600 lumens.
Performance
Olight uses four cool white LEDs with a specified colour temperature of 5,700 to 7,000 Kelvin, similar to the Seeker 4 Pro.
Interestingly, they are not using their new in-house LEDs found in some of their other recent Ultra models, such as the Baton 4 Ultra and ArkPro Ultra, both of which I’ve reviewed recently.
I measured just over 6,500 Kelvin and was pleased to see a very neutral beam, especially in turbo mode where there is virtually no tint. At the lower brightness levels there is a slight green tint, although I didn’t find it particularly noticeable in use. As with almost every Olight torch I’ve tested, though, the CRI is fairly low at 71, so if colour accuracy is important, this probably isn’t the torch for you.
Next I measured the actual brightness of the torch in my calibrated lumen test chamber. In turbo mode, I measured just over 4,800 lumens at turn-on and just under 4,800 lumens after 30 seconds – pretty much exactly as specified by Olight.
The output then quickly drops to just over 1,000 lumens, where it remains for 150 minutes before dropping to around 600 lumens. Although Olight’s brightness claims are almost always very accurate, I can’t normally match their runtime claims, but in this case 150 minutes at over 1,000 lumens is exactly as specified.
Having a relatively compact torch that can run at over 1,000 lumens continuously for well over two hours is really impressive.
The head never gets too hot either – even repeatedly forcing it back into turbo mode, I never measured much above 50°C.
I think Olight has got the beam pattern just about right. It has an almost perfect flood beam for dog walking and general use, and I suspect this is the sort of beam pattern most people actually want if they are only going to own one torch. You get excellent visibility all around you, but because of the high brightness you still have plenty of range when needed, especially in turbo mode.
You can see in the garden shots that there is barely any hotspot, as it is essentially all flood. Measuring the range in my calibrated lumen test chamber, I confirmed Olight’s figures almost exactly, with a measured range of just under 260 m in turbo mode.
Conclusions
Overall, I think if I were recommending just one torch to somebody who isn’t a torch enthusiast, this would probably be it.
It’s a great all-rounder. It’s extremely bright, has an excellent beam pattern, offers long battery life and, thanks to the integrated USB-C port, is now much easier to charge.
For torch enthusiasts, it is perhaps a little disappointing that Olight are still using relatively low-CRI LEDs. Some people may also prefer a dual-beam design with both flood and spot LEDs. But for most people, I suspect this broad beam pattern is exactly what they want from a general-purpose torch.
Although I thought the Seeker 4 Pro was an excellent torch, I could never fully recommend it because of the lack of integrated USB-C charging. Now that Olight have finally addressed that, the Seeker Ultra becomes a very easy recommendation.
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!
Please consider using my link below if the review helped you make an informed decision. It really helps keep my YouTube channel and this website going – thank you!
Olight Seeker Ultra:
UK Store: https://uk.olight.com/s/IAEQBZ
US Store: https://www.olight.com/s/LXK5OV
(Currently reduced in Olight’s Summer Sale)
Discount code (save £10 when you spend £99 or more)：JUNE10
Discount code (save £15 when you spend £199 or more)：JUNE15
Amazon links:
Olight Seeker Ultra: https://geni.us/VCF7P4i
Leave a Reply