REVIEW: Olight S1 Mini Baton HCRI

A few months ago we introduced you to the S1R Baton by Olight HERE. However, there is an even smaller version of the flashlight, the S1 Mini Baton, and mini it truly is! The flashlight comes in two versions - Cool White LED with 600 lumens and HCRI Cool White LED with 450 lumens. We opted for the latter. What that means and why, more on that later. But first, unpacking.Unpacked, the flashlight is securely mounted on a piece of cardboard. Behind it is the manual and accessories, a wrist strap and the charging cable.  Before the first switch on, the back must first be unscrewed and the yellow protective plastic removed so that the current can flow. Then screw back tightly, as this is the only way it remains watertight. To be precise, it is IPX8 certified and can therefore be submerged up to 2 meters deep without damage. Here is the battery, which is actually a 650mAh battery. In fact, there is a 16300 cell with a built-in charger under the cover, so it can be charged via micro-USB. But it is the same size as a regular CR123A battery. Therefore, the S1 Mini flashlight can also be operated with the regular battery. Here a regular CR123A battery next to the flashlight. It is evident that there is not much space to accommodate the lamp head and electronics. The flashlight weighs just 43 grams and is 54 millimeters long and 21 millimeters in diameter.To charge the battery, simply plug in a USB cable. There is an LED at the head that illuminates red during the charging process. When fully discharged, the charging process takes four hours to complete.Here is a list of how long the flashlight will last at each brightness level. It features a Cree Xm-L2 LED. What is missing from the list is the sixth mode the flashlight has, which is the Strobe mode, where the flashlight blinks quickly at maximum brightness. This mode is comparable in runtime to mode 1. Operating at the highest setting for an extended period of time will make the flashlight about 40 degrees warm. The operation of the flashlight is very well thought out and comprehensive. Everything is done via the push button on the top. This allows the flashlight to be turned on, off, locked, change brightness, and even activate a timer for three or nine minutes. When the flashlight is locked or the battery has less than ten percent charge, the button also lights up red. The included wrist strap can be threaded in easily with the help of a small metal wire through the clip. Be sure to keep this wire, as it is almost impossible to do without it. The pocket clip can be easily removed if needed.

The lamp head, here you can also see that the flashlight has 450 lumens. CCT stands for correlated color temperature, which is 5500 Kelvin for the HCRI model. The higher the value, the colder the light appears. CRI stands for Color Rendering Index, which is 90 here. Hence the name HCRI (High Color Rendering Index), as sunlight has a CRI of 100. All this ensures that colors under the light of the lamp are as close to nature as possible and minimally distorted. The lens is like a magnifying glass in the center and becomes milkier toward the outside.This creates a very pleasant light cone. The flashlight is generally designed for close and medium range. Here is a comparison of the brightness levels: 12, 50, 250, and 450 lumens. This is more than enough for our dark hallway of about 25 meters in length. Especially when considering that the flashlight can shine up to 100 meters. We find the pocket clip ingenious. It can be used for