Oh, just to see in the dark!  

By Brendan Jones  

The Oclip Pro from Olight is a new light that crams a ton of functionality and versatility into a small package. Its multiple different dedicated LEDs, along with various modes of attachment, mean it’s well suited for all manner of outdoor pursuits, but its potential uses are limited only by your imagination. 

Description  

The Oclip Pro’s body is made from 6061 aluminium that is hard anodised in a range of colours. The main body of the light is a rounded rectangle, and the review specimen measured 25mm wide, 57mm long and 15mm deep, not including clip or bezels. The clip for which the device is named, runs the full width of the back, opens to 14mm, and has a rubberised lip and pad on the inside. The bottom end of the clip contains a magnet, and a 5mm lanyard hole. On the front, a rounded square bezel protrudes about 4mm, reminiscent of a smart phone camera bump, that houses the three LEDs behind a glass lens. On one side of the torch is the round power button for turning the light off and on and selecting power intensity, which ranges from 500 to 1 lumen. The button has a small charge indicator light in the centre of it. There is also a switch that rotates around the button that selects flood, spot and red modes. On the opposite side to the power button is a hinged flip down door that hides the USB-C charging port. The torch weighed in just a fraction less than 53 grams. 

Testing  

Initial impressions of the Oclip Pro were good, thanks to a premium unboxing experience along with quality construction and finish. The torch came partially charged and took a short amount of time to reach full via the USB-C port with supplied cable. From flat, the 580mAh Li-ion battery takes 90 minutes to charge. The clip was strong (claimed good for 10,000+ open/closes), with the rubberised inner lining allowing for reliable clamping on smooth surfaces. The magnet in the clip held the torch flat or upside down to a metallic surface securely. 

The button menu/method to control the modes proved refreshingly simple due to the addition of a dedicated mode switch. There are three positions, 10, 12 and 2 o’clock, that selects for flood, spot and red. There is a positive click when any of those positions is reached and has enough retention to make being bumped out unlikely. Once an LED is selected via the switch, the button is used to select power modes within that. 

Thanks to dedicated reflectors, all three beams are ‘clean’, free of the lines and rings often produced when multiple emitters share the same reflector and lens. Both white LEDs have three main levels of brightness, with varying runtimes. A double press enables a turbo mode, which is the maximum brightness of 500 lumen, that becomes unavailable at lower battery capacities. A single lumen moonlight mode, which will last for six days (144hrs) on a full charge, is also an option in white, making a total of five levels. In red, two intensity levels of 40 and four lumens are available, with a run time of four and 29 hours, respectively. A range of beacons and strobes are also available beyond the general illumination settings, and a button hold over two seconds while off will result in the light being travel locked to protect accidental activation. 

Hunting  

This torch was initially purchased solely as a red light for thermal hunting. Having to cycle through complicated button press sequences to get to red, in my experience, is sub-optimal when trying to sneak up on a mob of pigs in the dark, as an errant button press can blow the whole hunt by blasting out the light of 1000 suns in the pitch black. As soon as I saw the dedicated mode switch, I was sold. 

I initially began clipping the torch in between my shirt buttons, top of a shirt pocket, or on the headband of my primary large white headlight adjacent to the main torch. This worked acceptably, with the lower lumen red mode great in the car checking a map or reloading a magazine, and the brighter best for walking around. But very quickly I became fascinated by how such a tiny torch could produce so much white light. The spot mode is claimed to reach 120m on turbo but exactly what those distances from torch manufacturers mean is always hard to know. However, in testing it became apparent I could spot and observe not just eyeshine, but animals and birds out to 100m and beyond. The flood mode also gave ample light at all ranges of brightness for all kinds of tasks, including illumination for taking pictures of dead pigs. Could this tiny EDC clip light replace my large, heavy, bulky, focusable headlight that had a battery pack on the back? Surely not. 

I felt naked the first time in more than a decade I left the big light in the backpack, spun a cap around backwards like a cool kid, and clipped the Oclip Pro upside-down in the hat band. But it worked, almost perfectly. The only issue was it pointed out too straight, so I had to tilt my head down a few degrees to light up the terrain in front me while I walked. During the next few months, I tried one of my wife’s hair bands, a sports sweat band, and a head band cannibalised from a different headlight. All worked suitably, but still the angle was off – but not enough to go back. While it didn’t have the long-range reach and size of spot at the distance of my old torches (I’d had multiple iterations of the same model over that decade), it was plenty for when white was needed in what was now primarily a thermal endeavour. And the reduced weight and bulk was liberating. 

I kept the old headtorch in the bag for a few weeks as a safety blanket; letting go is hard sometimes. But now it gathers dust at home. The colour-coded battery indicator light and the fact you lose brightness modes progressively means you’ll never get surprised by the torch dying. Additionally, the rapid charging via USB-C for a quick top up gives added peace of mind for battery anxiety over such a tiny package. Light rain has proved no issues for the Olight Pro, which is claimed to be IPX6 even with the charge door open. 

Everything else  

What surprised me even more than the Oclip Pro’s versatility in the field, is its versatility everywhere else. It quickly earned a home on the fridge, which has helped make it a go-to item. Having spot, flood and red, with a myriad of mounting options and easy USB-C charging, has led to it being used a lot.  

Power outages, fixing the car, dogs alerting, reading, kid’s shadow shows, blanket fort lighting, supplementary light for photography and evening walks are some of the more mundane day-to-day uses beyond hunting/camping/fishing scenarios. Between writing this and publication, I will have undoubtedly found even more things to use it for. It has also quickly become a go-to present for friends and family.  

The only improvement I would suggest for the light itself would be an additional magnet in the base so it could also be attached at a right angle as well as flat. A dedicated head strap accessory with a way of attachment that allowed for adjusting the angle, or even just a fixed downward incline, would make this truly a one-light-fits-all scenario. 

Pricing, availability and alternatives 

The Oclip Pro has an RRP of $59.95 and is most easily sourced through the Olight Australia website or Amazon. While many gun shops and shooting retailers stock Olight products, at the time of writing it didn’t seem like many were offering the Oclip Pro.   

The popularity of the Oclip Pro has seen the family grow beyond the ever-increasing colour schemes, now offering feature variations as well. ‘Oclip Ultra’ sells for $76.95, with a stronger alloy body, a 6 per cent lumen bump in turbo from the same battery, with the main functional difference being a UV emitter (365nm) instead of the red LED. The ‘Oclip Pro S’ retains the white flood beam, but replaces the spot with a UV emitter and red LED with a tri-colour RGB LED. And there is the original Oclip, a smaller, lighter and less feature-rich product retailing for $45.95. Recently, Olight introduced the Oclip 2 series. While some of these spin off products offer interesting capabilities in niche scenarios, the standard Oclip Pro in my opinion is the best suited for Australian outdoor enthusiasts. 

Olight did eventually release a dedicated head-strap compatible with the whole Oclip family, and while the strap worked fine when tested, I had already become too accustomed to clipping it to headwear to change. It retails for $11.95, but promotions often allow it to be bundled with ‘Oclip family’ purchases for as low as $1. Speaking of promotions, Olight Australia runs regular sales and discounts, as well as incentives for new customers. As such most of the items featured in this review were purchased below RRP. They also offer a lifetime warranty on torches when purchased from the Olight Australia website. 

Conclusion  

Rarely do I buy something and get surprised in a good way, and equally rare is buying something for hunting that has much use beyond that sphere. For me, the Oclip Pro was that double rare event. Because two is one and one is none, especially when a three-year-old figures out how to use a step ladder to claim it from the fridge, I now have a growing collection of Oclip Pros. If you can think of a use for a tiny yet powerful, magnetised and clip-able utility light with three different dedicated LEDs, the Olight Oclip Pro could be the torch for you. I guarantee you’ll find many more uses beyond that initial idea. But be warned, they have a tendency to multiply like a Mogwai at a waterpark. 

All products in this review were purchased by the author.