I would like to share my experience of the Olight Freyr with anyone who is wondering whether or not to invest in it. TL;DR – if you can only afford to buy one torch, let it be the Freyr.
Before I discovered Olight, I did not know much about torches. I had a vague idea in the back of my mind of the importance of a good and reliable torch but never stopped to think that much about it. I work in the Emergency Services, and while a torch often comes in handy on a nightshift, I never thought I would invest £100+ in one.
One night, I saw a colleague use his Olight Warrior X Pro in front of me, and when I saw the throw and the brightness of the beam, I immediately thought – “I NEED ONE OF THESE!”. I started researching, and decided on an Olight Seeker 2 Pro, which was the torch offering the most lumens (apart from the Marauders). At this time, the Freyr hadn’t been released yet.
Then all I had to do is wait for the sale, and, luckily, they are fairly regular. I got my Olight Seeker 2 Pro for £90, which was about £50 cheaper than regular price. I had to get it in mint because I wasn’t fast enough and all the black ones were sold out, but that’s the thing with Olight – you snooze, you lose. They keep you on your toes.
I was mightily impressed – it arrived pretty much instantaneously, it was well packaged, and the build quality was impressive. It has a premium feeling to it – you make contact with the material and you know it is premium. It is the good stuff. I couldn’t wait to get it all charged up and try it.
It didn’t disappoint. I was shining it from the upper window into the back garden, and it literally flooded the garden with light. It was as if I went about 5 hours back in time and it was still daylight. I switched it on in the room and pointed it at the ceiling – it was as if the sun was shining directly in the room, you couldn’t tell it was night.
It packs some really handy features as well. The strobe is cool, and the battery indicator is very useful as you always know when it is time to charge. The moonlight mode is also great if you want to see but be discreet about it. All round great torch.
What I found out later was that it probably wasn’t the best choice for work. With Olight, it is good to ask for advice and tap into the community experience before choosing, and I didn’t do that. The Olight Seeker 2 Pro is very special and very useful, but what I needed was more throw and a more concentrated beam rather than floodlight all around me. The torch was still coming in handy, but I knew that there were others there which would have been more suitable for my needs. The Olight Seeker 2 Pro would be more suitable if I needed it for a different purpose, so I wasn’t doing it justice.
Then the Olight Freyr came out and I got it. The Freyr immediately solved my issue and became my main choice. While it loses 1450 lumens, it gains 110 metres in beam throw compared to the Seeker 2 Pro, and that was exactly what I needed. Let me give an example – imagine you have to look at the end of a dark alley. The Olight Seeker 2 Pro will light up everything around you, and you will get a really bright flood in the immediate vicinity. You will be able to see every detail around you, but what I usually find is that the focus is to the front, and not to the background. With the Olight Freyr, you just point and shoot, and the concentrated beam will show you exactly what you are looking for at pretty much any practical distance you might need.
It comes with a very handy traffic wand, which I haven’t had the opportunity to use yet, but I am sure one day it will be extremely useful for signalling or traffic management. I like the fact that it has the two buttons – one on the tail, and one at the side. It still has the strobe, and the lockout mode, and, of course, it is an RGB torch, so you can change the colour of the light to red, green, or blue. It is absolutely fascinating.
For my day-to-day work, I found I don’t need to carry the traffic wand constantly, so I keep it in my bag. This makes the case a bit big, but the good news is the Olight Freyr is a very snug fit in the case of the Olight Seeker 2 Pro, which is absolutely ideal. It also comes with a pocket clip if that works better for you. And finally, it has the thermal and proximity sensors which means you will have to try really really hard if you wanted to set your pocket on fire – you are thoroughly protected.
Now I use my Olight Freyr for work. I have only had it for about 6 months, but it has come in handy in more situations than I can count. Anyone who is working nightshifts and needs good visibility at long distances, I totally recommend it. Meanwhile, I have repurposed the Olight Seeker 2 Pro and use it at home, where it is very handy for absolutely any task that needs completed in the dark. It uses very simple tactics – just turns the night into a day.
In conclusion, while I love my Olight Seeker 2 Pro, I must say that the Freyr is the most versatile torch Olight have made so far. It is just the right size, lumens, throw, and the RGB mode and wand are just the bee’s knees. My advice to anyone who is planning to buy a torch is to join the Facebook Group – OLIGHT UK GROUP – and post what their circumstances are. The community is very helpful and experienced and will be able to answer all your questions and show you their torches and what they are capable of, so definitely worth trying. Or just drop Olight an e-mail, they are a really friendly bunch and will do their best to assist you.
