Olight OPen Glow: The Perfect EDC Pen Light?
In this video, I’ll be reviewing the new Olight OPen Glow. This is a unique EDC pen/light with some exciting features. The OPen glow has a unique soft light under the nib that illuminates the surface you’re writing on. It also has a 120-lumen light on the clip and a green laser. If you’re looking for a pen light that does it all, make sure you watch this video!
Get the Open Glow: https://www.olightstore.com.au/s/9X0LUK (Exclusive code: “DY10” for 10% off except X9R and products on sale.)
From 17-19th, buy an Open Glow OD Green, add $1, and get a free Open Mini OD Green: https://www.olightstore.com.au/s/03EK3L
Olight Official Homepage: https://www.olightstore.com.au/s/M1ME89
Log in and get a free Gober safety light!
The Olight Open Glow was provided to me as a sample for review. I have not been paid to create this video. All opinions are my own.
Olight O’Pen Glow: Video Transcript
General thoughts after a week of usage:
• Not only does the O’Pen Glow have a hidden green laser, but it also comes with a 120-lumen front-facing flashlight and an innovative and soft mini-ring light under the nib that allows you to write in the dark! I like how even the light is, free of artefacts.
• You also get a spare ink cartridge, charger with magnetic base, USB-C cable, and instruction manual.
Overall Construction, LED, lens, bezel, and reflector
• High quality, premium design with excellent machining, and anodizing. Everything is made of metal – which appears to be aluminum with type III anodizing. Triangular cut threads under the clip and head. The ink cartridge can be replaced by unscrewing the head of the pen. Weighted more towards the tail due to the battery. The pen weighs 38 grams.
• The main LED (5700K) is in the front-facing clip and comes with a soft diffuser – great intuitive position to put the light, and would have taken extra steps and engineering to implement this, running the wiring through the inner clip tube, rather than just putting it on the body. Unknown LED (5700K), but it has high surface brightness, uncomfortable to look at even at the lowest 5-lumen mode. 1mm2 die surface. Looks similar to those LEDs found on higher-end keychain lights. The LED under the pen nib is quite amazing as it is a warmer color (4000K), making it easy on the eyes, and is also soft/even with no artefacts. Olight state in the manual that the ‘pen tip adopts a soft light design: a certain amount of light loss exists’. The LASER is green (510-530nm) and rated at 0.39mW (Class 1). It is located on the end of the pen under a silvery colored lens. I wonder why it wasn’t left clear, or whether it’s a requirement to alter the light.
• Also comes with a 2-year warranty on the pen and charging base!
UI – modes
• Clip LED – front facing: high (double click), click + hold to cycle LMH. Holding the button turns on in ML mode, then cycles LMH. Lockout Mode (click and hold and 2 + seconds/Momentary mode. Under momentary/lockout mode no other functions are available.
• Nib LED – nib needs to be extended via bolt action first. Click to turn on/off, or retract nib.
• Green Laser on and off – hold up for one second on the bolt while the nib is retracted. No other lighting mode is available when the laser is on.
• You can disassemble the light and use the pen separately from the main light/laser. There is a little button near the gold contact points that you can hold to turn on the laser.
• Charging – simply insert the pen with the nib side down (retract the nib first). The internal charger ring will glow red for charging and green when charging is complete.
Performance – total output, beam profile, longevity, practicality
• CCT, CRI, Ceiling bounce test
• Rated at 120 lumens on high, stepping down to 60 lumens – light pattern is wide and diffused. Similar to the flashlight on a phone, but much more powerful. I wouldn’t say this is suited for self-defense, but the LED is very uncomfortable to look at, especially if you’re a few meters away.
| Olight O’Pen Glow | Measured with Opple Light Master Pro – figures based on switch on | |||
| Mode | Candela @1m | Throw (metres) | CRI (Ra) | CCT (K) |
| ML | 5 | 4.472135955 | No reading | No reading |
| Low | 11 | 6.633249581 | 70.8 | 5369 |
| Med | 27 | 10.39230485 | 68.5 | 5637 |
| High | 63 | 15.87450787 | 67.7 | 5770 |
Considerations
• Proprietary internal battery and charging system.
• Counterweight or additional battery would have been nice in the head of the light. Probably asking for too much though. And it does keep the overall weight down.
• Momentary mode is on moonlight only. Would be nice to be able to switch that to full brightness – reminiscent of tactical lights?
Verdict
• I’m impressed with the O’Pen Glow – it’s well thought out and you can tell that Olight has put in a lot of time and research to get all the little things right, as well as adding some innovative features. This pen could be used as your EDC light, or for me as a backup light that lives in my backpack’s pen slot. It’s incredibly bright for such a small light/LED. If you’re looking for an excellent quality all-in-one pen light, this could be the one for you. I’ve left a link in the description if you are interested in checking it out.
