I’m a gear-head. While normally this would mean I love cars (which I do), in this instance it means I love new gear and equipment. Bags, packs, tools, lights, anything that makes my work or my life or my hobbies easier/more fun. On Black Friday I bought the O-Light M2R Pro Warrior flashlight on sale from Amazon, and it’s lived in my EDC bag since. I’ve used it for work while contracting overseas, and carried it through several countries now. I wanted to share my thoughts.
The M2R Pro Warrior is, at first glance, a well-built little hand-held flashlight. It is primarily available in black with blue trim, and I like this offering, though for a few more dollars you can have it in camo, desert tan, or OD green, and if you’re mounting it to a rifle (which is possible using optional accessories) you may rather have it in those colors. I intended to use it as a hand-held light, and I find the black with blue trim to be quite attractive. Various brightness modes are available through the use of the side button, with single presses activating the light and long holds cycling through the modes. Press the tail-cap switch, however, and the darkness is vanquished by all 1800 lumens offered by the M2R Pro. The side button has a memory feature, meaning that if you interrupt the dimmer light by activating the tail-cap switch, turn the light off, then use the side button again, you’ll return to the last-used mode.
The M2R Pro Warrior has an aggressive, crenellated bezel, perfect for defensive strikes. While I obviously would not want to rely on a flashlight as my primary defensive tool, it’s nice knowing that in a pinch, I can inflict some damage by grinding that sharp bezel into an attacker’s eyes or face. Attached to the flashlight body is an extremely stiff, heavy-duty clip that could be used to clip the light to a belt, a MOLLE vest, a backpack, etc, if for some reason you didn’t want to use the MOLLE-compatible sheath the light comes with. Power is provided by a rechargeable, 5000mAh battery.
Let’s talk briefly about recharging the M2R Pro. This is perhaps my favorite feature about the light, and probably the main reason I decided to give it a try. The tail-cap of the light is a magnet, and the USB charging cord included with the light is ALSO a magnet, meaning that connecting the light for charging is as simple as holding the magnet near the tail-cap. It firmly snaps into place, and a red/green LED built into the end of the cord indicates when charging has completed. It’s super convenient.
I’ve been carrying and working with this light for several months now. While I haven’t exactly been abusive to it, I do work long hours in a sandy, dusty, austere environment. I haven’t seen any failures, and I haven’t managed to run it out of batteries before I could get it back on the charger. I do want to note that the body of the light near the bezel can become a bit warm when the max brightness mode is on for even fairly short periods of time (think 5+ minutes), but I’ve used this light in max brightness for extended lengths, multiple times in the course of several hours, and have yet to have any problems with it. The light never gets so hot that it becomes uncomfortable to hold.
The O-Light M2R Pro Warrior has proven itself a capable light in my book. It has withstood the rigors of regular use in an austere environment, and I would be comfortable recommending it to anyone looking for a new EDC light, a vehicle flashlight, or for security/law enforcement work.
If you want to buy the M2R Pro Warrior, it’s available on Amazon, with Prime shipping, here: https://amzn.to/2Iv0ElJ
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