Olight has released an update to their flagship pistol mounted light and it is a substantial one. The Olight PL-Pro took all of the great features of the PL-2 Valkyrie, increased the output and added an internal rechargeable battery.
The Surefire X300-U is the market leader for pistol mounted weapon lights. I own several of them. The original PL-2 Valkyrie offered a great value to those who are not quite in the market for the Surefire. The PL-Pro may have actually taken a step past the X300-U.
Olight has increased the output of the PL-Pro to 1500 lumens compared to the PL-2’s claimed output of 1200 lumens. The programming of the light has also changed. Double-tapping either of the side switches will now drop the light into a 300 lumen low-power mode. This will extend your battery lift and makes the light useful for administrative tasks when not mounted to a weapon or for weapon mounted illumination in close quarters. The light will “remember” the last mode and continue to work in that mode until the switch is double-tapped again.
1500 lumens will drain batteries quickly and burn holes in gear bags if the user accidentally leaves the light on. To prevent this, Olight added a lockout mode. To enter the lockout mode, the user pushes and holds one of the side switches. Then while holding that switch, press and hold the other switch until the light shuts off. Now, pressing either switch will momentarily activate the light at an extremely-low power setting.
There are both positive and negative points to this type of programming. The positive is that if you are in a defensive situation and you have forgotten to unlock the light, you will still have enough light to identify and engage a close range target. The negative side of this programming is that if you are working in a profile where an accidental flash of a light could reveal your position or temporarily power down night vision devices, a complete lockout would be a better option.
The PL-Pro uses the same throw-lever mount system as the PL-2 and PL-Mini. The mount includes replacement lugs to accommodate either Glock or Picatinny specification cross-slots. The throw-lever mount works very well and I have not experienced any issues with the light working loose.
The convenience of the throw-lever is offset by its bulk. The PL-Pro will not fit in some of the closely molded Kydex holsters designed for the Surefire line of lights. A simple slotted cross-bolt might have been a better option. However, many holster manufacturers are making PL-Pro specific holsters.
I have discovered that most of my Safariland duty holsters will allow a weapon with the PL-Pro to holster with all retention mechanisms functioning just as they would with the Surefire X300-UA/B lights.
The PL-Pro allows for charging of the internal 900mAh battery while the light is mounted to a weapon. The PL-Pro uses a very convenient magnetic charging adapter. This charging adapter is exactly the same as the one included in the Warrior-X handheld light and many of Olight’s other offerings. Unfortunately it is NOT the same as the magnetic adapter for the PL-Mini. The polarity is reversed on that light and the chargers are designed so that they will not attach.
The magnetic charging adapter offers a number of advantages over traditional charging options such as a USB port. The cable can be quickly attached by feel in total darkness. This is advantageous for those of us who come home late and don’t want to wake up a spouse with the bedroom lights. The cable will also break-away in a hurry without damage if you have to grab your weapon to investigate a bump in the night.
The magnetic charging port has one other advantage over the PL-2. The PL-Pro also uses the port to connect to a remote pressure pad. This is an optional accessory that turns the PL-Pro into a versitile carbine mounted option. Carbine mounting is possibly without any extra accessories, but the pressure pad increases the mounting options available and comes with a rail mount attachment.
The magnetic attachment for the pressure pad is low-profile and will not bump off easily. No programming changes are required on the PL-Pro. If the pressure pad does become disconnected, the PL-Pro will still function normally. The pressure pad will turn the light on in high-power momentary mode with a long-press. A tap and release on the pad will turn the light on in a high-power constant-on mode. If the PL-Pro was set in low-power by a double-tap of on of the the onboard switches, the pressure pad will override that and turn the light on in high-power mode. This makes sense since presumably you would only be using the pressure pad on a long-gun and you would desire the maximum output of the PL-Pro.
Overall the Olight PL-Pro is a surprising value when compared to other weapon light options available. We only have limited live-fire time with the light so far, but I anticipate that this will be the best option in this price point for budget minded lighting tools. There are small drawbacks such as the non-replaceable battery and the bulky throw lever, but the utility and the charger design more then makes up for that.
So, I assume that the light is a throw away item once you have depleted the charge cycle lifespan? That is not so attractive unless that lifespan is 10,000 cycles or so.
From Olight: Warranty is 2 years for rechargeable weaponlights.
Charge cycle is 500 times.