Olight "Baton 4 Pro" Review: A Flashlight That's Built for Dependable, Everyday Carry
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OLIGHT reached out to provide me with this flashlight free for the purpose of review, but my opinions are my own.
There’s a certain point where flashlights stop being "just a flashlight" and start becoming part of someone's everyday carry rotation. The kind of thing that lives in a pocket, backpack, glove box, or toolkit because it consistently proves its usefulness in daily life.
That's the territory the new Olight Baton 4 Pro is aiming for.
Released alongside the more premium Baton 4 Ultra during Olight's recent product launch cycle last month on April 15th, the Baton 4 Pro sits in an interesting middle ground: it's compact enough to disappear into a pocket, powerful enough to handle far more than simple household use, and refined in ways that make it feel like a genuine evolution of Olight's long-running Baton lineup.
The packaging of the Baton reminds me of Apple's devices
Flashlight enthusiasts will absolutely compare this torch against the Baton Ultra, particularly because many influencers were sent both of them prior to the official launch of the two flashlights.
As well, most average people looking for a practical EDC light will probably end up deciding between these two models too; due to their similarities more so than their differences.
The Baton Ultra costs $20 more, and while it does offer meaningful upgrades, the Baton 4 Pro may honestly be the better balance for many users depending on what they actually want from an everyday flashlight.
A quick look at the OLIGHT brand
OLIGHT has been around since 2007, so they have not only 19 years under their belt, but on their belt (oof). Photo credit: Olight.com — OLIGHT ArkPro
OLIGHT is one of the few flashlight brands that successfully crossed over from enthusiast communities into mainstream carry culture. You'll see Olights clipped into work pants, attached to plate carriers, sitting inside carefully curated EDC pocket dumps on Instagram, and riding alongside folding knives and multitools in people's daily carry setups.
Part of that comes down to their accessibility: the products Olight makes are easy to use, rechargeable, compact, and visually polished in a way many enthusiast-oriented flashlight brands simply are not.
As a full stack web developer that started off with web design, I can tell you right now: prettier things become more popular than uglier alternatives. It's psychology — something that's hard to help as humans.
The Baton series in particular has been one of Olight's cornerstone lines for years. Historically, Baton torches have focused on compact dimensions paired with surprisingly high output, often becoming the "default recommendation" for people wanting a powerful, rechargeable EDC flashlight without jumping into tactical-enthusiast territory, where prices tend to skyrocket.
The Baton 4 Pro? It continues that formula, but this generation is noticeably more mature than the previous.
The Baton 4 Pro is a hybrid of EDC and tactical reliability
One of the biggest changes with the Baton 4 Pro is the addition of a rear tail switch alongside the traditional side switch.
The rear tail switch + USB-C charging port (IPX8 waterproof even when exposed)
It changes the functionality, and the personality, of the light in a meaningful way.
Older Baton models leaned heavily toward casual utility use. The Baton 4 Pro starts drifting into tactical territory without fully becoming a tactical flashlight.
The rear switch gives quick access to higher output modes (high and turbo), while the side switch handles the UI and brightness level adjustments, which are:
- Moonlight: 1 lumen (100+ hours runtime)
- Low: 40 lm (~30 hours)
- Medium: 250 lm (~6.5 hours)
- High: 900 lm (~2.5 hours)
- Turbo: 1600 lm (~1.5 hours)
- With 200+ meters of light throw (650+ feet)
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1600 lumens in a compact body is impressive
On paper, lumen numbers can start sounding meaningless because every flashlight company races to advertise bigger figures. In practical use, 1600 lumens from something this compact is genuinely impressive.
The Baton 4 Pro uses a rechargeable 3500mAh 18650 battery and pushes enough light to comfortably illuminate large outdoor areas, trails, garages, attics, campsites, and dark rooms with ease.
The 18650 battery OLIGHT uses is proprietary, so no device-swapping unless they're OLIGHT devices
Olight rates the beam distance at up to 200 meters (650+ feet) with approximately 10,000 candela; compared to the Baton Ultra, the Baton 4 Pro is more "floody," while the Ultra leans more toward being a bright spotlight.
So for EDC, I would lean more toward the Pro than the Ultra, as you get to see more feathering around the edges of your torch, creating a more pleasant-looking environment to the eye.
Some high-output flashlights become overly "throwy," concentrating light into a narrow hotspot that works great for distance and for blinding people when needed, but less well for general-purpose use.
You can use the flashlight indoors without the beam feeling awkwardly concentrated, but it still has enough reach outdoors to feel substantially more capable than your basic run-of-the-mill utility flashlight.
With its runtime, the Baton 4 Pro doesn't feel like a chore to charge
The inclusion of dual charging methods is great.
The Baton 4 Pro supports Olight’s magnetic charging system (MCC), which longtime users will already recognize with previous models, but this torch also includes USB-C charging hidden beneath the tail section (pictured above in another section).
This is an important addition, because magnetic charging is a bit slower — it'll take around 3.5–4.5 hours from dead. With USB-C? Just under 3 hours.
For years, one criticism frequently directed at Olight was their reliance on proprietary charging systems: the magnetic charging is convenient, but USB-C has become the standard for nearly everything people carry daily.
It's one less cable to carry around or to think about when packing for travel or camp.
That means you can use the magnetic charger at home while still being able to plug the light directly into a USB-C cable while traveling, sitting at your desk, or when using a power bank.
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It's worth mentioning that charging batteries slower is better, technically. Slower charging prolongs battery life, whereas rapid charging can degrade a battery more over time.
For this flashlight, I'm not sure how much it'll matter in the longrun.
Moonlight mode is actually useful
Moonlight mode deserves special mention because it's one of those features people end up appreciating over time, when they realize its usefulness.
Don't want to blind yourself going to the toilet at night? The flashlight comes with a magnetic L-bracket you can mount, where ever you want, and the 100-day runtime means you don't even have to touch it at all. For 100 days. Whew.
The ultra-low output mode is incredibly useful late at night when you need light without destroying your night vision or waking everyone else in the room.
The Baton 4 has a robust build quality
Regardless of where someone stands on flashlight brand debates (I'm personally indifferent), Olight delivers a very polished physical construction.
The Baton 4 Pro uses a 6061 aluminum body with premium anodization and non-slip grip texturing. In hand, that translates into a torch that feels dense, solid, and intentionally designed rather than disposable or something you'd want or need to upgrade.
The grip pattern is particularly noticeable because it combines shallow grooves with deeper cut sections that help maintain grip without turning the body into something overly aggressive in-pocket.
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Don't get me wrong — with a pair of heavyweight denim the knurling will take off the indigo and even potentially fray the outside of the material.
As briefly mentioned, the Baton 4 Pro also carries an IPX8 water resistance rating (so you can use it directly inside of water if you want) and an impact resistance around 1.5 meters (~5 feet).
Realistically, the impact resistance is much greater than that. There's at least one video on YouTube where someone did a torture test, and these things truly hold up to a beating.
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The Baton 4 Pro has a glass lens; here's a comparison to my bike light's plastic lens
EDC is more about convenience than survival
A lot of everyday-carry marketing tends to drift into fantasy, apocalyptic scenarios. The reality is that most people use their flashlights for mundane things:
- Walking the dog at night
- Looking for your cat outside, at night
- Looking behind furniture (even during the day)
- Navigating dark parking lots as a woman (I'm joking, but be careful)
- Working on vehicles in your garage or driveway
- Taking out trash at night if you're in the ghetto and have no lights on your house
- Power outages, finding dropped items (catching the glare)
- Camping, travel (especially in random alleyways, at night)
That's where the Baton 4 Pro makes the most sense: basically everywhere, all the time.
It's lightweight enough to carry consistently at 114 grams (4 oz), powerful enough to feel impressive every time you use it, and refined enough that it doesn't feel like a compromise in gear. It's premium, at a not-so-premium price.
The best everyday carry gear usually isn't the most extreme; it's the gear you keep using months later, sometimes forgetting to be grateful for having it because it just becomes a part of your natural, daily life.
My final thoughts
Because I've yapped so much about a flashlight already, let's wrap things up.
The Baton 4 Pro feels like Olight refining a formula they already understood well. Instead of chasing specs alone, this torch improves your actual ownership experience with its:
- intuitive controls; dual charging options; practical floodlight-like beam characteristics; long runtime; excellent military-grade construction; compact carry dimensions; and its modernized ergonomics.
The Baton Ultra may steal some attention with its premium materials and stronger performance figures — and for some enthusiasts that absolutely will justify the extra cost.
But the Baton 4 Pro? It arguably lands in the sweeter spot for most people in my opinion.
It's a practical flashlight that isn't boring, it's powerful without being oversized, and premium-feeling without becoming inaccessible at its price point.
What flashlight are you carrying the most?
Discussion in the ATmosphere