Playing kid brother to one of the biggest and brightest lights available, the SR91 is no slouch itself when it comes to bright ideas. Descending from a much heralded lineage, this torch definitely has a lot to live up to.

Olight SR91

Meat and Potatoes

While Olight designed the original SR90 to run at full-tilt, the SR91 takes a slightly more pragmatic approach to filling your illumination needs. Olight has reduced the high end output down from 2,200 lumens to still blindingly bright 1,500 in order to nearly triple the available runtime.

Utilizing the same 6-cell proprietary battery pack as its predecessor, the SR91 is a very large light. Its somewhat smaller head does well to reduce the apparent size and heft of the light, but it is still a heavyweight. There is no doubt that this is not going to be an every day carry type of model. It is very purpose built for the times when you need enormous quantities of light for extended periods of time and are willing to sacrifice some portability to get it.

Olight SR91

Thankfully these changes did little to reduce the tight focus of the beam. The large smooth reflector still projects a very tight spot from the enormous Luminous SST-90 LED. What a beautiful beam it is too. There are precious few lights that have decent looking beams without a textured reflector, but this one fits into that category. There aren’t any artifacts or imperfections worth mentioning in this beam. This is a good thing too, because thanks to that highly polished smooth reflector, this light remains what it was designed to be: an incredible thrower of a torch.

Polished Reflector

The user interface of the SR91 is identical to that of its predecessor. I smooth operating electronic switch on the barrel of the light. This is really the most logical choice since a tailcap switch on a light of this stature would turn it into one of the most ungainly creations imaginable. Olight has stayed the course, again providing a simple two speed interface. The light has just the simple “Bright” and “Really Bright” modes (and of course the obligatory strobe mode that is thankfully hidden away). It does memorize the last mode used, a feature that I generally count more as a liability than an asset, but with so few modes, it isn’t really a problem.

Constructive Criticism

The SR91 Intimidator comes with a very handy shoulder strap just like the original SR90 did. The difference between the two of them however is that on the SR90 the brass attachment brackets were very stable and immobile, but on the new version, they just freely rotated around the light as you moved it. It would still work very well for giving you a bit of a rest when carrying it around, but if you don’t have the strap attached, the brackets were incredibly annoying.

The Complete Package

As I mentioned when I reviewed the SR90, the best part of this torch in my opinion is the fact that it has absolutely no aspirations to be anything other than what it is. Because of this, I can find very little to critique. Sure, it could be smaller, but that would sacrifice power, longevity and tight beam focus. It could be lighter, at the expense of heat dissipation and durability. It could be brighter, but only if you bought the SR90 instead, along with its increases in size and heft. This light is what it is and is unapologetic about it. If you don’t like it, there is probably another light out there for you.

Conclusions

Even after trading off minor amounts of output for modest gains in portability and a significant runtime advantage, this light still presents itself as unpretentious and purpose driven. While not as completely “illumination overkill” as its predecessor, The SR91 still fits into that mold. When you need all the light you can muster, and size and weight are not to be trifled about, this is definitely one of the lights you reach for.

Olight SR91

Provided for the duration of the review by 4Sevens.com.