REVIEW – It’s never a bad idea to have a flashlight in your EDC kit, and the Olight I5T Pebble Plus Flashlight is volunteering for duty. It’s pretty, but does it do the job? Let’s find out. To the review!
What is it?
The The Olight I5T Plus Pebble is an LED flashlight for your EDC gear collection.
What’s in the box?
You’ll get the Olight I5T Plus Pebble with 2 AA alkaline batteries.
Hardware specs
- 5.71″ long by 0.7″ wide
- 3.14 ounces including batteries
- Compatible with rechargeable batteries
- Available in 4 colors
- Selectable brightness (550 lumens or 15 lumens)
- Three available LED color temperatures: cool white (5700-6700k), neutral white (4000-5000k, or warm white (2700-3700k). My test model is the neutral white.
- IPX8 water resistance
- Impact resistant to 1.5 meter drops
- 87 meter maximum range
- Up to 54 hours of battery life at the low setting
Design and features
The official description of the Olight I5T Plus Pebble Flashlight uses the term “stylish” quite often. I think is an attempt to separate it from tactical-style EDC flashlights. And it does meet that criteria. It looks just fine and is available in four colors: blue (shown here), orange, black, and green.
I believe the build is aluminum and features a pebbled texture on the barrel. I’ll let you decide if it is “stylish,” but the texture does help by adding a no-slip grip.
The Olight I5T Plus Pebble has some EDC-worthy functionality. The two-way clip allows you to clip it to your bag or on your bag multiple ways and adds a drilled hole to attach it to a lanyard. The flashlight is rated for IPX8 water resistance which means it can be submerged, and it has an impact drop rating of 1.5 meters. Not exactly mil-spec, but still durable enough to carry around for day-to-day usability.
The overall length is just under 6 inches, which is nice for handling… much better than those stubby EDC flashlights that disappear in your hand. It also weighs just over 3 ounces including the two required AA batteries.
Your business end is an LED light that has two brightness modes. Note that there are three different LED color temperatures to choose from. My test model is the middle of the road neutral white (4000-5000k).
The light is activated by pressing the button on the opposite end of the barrel.
The button is big, rubberized and has a knobby texture with good tactile feel when you’re clicking away. Operating this light with gloves on won’t be a problem.
The Olight I5T Plus Pebble Flashlight offers two brightness levels. Click the button once and you’ll get the low level (15 lumens) brightness.
Click the button twice again in rapid succession and you’ll get the high level (550 lumens) brightness.
Here’s another look at the difference, coming from my upstairs hallway. This is the low level brightness (kinda looks like I’m on one of those ghost hunter shows, doesn’t it?).
Now check out the high level brightness. Big difference there. The manufacturer claims that the max level has a range of 87 meters.
Olight states that the Olight I5T Plus Pebble flashlight will go for up to 54 hours of continuous use at the lower brightness level. High level won’t last nearly as long. You’ll get 3 minutes at 550 lumens, then it drops to 300 lumens for 30 minutes, then 55 lumens for up to 130 minutes. That’s under continuous use, though.
I do like the ability to switch between low/high modes, and that the flashlight defaults to a low brightness setting with the option to crank it up. This makes it a bit more usable in my mind.
What I like
- Lightweight & comfortable
- Easy to handle with wet hands or gloves
- Maybe not mil-spec, but durable enough for everyday use
- 2 brightness levels
What needs to be improved
- A built-in rechargeable battery would be nice
Final thoughts
I think the Olight I5T Plus Pebble Flashlight makes for a solid addition to your EDC kit. It’s comfortable to handle, has some reasonable durability/waterproofing, and has good life on a pair of batteries. I dunno that I’d call it “stylish,” but it looks good and doesn’t have that tactical vibe. It does the job.
Price: $39.95
Where to buy: Olight
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Olight.
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If for going to do a review then KNOW your talking about and skip all that lazy “I believe it made of aluminum” BS. To anyone reading this, it’s listed as “Aluminum Alloy” by the manufacturer. Which is DIFFERENT than “Aluminum.” Also your asking a little much, talking about a “built in” rechargeable battery set to be included for a msrp of $40! Find me another reputable company that sells a light with similar specs and warranty that includes 2 rechargeable batteries with it for $40…. no seriously, go ahead…. I’ll wait. You can’t, because it’s not the “norm” or the standard. It’s akin to saying “I’d like a Ferrari to be included with my Frosted Flakes.” So talking like it is the standard takes your credibility away in an instant to people who read this that actually know reality in this market sect and an unrealistic standard is being imparted onto people who don’t know. Tbh, that’s an injustice to people who don’t know any better and rely on this type of content to inform themselves. Speaking of credibility/expertise, no one wants a “built in” battery in a flashlight! It makes it unusable when the battery goes dead and not being able to swap in new batteries is a huge turn off across board for a plethora of reasons that i won’t go into here. Now if you meant “included” vs “built in” that’s a different phrase with a different meaning. If that’s the case I’ll refer you back to the beginning of this comment. AND……….after all that dribble, you didn’t even advise your readers that batteries are included in the package beyond bullet pointing! Lastly, you didn’t even mention the battery types it can use, the benefits of that fact and you missed comparing it to its predecessors. Durability? IP rating? (Again, bullet point no comparison or definition.) Do you even know what IPX8 means and how it differs from, say, IP54?) This is info readers could find valuable, so they KNOW what they are getting for their money. You know, the reason why people actually read this type of content! Does it get hot during continuous use? Etc etc etc. The “review” is severely lacking…I read a ton of these type things to kill time and this is the worst one I’ve read in years. Sorry guy, but this is not a review…. this is you opening a box, taking a few pictures, fiddling with the light for maybe a half hour and glancing at the info on the box for the write up. You couldn’t even be bothered to look up the material for Christ sake.
Hi there!
It would seem that I lack the extensive technical credentials and journalistic credibility you like to see in your flashlight reviews. This has made you angry, and that’s unfortunate.
A few points:
– Thanks for the catch on the material. I truly did look for it in multiple places. I’ll update the article appropriately.
– Rechargeable affordable flashlights are a real thing. I have one in my garage that I tested here in 2018 that continues to work like a champ. It’s cool if you don’t like them, but that sorcery exists.
– You may have been too twisted up about the battery thing to read that part of the article where I addressed the waterproofing. Go ahead and re-read it for yourself if you like (I’ll wait).
– Having a history with this company and the ongoing evolution of their flashlight products was not a requirement for doing the review, so it would be hard for me to comment on that.
– You seem to have taken my comments personally as an attack on the flashlight. You are aware that I gave the product a positive review, right? We always attempt to provide balance in our reviews to help the buyer make an informed decision.
Here’s the thing: we’re not perfect. Each of us here at The Gadgeteer attempts to provide a unique, real-world perspective on the products we review. Sometimes we miss things. Sometimes we take different approaches. But is is never our intention to mislead our readers.
Feedback is essential to making what we do better. But angry, rambling commentary based on false assumptions is not particularly useful. That’s just trolling.
I hope you can find reviews that better meet your criteria. Good luck, and thanks for the feedback!
How can I buy online please?
A product of which country please?
Thank you.
See “Where to buy” at the end of the article for a link to the manufacturer’s web site!
“What needs to be improved: A built-in rechargeable battery would be nice”
Personally I would see that as a bad thing as I like NiMh AA/AAA flashlight over anything else as re-chargeable lithium etc just ain’t worth it overall and NiMh is reliable and easy to replace with high quality battery replacements should they go bad (which unless you use it heavily will easily last years per battery) and you always have the option of using standard AA/AAA Alkaline, which can be bought just about anywhere, in a emergency.
I have a Olight I3T (single AAA powered flashlight (I use Eneloop 800mAh NiMh AAA)) and, unless someone needs longer runtimes on the bright setting (as it’s only listed for 21 minute runtime on bright setting (180 lumens) but 16hrs on the low setting(5 lumens)) I think it’s overall better than the I5T(single AA powered)/I5T Plus(two AA powered) due to it’s more compact size and it’s cheaper at $20 vs $30(I5T) or $40(I5T Plus) for the one in this review and for more casual usage the I3T on the low setting is enough to see where you are going in the dark but if you want any decent brightness at a distance (like to really light up something) you got to use the bright setting and unless you need to run the full bright setting any length of time, even that 21 minutes at full brightness can last for a while when only using it occasionally for a minute or two here and there. but using the low setting it’s going to last a rather long time as 16hrs is a lot, especially for only a single AAA battery.
so I guess it depends on ones usage, but anyone who needs longer runtimes on the higher brightness levels then the I3T will fall a bit short (i.e. I5T/I5T Plus are clearly better). but even then, I might suggest the cheaper Olight I3E which is a twist on and off with only one brightness setting which is plenty bright (90 lumens) for up close and moderate distance and lasts about 45min on Alkaline and about 1hr10min (call it about 1hr) on NiMh. I suspect many casual people will like this as it goes on ones key chain and you definitely won’t have to worry about lack of brightness for seeing anything at close to moderate distance. only slight negative if if you wanted to turn it on and wanted a lower brightness setting, it lacks here since it’s all (90lumens) or nothing. my mom uses a Olight I3E and likes it since it’s simple on/off and is bright as I think she would find the I3T etc a bit confusing to use with the two click stuff as she likes super simple.