It’s that time of year again! The time of year where I treat myself to a new torch. This year I decided to go with the Olight Warrior 3s.

Last year I purchased it’s little brother, the Olight Warrior Mini. That flashlight is my favorite flashlight, it’s the perfect size and weight for a daily carry and has excellent controls which make every lighting mode easily accessible. The only improvements I would make to it would be a more beautiful light, as I prefer warm lights over cool.

So why buy something different? Mostly because I am spoiled. I do not need this flashlight, it’s a bit of an indulgence, but a small one.

I wanted to get something that is a little bit brighter and a little bit bigger for winter carry. I spend more time in the dark in winter and rely on a flashlight several times per day, I also usually have more pocket space.

I have brighter flashlights than the Warrior 3s but their controls are terrible. Flashlights need just 2 usable modes for. That is: moonlight and high. Sure medium is nice to have, but if I can’t access a mode with a simple and intuitive click I’m out, and that’s what’s so nice about the Olight warrior series. To use this light, half click the tail switch for high, full press for turbo. Hold down the side switch for moonlight, click again for medium. All modes are accessible without needing a flow chart.

The Warrior 3s tops out at a respectable 2300 lumens, while the Warrior Mini 3s pulls 1750. The Warrior 3s can stay in turbo for longer, and ramps down to a brighter level than the Warrior Mini 3s. These levels of light are what I would rate as adequate for most tasks, but that being said they definitely are not jaw dropping amounts of light. The brightest light I have is a Nitecore e4k, which does 4000 lumens and it’s actually too bright for most things. Once, I almost lit my pants on fire with it. Many don’t realize that these lights can be dangerous.

I considered buying a Fitorch p50 which tops out at 10,000 lumens but after watching a review on Youtube, I decided it’s click city. There are single clicks, double clicks, and yes even triple clicks to access different modes. Then there is even more clicking once you get into a mode to access options in that mode. It has cool light, warm light, colored light, and different brightness levels as well as strobe. There are too many clicks to just access high from normal.

While the Warrior 3 is a larger flashlight, it is still quite pocketable for men’s jeans and jackets, but not as compact as the Warrior Mini. It has a larger battery but worse battery life as a trade off for more lumens in every mode. Even the moonlight mode is a full lumen which is acceptable but just a skosh too bright for my tastes. I find a half lumen to be the holy grail of moonlight modes and that’s exactly how much the mini 3 outputs. Yet despite the shorter battery life, too bright moonlight mode and higher price tag, I still had to have one.

Overall I would say if you’re looking for the perfect flashlight the warrior 3 mini is the way to go but the warrior 3 is a nice companion flashlight that is great for winter carry.