Olight Baton 4 Pro: The Screen Is the Point
1,600 lumens and a 200 metre throw are the headline. The reason to actually buy it is a small display that tells you exactly how much light you have left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcL3U0L8GAQ
THE VERDICT
The display is what makes this flashlight worth the money. Every other pocket light asks you to guess how much battery you have; this one tells you the exact percentage and the level you're on, which turns a guess into a fact. 1,600 lumens is genuinely bright, the clip is far stronger than most, and IPX8 with a 1.5m drop rating means it can be treated as a tool. It's bigger and pricier than a keychain light, and the magnetic charger is one more thing to keep track of.
Every pocket flashlight has the same failure mode. You reach for it, and you have no idea whether it's charged. So either you top it up constantly out of paranoia, or you find out it's flat at the exact moment you need it.
The Olight Baton 4 Pro fixes that with a small display on the body. It shows the battery percentage and the brightness level you're on. That's the entire reason this light is worth its price, and it's the thing the spec sheet buries under the lumen count.
The display turns a guess into a fact
Hold the button for about a second and you cycle through moonlight, medium and high, with the display telling you which level you've landed on. On the left, it shows how much battery you have left.
Knowing exactly how much battery is left is the difference between carrying a tool and carrying a hope.
That sounds minor until you compare it to how every other light in this class works, which is a coloured LED that means green-ish, or nothing at all. Knowing you're at 40% before a night hike is actionable. Knowing the light is 'probably fine' is not.
1,600 lumens, and how to get at them
The controls are quick once you know them, and they're built around getting to full brightness fast.
1. Hold for about a second to cycle moonlight, medium and high.
2. Double-click from any level to jump straight to the full 1,600 lumens. This is the one worth memorising.
3. Triple-click for strobe.
Peak intensity is 10,000 candela and Olight rate the throw at 200 metres, which is a genuinely long reach for something this size. In a pitch black backyard before sunrise, high is more light than the situation usually needs, which is the right problem to have.
The clip is better than it sounds
This is a real, specific improvement over the keychain lights I carry, and it's the kind of thing you only learn by carrying something for weeks.
A weak pocket clip means the flashlight eventually ends up on the ground without you noticing. The clip on my RovyVon Aurora A3 G4, which is the light I reach for most often, works loose in a pocket and drops the light. The Baton 4 Pro's clip does not. It's strong enough that you can clip it to the bill of a hat and walk with it, which turns it into an improvised headlamp.
Olight Baton 4 Pro specs
Max output 1,600 lumens
Throw up to 200 metres
Peak intensity 10,000 candela
Brightness levels 5, plus strobe
Display battery percentage and current level
Battery 3,500mAh
Max runtime up to 100 days on the lowest level
Charging magnetic MCC, USB compatible
Water resistance IPX8
Drop rating 1.5m
Price around $70, discounted to about $56 during Prime Day
A note on the runtime figure: 100 days is the moonlight number, not a number you'll ever see at 1,600 lumens. Both are true, they just describe opposite ends of the same battery. Treat the headline as marketing and the display on the side as the truth.
The Stars and Stripes edition
The version reviewed here is the Stars and Stripes edition, an American flag finish released to line up with the country's 250th anniversary. The finish is genuinely well done, and the packaging opens like an Apple box. None of that changes what the flashlight does, so buy the finish you like and ignore anyone who tells you the colour is a feature.
What I liked
✦ The display. Exact battery percentage and the level you're on. No other light in my pocket does this, and I now want it on all of them.
✦ 1,600 lumens on a double-click, from any level. Fast access to full power is the thing you need in an actual emergency.
✦ The clip is genuinely strong. It stays where you put it, including on a hat brim.
✦ Magnetic charging just snaps on. No port to line up in the dark, no flap to prise open.
✦ IPX8 and a 1.5m drop rating. You can treat it as a tool rather than an ornament.
✦ 10,000 candela and a 200m throw is real reach for a pocket light.
What to know before you buy
✦ It's a pocket light, not a keychain light. If you want something you forget is on you, this isn't it; a sub-ounce keychain light is a different category and a different purchase.
✦ It costs roughly double a good keychain light. At about $70 against $33, the display and the throw are what you're paying for. If neither matters to you, the maths doesn't work.
✦ The magnetic charger is a thing you have to keep. It's fast and it's convenient, but it's one more proprietary part to lose, where a USB-C port takes the cable you already own.
✦ The 100 day runtime is a moonlight figure. Don't buy expecting it at high.
Should you buy the Olight Baton 4 Pro?
Buy it if you want to stop guessing
If you already carry a light and the thing that annoys you is never knowing how much charge is in it, this is the upgrade and the display alone justifies it. It's also the better choice if you want real throw, or if you've lost a light to a weak pocket clip before.
Stick with a keychain light if pocketability wins
For the small, boring jobs, phone down the car seat, dark stairs at 5am, a sub-ounce keychain light is still the one that's actually on you, and being on you beats being brighter. That's why the RovyVon is still my most-carried light despite being less than half as bright: it's the one I never take out of my pocket.