OLIGHT IMINI 2 Keychain Flashlight Review
I have a whole bunch of OLight flashlights but some years ago some clown on their website made fun of something I said. That’s fine, but what wasn’t okay was that an employee of Olight jumped on me as well. I quit collecting flashlights at that point. Anyway, I guess I have gotten over that with the purchase of the OLIGHT IMINI 2. ($11.99 Black Friday Deal). I got two of them.
What really predicated this purchase was that my wife and I went to a bonfire cookout and it was pretty much in the woods in a dark but wonderful place. Navigating to the fire was a bit scary because of tree roots and slippery wet leaves.
Walking up to the truck to get a proper flashlight I kind of wondered if I could find an Every Day Carry (EDC) keychain flashlight for just such situations. Much as it made me make a cringy face because it was from Olight, it looked very cool.
Features
- Small
- 50 Lumen output LED
- USB rechargeable
- USB protective boot
- Keychain clip
- Light separates from base and illuminates. No switches or impossible to find buttons.
- Charging indicator – more on that next
Charging Indicator
Green means charged, Red means charging. Simple, right? I plugged both lights I purchased into a portable power supply and I couldn’t see the lights at all. Then I plugged them into an AC outlet that had 2 USB A charging ports. I still couldn’t see the lights. So at this point I’m not sure whether the lights are charging, or already fully charged.
So I ran upstairs and grabbed my Drok USB tester and it got the IMINI 2 a bit more out in the open and then i could see the lights.
Drok USB Tester Showing Charge State (click pic to enlarge)
Any you can clearly see the Orange IMINI 2 in a charged state and the Dream Blue IMINI 2 in a charging state. Voltage was around 5 vdc and a little less than 0.1 Amps.
Oh, and when I went and plugged it into the USB outlet in my Toyota Tacoma I was able to see charging lights. Not sure why I didn’t see them on the portable power supply or AC outlet. Probably some kind of current detection circuit that didn’t sense the tiny current draw. Anyway, it worked in the truck and that is great because that is where it will always get charged.
Operation
Pull the light away from the base and it comes on. Slap it back in the magnetic base and it turns off. The magnets are pretty strong as well. If you are close and fumble around you probably won’t drop it.
Brightness
50 Lumen LED. It won’t light up your backyard or blind your dog but it will stop you from tripping over tree roots and slipping on wet leaves. Or it’ll help you find that thing you dropped between your seats in the car.
USB
The Olight IMINI 2 comes with two silicone covers to protect the USB while charging .
Protective Cover Over USB Connector (click pic to enlarge)
I have a feeling the rubber cover will get lost and I also have a feeling the spare rubber cover will end up somewhere that you won’t remember where you put it. I think it would be cool to have some kind of a retaining strap or cord or something.
Wrap Up
If you need an EDC keychain light, this the one. Also $11.99 is a cool price but I don’t think I would have paid more than that for one, much less two. If you can catch them at that price or better I’d say to go for it. Your mileage may vary.
I hope they have improved their decorum on their forum (I’m a poet and I didn’t know it) but I won’t be the one to look.
And lastly, my wife was pretty happy that I got it for her. Always thinking about safety for my baby.