Illustration courtesy of Olympia Products.

We have used and reviewed a lot of flashlights over the years. For a compact flashlight, the Olympia RG850 is as good as it gets. After a week in the mountains, our test crew had nothing but good comments about it. The flashlight never faltered during their entire trip. They used it more than most folks due to the fact that they went out every night for several hours hunting for snakes. Yep, you heard right, Snakes. Our field crew also collect venomous snakes for a laboratory that produces anti-venom. As such, they spend hours in the dark in their quest and a reliable flashlight is essential.

As with most high-intensity flashlights on the market, the Olympia utilizes a CREE LED, but the comparison ends there. The RG850 features a Type III hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish over the aircraft-grade aluminum body. This provides a non-slip grip in hot or cold weather.

It gets better. The entire group of Olympia RG flashlights are ANSI FL-1 tested. This unit is waterproof to IPX-8, which means that it can be immersed in water up to a depth of 2 meters indefinitely and impact resistant to 1.5 meters. In other words, if you drop it while walking you are ok,unless you are seven feet tall, then there might be a problem, but I doubt it.

Features and Specifications

Waterproof IPX-8 to 2 meters

850 Lumens

5 light settings: High→Middle→Low→Strobe→SOS

5 Memory light settings: Automatically memorize last used setting/mode after being in any one of the five light settings for 3 seconds

Complies with ANSI FL 1 Standard

Beam distance: 389 Meters

Peak Beam Intensity: 12045 Candelas

Aircraft-grade aluminum with Type III anodized anti-abrasive finish

CREE-XML- U2 LED

Micro USB charging port

Compatible with: 2*CR123 (Lithium) or 1*18650 (Lithium) rechargeable (Li-ion) batteries

High performance metal smooth reflector

Reverse-polarity protection

Smart circuit for rechargeable batteries

Length: 5.7" (145.3 mm)

Diameter: 1.3" (34.1 mm)

Weight w/o batteries: 4.2 ozs (118.2 g)

Working Voltage Range: 3-9.2V

When the battery is nearly depleted, the flashlight will blink, giving you plenty of time to change out batteries. This is a nice feature, as most lithium units simply go dead without warning. To recharge, unscrew the head, plug in the included USB cable and wait. It takes approximately 8 hours to fully recharge the battery and when it is charged, the light on the unit will turn green.

In the opinion of our testers, the folks at Olympia thought about everything when they designed this unit. With an MSRP of $89.99, it is more than some of the other flashlights on the market, but none of them have all of the features and benefits of the RG850. Our field testers recommended this unit without any reservations. In fact, they kept my unit.