In this review guide, let's take a look at the Olight BALDR Mini red or green laser.
This is a powerful 600-lumen LED compact size light that comes with a green or red laser, a step up from the Olight Valkyrie Mini 2 for compact and full-size handguns.
We will check out Olight BALDR Mini's core specs, beam pattern, laser-quality, control ergonomics, compatibility, and battery performance.
So let's check out what's new.
Olight BALDR Mini Core Specs
- Beam Distance: 130 meters
- Max. Performance: 600 lumens
- Candela: 4225 cd
- Laser: Class 3R, 5mW Green Laser or Red
- Charge type: Magnetic USB charge base
- Battery: Customised Li-Ion
- Weight: 3.07 oz
- Head Diameter (in): 1.29
- Body Diameter (in): 1.41
- Length: 2.24
- LED: High-Performance Cool White LED
- Price: $139.95
Baldr RL Mini
from: Olight USA
What's Included In The Packaging
The Olight BALDR Mini comes with the following:
- Baldr Mini (battery built-in) x 1
- Picatinny (MIL-STD-1913) Rail Mount Adapter x 1
- HM2.5*4.5 Socket Cap Screw x 2
- MCC (Magnetic Charging Cable) Special Edition x 1
- H1.5 Allen Wrench x 1
- Oval Point Set Screw x 1
- Cone Point Set Screw x 1
- User Manual x 1
Core Features
Beam Pattern, Lumens & Candela
For a compact pistol light with only 4225 cd, the light can only be effective at a close range up to 50 - 80 meters, regardless of what the maximum 130-meter throw distance labeled on the packaging.
In a room-size environment, the 600 lumens cool white hotspot of the light is about 18" in diameter at about 20 feet away, and the flood beam can illuminate as much as the whole room to provide peripheral illumination.
It's not bad for a light this small. Please see the image below:
In that case, we highly recommend using the Surefire XH30 with a more powerful 11,300 candela.
Light Beam Color Tint
The Olight BALDR Mini features a cool white LED bulb, which helps with identifying object's subject contour, color, details and gradation.
It's important to have the emitted light beam to have the right color tint for specific situations.
For the practical application of a compact size weapon light for conceal carry and home defense, it's preferred to have a higher Color Rendering Index of 75% or more
(CRI expressed from 0-100, it describes how a light source makes the color of an object appear to human eyes and how well subtle variations in color shades are revealed. The higher the CRI rating is, the better its color rendering ability.)
Modes & Built-In Laser
The BALDR series weapon light all comes with lasers, and the BALDR Mini's 5mW 510-530nm green laser is very visible in low light, and with the laser bouncing off reflective surfaces in the environment almost like a light that can lit up the scene just enough for you to see everything.
We tested both green and red laser on a full battery charge, and the Green laser is definitely brighter and it has a bit of starburst, while the red laser is much rounder
The position of the laser is another feature we like a lot, which is very similar to weapon lights like the Steiner, where the laser sits close to the bore as much as possible to eliminate the point of impact offset.
The laser can be activated by the control switch by toggling down. You can hold the button for momentary laser on, or tap it to stay on constant.
In addition, the shooter can choose among 3 modes:
- Laser ONLY
- Light ONLY
- Laser & Light combo
Simply toggle the mode switch on the bottom of the light to change modes.
