Updated 6 October 2026. We rebuilt this comparison around the three questions customers send us most: how far the laser reaches, how each pen works, and whether it takes batteries. We also corrected two details on the O'Pen Glow: its brightness has four set levels, not a free dial, and its pointer now has a published power figure. Prices and stock checked on the day.
Olight makes two premium pen lights, and we stock both: the O'Pen 3 and the O'Pen Glow. Each is a real aluminium pen with a 120-lumen light in the clip, a tiny light at the tip for writing in the dark, and a green pointer. They look like twins. They aren't.
The short answer
| O'Pen 3 | O'Pen Glow | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | AED 340 until 12 November (normally 378) | AED 378 |
| Best for | Presenting, site work, the car, travel | The desk, reading, note-taking, gifting |
| Laser | Class 3R, up to 5 mW, two levels | Low-power green pointer, 0.39 mW |
| Red light and SOS | Yes | No |
| Charging | USB-C port on the pen, about 1 hour | Charging stand, no port on the pen |
If the pen will leave your desk, or you'll point at slides in a big room, buy the O'Pen 3. If it will live next to your keyboard and mostly write and read, buy the Glow.
How far does the laser reach?
Olight doesn't publish a range for either pointer, so we won't invent one. The "14 m" on both spec sheets is the beam distance of the white clip light, not the laser.
What Olight does publish is power, and that's where the two pens differ most:
- O'Pen 3: the version we list is Class 3R, up to 5 mW, with two brightness levels and about 3 hours of laser time per charge. Olight also makes a Class 1R export version at 0.39 mW with a single level, so if your laser has two levels, it's the 3R.
- O'Pen Glow: Olight's European spec sheet lists its green pointer at 0.39 mW, 510 to 530 nm. That's the same power as the O'Pen 3's export version.
In practice, both put a clear green dot on a projector screen in a meeting room. For a large hall, a bright LED wall, or pointing out a spot on a building on site, the O'Pen 3 is the one to have: it has up to about 13 times the power. Whichever you buy, never point it at people's eyes, at vehicles or at aircraft.
How do you use them?
O'Pen 3
- A slider on the body picks which light you're using, and the button turns it on and changes the brightness.
- White clip light: four levels, 120, 60, 20 and 2 lumens.
- Red light: with the pen off and the slider in the middle position, double-click the button.
- Laser: a long press switches between the two laser levels.
The printed manual in the box has the full sequence. It takes about a minute to learn.
O'Pen Glow
- Press the button on the end once to turn the clip light on or off.
- With the light on, press and hold to step through the brightness: 5, 20, 60 and 120 lumens.
- With the pen tip out, one press turns on the tip light for writing.
- Push the lever on the side up and hold it for the green pointer.
- A lock function stops it switching on in a bag.
On the Glow, the light and the pointer have separate controls, so it's hard to point a laser across the room by accident when you meant to turn on the light.
Does it need charging, or does it take batteries?
Both run on a built-in rechargeable battery. There are no batteries to buy, and none to replace.
- O'Pen 3 (130 mAh): the USB-C port is hidden in the middle of the pen. Pull the two halves slightly apart to reach it. A full charge takes about an hour from any USB-C cable, power bank or car charger.
- O'Pen Glow (110 mAh): the pen itself has no port. It charges standing in the stand that comes in the box, with the tip retracted, and the USB-C cable plugs into the stand.
A question we get: the O'Pen 3 fits in the Glow's stand, but only for display. It won't charge there.
On a desk, the stand is the nicer system, because the pen is always topped up. Away from the desk it's one more thing to pack, and if you lose the stand you can't charge the pen. Frequent travellers should lean O'Pen 3.
Four more differences
Only the O'Pen 3 has a red light
Two levels, 10 lumens for about 1 hour 20 minutes or 5 lumens for about 2 hours 10 minutes, plus an SOS signal. Red light keeps your night vision and won't wake a sleeping passenger. The Glow has no red light and no SOS.
The O'Pen 3 runs longer
Its slightly bigger battery wins almost every line of the runtime sheet:
| Mode | O'Pen 3 | O'Pen Glow |
|---|---|---|
| High (120, then 60 lm) | 14 + 25 min | 14 + 21 min |
| Medium (60 lm) | 60 min | 45 min |
| Low (20 lm) | 2 h 20 min | 110 min |
| Lowest | 2 lm for 26 h | 5 lm for 5 h |
| Pen-tip light | 0.4 lm for 26 h | 0.2 lm for 2.5 h |
| Red light | 10 lm 1 h 20 min, 5 lm 2 h 10 min | None |
None of this is torch-grade. Treat 60 lumens as the working level and 120 as a short burst. The Glow is designed to sleep in its stand every night, which is why its smaller battery rarely matters on a desk.
The Glow's light is warmer
The Glow's clip light is 5700K and its tip light 4000K. The O'Pen 3's are 6500K and 5000K. On paper at night, the Glow's slightly warmer light is easier on the eyes.
Only the Glow publishes a water rating
The Glow is IPX4 on its upper half, which means splashes, not a dunking. The O'Pen 3 publishes no IP rating, so keep it out of the rain. Olight rates the O'Pen 3 for 0 to 40°C and gives no figure for the Glow. A parked car in the UAE gets far hotter than that, so neither pen should live in the glovebox. Our IP ratings explainer and summer heat guide have the details.
Side by side
| O'Pen 3 | O'Pen Glow | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | AED 340 until 12 November (normally 378) | AED 378 |
| Clip light | 120 / 60 / 20 / 2 lm, 6500K | 120 / 60 / 20 / 5 lm, 5700K |
| Beam distance (clip light) | 14 m | 14 m |
| Tip light | 0.4 lm, 5000K, 26 h | 0.2 lm, 4000K, 2.5 h |
| Pointer | Class 3R green laser, up to 5 mW, two levels | Green pointer, 0.39 mW |
| Red light and SOS | Two levels plus SOS | None |
| Charging | Hidden USB-C port, about 1 h | Charging stand, no port on the pen |
| Battery | 130 mAh, built in | 110 mAh, built in |
| Water resistance | Not published | IPX4 (upper part) |
| Length and weight | 156 mm, 33.5 g | 155 mm, 38 g |
| Colours in stock | Black, Orange | Black, OD Green |
| In the box | Pen, refill, USB-C cable | Pen, spare blue refill, charging stand, magnetic badge, USB-C cable |
Refills
The O'Pen 3 takes Olight's gel refills and other refills of the same size (75.9 × 5.74 mm), as long as the refill is metal: the tip light needs it to conduct. The Glow needs Olight's own conductive refill. A spare blue one comes in the box, and Glow refills also fit the O'Pen 2, O'Pen Pro and O'Pen Mini.
Who should buy which
Buy the O'Pen 3 if the pen leaves the office. Site engineers and inspectors, night-shift staff, presenters who need a laser that shows up in a big room, and travellers who'd rather charge from any USB-C cable than remember a stand. It's also the cheaper of the two until 12 November.
Buy the O'Pen Glow if the pen lives on a desk or a bedside table. The warmer light is nicer to read and write by, the stand keeps it charged, and as a gift it unboxes fancier, with the stand, a magnetic badge and a spare refill. More ideas in our pen light gift guide.
If you want more light than a pen gives
Both pens are task lights for arm's-length jobs. If you want a real torch with a laser, the Olight ArkPro (AED 450 until 12 November, normally 500) puts a 1,500-lumen light, a 365 nm UV light and the same up-to-5 mW green laser into one flat body rated IPX7. See our ArkPro review. If you only want light, the Olight i3T 2 EOS (AED 109) gives 200 lumens from one AAA battery.
For each pen on its own, read our O'Pen 3 review and O'Pen Glow review.
FAQ
Which is better for presentations?
The O'Pen 3. Its Class 3R laser has up to about 13 times the power of the Glow's pointer, and two levels. The Glow's pointer is fine across a meeting room, but it's the weaker of the two.
Do the pens use batteries?
No. Both have a built-in rechargeable battery. The O'Pen 3 charges from a USB-C cable in about an hour; the Glow charges in its stand.
What does the 14 m on the spec sheet mean?
It's how far the white clip light reaches, the same on both pens. Olight doesn't publish a range for either laser.
Both pens cost more than AED 300, so delivery is free, and it usually takes 1 to 3 days across the UAE. Cash on delivery is available, and you have 14 days to return.
Prices and stock are correct on the date above and can change. Product figures are Olight's published ratings.
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