Well I finally received my Fenix TK70 from China today. I won it from an eBay auction for $125. I was pretty excited to get one for such a low price and the wait definitely paid off. Honestly, I was a little worried at first that I might be getting scammed because of the low price, but obviously my fears were unfounded. This thing is BRIGHT. I'm pretty sure you could have used this thing in WW2 as a searchlight in London. I'm glad I bought 4 Tenergy Centura LSD NiMH D-cells and a nice Tenergy charger for this light, because it will definitely go through batteries like there is no tomorrow!
Here's the package as I received it from the post office. The packaging was definitely smaller than expected for such a large light, but it was undamaged.
Here's the TK70 removed from the packaging. As I have come to expect from Fenix products, the packaging was top notch and kept the item from being damaged in transit.
I'm really digging the bronze patina on this particular light. I guess this must be some new type of hard anodizing technique. My hat's off to Fenix for being such innovators in the field.
Now that its out of it's protective packaging, you can really appreciate the machining quality of this light. I couldn't find any machine marks or light anodizing. The switches are soft and have a positive feel. The threads are tight with no play. The threads and o-rings are well oiled.
A close up of the excellent machining:
Here it is compared to the Fenix PD22S2 and an el-cheapo 3 LED AAA flashlight. It's almost a little unwieldy in size, but its still manageable:
Here's a shot of the 3 lights at their maximum setting to give you an idea of the relative brightness. The PD22S2 in the middle has a maximum output of 200 lumens. Obviously, the TK70 on the right just blows it out of the water, but I would expect this with 3 XM-L's and 4 NiMH D-cells:
Here is a beam comparison shot between the Fenix PD22S2 and the Fenix TK70 from about 3 feet against a beige wall. The camera settings were f2.4, ISO 400, white balance corrected for daylight. As you can see in the beamshot, there are no artifacts at all and even though there are 3 XM-L emitters with their own reflectors, the beam pattern is still very uniform with a bright hotspot in the center. Fenix obviously put a lot of time into the reflector geometry to achieve such a feat.
Fenix TK70:
Fenix PD22S2:
Finally, here is a beamshot showing how this light can turn a regular ceiling tile as white as a sheet of paper. Even in a brightly lit office, this light was a shining beacon and got the attention of quite a few coworkers.
Overall, the TK70 was well worth the $125 I paid. I would wholeheartedly recommend this light to anybody looking for a light with excellent flood and throw.