I soon could collect my Fenix TK35 from the mail and wanted to share some photos for comparison.
First the new guy:
TK35 is lighter than I expected and I'm suprised by just a bit taller body than a P60 host. A definitely better form factor than a serial 2x18650 light, especially TR1200's. The light fits the hand very well, comes with an awkward lanyard and a good nylon case. The modes are very well thought, 4 brightness modes are by default and you don't hit strobe modes while cycling through them. If you press the mode button for longer, a blinding strobe mode kicks in, with a SOS mode as the second one. The lowest brightness mode is rated for 170 hours, very good for even a week long blackouts, second low mode is very usable and regular high (3/4) is as bright as a well driven R5 light. The highest turbo mode adds even more to this already high mode but is limited to 25mins to prevent possible overheating.
No huge step in the brighness of my other XM-L lights or 5xR2 light but this is a good thrower thanks to its well built smooth reflector.
These are the three XM-L light now I got. KD P60 drop'in in L2P, TK35, and a custom built C8 XML. My other TR_xxx empty body is on the way for me to put in an XM-L 52mm drop-in, again custom built.
And the lights in comparison:
From left to right: 5xR2 5-Mode Drop-in in TR1200 body, Fenix TK35, C8 XML, KD P60 XML Drop-in in SolarForce L2P body, SolarForce R5 3-Mode Drop-in in KD R7 body and MTE SF-15 P7-D
All beam shots were taken with the same settings in manual mode.
Fenix TK35 HIGH
5xR2 HIGH
KD P60 XML 5-Mode Drop-in HIGH
CUSTOM C8 XML HIGH
Solarforce R5 3-Mode Drop-in HIGH
MTE SF-15 on HIGH
I also took MID and LOW settings for these lights but they make just ten more pictures so saved them for demand.
Thanks for the work on this, Kokopelli. It's nice to have this as a reference. It's just a huge difference in spill between the xpg and xml... What's neat is how favorable the xml compares to the 5xR2 drop-in.
Thanks for your comments. Can't comment on the distance I'm afraid. The trees go for about a 150m like this. The best part of the TK35 seems to be the tighter centerspot. It really gives a better beam at 60-70m than my converted C8 did.
My 3 mode (H,M,L) P60 dropin from Manafont (with smooth reflector) draws 3A from a 18650 @ 3.7v! It is the most awe inspiring flashlight I have. It might not produce the tightest hotspot, but the amount of light it puts out is just amasing .
Althought the battery only lasts about 40 minutes on high, you don't really need to run that kind of power all the time and low still puts out heaps of light with only 100mA current draw.
Nice pics though. The TK35 looks like a nice light, if you can aford it..
They've not really been around a long time. I have two dropins - the Ultrafire no strobe version from Manafont is the brightest XM-L I have. My other XM-L lights are the EastwardYJ J06 which is a good-looking and relatively compact 18650 light.
And a Mr.Lite J4 that I managed to accidentally dedome the LED in. So I swapped the LED for an XM-L but left the stock Mr.Lite driver in place. It gives about the same output as a hard driven R5 which is probably plenty for a 14500 light - any more and I'd be drawing dangerous amounts of current from it.
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Can't see CUSTOM C8 XML HIGH shot 
