Hi guys,
I found this thread via Google, I didn’t know of this forum. I think it’s a pity that Maglite is so underrated, so I just wanted to make this comparison between Maglite and Fenix, a much more renowned brand (at least among flashlight enthusiasts). The comparison is between similar lights, not between a 2XAA and a 4xD, so it is a relevant comparison of the know-how of these manufacturers. Here it is:
I think the Fenix is slightly more recent. It has a newer generation LED, 4 cells instead of 3, but still, is far behind the Maglite in terms of output and runtime. But it is 4 times more expensive. The only thing that is better with the TK60 is that it has several other modes.
Some people may say that the Fenix uses aluminium of a better grade, etc. Yes, maybe. But the Maglite is really well made, and it is really solid. I have been using mine for 12 years, using it to do speleology. I treated it rather badly, dropped it several times, and it still works flawlessly. So maybe you can see that the build of the Fenix is better if you use a microscope, but I think it is not relevant. The Maglite is well designed, well built, and seems indestructible. What else do we need?
I lost the rubber switch cover of my 4D once, and my retailer gave me one for free, here in France. Spare parts can be obtained easily, cheaply, in many places. Everything can be taken apart in the flashlight, I’m not sure the same is true about the TK60.
About the output. To do speleology, the krypton bulb was enough for me. A few years later, the Luxeon LED upgrade came out and was even better. Now with the Cree LED, the output is really great. I will never need more light. And the runtime is insane.
In my opinion, Maglite is by far the best manufacturer when it comes to quality-price ratio.