Review: Fenix TK41

Very nice. I'd like to run all those through my I.S. just to see what numbers they'll put down.

Nice photos and review, Foy, glad you like the light. It has a couple flaws, but they do not seem to affect performance so I've been pretty happy with it. My cost justification for it is, well hey, it's just about the price of one tank of gas, or about what someone might pay for a new pair of decent shoes. So I buy cheap shoes and one nice light...

I do like the traditional size and feel of the light, it is about the size of the old Ray-O-Vac in your avatar. Not as big as a Maglite, but nice heft and feel.

That bright stuff that looks like the bottom of the pill I believe is actually gold-plated contact points. One review said that after much use the sharp springy things on top of the batter holder actually wear off the gold. I noticed the "ringy" SMO reflector; not sure if that was intentional to avoid ringy beams, or just a result of the mfg process. Some owners complained about a dark donut hole in the hotspot, but my light does not seem to have that. Perhaps the off-center emitter avoids the donut hole.

I'm curious what you thought of the beam tint. Some TK35 owners had very green tinted beams, and that was a concern with the TK41. I'm a bit color blind, but the beam looks pretty pure white to me, what do your eyes say?

Feel free to give it the Foy waterproof tests, it should do fine. If it fails, you can ship it back to Fenix instead of back to me!

Have fun with the TK, looking forward to the shootout!

Btw, what other light are you waiting on for this shoot-out? If you're interested, I may have a late entrant (I'll stick with 1x18650 and 1xXM-L to keep things close). Final testing on my end will take place tonight to see if it's even worth entering it.

I'm waiting on the F15.

It was Sir John (I think) <<nope, it was JohnnyMac>> and his F15 review (and my big mouth) that got me lassoed into this shootout. troop wanted to see how the TK41 would do . . . and so do I.

Our property at work is about 1.5 acres and it's all enclosed/gated because we keep any number of pricey Detroit iron. (inside and some less nice outside) It also affords me the perfect opportunity to do a throw comparison in an environment large enough, quiet/alone, etc. where I can take my time. There are lots of targets back there at different ranges so, it should be ideal.

Match - An integrating sphere is something I so very badly need. On most lights I can extrapolate lumens from amps drawn (not the TK41 unfortunately) but of course that often has little or nothing to do with actual output. I've got a lot of irons in the fire right now but as soon as I resolve my latest pressing issue, I'm going to attempt your IS build. All comers are welcome so . . . . would be happy to accommodate any way I can.

Foy

As for tint - it's definitely got some green going on under certain conditions. Maybe slightly less than my Solarforce T6 drop-ins, which are the most green XM-Ls I have and to be sure, it's really not that green at all, especially outside, where this light most likely will be used. You don't see the slight ringyness out there either.

Foy

Interesting review, yet how does a $100+ flashlight fit into "where frugal meets with flashlight" slogan of this website?

Nice review and great pics.. As usual! Thanks Foy.

There is nothing wrong with indulging on >$100 flashlight. Everyone is welcome here at BLF. If you've noticed the rest of the site a lot of it is about budget lights but every now and then members purchase a light that is not so budget.

Great review and pics Foy!

waiting on that shootout.

Tint of the TK41 I've seen is a nice clean white.

I'd love to take credit for it, but it was actually JohnnyMac. Looking forward to the shootout.

+1 Be Seen (laughing)

I thought the "it-ain't-budget" comment would have showed up a lot sooner and to be sure, it's a valid gripe on board with the word "budget" in it. I could argue also that budget can be quite relative. Saying a $100 torch does not belong here implies $100 is over the "budget" threshold. Since no line has ever been drawn, I can correctly say the TK41 is a budget light. It is inexpensive compared to an Olight Intimidator and I promise you, if someone sends me an SR90 for review, I will review it on Budget Light Forum.

causethatshowIrollFoy

Oh damn!!

Sorry, it was JohnnyMac.

mybadFoy

Thanks again, Foy!

Every time I read a review by you a smile is slowly building up on my face becoming more distinct the more I read and with every picture I look at anticipation and excitement is added to that. All resulting in: Now I want a TK41, too!

I agree that $110 is probably not what you would call a budget light, but it also depends on your perspective. I had a guy arguing with me on CPF that the Fenix models were the "Fords" of the flashlight world.

If you go here, you will think $110 is a bargain, I think the cheapest light on this site is $203, and I would take the TK41 over them any day.

Besides that, there are folks here who have more than a hundred bucks invested in, say, multiple purchases of the same AA light...and I know a lot of folks here own some Fenix lights, so where should we draw the line?

And lastly, I'd rather have Foy review a light if I was thinking about getting it, than some guy over at that other place. In fact, I find most of the guys who review lights here more informative than the reviews elsewhere.

AnotherawesomereviewthereFoy!

Great review! The beamshot on the cactus is awesome! I believe this may be my next light.

Nice review but that's what has put me off Fenix... my TK45 is horrible green compared to my other lights. 41 is a great looking light though!

Rich

I updated to include water testing. No ingress at all under spraying water or in the sink.

Foy

Budget is all relative I guess. Def of budget - reasonably priced. 8 x AA form factor (haven't seen this from the usual budget MIC brands). It is not a small flashlight, there is a lot of aluminum and its built is good. Equivalently sized in the MIC world would cost at least $60-80.

My Lightpipe LP-250NS costed me $425. It has risen to 550 now. Shipping alone costed me the price of this TK41! It has a 5mm arc length, 250W and able to sustain 45-50 mins of burn on its Li-ion. If i go to the HID world of above 100 watts and on the ground of performance, that is budget. $425 can't even get you the parts alone shipped.

Another angle - the Yao's 35/80W MIC clone (55W for the clone) costs $52 and 32 shipping via EMS to here. That's $84. We take it as 45-50W coz auto HIDs always get underspec-ed. We need 5 lights to equal the LP-250NS. $d84 * 5 = $420. And that is using a small 5.5AH SLA, not Li-ion. In that sense, it is already on a budget.

When I insert pictures in my reviews, I just right click/copy from flickr and right click/paste where I want it to go. If I use the tree symbol on BLF editor I get a small white box with an x in it when I copy the HTML code from flickr. It just ain't happnin' fer me.

Foy