2) While it's true that 'budget' lights are the primary focus of BLF, as others have pointed out, we all have different budgets.
3) Unlike another forum, this one has an open minded admin and as a result, it tends to attract mostly free thinking and open minded members. Witness the reasonable answers to your question. Imagine the response you might get elsewhere should you try posting a similar question there.
@Foy, Not familiar with flickr's link types, but with imageshack I have to use what is called a 'direct link' instead of any of the several other kinds of links they offer. If Flickr gives you a choice of different links to the same photo, try the one described as 'direct'.
I use the "Direct Link" function on Photobucket to use the Tree-Symbol thingy here in BLF. It (the tree symbol) also gives you the mouseover option, which is a little tedious to use but useful.
That light is pretty awesome. I can't believe how cool it stays after tailstanding on high! Would love to see the pill and internal heatsinking on this bad boy.
Very nice review Foy, as usual! Thanks a lot! We now have a Fenix review on the frontpage. Looks like a real beauty. Drop that price down to $30 and I'm all over it. :p That'll be the day!
Interesting question too. I personally would never spend $100+ on a flashlight, but then again I am an incorrigible tightwad. Nevertheless, I do find these reviews of premium lights to be VERY interesting, and even more so when it comes from an enthusiast of budget lights. I think the comparisons are very useful. This Fenix is a real beauty, but I think the comparison beamshots show that the budget $22 - $40 XM-L models, while noticeably less bright, definitely hold their own against this premium product.
And one niggle: Why couldn't they make the Fenix TK41 label line up axially with the two switch buttons? That would drive me crazy every time I look at it.
No, not in my immediate future anyway. I'm not above spending a little if I happen to have it at the time (which isn't very often any more) but my days of pricey torches are probably behind me for the most part. That's why I jumped at troop's offer to review it. The "Budget" part of BLF seems to suit me economically quite well.
Can you talk about the benefits/negatives compared to the TK35? From what I gather, it's a great thrower, physically intimidating and uses more common AA batteries, but is less compact, doesn't have a clicky and more unwieldy.
Its interesting that the the new TK60 is $10 cheaper than the TK41. The head and electronics look to be the same. The output is the same (technically the tk60 is speced virtually imperceptibly better) Perhaps its the result of not having to engineer the battery carrier? The Tk60 is huge with 4 d cells but you do get more run time. I wonder how well it would run with AA nimhs in d cell adapters. Do D cell nimhs handle high current draw better than AA's or is the only difference capacity? If you want a huge light, the Tk60 is an alternative to the TK41. Curious to see how the Tk70 comes out. It esentially takes the tk60 body and mates a jumbo head on it with 3xXM-L.
I think AAs are the better engineered battery because they are used more often. Even though 4xAA uses less volume than 1 D cell, you can get a similar capacity (about 8800mA from 4xAA Turnigy LSDs) while a D cell can be up to 10000mA but not guaranteed.
I believe if you can get your hands on 4x AA parallel adapters or even make your own, it should be pretty straightforward. 4xAA is bigger than a D cell alone, without any carrier frames, and the TK41 has a bit of battery carrier wobble while it was in the body, so there should be enough room for slightly bigger carriers too. Unless they used a narrower internal dimension on the TK60.
Hi Foy, did you try measuring the standby/parasitic drain of this TK41 (assuming you still have this with you :))?
I read somewhere the previous TK40 had a higher than average drain of ~400uA and would be completely flat in ~1.1year without lockout. Not a good choice for an emergency light.
FIRST THANKS FOR THE GREAT REVIEW , I STUMBLED ON THS SIGHT IN A DEBATE OVER THE TK35 OR TK41 STILL ON THE FENCE .....ALREADY OWN ABOUT HALF OF THE FENIX LINE WITCH INCLUDES 2 TK45'S BUT IM READY FOR THE NEXT HEAVY HITTER ......P.S. IT'S HARD TO BELIVE THAT PEOPLE HAVE THE AUDACITY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD BUDGET AFTER ALL OF THE WORK YOU PUT INTO THESE REVIEWS, I FIND THEM VERY HELPFUL SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH
That is one great review right there done by a classy guy that tells it like it is. That's why I love the guy.
The TK41 from what I have seen watching videos is probably one of the better XM-L throwers out there and that's going against Catapult V3, Olight M3X or Crelant 7G5. It's got a super tight hotspot that is super bright as well. It's definately built to be a thrower and it does that indeed.
I didn't see any current draw listed so here are what I read with my new TK41.
Lo - 22ma
Med - 188ma
Hi - 678ma
Turbo - 2379ma
The voltage across the battery pack was 5.41v at those readings. I mention this because at 5.14v across the pack current had climbed to 2655ma.
This should give everybody enough information to guesstimate runtimes. Keep in mind that current is split between two different banks of batteries so each battery is only delivering half of that current.
So what would you guesstimate runtimes to be on Alkalines/Eneloops?
I find it pretty interesting that on "high" the Tk41 only pulls .68A
The light output on high seems to be about equivalent to an XM-L P60 on high, which is typically pulling 2.0A or more. AMazing what a good reflector can do.