Way back in 1967 when I was six years old. My mom would take me grocery shopping. While at A & P I would go directly to the comic book and A-OK Brand toy spinning racks. Back then comic books cost just 12 cents a piece. The average A-OK brand toy was about sixty nine cents. Now sometimes you could find pen lights on the racks. They would come in two packs and be red and blue in color and use 1 AA battery. They cost would be 98 cents. Other flashlights sometimes would come with red, blue, green filters. Which were very cool. Sometimes I would be lucky enough to take home some sort of expensive toy flashlight. These toy flashlights would have included carbon zinc batteries. Those carbon zinc batteries were not high performance products. They would give you at the very most 30 minutes of light. I would wish the toy flashlight would be bright enough to blind bad guys or light up the whole back yard. I had to wait 46 years for these super flashlights to become real. I am going to compare two flashlights: The Fenix PD35 and the Xtar B20 Pilot.
The Characteristics the Two Flashlights Share are:
High grade aluminum alloy bodies.
Type 3 hard anodizing.
Each has anodized threads on the body for the tail cap.
Tempered and coated glass lens.
IPX-8 weather proofing.
Smooth reflectors.
You can attach a lanyard to either flashlight.
Fenix’s length is 139mm and Xtar’s length is 140mm.
Constant current circuit.
Both flashlights reduce output to control heat dissipation.
Heat displacing fins on flashlight head.
Hidden strobe function.
18650 battery capacity.
Dual springs for better battery contact.
Shared Accessories are:
Stainless steel clip.
Nylon lanyard.
Nylon holster.
Manuals & Warranties.
Both flashlights will be exchanged or fully refunded in the first 15 days of ownership for free by the manufacture if you are not pleased with you’re choice.
24 month full manufactures warranty on both flashlights plus limited lifetime warranty.
The Accessories Differences are:
Fenix PD35:
24 month full warranty can be increased by six months by registering you’re flashlight at their web site.
Includes: 2 spare o-rings and 1 switch boot.
Xtar’s B20 Pilot:
Includes 1 spare o-ring.
The User Interface:
Fenix’s PD35 Functions are:
Tail cap switch turns the light On/Off. 1/2 press for momentary On.
The side switch is used to choose between: 10, 45, 170, 450, 850 output lumens, Eco, Low, Mid, High, Turbo.
Turbo mode ramps down to high mode after 5 minutes. High mode ramps down to Mid mode after 30 minutes to prevent overheating and to protect the emitter.
Hold the switch down for more than 1.5 seconds and strobe function is activated.
There is a low voltage warning. When the batteries become weak the output ramps down to Eco mode and blinks 3 times every five minute to remind user to change the battery or batteries.
Xtar’s B20 Functions are:
Tail cap switch turns the light On/Off. 1/2 press once for momentary On, release and 1/2 press once more to cycle through the output modes of: 600, 1000, 250, 30 lumens, High,Turbo, Mid, Low. Complete the press of the switch to stay at a selected output. Double click the switch when the flashlight is on to activate the strobe function. After 3 minutes on Turbo mode the flashlight ramps down to 85% output to prevent overheating and to protect the emitter. This light has no low voltage warning.
Head size and flashlight weight:
Fenix’s PD35: Flashlight head is 25.4mm wide.
87 grams without batteries.
Xtar’s B20: The flashlight head is 34.5mm wide, at tail 25.5mm.
113 grams without batteries.
26 more grams the the Fenix PD35.
That is the weight of 26 paper clips.
The Xtar’s head is wider than the Fenix’s but this does not mean that the Xtar’s has a larger center hot spot. The center hot spot for both flashlights are the same for the first 4 feet. Then the Fenix’s becomes much wider as distance increases. This is empirical data obtained by comparing the output of the two flashlights I own against a painted wall using a retractable ruler.
Max Throw Distance:
Fenix PD35: 185m/607ft
Xtar’s B20: 210m/689ft 81 more feet.
Emitters:
Fenix PD35: Cree XM-L2 (U2) Newer style LED
Xtar’s B20 Pilot: Cree XM-L (U3) Older style LED
Both emitters are good quality. Personal opinion.
Max Intensity:
Fenix PD35: 8600cd
Xtar’s B20 Pilot: 11100cd That is 2500 more cd
Run Times:
Fenix PD35: Max run time: 140hrs on Eco mode. Twice the run time of the B20.
Min run time: 75 minutes on turbo mode.
Xtar’s B20 Pilot: Max run time: 70Min run time
Minimum run time is 186 minutes on turbo mode.
That is more than twice the run time of the Fenix PD35.
It is 111 more minutes. 1hr and 51 minutes.
Lumen Output:
Fenix PD35: 850 max lumens ANSI rating.
Xtar B20 pilot: 1000 max lumens. Not sure if these are ANSI lumens.
Batteries to operate the two flashlights:
The Xtar B20 Pilot can also use 18700 batteries.
The Fenix PD35 can also use primary CR123 batteries.
From my empirical observation of the two flashlights on turbo mode. The Xtar B20 Pilot using 1 EagleTac 18650, 3400ma battery and the Fenix PD35 is using two Tenergy primary CR123 batteries. The Fenix PD35 is much brighter. It kicks you know what.
Construction of the two flashlights:
Aside from the weight and size differences between the two flashlights. The differences in the flashlights are: Xtar B20 Pilot has a stainless steel ring around the bezel to help protect the lens and emitter. Can stand and be used as a candle. The springs are gold plated.
My Fenix PD35 can not tail stand because the button switch is slightly longer than its body. It has reverse polarity protection.
My conclusion is that both of these flashlights can blind bad guys with turbo strobe mode. Light up my back yard just fine. Have run times of much more than 30 minutes. The differences between the two will be what helps you decide which is right for you. Both flashlights are top quality and worth owning.
Footnotes:
Information regarding the definition of cd (Candela) can be found at:
http://www.xtarlight.com/08-technology/p-001-1.asp?id=13
Definition of a gram: Gram - Wikipedia
1 gram is roughly equal to 1 small paper clip or pen cap according to the Wikipedia page.
IPX Rating = IP Code: IP code - Wikipedia
ANSI rating system:http://www.ansi.org/
http://www.nema.org/news/Pages/NEMA-Publishes-ANSI-NEMA-FL-1-2009-Flashlight-Basic-Performance-Standard.aspx
Information used in this review has been obtained from user manuals for the Fenix PD35, Xtar B20 Pilot flashlights, and the manufactures web sites.
http://www.xtarlight.com/index.asp
and Wikipedia:Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And empirical data obtained from personal comparison of the two flashlights operations.
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