Received a unit of Fenix TK22 TAC for testing and quick review a week ago, my first impression was it's built tough and bright (well, sort-of...)
Let's look at the specifications of Fenix TK22 TAC
I was given the opportunity to review Fenix TK11 TAC back in year 2020, and this new Fenix TK22 TAC appears to be an attempt to update the older offering by upgrading the battery to 21700-size and newer LED for higher brightness.
Below are taken from Fenix website, a quick comparison table between Fenix TK22 TAC and Fenix TK11 TAC:
However, what the table doesn't tells are some finer carrying and using details, below are my experiences/comparisons using both flashlight:
- It's slightly easier to do the full press for constant-ON with the older Fenix TK11 Tac
- The brightness spacing is much desirable and better on this new Fenix TK22 Tac
- The weight of the new Fenix TK22 TAC with 21700 battery is quite significant for duty carry/EDC
- The max output claimed by Fenix TK22 TAC could only last for approximately 12-20 seconds depending on battery charge level and heat
- The inclusion of a USB Type C rechargeable 21700 battery (ARB-L21-5000U) together with Fenix TK22 TAC is very nice (Fenix TK11 TAC package has none), yours truly especially like the charging indicator being place on top of the battery button top, nice touch.
What included in the Fenix TK22 TAC package:
Fenix TK22 TAC Flashlight:
The bezel front of Fenix TK11 Tac (on the left) and Fenix TK22 TAC (on the right):
Fenix upgraded the LED from SST40 to SFT70 on the Fenix TK22 TAC
knurling on the Fenix TK22 TAC body.
the usual uni-direction pocket clip from Fenix. One can easily rotate the pocket clip to fit your carry habit, or remove the pocket clip if you don't need it.
Fenix TK22 TAC has spring at both ends of the battery contacts:
The tailcap spring contact...
...and the head spring contact... this is a good design to keep the battery suspended at both ends to effectively absorb certain amount of impact and avoid lose contact.
The "innovative" APF (Advanced Pulse-frequency Transmission System) is all in the switching mechanism, the mechanical rotary and push button tail switch.
What yours truly likes about is the lockout, it's so easy to engage and disengage the lockout, just turn the rotary to the lockout position and flashlight is lockout, whether in OFF mode or ON mode.
The tail button is also one of the easiest tactical switch to operate and like Fenix TK11 TAC, it's super silent too. It offers 2 stages of operating level, half press for momentary On and full press for constant On.
In both momentary and constant On, you can switch mode by quickly half press the button to cycle the Eco-Low-Medium-High (Duty mode), this effectively giving us both Forward-clicky and Reversed-clicky functionality in the same light... like what I said when I was reviewing the Fenix TK11 TAC, this functionality is something that I never thought I needed until I used this Fenix APF switching system.
One of the simplest UI to remember, whether you are in Duty mode or Tactical mode, you can quickly engage strobe mode by just pushing the tail switch and hold it down for approximately 1 second and quickly disengage it by half pressing or do the full press and turn the Fenix TK22 TAC off.
The included 21700 size battery, ARB-L21-5000U:
USB Type C charging port located near the top of the battery:
when the battery is charging, a RED indicator light will be shown at the button top.
when the battery is fully charged, a GREEN indicator light will be shown.
charging the ARB-L21-5000U is fairly quick, can fully charged the battery within 4 hours from near empty.
a black wall short of of comparing Fenix TK11 TAC (on the left) and Fenix TK22 TAC. Fenix TK22 TAC has a much bigger bezel and deeper reflector, thus, Fenix TK22 TAC beam can reach/throw much further then Fenix TK11 TAC.
My measure output of Fenix TK122 TAC:
The usual disclaimer: I do not claim the above measured lumens as authoritative nor an indication of over/under-stating the number given by manufacturer. It's calibrated against some known light output (e.g. SureFire, Elzetta, etc.) so take it with a grain of salt and just as a relative reading.
while below is my runtime testing for Turbo and High mode on Fenix TK22 TAC:
this is obviously very different from Fenix's lab testing runtime plot. Well, it is what it is. Different environment "might" produce different runtime results like they always say...
In conclusion, I think this new Fenix TK22 TAC is a good attempt to update/upgrade the older Fenix TK11 TAC. While other users might be happy with the new 21700 battery with higher capacity and longer runtime, but yours truly is not letting go of the Fenix TK11 TAC due to size and weight for EDC. I would also suggest Fenix to re-look into the short maximum output on this new Fenix TK22 TAC and hopefully a future update will have at least 2 to 3 minutes of sustainable maximum output with manageable heat dissipation in the design.
Thank you for reading.