And moonlight mode...on the camp light, but it's there
Actually I think that feature will spoil the intended purpose of this light.
I purchased the CL20 just to try it out and its been the most handy light I have bought in ages although the base battery door could do with a redesign which Fenix has actually said they are addressing in another thread. I am now really enthusiastic about Fenix announcement of other lantern offerings. I will definitely try the CL25R but I so see some problems with it and the moonlight mode one is at the top of the list. Im not a one lumen fan at the best of times but in a heavily diffused lantern the only thing is going to illuminate is itself so you know where it is in the dark. In a tent therefore this thing only kicks in at 50 lumens which is too bright when its right there above your head hanging in a dome tent. The 8 Lumen start of the CL20 is perfect for this with its next mode 50 Lumens. If you need a night light style mode to prevent any initial disorientation you can get in pitch black camping conditions the red mode of the CL20 offers that.
When you look at the higher end outputs it is virtually double that of a CL20. However concentrating light at one point at a camping table or whatever leads to annoyance and squinting. My advice here would be to buy two CL20s and have one at each end of te table for example and spread the light. Their magnet bases will stick them together for packing and I have been keeping them in a small lens case (but a sock would do) and with two separate light points they illuminate a room very evenly indeed. I have jokes that it looks like something out of start treck when I produce this round thing break it in half to produce separate illumination points to cover a larger area than one with a more concentrated light source. Volumewise 2 of the 2s isnt much bigger than one 25.
Another advantage is the snail design of the CL20 provides a more rounded illumination with the CL25R being a cylinder with the ends blanked off so with the CL20 you get more of a conventional rounded bulb effect with the CL25R I suspect it would be more of a worklight effect. To be honest I was hoping their 18650 lantern would be a larger domed version of the CL20. I wasnt expecting it to be totally different concept altogether. Micro USB charging is definitely a handy feature though from car lighter computer etc.
Naturally this is just first impressions and I could be totally wrong on the effectiveness of its illumination being a cylinder and time will tell but it certainly rang alarm bells when I saw it in this thread and thought a cylinder with blanked off ends isnt going to be as good as their earlier design. For me personally at least moonlight mode to 50 just for pr claims it can last a 1000 hours is not a good thing in a diffused camping lantern. That said they will still get a sale out of me just to try it LOL
