My Extreme Fenix TK40 Torture Test.

Hello everyone, ive heard alot of people here asking how tough the TK40 is, so i went on a mission to find out.

Here i have a brand new TK40 fresh from the box.


Now i will try to kill it.

Test 1

The light is loaded with 8 eneloops and masking tape wraped around the magazine to stop it rattling. The light is off during the test exept the freeze test, i hit the switch every now and then when dropping it etc to see if it died during these things.

Listed in order of occurance.
1. 15 drops 2.5ft bezel down over concrete
2. 15 drops 2.5ft tail down over concrete
3. 15 drops 2.5ft horizontal over concrete
4. 20 drops 3ft mid air spiral over crushed brick
5. Run over with 1400kg (3800lb) car approx 12 times both horizontal and vertical. Over both concrete and crushed brick.
6. Frozen in block of ice for 24hrs.
7. Left submerged in salt water 7ft deep for 12hrs.
8. Dragged behind car over gravel for 2km (1.3mi) at 20kph (12.5mph).
9. Placed in boiling water for 3 minutes.

Results: Pass

The light works as it did when new. There was no damage to the battery magazine which i thought would be the first thing to fail, the window also survived. Switch is fine and all modes work. There was no water inside after being frozen and submerged.

Heres what it looks like now.











And some progress pictures, sorry i didnt take pictures of everthing i did.

Being run over.




Being frozen for 24hrs.



Being boiled for 3 min.




Thats all for now folks, thanks for viewing.
Tomorrow im gunna start on Test 2, which will involve more extreme torture.
Stay tuned.

Regards.

Hello again, i didnt get to do very much today but heres what i got.


Test 2

In order of occourance:

1. 5 Drops 5ft Horizontal Concrete.
2. 5 Drops 5ft Mid Air Spiral Concrete.

Results: Pass. No effect to light

3. 1 Drop Approx 7ft Mid Air Spiral Concrete.

Results: Pass sort of, the light went out, i thought i killed it, it only worked when i rattled it around and pressed the switch at the same time. I took it inside and took it apart. The eneloops had pushed the little nipples in the battery carrier flat and were resting on the screw, therfore not making contact, i bent them out and the light fired up. I suppose filing the screw heads down may prevent this in the future.

So after test two the light works as it did when new, with slight repair.


Heres what i mean. See where the screws are resting on the cell preventing the positive end touching the contact.





Sorry i didnt get to do alot, i have read your ideas and will try a few over the weekend and do a write up monday or tuesday. This will be the final test, so it has to be killed hell or hight water.:devil:
Ill try to take more pictures than the first time and maybee a video or two.

Regards.

Hello, this is the final test for the TK40.

I dint record what i done this time, but it included mostly spiraly drops from various heights, and driving some nails into wood. I got a vid of this, ill see if i can utube it.
The light still worked after all this, however the eneloops had their negative end severly dented and the spring in the battery carrier wernt pushing hard enough to make a reliable contact, and the light would flick on and off, and needed shaking occasionally to fire up. I threw in some unabused eneloops and the light worked like new. So your cells will fail before the TK40 will in my opinion.

Today on the way home i was gunna dangle it of a bridge into the river with fishing line, but before that i decided to drag it behind the car again. I towed it along for about 10 min over ashphalt at first then big mud puddles and mudy wet rocky road.
I was going threw a rather large mud hole when i heard the line snap.
I got out and had a look, it was gone, i spent about half an hour looking for the bloody thing, poking the mud with sticks, but gave up and went home.
If anybody wants to find it, its at 32* 51' 52.30 S 151* 42' 44.23 E , on Ramsar Rd, Ash Island, NSW.

This concludes my torture test, even though it got lost before i got to kill it, im happy. Im suprised what it would take to kill one of these lights.
Im definatly doing this again, but with a cheaper light.

Regards.

awesome sauce.

Hi Rob you obviously have to much time and money next time you get a nice torch send it to me and I'll do the testing for you, although there maybe an obvious lack of photos.
Norm

Woot! I'm not at all a Fenix fan nor a Fenix hater, but I do love seeing how much it takes to break stuff. Keep up the good work! I do wonder how much abuse it can take.

Any body got ideas for me tommorow to kill it, ive got the day free.

aussiebob said:

Any body got ideas for me tommorow to kill it, ive got the day free.

Click to expand...

If you have put some more pictures in the first test.
I woud love to see you film some of the next test's.

aussiebob said:

Reserved for test 2

Click to expand...

Test 2?

Another one?

Hey , I think you've proved a point with test 1 !

Great work - thanks for putting in the time and effort

Hmmm I just had a nice large reply... and I accidentally hit alt+left arrow which proceeded to go back to the previous page and thus loose all I typed.
That's what I get for trying to use keyboard shortcuts. Anyway we'll have to live with the short and sweet version without my witty humor.

A more controlled impact with the ground would be nice; and an extra force can be applied to the light as it hits the ground. The most simple way to do this is to hold on to the light firmly with a gloved hand and proceed to wack it against the ground or a big rock, etc.
You could also set it up on an appropriate surface and bang the light with any number of objects.
Or you could combine the above two, set the light across two sturdy objects and hit the light in the middle in an attempt to bend or break it in half.

Another thought is see how far down the light will go if you have an appropriately deep body of water available. Tie the light to a line and let it down 25' 50' 75' 100 150' and so on until it leaks. Or just trawl it behind a boat for a bit.

If I think of anything else I'll post it as well.

aussiebob said:

Any body got ideas for me tommorow to kill it, ive got the day free.

Click to expand...

Shotgun at 30 meters with us5-7 cartridge. (common for hunting birds) No slugs or bb's, that would be overkill
I bet there are lots of gun nuts here that would love to see a good shootout :twothumbs

Wow!
Great thread :thumbsup:

Its pleasing to see that the TK40 can take quite a bit of everyday accidental abuse!

Wish i could afford to test out my TK11

I hope that wan't a borrowed light!

Wow, thanks for the test. I've always read how tile (bathroom, kitchen, etc.) is extremely hard on flashlights due to its unforgiving nature. I'd say a 6ft. drop test on hard tile surface is about as manly as it gets. If you dare sir...

I vote for drops from higher distances. I'm curious to see what it'll take to crack/shatter the window.

Nice!

Having tried (and failed) to destroy an earlier model Fenix by various electronic means (including a 2KW tesla coil and a microwave oven) I was impressed how well made they are. One thing I wanted to do (but failed to get permission) was to throw it in our washing machine for a standard wash and spin cycle!.....If that was possible for you.

That is AWESOME!

Makes me feel alot happier about mine

haha, I feel sorry for the poor tk40! U must have a lot of money to throw around!

btw +1 for the washing machine test. (bet it'll survive though)

So much for the aluminum on the TK40 being "a little thin".