Fenix TK45 (760 Lumens) vs. Maglite 5*R2 Cree Drop-In (1200 Lumens claimed)

ThirstyTurtle

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UPDATED WITH PICTURES

So I'm not super proud of the following beam shots for a number of reasons and I'm going to take some better ones soon but at least it's something. It was way too humid last night to take these pictures so there's pretty intense bounce back from the moisture and plenty of light pollution. Amateur at best but it's better than nothing.

Enjoy!

Tree line @ 250'
Camera Settings: Locked white balance, 18mm, f/3.5, 2"

The lights weren't aimed in identical spots but you can see that the TK45 is much floodier and the Maglite is much brighter at its center.

Fenix TK45 - Turbo (760 lumens)
08121430.jpg


Maglite 5*R2 Cree Drop-In - High (1200 lumens claimed)
08121431.jpg



Tree line @ 250'
Camera Settings: Locked white balance, 18mm, f/3.5, 3"
Here they were aimed at about the same spot and it's pretty obvious which is which but you can see they both have similar spill.

Fenix TK45 - Turbo (760 lumens)

08121436.jpg


Maglite 5*R2 Cree Drop-In - High (1200 lumens claimed)
08121437.jpg



Tree line @ 450'
Camera Settings: Locked white balance, 18mm, f/3.5, 1.6"
I realize here they're sort of aimed at the asphalt instead of the trees but it does do a decent job of comparing the two lights to my car's headlights. In fact once I got back on my secluded street I cut the lights and held the Fenix out of the roof for about a quarter mile and it did just fine!

Fenix TK45 - Turbo (760 lumens)
08121443.jpg


Maglite 5*R2 Cree Drop-In - High (1200 lumens claimed)
08121444.jpg


Car Headlights - Low Beams (2002 VW Golf)
08121447.jpg
Car

Headlights - Low and High Beams (2002 VW Golf)
08121448.jpg



Tree line @ 300'
Camera Settings: Locked white balance, 18mm, f/3.5, 1"

Fenix TK45 - Turbo (760 lumens)
08121453.jpg


Maglite 5*R2 Cree Drop-In - High (1200 lumens claimed)
08121454.jpg



Again, I'm not super proud of these but they do at least show a little of what can be expected. I think I need to use shorter distances since these lights (especially the TK45) are so floody and not throwy. I just had a hard time figuring out that even though they're 800ish lumens they really don't shine all that far. I'm going to get some better shots once I have a less moisture-filled night and I'll add those pictures when they happen.
 
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Gunner12

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Not sure how hard this might be, but maybe you could attach the lights to the leg or legs of the tripod? It'll give a nice "first person" view as if the camera is holding the light.

Enjoy the darkness! :p
 

ThirstyTurtle

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Not sure how hard this might be, but maybe you could attach the lights to the leg or legs of the tripod? It'll give a nice "first person" view as if the camera is holding the light.

Enjoy the darkness! :p

That's a GREAT idea!!! I'll certainly try that and see how it looks. I think I could attach both of them, one on each of 2 legs just using some zip ties and have them pretty secure, that would certainly make changing scenes easier, just pickup the tripod and move!
 

CyberCT

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I really wish Fenix would rerelease the TK45 with the new XPG2 LED to give something like 1200 OTF lumens or something similar. The compact size of the TK45 compared to that kind of output would be pretty awesome. TK70 is crazy bright but the size is a little annoying, and the driver squeal.
 

ThirstyTurtle

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Well it looks like it'll be a few days before I get a chance to do these beamshots, between weather and prior engagements I just haven't had time.

But I'll tell you this, my initial impression is that the Maglite drop-in is brighter and it DEFINITELY throws further. However, the TK45 has much more useable levels and probably substantially better runtimes. The Maglite has SUPER HIGH, PRETTY HIGH, and HIGH, there's not much of a low or anything on it, plus you have to cycle through STROBE and SOS everytime which is obnoxious but it's no biggie.

I'll get the beamshots up soon!
 

ThirstyTurtle

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Sorry! I ordered more Eneloops so that both lights will have fresh AA Eneloops (14 in total!) and they're getting here today. I'm going to try to do the beamshots tomorrow night but worst case I will 100% for sure be doing them Sunday night.

Sorry for the wait guys, I think it'll be worth it though!
 

HighlanderNorth

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Well it looks like it'll be a few days before I get a chance to do these beamshots, between weather and prior engagements I just haven't had time.

But I'll tell you this, my initial impression is that the Maglite drop-in is brighter and it DEFINITELY throws further. However, the TK45 has much more useable levels and probably substantially better runtimes. The Maglite has SUPER HIGH, PRETTY HIGH, and HIGH, there's not much of a low or anything on it, plus you have to cycle through STROBE and SOS everytime which is obnoxious but it's no biggie.

I'll get the beamshots up soon!



^Thats why I opted not to buy the Olight SR-51. It has only 2 modes, very bright and much brighter. I think ALL LED lights should have a low and low-medium mode. The modes of the Olight SR 51 are 250L and 900L. When you are around the house, 250L is often too bright for the task, and it wastes battery charge.
 

tabraha

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^Thats why I opted not to buy the Olight SR-51. It has only 2 modes, very bright and much brighter. I think ALL LED lights should have a low and low-medium mode. The modes of the Olight SR 51 are 250L and 900L. When you are around the house, 250L is often too bright for the task, and it wastes battery charge.

I agree. We had a pretty decent power outage not too long ago and my TK45 on low made a very nice candle that I didn't have to worry about runtime. The flexibility to go from candle (relatively speaking) to 760lumens is nice. The uptime on low is really nice. If they were to up the juice on the tk45 I would probably consider adding a second for the house. The 5*R2 seems potent though I'll give it that.
 

RemcoM

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Hi ThirstyTurtle,

1 How bright are your VW Golf 2002 Headlights? The low and high beam?

Are this the standard halogen? 1 picture in this thread of the high beams is not visible..

2 Can you post a picture of your high beams?

3 What flashlights you have? And are they brighter or dimmer than your cars high/lowbeams?

Remco
 

ThirstyTurtle

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Hi ThirstyTurtle,

1 How bright are your VW Golf 2002 Headlights? The low and high beam?

Are this the standard halogen? 1 picture in this thread of the high beams is not visible..

2 Can you post a picture of your high beams?

3 What flashlights you have? And are they brighter or dimmer than your cars high/lowbeams?

Remco

1) I don't know how bright they are, standard brightness, they work fine for seeing at night.
2) All the photos work fine for me including the one with lows and highs on. I can't turn on ONLY the highs.
3) I listed exactly what lights I'm using for these photos and posted photos for you to visually compare. I would say the vehicle headlights throw further...
 

RemcoM

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1) I don't know how bright they are, standard brightness, they work fine for seeing at night.
2) All the photos work fine for me including the one with lows and highs on. I can't turn on ONLY the highs.
3) I listed exactly what lights I'm using for these photos and posted photos for you to visually compare. I would say the vehicle headlights throw further...

1 Do you know The Fenix TK75? I have it, it has 2600 lumens ,and 600 meters beam distance. Can it outthrow your Vw Golf Highbeams? What you think

2 Can your VW Golf High beams blind someone, when looking straight in it?

3 Is there much difference in low /normal, and high? I cannot view the image of the low and highs.

4 You have this model Golf?

Are the high beams at the inner side of the lampunit?

Remco
 

ThirstyTurtle

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1 Do you know The Fenix TK75? I have it, it has 2600 lumens ,and 600 meters beam distance. Can it outthrow your Vw Golf Highbeams? What you think

2 Can your VW Golf High beams blind someone, when looking straight in it?

3 Is there much difference in low /normal, and high? I cannot view the image of the low and highs.

4 You have this model Golf?

Are the high beams at the inner side of the lampunit?

Remco

1) yes, the TK75 will FAR out-throw vehicle high beams
2) Blind?! Like actually BLIND? No. Yes they would leave spots for sure...they're freaking car headlights, probably ~2,000 lumens per bulb times 6 bulbs means in the neighborhood of 12,000 lumens but it's spread over a wide area so they don't throw nearly as far as a dedicated thrower flashlight.
3) the high beams just point out further and aren't designed to cutoff the light like low beams. Yes they shine much further than the lows.
4) I have a MKIV (2002) and yes the high beams are the innermost reflectors (as on the vast majority of vehicle headlight assemblies)
 

RemcoM

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1) yes, the TK75 will FAR out-throw vehicle high beams
2) Blind?! Like actually BLIND? No. Yes they would leave spots for sure...they're freaking car headlights, probably ~2,000 lumens per bulb times 6 bulbs means in the neighborhood of 12,000 lumens but it's spread over a wide area so they don't throw nearly as far as a dedicated thrower flashlight.
3) the high beams just point out further and aren't designed to cutoff the light like low beams. Yes they shine much further than the lows.
4) I have a MKIV (2002) and yes the high beams are the innermost reflectors (as on the vast majority of vehicle headlight assemblies)

Hi, thanks for your reply,


This Golf?
sprinter_golf_001.jpg


Strange, the innermost reflectors are smaller than the outermost, How can it get brighter and throw farther, while the outermost low beam reflector is larger.

Do you have the Fenix TK75? Or do you have seen it shine?
 

ThirstyTurtle

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Hi, thanks for your reply,


This Golf?
sprinter_golf_001.jpg


Strange, the innermost reflectors are smaller than the outermost, How can it get brighter and throw farther, while the outermost low beam reflector is larger.

Do you have the Fenix TK75? Or do you have seen it shine?

Ya just like that one. It is strange but I guess it's just the way the topics are designed. The larger reflector cats all its light down low so you don't blind traffic and it casts it out wide whereas the smaller reflector casts it out and much narrower.

I don't have the TK75 but I've seen beam shots and read it's specs enough to know that it will throw farther than my headlights.
 

RemcoM

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Ya just like that one. It is strange but I guess it's just the way the topics are designed. The larger reflector cats all its light down low so you don't blind traffic and it casts it out wide whereas the smaller reflector casts it out and much narrower.

I don't have the TK75 but I've seen beam shots and read it's specs enough to know that it will throw farther than my headlights.

But You have the TK45, and how bright is that, in comparison to your cars standard low beams?

2 What are the lights, you normally drive with at evening/dark?

3 What if you mostly drive with your high beams on?
 

ThirstyTurtle

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But You have the TK45, and how bright is that, in comparison to your cars standard low beams?

2 What are the lights, you normally drive with at evening/dark?

3 What if you mostly drive with your high beams on?

I know longer have my TK45.
 

RemcoM

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I know longer have my TK45.

Hi,

1 If you drive towards me with your Vw Golf, with your low beams at night, do they will look bright to me then? Not too bright to look at?

2 And what if you drive towards me, with your high beams, will it look too bright to me? Or not? Or is it a bit too much for my eyes?

3 Can you see your low and high beams at noon, on a cloudy day, seeing the light on the asphalt on the street? My bicycle light do not, only at high beam.

4 Do you think my Fenix TK75, will reach its beam further then your low and high beams?

Remco
 

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