radiopej
Enlightened
Update 13-09-15: I just dropped the torch from under a metre (probably around 40 cm as it just rolled off my bag to the floor) and the mode change button died again. I opened it up and basically, the soldering came right off. When this switch dies, the light is unusable unless you switch to the remote switch.
So, Fenix sent me a nice TK16 to review as part of their global testing campaign. They were also kind enough to send the AER-03 Remote Pressure Switch and the ALG-01 Picatinny/Weaver gun mount. I tested it out on a bow, as I don't have a gun. However, I figured it would be amusing to mount it to a NERF gun, as that at least approximates some of the considerations you might have.
Unfortunately, my review was delayed for a while due to a faulty tail switch and then a tonne of stuff to do at work when it arrived. Since I was sent this light to review as part of the Global Testing Campaign, I figure it's better to just put it up in this thread that I already made, even though somebody else has since posted a review as well. I hope my review is sufficiently different to justify this.
Manufacturer's Specifications
Emitter: CREE XM-L2 U2 (Cool White)
Type III Anodised Aluminium – dual layer body with extra circuitry
Smooth Reflector
Strengthened ultra-clear glass lens with anti-reflective coating
Battery type: CR123A x 2, 18650 x 1 (dual springs for impact resistance)
Reverse polarity protection
Anti-roll ring
Pocket clip
Dual tail switches
Instant strobe (from off)
Water-proof to 2 m (IPX-8 standard)
Impact resistant to 1 m
Length x diameter (head / body): 140 x 34 / 25 mm
Weight: 122 g (without batteries)
Crenellated bezel
Low-Voltage Warning
Output
Run times from Fenix based on their 3400 mAh battery (ARB-L2-3400). Tail cap current measured after ~5 seconds, as it was rather difficult to maintain a connection due to the dual body design.
Turbo (1000 lumens): 1 h 10 min (1.37 A)
High (400 lumens): 3 h 25 min (0.96 A)
Mid (150 lumens): 10 h (0.3 A)
Low (10 lumens): 150 h (0.02 A)
Strobe (1000 lumens): Run time not given
Peak Beam Intensity: 14,480 candela (240 metre range)
Included in Package
1x TK16 Flashlight
1x Fenix Holster (Velcro seal)
1x Lanyard
1x Spare O-Ring
1x User Manual
1x Warranty Card
Initial Impressions
I should probably point out that I generally prefer neutral white emitters. However, this light has the best beam profile I've ever seen, and one of the nicest cool white tints I've had. It's the perfect mix of flood and throw, penetrating further with a nice amount of spill the rest of the way.
The packaging is quite straightforward, but comes with some nice spare parts and a holster. The tactical ring for picatinny mounting comes with the Allen key required for adjustments. The remote switch comes with 2 hook-and-loop adhesive strips for mounting.
I wasn't very fond of the feel on the tailcap switches. Fenix makes my favourite clickies, but the new dual body design seems to have changed the actual clicky component. It's not bad, it's just not what I expected and felt a little too firm. About 2 hours after I received the sample, I went nuts on clicking the tail switches quickly. After about 10 seconds of this the tailcap started to develop issues and the light wouldn't remain on. It seems there was an unrelated problem with the tail spring (there are 2 of them interwound), so Fenix sent me a new tailcap. While it's probably not a good thing to have it fail so early in a review, I will give Fenix the benefit of the doubt here. Every company will have issues every now and then when mass producing thousands of lights and the new switch worked perfectly. That being said, I think the new dual-body tail switches probably are more prone to failure as they are much, much more complex than the normal clicky switches.
The dual tail switches are an interesting step. I found that the strobe turned on for a fraction of a second before the main light turned on many times, as my finger would squish both buttons. I deliberately tried quickly grabbing it from my pocket and switching it on to test this out. The mode switch button might have been more suitable on the side of the tail cap, as Olight does with the M20 series. I spent a few minutes getting used to the tail cap, which made it a lot easier to turn on the switch I was after. I'm not sure what would happen in an emergency, but it seems fine for regular use or when you're already holding the light in your hand.
I admit that I was actually a little bit disappointed when I received this light due to the tailcap, the first time a Fenix light didn't have a great impression on arrival. I didn't think I'd like it and felt saddened by the idea. But then night fell and I started using the remote switch. The light coming out of this thing just blew me away in terms of both brightness and quality.
Physical Characteristics
The body of light feels very solid in the hand – somewhere in between a Surefire 6P and a Fenix TK22. The crenellations are fairly prominent but not sharp in an annoying way. The double wall feature is an interesting way to add strobe-from-off without parasitic drain. It does make it a little harder to reliably bypass the tailcap if needed because different parts of the threads will activate normal light and strobe. The double wall design also means you can't lock-out the tailcap by slightly undoing it, as all of the threads are used. The outer wall is for on/off, the inner wall controls the strobe/mode changing. It might have been better to swap these around for bypassing purposes. The clip is mounted very well – it was very hard to pull it off when mounting it in the gun ring. Lettering is nice and clear.
With the cutaway on the tailcap for the extra switch, the light obviously can't tailstand. That's understandable, as it's not designed with this kind of thing in mind. The cutaway has a hole for a lanyard, though you could also thread one through the holes in the clip. The main switch is 11 mm in diameter and about 3.5 mm away from the mode change switch, hence the chance of accidentally hitting the wrong switch. The other big down side of the cutaway is that the weak strobe switch will be much more open to impact, as mine was.
In this photo you can see where impact from a distance within the acceptable height caused the wiring to come apart.
The interior of the light is 18.81 mm wide, happily handling the ~18.26 mm KeepPower 3400 mAh 18650.
Side By Side Comparisons
The TK16 compared favourably against similar lights in this class in terms of output. Here it is with the Fenix TK22 (T6 edition) and a Solarforce 18650 host.
The head is smaller than the TK22, but the sheer increase in lumens pushes the beam much further anyway. The smaller head makes it much easier to pocket, so to me it's functionally like having a TK22-style light in a 6P-ish size.
The LED was centered quite well.
User Interface and Modes
The light is fairly straightforward to operate. The main switch provides momentary illumination and will activate on the last used mode. Once on, the "strobe" button switches modes from low to medium, high and then to turbo before cycling back to low. Holding the strobe button for 1 second while on activates the strobe. Tapping the switch again goes back to your previous mode. When the light is off, hitting the strobe button instantly activates the strobe function. This is momentary and can't be clicked on permanently from off through this button, but if you click the on/off switch during strobing it will stay on strobe. The buttons are a little too close together, so having to quickly extract it and turn it on may accidentally turn on the strobe for a fraction of a second. I also tried it out while wearing gloves and this made it a bit harder to hit the switch I was after. The interface is probably best suited to already having the light in your hand when you decide to use it, as you can know where the buttons are. It's quite possible to push the wrong button occasionally though, even when you're used to it.
'
For the most part, the mode spacing is nicely set. Fenix once again shows its disdain for moonlight mode, but for the intended purpose of this light I get it. It's designed to illuminate targets and serve as a general duty light, so moonlight would be useless. The 10 lumens low mode is good for reading documents and just checking little things, while the high and turbo are good when you want to light up "that thing that made a noise over there". A mode in between Turbo and High would be good, as mentioned below. There's a slight delay when you hit the mode switch, as it technically changes modes after you let go of the mode switch after each press, rather than on the press. I thought this was odd, but when I checked my PD32 UE and the UC35, they both do it too. I'm not sure why I noticed it on this light compared to the other two, but it's not really a problem.
On Turbo, the light puts out a rather hot beam. If I put it against my skin it starts burning within 20 seconds, which I've never really felt on a light before (even at 1000 lumens). I ran the light for 10 minutes on the couch to measure the temperature. The head gradually made it to 50 °C (122 °F), by which point the rest of the light started to heat up. At this point it was a little too hot to comfortably hold and I stopped the test. The PD32 UE could handle 740 lumens for only 3 minutes while getting uncomfortably hot and stepping down, so it's a step-up from then. I'm not sure when the step-down would occur, but the step-down on the TK22 (T6 edition) is supposed to be 30 minutes. This light is more like the TK22 than the PD series, but I think that by 30 minutes it would be way too hot. I'd personally only use Turbo as a burst mode for a few minutes at a time and keep the 400 lumens mode as the long-term highest mode. I think Fenix should have introduced a 700ish lumens turbo mode and left this 1000 lumens for Burst. This would increase run time and also help with heating. If Fenix thinks it can handle longer, I'm sure it can, but it's just not comfortable to hold.
Beamshots (the reason you came here)
I took some beamshots indoors. These are from about 4 metres away. Ideally I would have taken the light outside to do the normal shots from 10 metres on the garage door, but my neighbour didn't look very happy with the spillover into his yard and I ran away.
Here is the TK16 lighting up the chimney.
And here is the TK16 against a wall.
Now, I've said the TK16 has the best beam profile I've ever seen over and over again. It's nicely in between the TK22 and the PD series from Fenix, so here's a comparison of the hotspot on the TK16 and TK22. You can see that the hotspot is a bit larger on the TK16 than the TK22, with nicer spill.
If there are any other shots that anybody would like, please feel free to request them.
Weapon Mounting
The light snugly mounts in the ALG-01 gun ring without any rattle. However, to put the light into the mount you first have to remove the tailcap and the anti-roll ring. Removing the anti-roll ring seems to require removing the o-ring first. Then you slide the light into the mount, add the o-ring and then add the anti-roll ring back. This means that a) your light is securely attached and b) you can't easily take the light off to alternate between a weapon-mounted and a carry light.
The AER-03 switch is rather fun to use. I decided to mount my set-up to a recurve bow using a glued-on picatinny rail 3D-printed by a friend. If I was going to hunt, I'd probably buy a proper picatinny mount that joins onto a stabilizer. This allows the light to be centred on the bow and to illuminate the target. I mounted the switch upside down and found it isn't half-bad based on how you grip your riser. The beam profile makes it an awesome light for use inside the house (for me) as I didn't find too much glare from the walls when pointing it down hallways. I didn't get to fire the bow with the light attached, but I did do a few simulated draws. The light didn't interfere with the balance of the bow and it didn't really feel much heavier than the bow normally does. I suspect it would be even better if I mounted it in the centre as mentioned earlier.
I also mounted it to a NERF gun – this was a surprisingly good and secure fit, and a lot of fun in the house. I basically did it to look at mounting options for the remote switch.
The remote switch has 2 buttons – 1 is basically the same as a main clicky switch on a light and the other is a traditional pressure switch found on many other remote switches. They have the same function as the power and strobe on the actual tailcap, including the momentary activation. This means you have access to strobe and various modes from the switch without having to sacrifice any settings. The downside is that the switches may be slightly confusing to use in an emergency. It's easy to feel the difference between the two buttons (without gloves, at least) because the power switch has a raised area around it, but their positioning means you may accidentally change modes by gripping the rifle too tightly – quite a problem when you go from 1000 lumens to 10 lumens in a dark room. Other companies tend to just have single mode lights to avoid any of these problems. So for this it's up to your preferences and how you train. I'm fairly sure that people who regularly train with their firearms would be fine once they get used to it and incorporate the switch into their use. Purists who would rather have a direct on/off switch will probably want to give it a miss, but I think being able to change modes is a really useful thing. I went through the house at 12 am with the NERF gun (with all the house lights off), and being able to switch modes avoided me being blinded by walls directly in front of me. I wish I could move up AND down in modes, but that would just make the switch even more convoluted than it should be. I know a lot of you will find this approximation stupid, but it's the best I could do in regards to a gun mount and I figured it was better than nothing.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I liked this light while it worked. The beam is one of the best I've seen and I commend Fenix for trying out this new UI. However, the new switch isn't perfect and comes into its own problems. For me, reliability is probably the most important factor and this light had 2 switches die under conditions it is advertised as being perfectly capable of withstanding. I think the light itself is great, but the tail switch is horrible. I would ideally like to see Fenix re-work this tail switch and send out the new versions to all customers who have already bought one.
As a light for police, the easy accidental activation of strobe could be problematic and escalate matters with people. It should be fairly easy to accustom yourself to this UI though, especially if it's your main light and you don't use gloves. Once you do, you have fairly easy one-handed operation of the light.
Where this light really shines (no pun intended) is as a weapon light, likely for hunting. The remote pressure switch allows nice control of the light, and the non-emergency nature of hunting reduces the likelihood of hitting the wrong button in a panic. It also avoids all of the issues found in the stock tail switch.
So, Fenix sent me a nice TK16 to review as part of their global testing campaign. They were also kind enough to send the AER-03 Remote Pressure Switch and the ALG-01 Picatinny/Weaver gun mount. I tested it out on a bow, as I don't have a gun. However, I figured it would be amusing to mount it to a NERF gun, as that at least approximates some of the considerations you might have.
Unfortunately, my review was delayed for a while due to a faulty tail switch and then a tonne of stuff to do at work when it arrived. Since I was sent this light to review as part of the Global Testing Campaign, I figure it's better to just put it up in this thread that I already made, even though somebody else has since posted a review as well. I hope my review is sufficiently different to justify this.
Manufacturer's Specifications
Emitter: CREE XM-L2 U2 (Cool White)
Type III Anodised Aluminium – dual layer body with extra circuitry
Smooth Reflector
Strengthened ultra-clear glass lens with anti-reflective coating
Battery type: CR123A x 2, 18650 x 1 (dual springs for impact resistance)
Reverse polarity protection
Anti-roll ring
Pocket clip
Dual tail switches
Instant strobe (from off)
Water-proof to 2 m (IPX-8 standard)
Impact resistant to 1 m
Length x diameter (head / body): 140 x 34 / 25 mm
Weight: 122 g (without batteries)
Crenellated bezel
Low-Voltage Warning
Output
Run times from Fenix based on their 3400 mAh battery (ARB-L2-3400). Tail cap current measured after ~5 seconds, as it was rather difficult to maintain a connection due to the dual body design.
Turbo (1000 lumens): 1 h 10 min (1.37 A)
High (400 lumens): 3 h 25 min (0.96 A)
Mid (150 lumens): 10 h (0.3 A)
Low (10 lumens): 150 h (0.02 A)
Strobe (1000 lumens): Run time not given
Peak Beam Intensity: 14,480 candela (240 metre range)
Included in Package
1x TK16 Flashlight
1x Fenix Holster (Velcro seal)
1x Lanyard
1x Spare O-Ring
1x User Manual
1x Warranty Card
Initial Impressions
I should probably point out that I generally prefer neutral white emitters. However, this light has the best beam profile I've ever seen, and one of the nicest cool white tints I've had. It's the perfect mix of flood and throw, penetrating further with a nice amount of spill the rest of the way.
The packaging is quite straightforward, but comes with some nice spare parts and a holster. The tactical ring for picatinny mounting comes with the Allen key required for adjustments. The remote switch comes with 2 hook-and-loop adhesive strips for mounting.
I wasn't very fond of the feel on the tailcap switches. Fenix makes my favourite clickies, but the new dual body design seems to have changed the actual clicky component. It's not bad, it's just not what I expected and felt a little too firm. About 2 hours after I received the sample, I went nuts on clicking the tail switches quickly. After about 10 seconds of this the tailcap started to develop issues and the light wouldn't remain on. It seems there was an unrelated problem with the tail spring (there are 2 of them interwound), so Fenix sent me a new tailcap. While it's probably not a good thing to have it fail so early in a review, I will give Fenix the benefit of the doubt here. Every company will have issues every now and then when mass producing thousands of lights and the new switch worked perfectly. That being said, I think the new dual-body tail switches probably are more prone to failure as they are much, much more complex than the normal clicky switches.
The dual tail switches are an interesting step. I found that the strobe turned on for a fraction of a second before the main light turned on many times, as my finger would squish both buttons. I deliberately tried quickly grabbing it from my pocket and switching it on to test this out. The mode switch button might have been more suitable on the side of the tail cap, as Olight does with the M20 series. I spent a few minutes getting used to the tail cap, which made it a lot easier to turn on the switch I was after. I'm not sure what would happen in an emergency, but it seems fine for regular use or when you're already holding the light in your hand.
I admit that I was actually a little bit disappointed when I received this light due to the tailcap, the first time a Fenix light didn't have a great impression on arrival. I didn't think I'd like it and felt saddened by the idea. But then night fell and I started using the remote switch. The light coming out of this thing just blew me away in terms of both brightness and quality.
Physical Characteristics
The body of light feels very solid in the hand – somewhere in between a Surefire 6P and a Fenix TK22. The crenellations are fairly prominent but not sharp in an annoying way. The double wall feature is an interesting way to add strobe-from-off without parasitic drain. It does make it a little harder to reliably bypass the tailcap if needed because different parts of the threads will activate normal light and strobe. The double wall design also means you can't lock-out the tailcap by slightly undoing it, as all of the threads are used. The outer wall is for on/off, the inner wall controls the strobe/mode changing. It might have been better to swap these around for bypassing purposes. The clip is mounted very well – it was very hard to pull it off when mounting it in the gun ring. Lettering is nice and clear.
With the cutaway on the tailcap for the extra switch, the light obviously can't tailstand. That's understandable, as it's not designed with this kind of thing in mind. The cutaway has a hole for a lanyard, though you could also thread one through the holes in the clip. The main switch is 11 mm in diameter and about 3.5 mm away from the mode change switch, hence the chance of accidentally hitting the wrong switch. The other big down side of the cutaway is that the weak strobe switch will be much more open to impact, as mine was.
In this photo you can see where impact from a distance within the acceptable height caused the wiring to come apart.
The interior of the light is 18.81 mm wide, happily handling the ~18.26 mm KeepPower 3400 mAh 18650.
Side By Side Comparisons
The TK16 compared favourably against similar lights in this class in terms of output. Here it is with the Fenix TK22 (T6 edition) and a Solarforce 18650 host.
The head is smaller than the TK22, but the sheer increase in lumens pushes the beam much further anyway. The smaller head makes it much easier to pocket, so to me it's functionally like having a TK22-style light in a 6P-ish size.
The LED was centered quite well.
User Interface and Modes
The light is fairly straightforward to operate. The main switch provides momentary illumination and will activate on the last used mode. Once on, the "strobe" button switches modes from low to medium, high and then to turbo before cycling back to low. Holding the strobe button for 1 second while on activates the strobe. Tapping the switch again goes back to your previous mode. When the light is off, hitting the strobe button instantly activates the strobe function. This is momentary and can't be clicked on permanently from off through this button, but if you click the on/off switch during strobing it will stay on strobe. The buttons are a little too close together, so having to quickly extract it and turn it on may accidentally turn on the strobe for a fraction of a second. I also tried it out while wearing gloves and this made it a bit harder to hit the switch I was after. The interface is probably best suited to already having the light in your hand when you decide to use it, as you can know where the buttons are. It's quite possible to push the wrong button occasionally though, even when you're used to it.
'For the most part, the mode spacing is nicely set. Fenix once again shows its disdain for moonlight mode, but for the intended purpose of this light I get it. It's designed to illuminate targets and serve as a general duty light, so moonlight would be useless. The 10 lumens low mode is good for reading documents and just checking little things, while the high and turbo are good when you want to light up "that thing that made a noise over there". A mode in between Turbo and High would be good, as mentioned below. There's a slight delay when you hit the mode switch, as it technically changes modes after you let go of the mode switch after each press, rather than on the press. I thought this was odd, but when I checked my PD32 UE and the UC35, they both do it too. I'm not sure why I noticed it on this light compared to the other two, but it's not really a problem.
On Turbo, the light puts out a rather hot beam. If I put it against my skin it starts burning within 20 seconds, which I've never really felt on a light before (even at 1000 lumens). I ran the light for 10 minutes on the couch to measure the temperature. The head gradually made it to 50 °C (122 °F), by which point the rest of the light started to heat up. At this point it was a little too hot to comfortably hold and I stopped the test. The PD32 UE could handle 740 lumens for only 3 minutes while getting uncomfortably hot and stepping down, so it's a step-up from then. I'm not sure when the step-down would occur, but the step-down on the TK22 (T6 edition) is supposed to be 30 minutes. This light is more like the TK22 than the PD series, but I think that by 30 minutes it would be way too hot. I'd personally only use Turbo as a burst mode for a few minutes at a time and keep the 400 lumens mode as the long-term highest mode. I think Fenix should have introduced a 700ish lumens turbo mode and left this 1000 lumens for Burst. This would increase run time and also help with heating. If Fenix thinks it can handle longer, I'm sure it can, but it's just not comfortable to hold.
Beamshots (the reason you came here)
I took some beamshots indoors. These are from about 4 metres away. Ideally I would have taken the light outside to do the normal shots from 10 metres on the garage door, but my neighbour didn't look very happy with the spillover into his yard and I ran away.
Here is the TK16 lighting up the chimney.
And here is the TK16 against a wall.
Now, I've said the TK16 has the best beam profile I've ever seen over and over again. It's nicely in between the TK22 and the PD series from Fenix, so here's a comparison of the hotspot on the TK16 and TK22. You can see that the hotspot is a bit larger on the TK16 than the TK22, with nicer spill.
If there are any other shots that anybody would like, please feel free to request them.
Weapon Mounting
The light snugly mounts in the ALG-01 gun ring without any rattle. However, to put the light into the mount you first have to remove the tailcap and the anti-roll ring. Removing the anti-roll ring seems to require removing the o-ring first. Then you slide the light into the mount, add the o-ring and then add the anti-roll ring back. This means that a) your light is securely attached and b) you can't easily take the light off to alternate between a weapon-mounted and a carry light.
The AER-03 switch is rather fun to use. I decided to mount my set-up to a recurve bow using a glued-on picatinny rail 3D-printed by a friend. If I was going to hunt, I'd probably buy a proper picatinny mount that joins onto a stabilizer. This allows the light to be centred on the bow and to illuminate the target. I mounted the switch upside down and found it isn't half-bad based on how you grip your riser. The beam profile makes it an awesome light for use inside the house (for me) as I didn't find too much glare from the walls when pointing it down hallways. I didn't get to fire the bow with the light attached, but I did do a few simulated draws. The light didn't interfere with the balance of the bow and it didn't really feel much heavier than the bow normally does. I suspect it would be even better if I mounted it in the centre as mentioned earlier.
I also mounted it to a NERF gun – this was a surprisingly good and secure fit, and a lot of fun in the house. I basically did it to look at mounting options for the remote switch.
The remote switch has 2 buttons – 1 is basically the same as a main clicky switch on a light and the other is a traditional pressure switch found on many other remote switches. They have the same function as the power and strobe on the actual tailcap, including the momentary activation. This means you have access to strobe and various modes from the switch without having to sacrifice any settings. The downside is that the switches may be slightly confusing to use in an emergency. It's easy to feel the difference between the two buttons (without gloves, at least) because the power switch has a raised area around it, but their positioning means you may accidentally change modes by gripping the rifle too tightly – quite a problem when you go from 1000 lumens to 10 lumens in a dark room. Other companies tend to just have single mode lights to avoid any of these problems. So for this it's up to your preferences and how you train. I'm fairly sure that people who regularly train with their firearms would be fine once they get used to it and incorporate the switch into their use. Purists who would rather have a direct on/off switch will probably want to give it a miss, but I think being able to change modes is a really useful thing. I went through the house at 12 am with the NERF gun (with all the house lights off), and being able to switch modes avoided me being blinded by walls directly in front of me. I wish I could move up AND down in modes, but that would just make the switch even more convoluted than it should be. I know a lot of you will find this approximation stupid, but it's the best I could do in regards to a gun mount and I figured it was better than nothing.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I liked this light while it worked. The beam is one of the best I've seen and I commend Fenix for trying out this new UI. However, the new switch isn't perfect and comes into its own problems. For me, reliability is probably the most important factor and this light had 2 switches die under conditions it is advertised as being perfectly capable of withstanding. I think the light itself is great, but the tail switch is horrible. I would ideally like to see Fenix re-work this tail switch and send out the new versions to all customers who have already bought one.
As a light for police, the easy accidental activation of strobe could be problematic and escalate matters with people. It should be fairly easy to accustom yourself to this UI though, especially if it's your main light and you don't use gloves. Once you do, you have fairly easy one-handed operation of the light.
Where this light really shines (no pun intended) is as a weapon light, likely for hunting. The remote pressure switch allows nice control of the light, and the non-emergency nature of hunting reduces the likelihood of hitting the wrong button in a panic. It also avoids all of the issues found in the stock tail switch.
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