FD45 quick opinion

I violated a rule that I developed over time and ordered a new light w/o waiting for any test review. I may have lucked out this time.

The FD45 arrived in good shape and fully functional.
This abbreviated report is based on about a half hour outside tonight.
no photos (no access). words will have to suffice.
beam zoom rotation was very tight - 2 handed only.
zoom rotation range is about 90 deg <<not 45 as originally posted>>.
narrow zoom ranges from about as narrow as the MH20GT beam and a bit narrower than the EA41 beam.
wide zoom is surprisingly wide, much wider than expected. there are no beam rings at wide zoom.
a hole in the beam develops from about 1/2 to 2/3 way thru the rotation to a narrow beam. It is visible outside.
the beam hole edge is fairly soft so it should not be bothersome over time.
I suspect my outside walks will normally use the beam just before the hole starts opening up at the narrow end.
The beam color is neutral white. I would not have ordered it with a warm white coloration!
The standard Fenix 0.5 sec hold to turn off/on seems shorter than I remember on earlier Fenix lights.
the 900 lumens is difficult to evaluate since I have only 'white' beams to compare to.
However, the 900 lumens appears to be close to correct.
the flashlight build is good.
there is no battery holder.
there are springs in the body for both the + and - battery ends. no springs in the battery cap.

The primary maintenance will be to keep the sliding zoom head clean! The head extends about 7mm from wide to narrow beam.

my bottom line: a keeper so far. It will go into my rotation for outside walks.

an opinion: I suspect that the FD65 with 3 emitters will not display as much of a beam hole.
however this time I may wait for a review of the FD65.

edit: Yes, the output levels are memorized.

Thanks for the overview. Really wanting to pick up the FD65 as well as the FD30 and FD41

^

Ref wanting to pick up the FD65:
after an evening with the FD45, the FD65 is probably in my future.
Rotating the FD45 zoom mechanism from narrow to wide elicits a sense of "huh? what happened to the beam?".
meaning that the same lumens tightly bundled in a narrow beam do not 'spread' very well over a wide angle.
if I was using a lower level output on a narrow angle, I normally feel compelled to increase the output to full lumens when at a wider angle.
the end result is that an evening walk of 45-60 min usually results in the 4xAA Eneloop cells needing a recharge since the output is on the highest 2 levels most of the time.
Only the FD65 will satisfy that need. BTW, Here are some beamshots of the FD65. Scroll down for some nice beamshots. The FD45 has very similar beamshots, just a lower output. Hopefully crossing forums is OK.

My other reaction is that the beam color is warmer than I like. I am no fan of 'warm' beams, meaning somewhere around 4000K or even less. 5000K is about where I start liking the beam color. I suspect that this beam color is between 4000K and 4500K.

The electronics in the FD45 do control the output level as the head heats up. that is noticeable when using the light as a beam-bounce to read the WSJ, sort of minor output flickering.

Thanks moldyoldy for sharing your personal opinions.
Still in the process of knowing these two and not decide yet which one to choose.:mecry:

Loverofthelight said:

Thanks moldyoldy for sharing your personal opinions.
Still in the process of knowing these two and not decide yet which one to choose.:mecry:

Click to expand...

do a search for my FD65 Quick Opinion thread. I provided a link to FD65 beamshots on a German flashlight website - look at the photos, no need to read the German. Those beamshots convinced me to purchase the FD65. The FD45 was given away.

Other than losing the color lottery with my FD45 (far too warm beam), my primary issue with the FD45 was when moving from a spot setting to a full flood setting outside. in an outdoor environment, the beam sort of 'disappears', even at full output. obviously the lumens are spread over a much wider area. The FD65 has sufficient lumens to start with so the effect is not a problem. The price you 'pay' is size/weight. The FD45 is very close to an EA41 in size. The FD65 has 4x 18650 cells inside - not a lightweight.