New Fenix TK30 LEP White Laser Flashlight

[autumncrown]

Sounds like the throw is legit on this light. The fact that Fenix advertises this light as being weapon mountable must mean they have high confidence in it's durability, whereas with previous LEP's, durability is a concern. A video of the beam would be useful indeed.

Previously not showing much interest in LEP's, this new light has certainly sparked my interest.

Where I do have confusion is some of the specifications on candela and throw distance measurements that some of these manufacturers are giving. For example, Jetbeam just released a new model, M2S LEP that is claiming over 800,000 candela at 480lumens. Unless there is something I'm not understanding correctly, I have a hard time grasping how Jetbeam has managed to produce an astronomical higher amount of throw from a light of the same size and output as the Fenix at 363,000 candela, which is about where the Acebeam W10 is.

I have no doubts about the reliability, durability, and excellent warranty and customer service of Fenix. Hopefully, some of these will fall into the hands of reviewers soon.

Here's a video comparing all of the beams from most of the currently available LEP lights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GgrddaBNQM&feature=youtu.be

As you can see, the jetbeam m2s does have a noticeably tighter beam, perhaps only 2/3 in diameter as the other similarly sized ones. It appears they maximized throw/form factor ratio, and as many people note, having a beam as tight and focused as that of the w30 is a downside in many scenarios. It seems the m2s is in between the larger models and the smaller models. I have one coming in soon, but it will be my only LEP light so I won't be able to compare it to the other smaller ones.

 

[DayofReckoning]

Autumncrown, thanks for sharing that. I would like to see company's making LEP's that, instead of focusing on ultimate throw, rather instead focusing on making wider, larger, more useful beams.

 

[autumncrown]

Autumncrown, thanks for sharing that. I would like to see company's making LEP's that, instead of focusing on ultimate throw, rather instead focusing on making wider, larger, more useful beams.

Yes - flashlights have always been designed with the assumption that there will be plenty of flood, and you have to work toward adding throw. LEPs flip the script, such that you have to engineer throw back into a coherent beam. This will probably take time, but I think LEP zoomies will be showing up before too long. LEPs are already more complicated than LED lights, so there is no ultra durable, simple design philosophy to be tainted by the addition of a zoom. That said, non-zooming lights, be they LED or LEP, will always have an advantage in durability, and I am not sure how much of an advantage LEPs offer over traditional LEDs such that there are that many use cases for a floody/throwy combo LEP.

 

[blub]

I got my TK30 today, pretty impressive for how small it is. Out throws my big ol' Acebeam K70 and TK30 is the size of a 18650 light
Not a very good picture, I was on a bike ride and only had my phone but I lit up this palm tree over 330 yards out and it wasn't even dark yet. I just went out in the dark and lit up a house thats 610 yards out and a tree 400 yards away measured on google maps.
It's pretty light around here with all the streetlights but I could still tell it was lighting stuff up a long way out. I see no reason to lug around that Acebeam anymore. I'd rather carry two small lights, TK30 for distance and my HDS for everything else.

https://photos.google.com/u/0/photo/AF1QipN5ABUerIzp4PXOKT5Skd2sVUm1oDwY_QRXX_jH

 

[busseguy]

I got my TK30 today, pretty impressive for how small it is. Out throws my big ol' Acebeam K70 and TK30 is the size of a 18650 light
Not a very good picture, I was on a bike ride and only had my phone but I lit up this palm tree over 330 yards out and it wasn't even dark yet. I just went out in the dark and lit up a house thats 610 yards out and a tree 400 yards away measured on google maps.
It's pretty light around here with all the streetlights but I could still tell it was lighting stuff up a long way out. I see no reason to lug around that Acebeam anymore. I'd rather carry two small lights, TK30 for distance and my HDS for everything else.

https://photos.google.com/u/0/photo/AF1QipN5ABUerIzp4PXOKT5Skd2sVUm1oDwY_QRXX_jH

Is the hotspot really as tiny as it looks on videos?

 

[blub]

At about 35' it's about 3 1/2', it does have a bit of spill, not totally a round sharp spot like a theater spotlight or a zooming light.
Once you get past a certain point say 60-70 yards the spot is about 18-20' and stays that way out to about 120 yards.

I like it because looking through trees and other obstacles it doesn't light everything in the foreground and blind me like some other searchlights with a lot of spill. You can aim it down the street without lighting up the whole neighborhood. The house I lit up at the end of the street at 610 yards lit up pretty much the whole house so it's not like it's a narrow laser beam, my laser puts a tiny dot on that same house.

I tried it against my Acebeam K70 and it does throw further than that and there is more spill on the K70 lighting up the foreground that you can't see as far also. It has high and low along with the strobe so it's a bit more useful than the others. I was going to make a diffuser for it and maybe tone it down a bit for closer work.

 

[busseguy]

At about 35' it's about 3 1/2', it does have a bit of spill, not totally a round sharp spot like a theater spotlight or a zooming light.
Once you get past a certain point say 20-30 yards the spot stays the same size at about 18-20'.

I like it because looking through trees and other obstacles it doesn't light everything in the foreground and blind me like some other searchlights with a lot of spill. You can aim it down the street without lighting up the whole neighborhood. The house I lit up at the end of the street at 610 yards lit up pretty much the whole house so it's not like it's a narrow laser beam, my laser puts a tiny dot on that same house.

I tried it against my Acebeam K70 and it does throw further than that and there is more spill on the K70 lighting up the foreground that you can't see as far also. It has high and low along with the strobe so it's a bit more useful than the others. I was going to make a diffuser for it and maybe tone it down a bit for closer work.

Thank you for the info

 

[blub]

Sure! Sorry, just google mapped the distance, that should read 60-70 yards where I wrote 20-30 yards

 

[Lightups]

Hello. Is it normal to have a dark vertical line below the hotspot? It doesn't obscure the hotspot, but is noticeable when shining it pretty close. Thanks.

 

[Random Dan]

I think this Technology is amazing, but then again I smile every time I use a microwave I wouldn't mind getting one just to see how it is and to play with but think it's a very niche item. I think in one photo it shows a correctional officer using it to light up a cell. And that's a perfect example of what it's designed for. Now if they come out with a hybrid one. LEP in the center and a ring of LED's around it kinda like an A2 then I think there would be much more interest in it and you would have a led to light up and area and a LEP in the center to throw basically forever. Now that would be cool

That would be cool. Or something like a TK72, but instead of three reflectors it has one LEP, one traditional reflector LED, and one triple or quad optic. Now that would be one helluva versatile light.

 

[blub]

"Hello. Is it normal to have a dark vertical line below the hotspot? It doesn't obscure the hotspot, but is noticeable when shining it pretty close. Thanks."


Mine does not have that, there is part of the corona that is not uniform but you'd really, really have to look to find it and you'd never even see it outdoors, I really tried to examine mine and it took forever to notice on a wall, now I'm blind.

 

[Lightups]

Mine does not have that, there is part of the corona that is not uniform but you'd really, really have to look to find it and you'd never even see it outdoors, I really tried to examine mine and it took forever to notice on a wall, now I'm blind.

Yeah it is pretty harsh on the eyes when it reflects off glass or white wall. But it still amazes me that you can see the beam of light even in broad daylight.

I watched a video on YouTube and I saw the same line on that poster's light. I guess it's just part of some of the lights.

 

[blub]

Yes, it's a great light, no need to carry on of those big lights anymore.

 

[thermal guy]

Yes I think for this light to really appeal to the general crowd it needs to be more versatile. Meaning more spill. A LEP isn't going to give you that by itself but something with a dual reflector one with leds and one with a lep would really be cool.It has its usefulness now but in a very small group of users.

 

[busseguy]

I just read a post somewhere that said the Fenix only has like a 1,200 meter beam while the Acebeam W30 has almost double that. Anyone know why that would be? Pretty disappointing.

 

[badtziscool]

Yes I think for this light to really appeal to the general crowd it needs to be more versatile. Meaning more spill. A LEP isn't going to give you that by itself but something with a dual reflector one with leds and one with a lep would really be cool.It has its usefulness now but in a very small group of users.

Matt Smith (Vestureofblood here on CPF) briefly showed what would happen if you put one of those florescent light diffuser panels in front of the W30 and it diffused it into a perfectly useable beam for close to medium range. Something like that should be included as a standard accessory to any LEP light.



EDIT: Go to 11:03 on the video. I tried to embed it to start at that time, but I guess that feature isn't supported in the forum software.

 

[Trexwarrior]

I had no idea when I woke up today I would be buying more flashlights until I got an email from Fenix advertising two new lights. Then I decided to look at their catalog and I ended up buying the TK30. I have seen this video from Matt before and I knew I had to have one but for whatever reason never pulled the trigger on the Acebeam. I have been a big fan of Fenix for a while now and once I saw they came out with a LEP I knew I had to have it. I emailed the Fenix customer support as instructed on their page and they were super quick to respond with a link to complete my purchase as well as giving me a first responder discount of 30% off. I think the total price I paid was $188.97 with free shipping to boot. Just thought I would share if anyone was interested in acquiring one. I will try to take some video and pictures with it once it comes in and share them on here. I tried searching on youtube and I think there is only one video of the TK30 in action and it's pretty brief.

 

[DayofReckoning]

I just read a post somewhere that said the Fenix only has like a 1,200 meter beam while the Acebeam W30 has almost double that. Anyone know why that would be? Pretty disappointing.

This is not clear cut. The Fenix is just as powerful, and outputs just as much light, but the hotspot is much, much larger than the W30's. The W30 has a very small tiny intense spot, so it is able to achieve those high candela numbers and longer range. I believe the Jetbeam's spot is even smaller still. The focusing of everything plays a big role too, one brands focusing could be tighter due to better design.

Then again, the purpose of LEP is ultimate range, so yeah it only makes sense to shoot for highest throw/candela. But a light like the Fenix is probably more useful in close medium range situatiions.

 

[busseguy]

This is not clear cut. The Fenix is just as powerful, and outputs just as much light, but the hotspot is much, much larger than the W30's. The W30 has a very small tiny intense spot, so it is able to achieve those high candela numbers and longer range. I believe the Jetbeam's spot is even smaller still. The focusing of everything plays a big role too, one brands focusing could be tighter due to better design.

Then again, the purpose of LEP is ultimate range, so yeah it only makes sense to shoot for highest throw/candela. But a light like the Fenix is probably more useful in close medium range situatiions.

I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thank you for the info

 

[busseguy]

This is not clear cut. The Fenix is just as powerful, and outputs just as much light, but the hotspot is much, much larger than the W30's. The W30 has a very small tiny intense spot, so it is able to achieve those high candela numbers and longer range. I believe the Jetbeam's spot is even smaller still. The focusing of everything plays a big role too, one brands focusing could be tighter due to better design.

Then again, the purpose of LEP is ultimate range, so yeah it only makes sense to shoot for highest throw/candela. But a light like the Fenix is probably more useful in close medium range situatiions.

I forgot to mention that I had an Acebeam T27 and I was pretty disappointed in it. It claims around 1180 meters throw but definitely didn't seem like it to me. Plus it had way to much spill for my liking. Do you think the Fenix LEP will have a much brighter hot spot than the Acebeam?