Fenix Flashlights Reliable?

[Mr Floppy]

I am a little worried with it being from China.

Geez man, these days I'd be worried if it wasn't made in china.

Back in the 80's, I used to be worried about buying japanese made items but then I got this sanyo boom box with shortwave radio. Still using it to this day. I dont know, I think a lot of that fud was released by the local manufacturers to try and protect their market. I feel bad about not buying the local product at the time but it just couldnt compare.

Anyway, dont judge a book by where its printed. Don't judge anything by where its made. (unless its australia)

 

[greenLED]

Let's not forget the abuse the T1 went through, not to mention my personal favorite.

Doing those was lots of fun.

I've had many Fenix lights passing through my hands. Never had a problem with any of them.

About the only thing that pops into my mind (from reading about it, never happened to one of my lights), is that the retaining ring in the tailcap sometimes (somehow) works itself a little bit lose. The light then flickers a bit and misbehaves. The simple fix is to retighten the retaining ring with needle-nose pliers. A 5 sec fix and you're good to go.

The other one I can think of is the clicly switch on the T-series is an "Achiles heel". However, I gotta say, those have failed only after A LOT of abuse (see the links Marduke posted), not just "out of the blue".

So, yeah, quite reliable IMO! I give Fenix :twothumbs

 

[Henk_Lu]

I know Fenix lights over the last 3 generations, which means that I have a P2D-CE, had an L1D-Q5 and an L2D-Q5 and currently have all PD and LD models.

My feeling is that the quality gets better with every generation. None of my actual models ever made a single problem. The anodization seems better too, the black has become "blacker", threads seem better, the lens looks clearer.

My P2D-CE has a weird behavior. If you use it on normal modes, push the head down so that it switches on turbo, it sometimes gets dark releasing the head. Switching it on and off makes it work again. I haven't seen that behavior in normal use of turbo so (tightening the head, loosen it to switch back). It once fell from waist height on tarmac, the anodization fell off on 2 places (1mm).

As I usually take care of my things, none of my other lights ever fell, so I can't tell about them.

As for "Made In China" I agree that it doesn't say anything about the quality anymore. I would even go further : Products, which are proudly marked "Made In China" and where the producer actually is a chineese firm, the quality is a often better than on european or american products, where you don't find the "Made In China" but have to check the barcode to find out that it actually is made in China...

The chineese are quick learners, as they don't mind copying from those who have the knowledge (Please notice that I didn't say now that any flashlight company copied anything from whoever!!!). What's more, they quickly understood that the typical american and european customer wants quality, as he is used to it. The rest is shown by the price. You get chineese lights for 5$ or less, but no Fenix!

Greets,

Henk

 

[Zeruel]

Let's not forget the abuse the T1 went through, not to mention my personal favorite.

Thanks, Marduke. Another 2 links to bookmark for future enquiries into Fenix quality.

 

[GrnXnham]

My L1T went through the washer AND dryer and came out okay--no water inside and still worked great and it was cleaner than before.

I wondered what that clunking sound was coming from the dryer...

 

[BigBluefish]

I have an L2P v2, and L1T v2, and an EO1 and other than the switch loosening once on my L2P, which was quickly correctable by just tightening it down, I've had no problems with mine. Granted, thye havent seen much use, other than the L1T being carried around alot and actually turned on very litte, but for what it's worth, they've worked fine for me.

 

[LightWalker]

I've dropped both of my Fenix L2D's onto concrete and they are still going strong.
There are some torture test videos on Youtube.com, that were not approved by Nancy Palosi. :tsk::whoopin:

 

[rockz4532]

All of my Fenix lights have stood up to normal abuse, with no problems.

 

[DM51]

LightWalker... your sigline does not comply with Rule 3. Please edit it immediately.

 

[LightWalker]

LightWalker... your sigline does not comply with Rule 3. Please edit it immediately.

Sorry about that. Sigline edited.

 

[DM51]

Sorry about that. Sigline edited.

It still does not comply. Please read Rule 3 carefully.

 

[squareone]

Ive had mine for a year and use it 3 times a week at work pretty heavily. I have never had any problems and all the security team wishes they had a flashlight like my pd30

 

[nzbazza]

I have 3 Fenix lights the oldest of which is nearly two years old and despite the daily (ab)use it works fine, as do the other two.

You are always going to get a certain percentage of failures from any population. Normally the manufacturer would like to keep this failure percentage to a minimum as it is an additional cost to the business, not only because of fixing/replacing faulty units and the customer service required but also the loss of brand perception.

As a consumer, personally I rank customer service and the ability to put things right pretty high when I'm choosing where to purchase an item, and there are several good places for Fenix lights around CPF.

 

[StandardBattery]

Hardly required in this thread but +1 for Fenix. :twothumbs

I also agree with the poster that said they seem to get better with each iteration. They are also responsive to customer issues. The only thing I've had on a few different Fenix lights is metal shavings short the contact for turbo. These sometimes require a keen eye and precise cleaning or extraction to remove. I believe this has improved, but it was fairly common in the past.

I've had some trouble getting the lights to tail stand without a wobble sometimes, but this is not a reliability issue.

The electronics seem very solid and so efficient to boot. They may not be the sexiest lights, but a dead light is not very sexy either.

You'll like it!

 

[Sector7]

4 Sevens backs their Fenix lights with a NO QUESTIONS ASKED LIFETIME WARRANTY. For a retailer to place such high regard on a product and their business speaks loudly.

 

[cubsfan555]

:twothumbs Thanks for all the advice!

 

[jzmtl]

My P2D-CE has a weird behavior. If you use it on normal modes, push the head down so that it switches on turbo, it sometimes gets dark releasing the head. Switching it on and off makes it work again. I haven't seen that behavior in normal use of turbo so (tightening the head, loosen it to switch back). It once fell from waist height on tarmac, the anodization fell off on 2 places (1mm).

Greets,

Henk

My early P3D has that exact same problem, which I've determined to be caused by too much thread play. Any press would lower the head and allow turbo contact pad to touch top of battery tube, and apparently this confuse the chip and it sometimes goes frenzy.

A later bought T1 doesn't have significant amount of thread play, perhaps they've improved machining since.

 

[woodrow]

While I would suggest a backup light be carried no matter what brand of light you choose to cary, I would rate Fenix with the best of them (at least with their T series lights in reliability.

The Only lights I have had that feel as tough as my Fenix TA30 were my Surefire M3 and AE 3xAA divelight. Both these other lights were over $200

 

[Henk_Lu]

My early P3D has that exact same problem, which I've determined to be caused by too much thread play. Any press would lower the head and allow turbo contact pad to touch top of battery tube, and apparently this confuse the chip and it sometimes goes frenzy.

A later bought T1 doesn't have significant amount of thread play, perhaps they've improved machining since.

I know that it is caused by thread play, I often use that "feature" on the TK-series. I tighten the head just under the point where high engages and pull gently on the head to have a momentary high. This technique works flawlessly with TK10/11/20, the lights never quit working.

I don't care about that little bug on the P2D-CE, I just have to pay attention to loosen the head enough so that it doesn't happen.

 

[Search]

I've had three Fenix lights and five SureFire lights.

I'm not going to compare, but I'll explain what I've learned.

My first Fenix was the PD30. I gave it to my girlfriend for purse duty because I realized it serves no purpose in my life and has already been sent back to the dealer for repairs and because it's still not reliable. It won't always turn on like it's supposed to.

My second Fenix was the TK11 which had to be sent back because the tailcap was faulty.

My third Fenix was the TK10 which performs excellent and is my duty light.

It wont be for long though.

All of my SureFire (G3, G2, 6PL, E2DL, and E1B) have been absolutely perfect, period. They just work like they are supposed to and most look like hell.

When SureFire releases the AZ2 it will be my duty light.

I'm not biased in anyway, but I know who I can trust.

SureFire and Fenix.

While two of three of my Fenix lights have been sent back, I know that the TK11 problem could plauge any falshlight company.

Tailcaps are just a problem that is a hit or a miss sometimes.

I trust my TK lights as much as I do my SureFire lights and that says a lot.

However, I don't like multi-mode lights very much (besides the E1B which has one purpose, a Backup) so I don't have much experience with other Fenix lights.

I only trust the TK series (however, not the TK40, I don't think it belongs in the TK series personally). Looks too flimsy and prone to damage for soem reason.