Fenix for travelling?

[ed24]

Hello all,

I'm going traveling for 6 months and I want a good flash to take with me. I have narrowed it down to the TK12? the PD30 and the TA21... I think the TA21 might just be a little too complicated though, plus it doesn't have a holster. Anyway, your input and suggestions are all needed.

Many thanks

Ed

London

 

[kelmo]

Welcome to CPF!

I would take a good headlamp that uses lithium AAAs. Don't know much about the lights you reference. Any good multilevel small handheld would do. I do alot of travelling and usually take a Tikka+, Aeon, and a E2O w/twisty as a backup. My wife packs an Ion and Arc AAA.

Are you travelling to destinations were you can easily buy batteries?

Ask yourself, is the light to be used alot? If not a single celled CR123 light with a few spare cells will be fine IMHO.

Have a wonderful trip and let us know how it turned out!

kelmo

 

[Marduke]

Definitely go with common cells. AA's (and to a lesser extent AAA's) can be purchased in even the most remote village.

I would go with 1xAAA on the keychain or around the neck, 1xAA in the pocket, 2xAA and headlamp in the bag.

 

[ninjaboigt]

depends where ur traviling to..

if ur going to a place where you can get access to an outlet, maybe you might want to bring rechargeable eneloops and get a quark AA,

or if u will be going out in to a rural country area, maybe cr123a would work more better if u you packed a bunch of them...

i would honestly go with a Quark becasue of the moon mode and the 3.5 lumens, it works well in the complete dark.

 

[tango44]

Will take my Fenix TK10 or TK11 with rechargeable batts and primaries to war any day, will take 2 lights to have a back up.

 

[MaxIcon]

When I travel, it's always with my P2D at a minimum (it's my EDC), and I'll usually throw in a TK11 for a bedside light, along with a small stash of CR123 batteries. The P2D gets the most use, since it's a general tasklight.

I find tasklights more useful on the road than tac lights, so if I were limited in space or weight, that's how I'd go.

If you're not going to be able to replenish your battery supply from home regularly, I'd go for a set of AA lights, and would use an LD10 or LD20 as a task light.

I'm a big fan of redundancy (and of Fenix). For me, an ideal AA set for an extended trip would be an LD10 for EDC, an LD20 for a backup and room light, and an L2T if I wanted a tac light. This provides easy repairs and parts swapping if anything went wrong.

If I had to trim it down to 2, it would be an LD10 and one of the others, depending on whether I wanted 2 task lights or one task light, one tac light.

 

[ZMZ67]

The Quark 123/2AA would seem to be a better fit to me.The lights you mention have higher output but are not as versatile.If you go with the Quark you can get the 1-CR123 body and have a small light that is convenient to carry all of the time and still be able to switch to the 2AA body for the convenience of using AAs.Not sure of the Quarks availability in the UK but I believe 4Sevens offers international shipping.
You can still go with one of the lights you picked originally and if you can't get the Quark maybe go with the LD20 as a back-up.

 

[bullfrog]

Definitely need more info from the OP to help you out with the best choices for your particular need.

Where are you travelling? As a tourist throughout europe or will you be in the African bush for months at a time?

What do you plan on using the light for? Around the camp for three hours a night? An emergency "oh sh*t light? An EDC light?

 

[yellow]

no tactical with all those useless edges, spikes, ...

 

[bullfrog]

no tactical with all those useless edges, spikes, ...

Good call - would suck to lose your light to a security guard/LEO.

My E2DL was one of my favorites, but, one I tried to avoid taking for air travel...

Regardless of your main light, I'd recommend picking up a Fenix E01 to always keep in your pocket or around your neck - cheap ($15), durable, 1x AAA, puts out enough light for most EDC tasks and ships free to you from 4sevens :thumbsup:

 

[ed24]

Amazing! What a response, thank you everyone! I'm going to be off to OZ, NZ and then through Asia... I wont be using the flash all the time, just when I need it at night and possibly for defence. Yellow, I think you make a good point with regards to it being confiscated, I think that is somethingI need to have a re think on.

A few of you have suggested two lights in order to get around the issue of not being able to obtain AA's when away. I agree that this is a sensible decision and I'm going to get get a small LD01 or similar.. I'm pretty set on going with Fenix for a number of reasons... any comments on the TK12 or PD30? Is this LED on the TK12 old??

Thanks everyone.

Ed

 

[ZMZ67]

Fenix has some very good lights.I am not familiar with the the TK12 or PD30 but both should be good lights.I do have some experience with the P2D(forerunner to the PD20) and it is an excellent utility light.Between the two lights I would choose the PD30 because it is more compact and similar in operation and design to the P2D that has served me so well.I do wish Fenix would offer more neutral tint lights besides the TK20 as I have found that the neutral tints are preferable for outdoor use.

 

[hyperloop]

when last i travelled, my Jet I Pro IBS 2.0 went with me, 3 spare 14500s no charger as i could just switch to AAs if i needed to, Fenix LD01 was around my neck at all times. Since i was more or less city bound, these were the only 2 lights i needed. Oh and they were hand carried with me onboard with no issues.

Security (and i was travelling to Tel Aviv) didnt bat an eyelid.

 

[Marduke]

A few of you have suggested two lights in order to get around the issue of not being able to obtain AA's when away. I agree that this is a sensible decision and I'm going to get get a small LD01 or similar.. I'm pretty set on going with Fenix for a number of reasons... any comments on the TK12 or PD30? Is this LED on the TK12 old??

you got it backwards. Cr123'a will be hard and expensive to obtain. AA's will be available in any location where you could buy food and shelter.

I suggest looking at the LD10 or LD20 in that case, along with the E01 for backup.

 

[Gunner12]

I'd also recommend bringing an AA powered light. AA batteries are much easier to obtain then CR123 batteries. Fenix also make lights that run on AAs you know, and they aren't the only good company. All of the LEDs on the Fenix lights are pretty new compared to the LED light you commonly see people using.

I'd pick a Fenix LD01, or E01 for backup, and either theQuart AA^2 , the Fenix LD20, or the Olight T25.

:welcome:

 

[robvantour]

I would recommend the Fenix TA21.

The output is the same as the PD30 or TK12.
It uses 18650 lithium cells, it has a mechanical dimmer system, wich allows you to have a lot of output setting without losing the momentairy on function.
The lowest mode is 4 lm wich lasts for 170 h!

I really like this low low, my tk10 blinds me while turning it on in a dark room.

On the other hand, you can buy AA batteries everywhere.
So if you shoose for the lithium cells, buy the 18650's and a few primaries as backup

 

[steinstern]

definetly AA !!!!! (you will get them everywhere) single AA is better than 2 AA for your needs! (you don´t know the quality of the batteries you will get, especially in asia. with a single cell light you don´t have to mix 2 diverent batterys)

i would say a Zebralight H501w and a good single AA light, that has some throw (quark AA )

not sure if you are going backpacking. especially in this case the H501w is THE light for you!

no matter of what you are buying, buy a H501w aswell and report us which light you used the most, when you are back.... i think i know the anwer..

 

[KiwiMark]

definetly AA !!!!! (you will get them everywhere) single AA is better than 2 AA for your needs! (you don´t know the quality of the batteries you will get, especially in asia. with a single cell light you don´t have to mix 2 diverent batterys)

i would say a Zebralight H501w and a good single AA light, that has some throw (quark AA )

not sure if you are going backpacking. especially in this case the H501w is THE light for you!

no matter of what you are buying, buy a H501w aswell and report us which light you used the most, when you are back.... i think i know the anwer..

This post is the one to follow!

Buy a Zebralight H501w and a 1 x AA light with more throw (Quark, Olight, Fenix, Nitecore, Jetbeam, etc) then you only need 2 AA cells to power both lights. If you take a charger and some Eneloops then you should be well covered for your battery needs, but if you run out you can easily find AA cells almost anywhere.

 

[mbw_151]

I support the Zebra 501 / Quark AA setup with one small addition, a Photon Freedom in the pocket at all times (except swimming). The best light is the one you have at hand, even if you only use it to find your way to a bigger light.

 

[hyperloop]

you may also want to consider a TK20, tank of a light but without the assault bezels etc, runs off 2xAAs with 2 modes and is a great warm tint, then have a 1xAA for pocket carry and either an LD01 or E01 backup light.