I bought this light several weeks ago and I'm extremely impressed. I won't bother posting pictures since anything I show can be found easily and I don't believe in white wall hunting shots. I'll get some in action pictures and real world pics when i get my sony TX5 for christmas :thumbsup:
Build Quality:
The coating is excellent, not quite a matte powder type but not the cheap and shiney black plasticly coating either, I'd say its perfect. Trapezoidal threads are a very very nice touch. Tailcap lockout works perfectly, and the tactical forward clicky is wayyyyy more useful than I ever thought it would be. Yes I use it doing tactical exercises (only like once every few months though) but I use it constantly when I only need light for a few seconds. I'm sure in the long run it extends the life of the clicky switch too. This thing is a tank, and I really don't see anything I could ever possibly do to it breaking it (and I'm going to college for geology, in the military as a reservist, and hikes regularly as well as am an urban explorer) so in essence, work and play, I'm hard on my gear.
Beam:
I have several friends with surefires (urban explorers and other friends in the military) and this little light slamns down every single one of them in terms of runtime and brightness. The circuitry is perfect, and this thing has a brightness for anything and everything I need. For example:
10 Lumens: Used yesterday while looking for my dropped wallet in a movie theater but didn't want to disturb others watching a movie.
65 Lumens: Used while working outside for a few hours at night.
120 Lumens: Used quite a bit as my go to setting for distance at night, scouting trails and inside abandoned warehouses and tunnels.
280 Lumens: Actually needed and used this setting about a week ago when a good friend of mine was searching along hits Ham radio antenna which was like a 50 foot dipole and it was up in the trees about 15 foot high. The beam was strong enough to cut through and we found the break. Also is very fun to search for squirrels up in high trees at night
Strobe: To be honest, I may use it in a tactical situation one day, but mostly its for scaring the mess out of people and freaking the people in the hotel next door out with a flashing light that dissapears when they come to the window.
As for the hotspot, i was very very worried about the doughnut effect. I saw it slightly when i looked really hard for it on a solid white wall. I dare you to spot it in ANY other situation. Its just not that bad. I think either I got a good sample, or people get wayyyy to bent out of shape over something that just isnt there enough to worry about it.
Other thoughts:
I'm very glad this thing has a sealed head, and I'll tell you why: I can run it on max brightness and it stays nice and cool, and in a really gritty situation, I believe if water and dirt were to come into the body, none would reach the LED or circuitry in the head, which makes it much much more reliable. It also doesn't allow for ANY play or movement of the LED or circuitry, which makes it more shock resistant and sturdy. Another thing, a brighter LED will not become available for some time, and by the time that it does, I'll just buy another fenix light.
I drove over 9 strait hours just to get to Atlanta so I could go to the ACTUAL goinggear store. Yes I wanted new toys that badly. So did my fiance, who picked up the cutest iTP EOS 190 lumen light that she carries every day. We got toys and I got to actually handle and compare surefires and fenix and itp etc. He had at least 100 lights on display and I have to tell you, hands down Fenix is the best for the money. You pick a price, and fenix will give you the best for that price, end of story. iTP are a little less quality (no trapezoidal threads, less efficient regulation, not as sturdy or well coated) BUT those little things are bright as heck for their size, tight build tolerances, and a gateway drug into the flashaholics club lovecpf
So I'll be sure to post pictures when I go to D.C. for christmas and I'll get my camera and get lots of in action pics.
Thanks CPF for all of the posts I used for research!
P.S. The tritium spheres I bought from B@rt made an amazing necklace when paired up with some aquamarine and braided stainless steel nylon coated beading wire. I wrapped the sphere in silver non-tarnish wire.
http://d.facdn.net/art/soraslipheed/...klacesmall.jpg
THANKS EVERYONE!!!! lovecpf
Build Quality:
The coating is excellent, not quite a matte powder type but not the cheap and shiney black plasticly coating either, I'd say its perfect. Trapezoidal threads are a very very nice touch. Tailcap lockout works perfectly, and the tactical forward clicky is wayyyyy more useful than I ever thought it would be. Yes I use it doing tactical exercises (only like once every few months though) but I use it constantly when I only need light for a few seconds. I'm sure in the long run it extends the life of the clicky switch too. This thing is a tank, and I really don't see anything I could ever possibly do to it breaking it (and I'm going to college for geology, in the military as a reservist, and hikes regularly as well as am an urban explorer) so in essence, work and play, I'm hard on my gear.
Beam:
I have several friends with surefires (urban explorers and other friends in the military) and this little light slamns down every single one of them in terms of runtime and brightness. The circuitry is perfect, and this thing has a brightness for anything and everything I need. For example:
10 Lumens: Used yesterday while looking for my dropped wallet in a movie theater but didn't want to disturb others watching a movie.
65 Lumens: Used while working outside for a few hours at night.
120 Lumens: Used quite a bit as my go to setting for distance at night, scouting trails and inside abandoned warehouses and tunnels.
280 Lumens: Actually needed and used this setting about a week ago when a good friend of mine was searching along hits Ham radio antenna which was like a 50 foot dipole and it was up in the trees about 15 foot high. The beam was strong enough to cut through and we found the break. Also is very fun to search for squirrels up in high trees at night
Strobe: To be honest, I may use it in a tactical situation one day, but mostly its for scaring the mess out of people and freaking the people in the hotel next door out with a flashing light that dissapears when they come to the window.
As for the hotspot, i was very very worried about the doughnut effect. I saw it slightly when i looked really hard for it on a solid white wall. I dare you to spot it in ANY other situation. Its just not that bad. I think either I got a good sample, or people get wayyyy to bent out of shape over something that just isnt there enough to worry about it.
Other thoughts:
I'm very glad this thing has a sealed head, and I'll tell you why: I can run it on max brightness and it stays nice and cool, and in a really gritty situation, I believe if water and dirt were to come into the body, none would reach the LED or circuitry in the head, which makes it much much more reliable. It also doesn't allow for ANY play or movement of the LED or circuitry, which makes it more shock resistant and sturdy. Another thing, a brighter LED will not become available for some time, and by the time that it does, I'll just buy another fenix light.
I drove over 9 strait hours just to get to Atlanta so I could go to the ACTUAL goinggear store. Yes I wanted new toys that badly. So did my fiance, who picked up the cutest iTP EOS 190 lumen light that she carries every day. We got toys and I got to actually handle and compare surefires and fenix and itp etc. He had at least 100 lights on display and I have to tell you, hands down Fenix is the best for the money. You pick a price, and fenix will give you the best for that price, end of story. iTP are a little less quality (no trapezoidal threads, less efficient regulation, not as sturdy or well coated) BUT those little things are bright as heck for their size, tight build tolerances, and a gateway drug into the flashaholics club lovecpf
So I'll be sure to post pictures when I go to D.C. for christmas and I'll get my camera and get lots of in action pics.
Thanks CPF for all of the posts I used for research!
P.S. The tritium spheres I bought from B@rt made an amazing necklace when paired up with some aquamarine and braided stainless steel nylon coated beading wire. I wrapped the sphere in silver non-tarnish wire.
http://d.facdn.net/art/soraslipheed/...klacesmall.jpg
THANKS EVERYONE!!!! lovecpf
