Fenix TK16 (XM-L2 U2, 1x18650 or 2xCR123A) Review

[markr6]

It has to be only a matter of time until Fenix gets into the XP-L HI game :rock:

HA! About 10 months later the TK15UE is their answer.

 

[Geode]

Most excellent review, thanks for the time and effort you put into it. I am choosing between the TK16 and TK15 UE.

 

[vicv]

Great review. Interesting take on I guess the new version of the tk15. I do have a couple questions. I'm.not talking about the step down on turbo. But you mentioned regulated turbo. This doesn't look regulated to me at all. And not like armytek that has a buck boost circuit. This doesn't even seem to have a buck regulated circuit. It continuously drops in output as the cell drains. There should be a flat line across for a while then when the cell drops below VF of the led at ~3A then a steadily downward curve. To me this light doesn't have bad regulation on turbo. It doesn't have any. But it's also definitely not direct drive. Must be a fixed resistor on turbo. Also I don't consider 1000 lumens heavily driven. That's only 3A
Another thing. The low voltage warning is nice as it lets you know you need to change cells but doesn't leave you in the dark. But what happens when you want to use 2x cr123s which it's designed for. I think that could get quite irritating have the light constantly blink at you after dropping to low when you still have capacity left in your primary cells

 

[candle lamp]

you mentioned regulated turbo. This doesn't look regulated to me at all.

The TK16 stpes down to High from Turbo. It's timed-step down. The first runtime traces (accumulated) show the TK16 with output reset to Turbo after the automatic downshift each 21 minutes.

It continuously drops in output as the cell drains. There should be a flat line across for a while then when the cell drops below VF of the led at ~3A then a steadily downward curve. To me this light doesn't have bad regulation on turbo. It doesn't have any. But it's also definitely not direct drive. Must be a fixed resistor on turbo.

It perfectly shows flat regulation after timed-step down on Turbo.

Also I don't consider 1000 lumens heavily driven. That's only 3A.

Only 3A? It's one of the heavily driven lights with 1x18650.

Another thing. The low voltage warning is nice as it lets you know you need to change cells but doesn't leave you in the dark. But what happens when you want to use 2x cr123s which it's designed for. I think that could get quite irritating have the light constantly blink at you after dropping to low when you still have capacity left in your primary cells

I didn't check how the light on 2xCR123A work. But the light with 1x18650 steps down to Low automatically when the battery is Low without blinking.

 

[vicv]

Almost every light comes out now has a ~1000 lumen output which is around 3 amps with an XML or xpl. So I figure that's pretty standard now. Nothing special.
"It perfectly shows flat regulation after timed-step down on Turbo"
That's not regulation though. You get diminishing light for 21 minutes(that's how it looks on your graph) then steps down to a lower mode with regulation. If you go back to turbo it does it again. If you look at you're graph for turbo there isn't a flat spot in it until it steps down but then it's not in turbo anymore. That's what I meant by no regulation whatsoever. They must utilise a fixed resistor for turbo and it's direct drive through that resistor.
These are just my observations of the light. I know the step down thing seems to be popular right now with the lumen wars going on. And I'll admit 21 minutes is a long time at 1k lumens as it's more than you'll ever really need. I guess we just have a difference on how we define regulation. I consider regulation to look like the medium line. Thanks

 

[Bc35339]

This might be next on my list.

 

[Jimmy Ray]

I picked one of these up a week ago and I really like it. It looks super cool and the 400 Lumens on high really lights things up. I don't like turbo on any flashlight and wish there was a way to lock out this feature.