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Author's Statement for Transparency and Disclosure
The test sample/s featured in this article were provided for technical testing and review by "Fenixlight Limited". Test samples are retained by the reviewer following publication of the completed review for the purposes of long term testing and product comparisons.
Supply and Delivery was fulfilled by "MyFenix.co.uk", the UK Distributor for Fenix lights
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Author's Statement for Transparency and Disclosure
The test sample/s featured in this article were provided for technical testing and review by "Fenixlight Limited". Test samples are retained by the reviewer following publication of the completed review for the purposes of long term testing and product comparisons.
Supply and Delivery was fulfilled by "MyFenix.co.uk", the UK Distributor for Fenix lights
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Fenix started adding 'complete' rechargeable light kits a couple of years ago with the RC10, and more recently added the monster RC40. The UC45 is in the single 18650 size range, and has been simplified by integrating the charger circuit into the light itself needing only a standard USB charger or a USB port on a computer/laptop.
Author's note: due to the general tendency for reviews to become ever longer, this review is presented in a different format to my previous ones, with all but a few images being animated to attempt to reduce excessive scrolling. You may need to wait for the images to load fully.
Taking a more detailed look:
The photos here show; the packaging, contents, warning label, custom battery, reflector detail, tail-cap contacts, mode and power switches, micro-USB charging socket, threads, bezel detail, size comparison with a standard 18650 cell, and the LED and reflector.
The supplied holster viewed from all sides.
The beam
The LED is cool white is neutral white and there is a defined hotspot, but it is broad and soft edged
Outdoors, and as a point of reference, this is a control shot of the TK41's beam.
Then on to the UC45's beam. As you can see the UC45 has a wider spill and much more flood.
Fenix also make a diffuser tip that fits the UC45 as it has the same size bezel as the TK22.
Modes and User Interface:
There are 4 steady output levels, Low, Medium, High and Turbo. The UC45's main power switch is a forward-clicky giving momentary operation.
Once ON, press the mode switch on the side of the tail-cap to cycle through the modes. The side mode switch is a non-latching electronic click switch.
To activate strobe, press and hold the mode switch for over 1s. This can be done with the UC45 either ON or OFF. If the UC45 was OFF, the strobe stops once you release the mode switch. If the UC45 was on, then strobe continues until the mode switch is pressed again or the main power switch turned off.
Batteries and output:
The only uses its custom battery pack the ARB-L1H. This is around the size of a normal 18650, but each end has both positive and negative terminals. This battery can be inserted either way round.
The built in charging micro-USB port is accessed by unscrewing a collar which protects and waterproofs the port.
When connected to a USB port with the cable included with the UC45, the charge indicator shows Red while charging and then changes to green when fully charged. Measuring the charging current drawn (using a USB Charge Doctor) this peaked at 0.92A, and once the charge light turns green, drops to 0A. The battery voltage measures 4.16V when charging is complete. At the edn of the runtime test the battery voltage was 3.25V
To measure actual output, I built an integrating sphere. See here for more detail. The sensor registers visible light only (so Infra-Red and Ultra-Violet will not be measured).
Please note, all quoted lumen figures are from a DIY integrating sphere, and according to ANSI standards. Although every effort is made to give as accurate a result as possible, they should be taken as an estimate only. The results can be used to compare outputs in this review and others I have published.
Fenix UC45 | I.S. measured ANSI output Lumens | PWM frequency or Strobe frequency (Hz) |
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Turbo | 997 | 0 |
High | 407 | 0 |
Medium | 119 | 0 |
Low | 10 | 0 |
Turbo – fresh off the charger – no Diffuser | 1046 | 0 |
Turbo – fresh off the charger – With AOD-M Diffuser | 861 (18% loss) | 0 |
Measure beam range comes in at 286m.
With the UC45 using a custom battery I decided to do two runtime graphs, one terminating at the ANSI runtime, and a second one to see how long you would still have some light for if you didn't have a second battery. The UC45 drops down from Turbo to High after 5 minutes and to keep using turbo you have to press the mode switch again. This was done repeatedly to show the full Turbo runtime.
Extended output – in this graph, the first part is the same as in the ANSI output above, but the runtime test was left running to see when the UC45 shut off. After a total of 7 hours, I decided to terminate the test as the 5+ hours of runtime on the low output level is plenty of warning that you need to recharge.
Wrapping-up
The UC45 is a solidly built light, even by Fenix standards! It is a reassuring weight and feels like it would be just as at-home knocking about in a tradesman's toolbox as it would on your belt. Some of this weight comes from the built in charger and protective collar, and some from the very strong build. If you drop it, just make sure you keep your feet out of the way.
Being able to use any USB charger socket means that you don't need to worry about a dedicated charger or separate battery charger, and could pretty much beg or borrow anyone's charger to top up the UC45. This makes it extremely suitable as a 'work' light, and runtimes on the mid and low outputs are more than enough that you won't need to top up every day.
The beam has some throw, but there is enough flood to make this useful for all close to mid range uses. Use of the UC45 is very simple, and it is almost like a single mode light set to whichever level you want. Set the output level and then just use the main switch for ON/OFF. I tend to keep it in low or medium, and don't often touch the mode switch. I know the other modes are there is I want them, but like the simple interface.
If you want a good 1000lm output light, but don't want to be bothered with additional batteries and chargers, the UC45 is an ideal choice as it gives you everything in one tough package and only needs a standard USB socket to charge from.
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