New with questions. [Of course ;-) ]

[Kraid]

I've been drooling over the the Surefires for a long time, and have been researching them. But their price range makes them elusive to me. My girlfriend and I just got a Mustang GT in addition to my Charger R/T, so the spare change laying around is minimal. So I've been looking into the Fenix line which I only recently heard about. The P3D seems really great, but how is the throw and is it really 165 lumens? Significantly higher that the Surefire Kroma and L5 that I've been looking at. Is the 135 lumen L2D very close in performance? I ask as I already have about 40 brand new duracell AAs laying around.

Also could anyone give me an idea of how many lumens some of the lights I already have put out?
3D cell Maglite LED-
2x Brighter White LRI Photon Freedom-
Stanley Maxlife 369 Tripod on max-

Thanks for the help! I look forward to becoming a more informed Flashaholic!

 

[carrot]

Welcome to CPF! I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can...

I can't compare the P3D to the L5, but I can tell you that yes, it is bright, and yes, it throws well. I do know that it is brighter than the Kroma but then again, the Kroma was never meant to be the brightest light. If you are looking for something bright, then the P3D will certainly fit the bill. But so will the L2D-CE, which is not as bright but I find it to be more than enough. The L2D-CE runs on AA's, which you may prefer, given your current stock of alkalines.

To my estimates, the Photon on new batteries looks like 5 lumens. Never tried the 3D MagLED, but I had a 2D MagLED for awhile and it couldn't have been cranking out more than 40 lumens, probably less. In its defense, it did throw light pretty well.

 

[DaveYoungman]

New with answers

GOOGLE.COM
VIDEOS
SEARCH: FENIX P3D
COMPARISONS (maybe 6 or 7 on the page)
SEVERAL ARE EXCELLENT AND COMPARE SUREFIRES and a bunch of others TO P3'S . Guess who blows them all away? As far as I'm concerned almost everything coming out of China these days is crap.

EXCEPT LED's and F/L's like FENIX.

 

[jumpstat]

Re: New with answers

Based on personal experiences, I prefer the L5 to the P3D. I must admit, P3D pumps out loads of lumens, much cheaper, smaller form factor and using the current tech. I had my P3D before the L5 and what makes me love the L5 is the beam pattern that it creates. Its my edc of choice and replaces the L4 I carried previously. Don't get me wrong, L4 is also an exceptional light except it tends to heat up with extended runtimes. L5 on the other hand is having the same led, LuxeonV but is having a larger head which dissipates heat better.
As for the photon freedoms, they are bright for a microlight. Its even more useful with the handsfree attachment. I figured it pumps something like the 2nd gen X1 inovas.....around 8'ish lumens.

 

[vic2367]

welcome to the forums

 

[Kraid]

Thanks for all the help and welcomes! I think for now, the L2D CE sounds like my best bet. Then take a look at the improved Surefire LEDs when they come out. Now to choose between the L2D CE and the L2D CE Q2!

 

[EV_007]

Welcome to CPF. I'm a big fan of SureFire as of late and the quality is quite evident the minute you handle one of these lights.

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

I've been drooling over the the Surefires for a long time, and have been researching them. But their price range makes them elusive to me. My girlfriend and I just got a Mustang GT in addition to my Charger R/T, so the spare change laying around is minimal. So I've been looking into the Fenix line which I only recently heard about. The P3D seems really great, but how is the throw and is it really 165 lumens? Significantly higher that the Surefire Kroma and L5 that I've been looking at. Is the 135 lumen L2D very close in performance? I ask as I already have about 40 brand new duracell AAs laying around.

Also could anyone give me an idea of how many lumens some of the lights I already have put out?
3D cell Maglite LED-
2x Brighter White LRI Photon Freedom-
Stanley Maxlife 369 Tripod on max-

Thanks for the help! I look forward to becoming a more informed Flashaholic!

Get the L5 if you can...

Welcome to CPF!

Cheers.

 

[Gunner12]

Re: New with answers

L2D-CE(P4 LED) or L2D-CE Q2. Hummmm, the Q2 only seems to be a bit brighter. Wait till the Q4-Q5 versions come out first, then pounce. Meanwhile you could buy something with Cree or Seoul cheaper over at Dealextreme to tie you over(I'd recommend to stay between $10 and $35, below and the stuff is usually too cheap, above and you are better off getting the Fenix).

Look over at Flashlightreviews for approximate lumen output. For LEDs it is, overall output X 1.39 = Approx lumen, Incandescent overall output X 1.62 = approx lumen.

Maglite 3D LED ~ 66 lumen(declineds to below 40 in 15-20 minutes)
Photon Freedom ~ 8.3 lumen
Stanley Maxlife ~ 2.3 lumen(1 LED), 4.7 lumen(3 LED), 10 lumen(all 6 LEDs)

Welcome to CPF!

 

[Kraid]

Thats VERY informative! Thank you! And I can't seem to find any of the Q2s anyways. Is there any word on when this more powerful Q4/Q5 version will come out? And I can easily believe that SF is superior, I just don't wanna buy one IMMEDIATELY before better ones are released. Ya know?

 

[Gunner12]

I think the Q4-Q5 LEDs are shipping now and should be entering people's hands within this month. Fenix, the Q4 versions might come out within a few months. Surefire, I'm not sure.

 

[Kraid]

I bit the bullet and bought the L2D CE Textured Reflector from Fenix-Store.com. With Priority shipping, a must for HI. Seems like my best bet for the time being! Maybe get a Q4 or Q5 when/if it comes out. If noticably better. I'll give the one I just ordered to my girlfriend then. Lol! And when I have more cash, an invincible Surefire!

 

[Kraid]

Arrived yesterday, couldn't be happier! Very impressive! Got it from Fenix-store, in perfect condition! And using Duracell Alkalines, One strip of electrical tape does indeed fix the rattle issue.

 

[Daniel_sk]

Good choice Kraid!
I would advise using rechargeable batteries (for example the low self discharge Eneloop batteries), you will have much better runtimes. It will run 41 minutes on turbo with alkaline batteries, but you get 1 hour 50 minutes on 2650mAh NiMh rechargeables. More runtimes and graphs here: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/fenix_l1dce-l2dce.htm

Edit: I see you have plenty of alkalines for this light, so you don't need to care about the shorter runtime .

You will enjoy this light.

 

[Kraid]

Lol! Yes, lots of Alkaline for now. Thank you much for your advice! I'm definitely going to invest in eneloops after my stash runs out!