P1D vs P1DCE

[NewBie]

I got both my P1D and P1D-Ce, my P1D has a 'Flawless Fenix' Beam while the CE has a very slight dark halo around the corona. I believe it's there for sure... not just some optical illusion... BUT, you really have to be looking for it to see it, in normal use (even when just white walling) I forget it's there... the INTENSE hotspot and beautiful corona is what I concentrate on and the dark ring disappears! I had my doubts when I first read about the rings, but I honestly think only the VERY nitpicky CPFer's will find this even remotely annoying.

How does the amount light output compare between your two?

 

[moldyoldy]

I just received my P1D and P1D-CE via USPS. interesting lights, but I will have to live with them for a while before I understand the advantages of each vis-a-vis a Fenix P1 which I also have had several of and still have one left.

The Fenix P1 is more pocketable than either the P1D or P1D-CE which share the same case larger than the P1. The P1 spot is tighter than the P1D. The P1D does give out a bit more light via a broader graduated spot. The center of each spot is about the same brightness.

The P1D-CE on high is definitely brighter than the P1D on high. Yes, I see the slightly darker ring around the center spot. I don't think that it will be noticed in normal use unless you are white-wall hunting.

The strobe effect is certainly disconcerting. I can certainly imagine that the strobe setting will probably attract a lot of attention. I will just skip past it normally. Frankly I could easily dispense with the SOS setting. Way too slow.

However my greatest surprise was trying out different batteries in the P1D and P1D-CE. I tried 3.7v Lighthound/AW and 3.0v Powerizer(same as Tenergy?) rechargeable Li-Ion & primary Lithium in the Duracell, Surefire and Sanyo persuasions.

Using standard fresh primary lithium cells, both lights cycled thru their 3 brightness levels. Using a cell that was about half-discharged, the output from the P1D-CE was dropping noticeably on high.

Using the 3.7v RCR cell, neither the P1D or the P1D-CE changed brightness to any noticeable degree when cycling thru the stages. The output from the P1D-CE was something obviously brighter than a normal "high". The P1D behaved about the same with the 3.7v RCR cell. Clearly the higher 3.7+ voltage is not usable by the electronics - probably go into bypass. The P1D-CE is really bright though!

Only with the 3.0v Powerizer cell did I have the 3 levels available in either light. Looks like I will have to restrict RCR cell usage to the 3.0v Powerizer cells. I suspect that the Tenergy 3.0v cells are the same manufacturer under the case labeling.

run time testing getting started!

Tim

 

[TooManyGizmos]

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Great , detailed info ... moldyoldy .... Thank you for sharing that !
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[TooManyGizmos]

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And thanks to Penguin too !!
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[moldyoldy]

Double post due to server busy.

 

[moldyoldy]

Runtime to discharge with the RCR 3.0v Powerizer was a little over 30 min with either the P1D or P1D-CE. Discharge in my mind is when the light level on all three settings is about the same. However the P1D-CE was dropping to a medium output sooner than the P1D. That means that the light output when switching between high and medium doesn't change much. I suspect that the P1D-CE is effectively at about the maximum current draw for a single cell light. For more light, one would probably have to use two or more cells. The P1D is brighter than the P1, but not by a lot. The different spot sizes make it hard to judge light output.