I've always been a great fan of the Fenix P1 series, so much that my current EDC is the P1CE. Until today, when the mailman produced a package from fenix-store.com: a brand new P1DQ5!
Let's take a small look at what I have on this series:
P1 - 64 x 20.4 mm, Luxeon III, smooth reflector, black
P1CE - 67.5 x 20.7 mm, Cree P4, orange peel, natural
P1DQ5 - 71.6 x 22 mm, Cree Q5, orange peel, black
Small size is a constant, although it keeps growing. But even the largest one is a very small single-cell flashlight, very light, going unnoticeable on any pocket.
Relative brightness order:
Q5 low - P1 - P1CE - Q5 med - Q5 high
I was amazed to see that the Q5 medium mode is brighter that the P1CE. When white-walling the beams, the Q5 going from med to high seems brighter, but not by much. But moving outdoors, the difference in throw is truly amazing.
Beam quality:
P1 - smallest spot, widest (although weaker) flood, very smooth, with a hint of yellow. Very nice.
P1CE - wider spot, smaller flood, but better distributed, very smooth, also hint of yellow. Highly usable.
P1DQ5 - beam shaped like CE, but cree dark halo still noticeable at short distances, despite the orange peel. Whitest beam of the bunch. Almost perfect.
Smoothness of action:
Outstanding on all three, very easy to operate with one hand, even for mode switching. The first two have foam pads, Q5 has a spring at the bottom.
In use:
Even the standard P1 is a great user, providing more than enough lumens for 95% of my EDC needs. When I upgraded to the P1CE, I was bordering on more light than I need, but since runtime was the same... Now with the Q5 I still have the simplicity of use, a great twisty on a very small form factor, with some cards up the sleeve: lots of lumens on high, which I doubt I will ever use, and lots of runtime on low, qualifying this light for some emergency scenarios (and bedtime reading). Strobe and SOS are just futile, but being last on the cycle, I'll just forget about them.
Something strange about runtimes, a few weeks ago I did a full run of the P1 and P1CE with freshly charged AW protected 3.7s, and the P1CE ran for longer. The brightness increase compared to primaries was great, but the runtimes were quite disapointing.
Nevertheless, with primaries, runtimes are enough to last me a few weeks of standard EDC on one battery. Considering that I rotate frequently, and that at home I use rechargeables in other flashlights, each cell on a P1 variant should last me quite a while.
The P1DQ5 is a definite improvement on my previous P1's, and I reflect this with folders I like to pair my flashlights with:
P1 - Benchmade MiniGriptillian (154CM)
P1CE - Spyderco Endura 4 Wave (VG10)
P1DQ5 - Spyderco Military (S30V)
Let's take a small look at what I have on this series:
P1 - 64 x 20.4 mm, Luxeon III, smooth reflector, black
P1CE - 67.5 x 20.7 mm, Cree P4, orange peel, natural
P1DQ5 - 71.6 x 22 mm, Cree Q5, orange peel, black
Small size is a constant, although it keeps growing. But even the largest one is a very small single-cell flashlight, very light, going unnoticeable on any pocket.
Relative brightness order:
Q5 low - P1 - P1CE - Q5 med - Q5 high
I was amazed to see that the Q5 medium mode is brighter that the P1CE. When white-walling the beams, the Q5 going from med to high seems brighter, but not by much. But moving outdoors, the difference in throw is truly amazing.
Beam quality:
P1 - smallest spot, widest (although weaker) flood, very smooth, with a hint of yellow. Very nice.
P1CE - wider spot, smaller flood, but better distributed, very smooth, also hint of yellow. Highly usable.
P1DQ5 - beam shaped like CE, but cree dark halo still noticeable at short distances, despite the orange peel. Whitest beam of the bunch. Almost perfect.
Smoothness of action:
Outstanding on all three, very easy to operate with one hand, even for mode switching. The first two have foam pads, Q5 has a spring at the bottom.
In use:
Even the standard P1 is a great user, providing more than enough lumens for 95% of my EDC needs. When I upgraded to the P1CE, I was bordering on more light than I need, but since runtime was the same... Now with the Q5 I still have the simplicity of use, a great twisty on a very small form factor, with some cards up the sleeve: lots of lumens on high, which I doubt I will ever use, and lots of runtime on low, qualifying this light for some emergency scenarios (and bedtime reading). Strobe and SOS are just futile, but being last on the cycle, I'll just forget about them.
Something strange about runtimes, a few weeks ago I did a full run of the P1 and P1CE with freshly charged AW protected 3.7s, and the P1CE ran for longer. The brightness increase compared to primaries was great, but the runtimes were quite disapointing.
Nevertheless, with primaries, runtimes are enough to last me a few weeks of standard EDC on one battery. Considering that I rotate frequently, and that at home I use rechargeables in other flashlights, each cell on a P1 variant should last me quite a while.
The P1DQ5 is a definite improvement on my previous P1's, and I reflect this with folders I like to pair my flashlights with:
P1 - Benchmade MiniGriptillian (154CM)
P1CE - Spyderco Endura 4 Wave (VG10)
P1DQ5 - Spyderco Military (S30V)
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