TK30 (TK40) owners - is this a fair review

[jbrett14]

There was only one review on Amazon. Would you say this is an accurate and fair review?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UMAIH6/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I thought that these statement were very inconsistent with what I have read in here:

"At about 50ft or over, TK30's beam dispersed out so much that it had no use"
"But after 50ft, Tk30 could no longer light up the target object effectively"

Am I missing something?

 

[RedForest UK]

I'm not too sure as I don't own one for myself, maybe he was using the tk30 with the 1x 18650 config instead of 2?

 

[Swedpat]

I will comment that review:

Compare to Surefire 10X Dominator(500 lumen):
my boss told me Dominator out shined Fenix TK30 in both indoor and outdoor. At about 50ft or over, TK30's beam dispersed out so much that it had no use. But Domintor could still easily lights up things over 50ft without any problem. But indoor tk30 was still amazingly bright. It could light up the whole room without any problem.

In this case it's a comparison between an incan and a LED. This mean the Surefire has much better color rendition, which surely is a contributing factor to that it outshines Fenix TK30 outdoors. When he then said that TK30 was still amazingly bright indoors this seems to confirm that statement.

I don't know about total output of TK30, but I am sure it's close to the stated value. Also it's possible that Surefire 10X Dominator is brighter, though a stated lower output.

When I read more I becomes very doubtful about that review:
Compare to Streamlight UltraStinger(295 lumen):
Next day I got the light to compare with Ultra Stinger. Indoor at 10~20 ft, Tk 30 looked like slightly brighter then UltraStinger. Afterward I took both lights to backyard to try it out. At about 30ft, Tk30's light was not as tight as UltraStinger, but could be used effectively. But after 50ft, Tk30 could no longer light up the target object effectively, but UltraStinger's light was tight enough that the target object could be seen clearly.

I really wonder which object will not be effectively shined up by a TK30 at the distance of 50ft!
That light is able to brightly light up at FAR longer distances than that.

We would like to see manufacture to change the design of the reflector and hopefully get a better throw on the light

To that I can only say: The hotspot of TK30 is wide and very useful for many purposes. TK30 is not intended to be a thrower. For a 500-600lm thrower there are other alternatives at the market.
If I am not wrong Ultrastinger is an incan thrower, and incans mostoften has better throw than LEDs. Therefore the comparison can be unfair.

Regards, Patric

 

[HKJ]

"At about 50ft or over, TK30's beam dispersed out so much that it had no use"
"But after 50ft, Tk30 could no longer light up the target object effectively"

Am I missing something?

The TK30 (and TK40) can easily light 50 feet, you can see some comparison beamshots in my Danish review. You can also look at all the beamshots where the TK40 is included, it has exactly the same brightness and beam profile as TK30.

 

[generallobster]

The tk30 is a moderate thrower, the hot spot is very generous and slowly transitions to the flood which is also very generous. It puts out a lot of light and definetely illuminates out past 50ft easily on turbo. It is not however a "laser" type beam.

 

[jbrett14]

I think the 50' statements are a mistake, based on the beamshots I am seeing.

The lowest I have found the TK30 for is $109 + $9 for shipping ($118). Is there a place I can get it less than this? It appears that even with the CPF discounts from other online stores, that my cost would be higher than this.

 

[Jash]

I've got a TK40 and can assure you that on turbo mode, 50 feet is lit up like daylight and it will put out a strong beam to about 100 metres (300ish feet). Over that distance it does start to struggle to be of any real use.

As stated, the hotspot is large and it has very useful spill. A perfect all rounder.

 

[Mark-60]

50' is not a problem with the TK-40.

-Mark.

 

[McAllan]

Well the TK40 is not a world champion thrower but 50 feet (15 m) sounds like very little. Even the LD20 or LD10 can do that. Wonder if the guy got an extremely badly adjusted example :thinking:

And then it depends on you eyes. Though I admit the manufacturers claim of 300 m is probably stretching reality a bit.
As you get older your eyes are not as sensitive to light as when you're young. Even an E01 throw all the way up to the moon and beyond - if you got the right equipment to detect it - but that won't be your eyes

 

[Swedpat]

Actually I for a moment wondered if the person who wrote that review didn't understand the UI of TK30 and therefore didn't use other than the 100lm (or even worse 12lm mode) for the review...

But then I read:
Indoor at 10~20 ft, Tk 30 looked like slightly brighter then UltraStinger

He likely had not perceived that if it had been on the 100lm mode. But even with 100lm mode TK30 clearly lights up an object at 50ft distance, so that review is a bit mysterious! :thinking:

Regards, Patric

 

[ap5770]

My TK40 throws out a wonderful spill of useable light out to about 120 meters.
50 feet? something is wrong with that figure.

 

[blub]

I just got my TK30 in the mail today. Here are shots from 60' in the daytime. This is only with one 18650 battery, imagine with two.

Control shot, to brick fireplace is 60' Second shot is with one battery.

 

[John_Galt]

Under the comments area, he stated he got his distances wrong... That is was more like 150-200 feet.

 

[Databyter]

There was only one review on Amazon. Would you say this is an accurate and fair review?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UMAIH6/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I thought that these statement were very inconsistent with what I have read in here:

"At about 50ft or over, TK30's beam dispersed out so much that it had no use"
"But after 50ft, Tk30 could no longer light up the target object effectively"

Am I missing something?

I'm guessing the reviewer meant to say Yards or Meters, not feet.

It is true that the designers of the TK40 to make the fixed focus light more useful over a broader range of distances purposely did not collimate the spot to stay the same size.
Instead it opens up very slowly which in the end results in less through than it would have had if it was focused to infinity.
That being said I believe the compromise was made to make the light more useful.

The reflector is so darn efficient and the light so bright that it can afford to open up and let the hotspot brightly illuminate a bit more of square footage.
Personally I wouldn't have minded one bit if they tightened it up a bit, but that being said, what they did makes it a much more usefull light and the throw is still tremendous because even though the beam opens up it is still tighter than many other lights and usually 2x-3x brighter.

The 50ft. thing is definitly a mistake, you can cast a super bright spot at that distance , not even on turbo, without breaking a sweat.

Even at 200 yards you can light up at area significantly. It's no longer a spot at that distance, but it is still tight enough to light a very useful area effectively.

You know alot of weaker lights can put a pinpoint spot at a distance that is highly visable and rather useless. At range the TK40 may cover a broader area compared to a brighter pinprick of focused light next to it. But in a scenario such as what this light is designed to do, the pinprick is a geek test, and the ability to see objects over a 10-15 foot area at 100 yards is a useful thing.

Hope this helps.

 

[Polklifer]

I own a TK30 and have run it with both single and double 18650's. I have my own theory about this review.

I suspect that the reviewer inadvertently had the light in "Camping Mode" when doing the evaluation and was getting somewhere around the 175 lumens stated in the owner's manual. I managed to switch into Camping mode once myself and I couldn't figure out why the thing had gotten so dim (relatively).

 

[dwminer]

There was only one review on Amazon. Would you say this is an accurate and fair review?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UMAIH6/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I thought that these statement were very inconsistent with what I have read in here:

"At about 50ft or over, TK30's beam dispersed out so much that it had no use"
"But after 50ft, Tk30 could no longer light up the target object effectively"

Am I missing something?

I'll check it out tonight. That 8 foot high Elk fence is about 115 yards out and the pols are 20 feet apart.

Update: first off the TK30 is slightly brighter than the TK40. It's interesting to see that both the TK30 and the Surefire 10X are very similar in brightness and beam size/shape at 100+ yards. The real difference is in the light color difference. The TK30 being more towards the cooler 6000k range and the 10X towards a warmer 4000K range. Just a thought, to an inexperienced viewer the warmer light of the 10x might seem brighter but when viewed side by side there is very little difference between the two. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures last night, the deck was iced up, I'll try again tonight.
Dave

 

[Databyter]

I'll check it out tonight. That 8 foot high Elk fence is about 115 yards out and the pols are 20 feet apart.

That makes for a useful test, but that fence is kind of hard to see even in the daytime, It would be cool if you could put a few plastic buckets, or a helpful offspring wearing bright clothing out there. Otherwise your trying to basically light up grass at an angle and thin posts, like so many other reviews.
I predict the TK40 will have no problem at that distance though. It just makes for a better pic if you can put a mazerati out there .

 

[blub]

Looks like a nice place to live! The view from my house is the neighbor's roof.

 

[Stress_Test]

+1 for the 100 yard effective range estimate. I'd say that's a reasonable number. When I took a walk at night on a trail through a pasture field, I was lighting up a whole tree at about 100 yards distance (measured later on Google maps). The flood was also lighting up everything between me and the tree also.

I agree with what others have said regarding the pencil-beam lights. A special made single led thower may be able to put a bright spot of light on a target further away, but that doesn't do much for you in reality. The TK30 or TK40 will light up the whole field out to 100 yards

It does make me think of a car headlight. Car headlights are designed to light up an area and have a modest amount of throw, rather than send all the light downrange in a concentrated beam. TK30s and '40s do the same.

 

[bonvivantmike]

The lowest I have found the TK30 for is $109 + $9 for shipping ($118). Is there a place I can get it less than this? It appears that even with the CPF discounts from other online stores, that my cost would be higher than this.[/QUOTE]


Where did you find this price?