Suggestions for 123 Fenix Light

Peter Atwood

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Apr 9, 2002
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I own several Fenix lights and am impressed with the design and the output. I mean how could you not be blown away, right? :) My favorite is the AAA Lo-ti which is a fabulous light and is just fine the way it is. I also like the original AA light very much and am looking forward to the new cree version.

But the newest 123 cree lights are a different story....The way I see it there is only way to make their 123 light and here's what I would like to see:

3 or 4 modes instead of the current 5. No one I have talked to has the slightest bit of interest in the strobe or SOS modes. Having 3 or 4 different brightness modes is wonderful and I think everyone agrees that they want these. The order they would come on in is a matter of debate but pretty much any order would be OK with me. But the other two modes are annoying and not very useful.

Clickie switch! Please, please please. Why even bother making this light without a clickie? I still carry and prefer my Jetbeam AA for this very reason as it is so much easier to cycle on and off and through the modes. I don't even care if it is reverse or not although having a momentary would be nice.

Pocket clip! Get rid of the silly lugs on the bottom, get that switch in there and then there will be a rim for two tapped holes and a real pocket clip. Alternatively they could turn a wide shallow groove in the body of the light so that a slip style pocket clip would slide over and click into place. The groove would prevent up and down movement and loss of the cheap clip.

So there you have it. My humble recommendations for making this light what it ought to be.
 

Raptor#

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I'd personally prefer to keep the strobe and SOS mode.
But i agree on the clickie.. and adding a clickie would make cycling thru the modes less akward. Simply let it have 4 modes, made the old way (click again less than 1,5 secounds after the last click = next mode), strobe/sos accessible by pressing the switch in for longer than 3 secounds.

On the Pocket clip... i think having both possibillitys would be nice. Same with the clickie, the only way to keep everyone happy would be to offer both options.
 

EVOeight

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Dec 12, 2005
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I would be happy with just two modes: high and low.

Clickie is a must! Must have clickie. Please clickie. Did I mention it should have a clickie?

Pocket clip for sure.
 

Bomo

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Plus - the light should start out on low. The practical reason for this is with the current setup of MED > HI > LOW, if the battery does not have enough power to turn on in HI, you cannot get to the LOW mode. That means you may be left stranded with no light even though technically, there may be enough power to run the light in LOW mode.
 

MikeSalt

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Personally, I prefer clickie, particularly tail clickies, but clickies almost ALWAYS includes an additional point of ingress, a weak point for water penetration. For a rapid access clickie, I use a David 15. I know that most LED Lenser are junk, but I do like this one. I guess time will tell. I've got a Fenix P1D-CE on the way, and also getting scarily close to the online checkout for a SureFire, lol.
 

Rob M

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I'd like to see a Fenix flashlight as you describe but with two buttons on the side, along the body, instead of a clickie on the tail. The one nearest the lens causes the light to come on in 'high', while the one nearer the tail causes it to come on in 'low'. Once it's on you can press either button to go a step higher or lower, through say, six levels. Holding a button in for say, five seconds gets you into a menu where you can set 'low' and 'high' levels. Click up beyond 'high' or below 'low' to switch off.

I know this is quite a bit like the Flupic, but feel that having two buttons would be good as it allows direct access to 'low' and 'high' instantly, and saves having to cycle through with a load of presses of a single button to get to the mode you want.

It could still include strobe and SOS too...
 

spyderknut

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The light should come on on the mode you last turned off, like the Force Setting mode on HDS EDCs. I don't mind the strobe and I like the SOS mode but hope I never need it.
 

Peter Atwood

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Good point about starting in low. Hadn't thought of that but it makes sense. I bet most people want a higher setting as the first one they get to though. Interesting that two people like the strobe and SOS, they are the first I have heard from that do.

So when are the clickies coming? :D
 

tedjanxt

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Sep 27, 2006
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San Jose, CA
Peter Atwood said:
Good point about starting in low. Hadn't thought of that but it makes sense. I bet most people want a higher setting as the first one they get to though. Interesting that two people like the strobe and SOS, they are the first I have heard from that do.

So when are the clickies coming? :D

Strobe yea, SOS nay.

+1 to clickes too. I like Huntlights "tap" setup, not sure if thats an industry standard though.
 

ViReN

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Clickie switch! Please, please please. Why even bother making this light without a clickie? I still carry and prefer my Jetbeam AA for this very reason as it is so much easier to cycle on and off and through the modes. I don't even care if it is reverse or not although having a momentary would be nice.

so very correct... twisties Really are BAD when it comes to multilevel ... it is not even logical to have a twisty for more than 2 level light (especially when you have to turn of and on within a few seconds)
 

Long John

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Bomo said:
Plus - the light should start out on low. The practical reason for this is with the current setup of MED > HI > LOW, if the battery does not have enough power to turn on in HI, you cannot get to the LOW mode. That means you may be left stranded with no light even though technically, there may be enough power to run the light in LOW mode.

That's not correct. With a clickie you can switch to the Low mode when the batterie is low. I like the levels in this configuration (it's a question of personally taste). With a cklickie you can change the levels very fast so no reason to worry about.

Best regards

____
Tom
 

Bomo

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Long John said:
That's not correct. With a clickie you can switch to the Low mode when the batterie is low. I like the levels in this configuration (it's a question of personally taste). With a cklickie you can change the levels very fast so no reason to worry about.

Best regards

____
Tom

I was actually referring to the current setup of the P1D-CE. I realize that a different interface could readily solve this problem - that was actuially designed in by Fenix engineers. The side switches sound like a nice idea provided they can be locked out for times when it may be accidentally turned on.
 

MikeSalt

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I know no-one particularly is keen on the SOS, but the flashlight would not have cost no less without it, so you may as well have it. I would love a system where there are markings on the head for the five different modes, and you rotate the head to select a mode, with a clickie on the rear. That way, the light will come on in the last mode you were in, OR you can select a mode before turning on.
 

adirondackdestroyer

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I would love a small 123 light with a clickie. 4 levels which are spread way apart. Keep the perfect regulation of the P1DCE. Start on low and get brighter with every click. Have the levels at these levels of output:

Low- 5 lumens
Medium - 20 lumens
High - 50 lumens
Super High - 100 lumens

This would show a large difference between all levels and would give maximum runtime on most levels.
 

greenLED

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I'm partial towards clickies and the KISS principle. :)

:popcorn: I'd love to see an Atwood flashlight some day... ;)
 

Mike abcd

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Oct 27, 2005
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There are design issues with providing low light levels with CR123A cells. Most regulated lights implement a boost circuit which raises the voltage from the cells to power the LED at the voltage required to flow the regulated current.

As you drop the current to the LED (higher to lower output levels), the voltage required by the LED drops. The problem is that a new Lithium primary may provide a higher voltage to the LED than it requires to provide the low output levels that some folks want. Basically the boost circuit drops out of regulation as you try to go too low and the LED is being direct driven by the battery. That can often result in more lumens than some folks want for their low level.

One way to get around this is to use a circuit that can both raise and drop the battery voltage. That's typically referred to as buck/boost and is more complicated, more expensive and typically a bit less efficient. The HDS lights use buck/boost converters but they're currently rare or non existent in low/moderate cost lights.

Another is PWM which pulses the LED with a high enough current to keep in regulation while still providing a lower (average) output level.

Some folks seem to hate PWM, others hate lights that don't have full regulation on all levels. Nobody seems to like paying more.

Lights which use batteries with lower total voltage (AA/AAA alkaline/niMH) than CR123A don't have the same issue as it always takes more voltage than the battery provides to get the LED "to turn on".

BTW, this is basically the same issue with trying to design a flashlight that runs on both CR123 and RCR123. The higher voltage of the rechargeable LiOn is higher than the LED requires to run at certain levels and the boost circuit "drops out" rsulting in the LED being "direct driven" with no regulation until its voltage drops.

Mike
 

souptree

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greenLED said:
I'd love to see an Atwood flashlight some day... ;)
+1 on the Atwood Light!:sold:

BTW, if any Fenix engineers are listening, I just returned my P1D-CE because it doesn't start on low. Sell me a light to drain batteries with.
 

carbine15

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SOS and strobe are retarded. Tail clickys are da bomb. (tactical clickies are nicer) Reflectors designed for throw are preferable. Easy access to swap led when the next generation emitter gives 4 times the light at half the power is nice. A light durable enough to last until the next generation emitter is available is priceless. I'm going to bed. Let me know if someone buys my watch. I'm saving up for a waved spyderco.
 

PhantomPhoton

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Strobe is fun for playing around with... I doubt I'd use a fenix in a tactical situation, but you never know. I'm fine with it being there. SOS is a must. The kind of people who know an SOS are the kind of people you want to be signaling for if you ever find yourself neck deep in...

I think the future is going to user programed modes though, so you can program your light to work however you want and have as many settings as you like.

I like clickies or at least having an inova-like semi clickie for momentary on.

Clips are nice so long as they can be removed and put back on at will.

A personal preference of mine is full waterproofing, down to at least 10m.
 

adnj

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Aug 13, 2006
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699
How about a clip attached at the top

There should be enough material to take a spring steel clip that is secured with screws right at the top.

Drill/tap and plug if necessary ala HDS's side mounted clip. It'll ride lens down. That sounds like a simple mod to me. Perhaps I'll give it a try.
 
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