GregWormald
Enlightened
I'm afraid that I got seduced into buying a Fenix P2D CE TR by the beamshots in a recent thread. I have wanted to get this light for a while but the beam artefacts in the smooth reflector plus the problems that other members have reported kept me from one.
Anyway, here is what happened and what I discovered.
Purchase and Delivery
Purchase was really easy at fenix-shop.com. What with the CPF discount and free shipping to Australia the total cost came to a fraction over $50. I ordered on 5 July and the package arrived in Adelaide on 13 July—only 7 days because of the time zone differences. Great service!
Appearance
The P2D is quite light and small, the same length as my HDS 42 and smaller in diameter, basically 8cm x 2cm. It's a good fit in pants pockets or hung from a lanyard and tucked into a shirt pocket. The finish was perfect, natural HA3 and all pieces the same colour. Overall it is a silvery-gold colour, with a smooth satin finish, much lighter than any HA3 I've seen before, and very attractive to my eyes. The textured reflector is quite deep and there were no dust spots anywhere inside the front lens, which is very transparent.
Functioning
Everything works very well. Despite what I had read, all threads were very clean and tidy. The O-rings did need a bit of silicone grease, and while I had it apart I cleaned all surfaces with an alcohol swab and coated all electrical connections with Pro-Gold.
The light tail-stands very well, the rubber reverse clicky being level with the rear of the light. Attaching a lanyard does not interfere with this. The switch itself has a good feel and a positive 'click' action. Changing levels takes only a very light push of the switch. This is possibly too light. Turning the head of the light to access the two menus is easy, even one-handed.
When switching onto low there is a brief flash of high power that is annoying, not a major issue for me, but annoying. The surface is quite smooth and the small amount of patterning on the tailcap isn't enough to keep the light from sliding forwards in my fingers when switching on unless I concentrate on gripping. A couple of thin O-rings slid onto the light snapped neatly into place between the hexagonal body and the tailcap and provided just the right amount of obstruction to stop sliding. In addition they conform to the hex section and stop the light rolling around as easily. (I prefer two as they seem to be much more stable under any force.)
Beam
The beam is possibly faintly blue in comparison with the SSC'd HDS, but very white and even when used by itself. The four levels seem quite close together, I'd like a bigger spread with some lower low levels. The hot spot is slightly smaller than the HDS and appears brighter than the HDS on the highest level. The surround is also reasonably bright and even and is not overpowered by the central spot though it is definitely not a flood beam.
This light also goes easily onto 'boost' mode with batteries that will not run my HDS on high.
The SOS and strobe work well–whether they will be useful remains to be seen.
Warranty
The warranty card says to register on the company's web site. There is no place there yet, but an email to the service department got a response within an hour or so, and they took all my details for registration. Someone was really on the ball, and they seemed like nice people too.
Overall
In all likelihood this will be my new EDC. It's small enough to carry, flexible enough to work in most situations, and cheap enough that it wouldn't break the bank (or my heart) if it goes AWOL.
I may be nuts, but I like it.
Greg
Anyway, here is what happened and what I discovered.
Purchase and Delivery
Purchase was really easy at fenix-shop.com. What with the CPF discount and free shipping to Australia the total cost came to a fraction over $50. I ordered on 5 July and the package arrived in Adelaide on 13 July—only 7 days because of the time zone differences. Great service!
Appearance
The P2D is quite light and small, the same length as my HDS 42 and smaller in diameter, basically 8cm x 2cm. It's a good fit in pants pockets or hung from a lanyard and tucked into a shirt pocket. The finish was perfect, natural HA3 and all pieces the same colour. Overall it is a silvery-gold colour, with a smooth satin finish, much lighter than any HA3 I've seen before, and very attractive to my eyes. The textured reflector is quite deep and there were no dust spots anywhere inside the front lens, which is very transparent.
Functioning
Everything works very well. Despite what I had read, all threads were very clean and tidy. The O-rings did need a bit of silicone grease, and while I had it apart I cleaned all surfaces with an alcohol swab and coated all electrical connections with Pro-Gold.
The light tail-stands very well, the rubber reverse clicky being level with the rear of the light. Attaching a lanyard does not interfere with this. The switch itself has a good feel and a positive 'click' action. Changing levels takes only a very light push of the switch. This is possibly too light. Turning the head of the light to access the two menus is easy, even one-handed.
When switching onto low there is a brief flash of high power that is annoying, not a major issue for me, but annoying. The surface is quite smooth and the small amount of patterning on the tailcap isn't enough to keep the light from sliding forwards in my fingers when switching on unless I concentrate on gripping. A couple of thin O-rings slid onto the light snapped neatly into place between the hexagonal body and the tailcap and provided just the right amount of obstruction to stop sliding. In addition they conform to the hex section and stop the light rolling around as easily. (I prefer two as they seem to be much more stable under any force.)
Beam
The beam is possibly faintly blue in comparison with the SSC'd HDS, but very white and even when used by itself. The four levels seem quite close together, I'd like a bigger spread with some lower low levels. The hot spot is slightly smaller than the HDS and appears brighter than the HDS on the highest level. The surround is also reasonably bright and even and is not overpowered by the central spot though it is definitely not a flood beam.
This light also goes easily onto 'boost' mode with batteries that will not run my HDS on high.
The SOS and strobe work well–whether they will be useful remains to be seen.
Warranty
The warranty card says to register on the company's web site. There is no place there yet, but an email to the service department got a response within an hour or so, and they took all my details for registration. Someone was really on the ball, and they seemed like nice people too.
Overall
In all likelihood this will be my new EDC. It's small enough to carry, flexible enough to work in most situations, and cheap enough that it wouldn't break the bank (or my heart) if it goes AWOL.
I may be nuts, but I like it.
Greg
