KingGlamis
Banned
After countless hours of research I finally bought a light that is, to me, on the expensive side. I bought the light from the Fenix-Store and was like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for it to arrive. What I got was the Fenix P3D RB100, as you probably figured out from the title. 
The following review is from a flashaholic that does not claim to be an expert and does not own any expensive lights. Just my "two cents" about my new purchase.
First off, while I knew it was small, holding it my hand made me realize it is really small. After this purchase I don't think I could EDC a single-cell light other than for a keychain light. But small is good in some respects, I just think anything smaller I would have a hard time holding on to when used a lot.
The quality is great, threads are perfect. The bezel that you have to turn to switch modes is a little on the tight side, but I guess better tight than loose, and it will probably loosen up over time (I just got the light last night). Took me a little while to remember which way to turn the bezel since it is not marked, but I got the hang of it. The tailcap switch similarly took a few tries to remember the half-push to switch modes thing, but I got it now. I still think SOS mode is pointless, but all of the other modes are useful. Low is plenty for night walking, medium good for most tasks, high excellent for any task and turbo is just awesome. Strobe is crazy. I would NOT want to be on the receiving end of the turbo strobe (and a police officer told me the same thing today, he was VERY impressed with this light and had me print out the page from the Fenix-Store so he and his fellow officers could all buy a P3D).
So now to the beam shots and more of my impressions of the light output. To spice it up a little I'm going to also show you beam shots of my SuperFire WF-501D taken at the same time. This is a 4X123A light with an incan bulb and is supposed to be 180-200 lumens (I've heard much higher claims but don't believe them). So this should be a pretty good LED vs Incan shootout (the P3D is rated at 200 lumens).
First off, the P3D shining on my bedroom wall. Very bright hotspot. But while it has a lot of side-spill/flood, the flood is about 25-50% as bright as the hot spot.
Same shot with the WF-501D. This light is very floody and seems to put out all of its light evenly.
Two more shots, this time with the lights pointed at the end of the bed.
The P3D.
The 501.
Next up are outside wall shots. P3D first, 501 second. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.
These next shots I apologize for, as I am using my daughters cheapo camera. But you can still sort of see the difference.
This is the P3D shining at some very tall palm trees near my house. It actually outthrew the 501, as you will see in the second pic (but the 501 had a much wider flood at that distance). It's much more impressive in person, the camera couldn't really capture what it really looked like.
EDIT: OOPS, the pic below is the same as the one above and I can't figure out how to edit the pic link. So see my next post for the correct pic that should be here.
In this street test you can clearly see that the P3D outthrows the 501 (look at the white truck in the distance). But the 501 has so much more flood that it almost looks like I pointed the light at the ground (both lights were pointed right at the reflective street sign).
Well that's about it. I wish I had a better camera to take better pics. But I can say I am 100% happy with the P3D RB100. It's a lot different than th 501 that I am used to using. For some things is it better, for others, worse. I'm amazed at the throw of this light. So small yet I can light up the neighbors palm trees great.
Signed,
A happy Fenix owner
The following review is from a flashaholic that does not claim to be an expert and does not own any expensive lights. Just my "two cents" about my new purchase.First off, while I knew it was small, holding it my hand made me realize it is really small. After this purchase I don't think I could EDC a single-cell light other than for a keychain light. But small is good in some respects, I just think anything smaller I would have a hard time holding on to when used a lot.
The quality is great, threads are perfect. The bezel that you have to turn to switch modes is a little on the tight side, but I guess better tight than loose, and it will probably loosen up over time (I just got the light last night). Took me a little while to remember which way to turn the bezel since it is not marked, but I got the hang of it. The tailcap switch similarly took a few tries to remember the half-push to switch modes thing, but I got it now. I still think SOS mode is pointless, but all of the other modes are useful. Low is plenty for night walking, medium good for most tasks, high excellent for any task and turbo is just awesome. Strobe is crazy. I would NOT want to be on the receiving end of the turbo strobe (and a police officer told me the same thing today, he was VERY impressed with this light and had me print out the page from the Fenix-Store so he and his fellow officers could all buy a P3D).
So now to the beam shots and more of my impressions of the light output. To spice it up a little I'm going to also show you beam shots of my SuperFire WF-501D taken at the same time. This is a 4X123A light with an incan bulb and is supposed to be 180-200 lumens (I've heard much higher claims but don't believe them). So this should be a pretty good LED vs Incan shootout (the P3D is rated at 200 lumens).
First off, the P3D shining on my bedroom wall. Very bright hotspot. But while it has a lot of side-spill/flood, the flood is about 25-50% as bright as the hot spot.
Same shot with the WF-501D. This light is very floody and seems to put out all of its light evenly.
Two more shots, this time with the lights pointed at the end of the bed.
The P3D.
The 501.
Next up are outside wall shots. P3D first, 501 second. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.
These next shots I apologize for, as I am using my daughters cheapo camera. But you can still sort of see the difference.
This is the P3D shining at some very tall palm trees near my house. It actually outthrew the 501, as you will see in the second pic (but the 501 had a much wider flood at that distance). It's much more impressive in person, the camera couldn't really capture what it really looked like.
EDIT: OOPS, the pic below is the same as the one above and I can't figure out how to edit the pic link. So see my next post for the correct pic that should be here.
In this street test you can clearly see that the P3D outthrows the 501 (look at the white truck in the distance). But the 501 has so much more flood that it almost looks like I pointed the light at the ground (both lights were pointed right at the reflective street sign).
Well that's about it. I wish I had a better camera to take better pics. But I can say I am 100% happy with the P3D RB100. It's a lot different than th 501 that I am used to using. For some things is it better, for others, worse. I'm amazed at the throw of this light. So small yet I can light up the neighbors palm trees great.
Signed,
A happy Fenix owner
Last edited:
I see your point then.
