L1D Q5 - pleasant surprise for this jaded fenix user

Since my Novatac 120Ps arrived last year I haven't really been motivated to buy another torch (with the exception of a preordered) HDS twistie, until just recently when out of boredom I had a look at what Fenix had come out with and picked up an L1D Q5 (olive finish, smooth reflector) from torchworld.com.au

I have to say that after a couple of years of blindly buying every minor increment fenix came out with and putting up with poor builds but the latest LED tech, I was pleasantly surprised comparing my L1D Q5 to my L1D-CE. They look superfically the same but the build quality on the new one is just fantastic: no wobbly bits; tight and smooth threads; nice machining throughout; even anodising; perfectly centred reflector with no dust; decent switch rubber; nice tint; very bright for 1xAA. Very impressive.

But of course, the complaints:
1 - ringy beam (which is of course going to plague any cree torch with a small smooth reflector). I might swap in a textured one from another fenix to fix it.
2 - where's the bloody low low that every second fenix user has been begging for?

Since neither HDS nor Novatac seem motivated to make a 1xAA torch, I might wait another year and hopefully by then fenix will come up with a super solid 1xAA torch with <1lm low >240 lm high, but in the mean time the L1D Q5 is a pretty good effort I reckon.

Thought about getting the L1D Q5 myself also but I am happy with the L1D CE. Maybe if one comes out with a R4 bin I might be interested.

Have you tried running yours on a 14500 yet?

My L1DQ5 was awful. Ringy (even though OP reflector) and poor tint. Choked on alkalines (blinked once the batts burned down a bit). I was very disappointed and sent it back.

My other Fenix lights are great.

It's nice to hear that they may have improved QC and general standards...

Regarding the reflector, I'd stick with the smooth. It's gonna have rings even with an OP.

And yes, where the heck is the low-low from Fenix. 3-5 lm, cmon now. The longer runtime stat will make your light look even better on paper.

-14500 users?

Yeah i Do, look up my post.

I got the "Holiday 2-pack" and liked the Q5 L1D so much (it was the only way to get a Q5 L1D before the holidays) that I sold off the P2D body & TC that came in the pack. Now, my L1D + Diffuser and a Zebralight H-50 make up my backpacking light kit.

swxb12 said:

Regarding the reflector, I'd stick with the smooth. It's gonna have rings even with an OP.

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Interesting considering I have 2 Q5 L2D-CE's (same head) with OP reflectors and neither of them has a ringy beam.

Stereodude said:

Interesting considering I have 2 Q5 L2D-CE's (same head) with OP reflectors and neither of them has a ringy beam.

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I have both (smooth and OP). The smooth has a discernible ring on a wall, the OP does not. You can't really see the smooth's ring outside, though.