Educate me on Fenix torches!

I recently bought a Fenix TK10 and love it! I've been searching around this forum researching and getting to know the background of Fenix torches and so on.
Though from my understanding, Fenix torches are like an imitation brand of t he surefires? I hope not, I thought Fenix torches were in a class of its own.

I've also heard here that only few people around the world sell Fenix torches? True or not?
Who makes Fenix and are these torches really tough as the company says they are?

Are Fenix good enough to be used for professional use or is it more of a torch for the normal home user/recreational use.

If anything else you would like to add about Fenix it will be great!

p.s what are your thoughts on the fenix tk10? This is my first ever decent torch. I only have about two el'cheapo torches. I recently got fascinated by torches when my store got broken into and did not have a torch on me. When I finally found one in the store it was really crap. I then came to realise when its times like these you need something very decent.

Thanks guys

fenix is no imitation....its usually the front runner of many different ideas, and LED bins.....built just as well as any other manufacturer:twothumbs

as professional as they come

Fenix make excellent lights.

The TK10 is superb and is according to many on a par with Surefire.

Fenix are good enough for professional use.

Oh, I can see this thread turning into a classic Fenis VS Surefire bash! Beware.

Fenix has imitators, not imitations. They are quite tough. There was a number of abuse testing done of them last year, and they held up very well.

A video of the T1 being crushed to 20500 lbs for example
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0WvhJWE3_Oc

Fenix torches are not an imitation of any other production light. They developed the first affordable, high quality production 1W, 1AA Lux light which was a breakthrough in its day. Since then they have come out with a bunch of innovative firsts (1W 1AAA light, twist head multi-level light, fully flat regulated alkaline battery light, and many more) with high quality and reasonable prices.

There are a few official dealers who sell them. Fenix-Store is excellent and provides first class service. I understand Lighthound is also very good.

Fenix is a company in China (check their web site to see the factory) and mine have been very tough and reliable. Opinions differ (passionately) on whether they are good enough for "professional" use, depending on what that means to each. The subject is a very tender one around here as many feel that the word "professional" belongs only to Surefire and any other flashlight company (particularly a Chinese one) making such a claim is a usurper and a pretender.

I believe any important light needs to be tested and broken in before serious use; and if it's really critical, you must use backups. Subject to that, I think Fenixes (particularly the spring loaded Twisty type like the P1D, Civictor, L0x, E01 and the purpose built tactical TK1/10s) are very, very dependable, but that's just me.

I don't have a Fenix TK-10 but just from reviews and specs, it looks like a pretty good and very tough light.

Enjoy the hobby. Don't buy everything at once, more better will come out later, and probably cheaper (unless China revalues it's currency)...

TONY M said:

Fenix make excellent lights.

The TK10 is superb and is according to many on a par with Surefire.

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that will cause trouble :laughing:

yes it can be used as a professional tool , many cops in this forum probably use a TK10 or a fenix of some sort ,many use surefire as well, both are proven lights..it comes down to output/runtime/UI etc/cost

Fenix is a Chinese quality flashlight manufacture and has many resellers all over the world, there exist many other Chinese quality flashlight manufactures but your can only get lights from them in a few webshops or on cpf's marketplace.

Because they are tough and a lot cheaper than Surefire, some people like to compare them to Surefire, personally I do not believe that is a fair comparison.
Fenix makes robust, high power lights, but do not need to prove what they can do. Surefire need to make lights that can be used by the us military and probably has a lot of regulation that they must follow, to get them approved.

I have most of the current Fenix models and like all of them, but the L0D has mostly been replaced by a LiteFlux LF2X and the L1D will probably be replaced by LiteFlux LF5XT.

Who ever told you that Fenix was an imitation of Surefire?

These are two different companies. Surefire is much more tactical/military/all out toughness oriented at whatever the cost. Fenix is mostly EDC and light that you can use everyday at a reasonable cost.

I think, at least in non Asian countries, Fenix lights are hard to find in stores but many online sites sell them.

I think Fenix is made by Fenix itself.

The lights should be tough enough to stand most things thrown at it.

I've heard of some LEOs using Fenix lights on duty(not including the Tk10 or T1) but I'd say they are more of a recreational use light.

Beware of using Fenix and Surefire in the same sentence, it can turn out pretty badly.

Gunner12 said:

Beware of using Fenix and Surefire in the same sentence, it can turn out pretty badly.

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+1 to that. I only have a couple of Fenixes, but more Surefires. I like my SF lights despite what other lights are out there and I won't put any other lights down just to make mine look better. I think Fenix does a wonderful job in providing a good quality lights in affordable prices.

Personally I found out about Fenix lights starting at the flashlight reviews (Quickbeam's) website and from what people have been saying about them here at the CPF.

They were always well-rated because of a combination of decent price/good value for money, using excellent electrical control to achieve excellent regulation and efficiency, and generally being one of the first to come out with the latest LEDs. Plus they seem to watch out for what people want (maybe even monitor CPF users' opinions?) and incorporate it into their later designs.

The TK10 you have is one example, it came out pretty quick after the T1 and seems to have made a few changes that were asked for by people here.

On the efficiency, it is always worthwhile to check out the specs of the latest Fenix light in a formfactor you are considering buying. Even if you choose something else, you will find that you get a lot of useful info--the Fenix specs are the ones to beat usually (runtime vs output) and they give you a useful benchmark against which to compare whatever else you are considering.

The "imitation" critique I think generally does not apply to Fenix (there are a few models by others that have occasionally been accused as being imitations).

However, it is true that Surefire is an important flashlight manufacturer that, over time, has introduced important technical innovations and features. It may be that Fenix (as well as others, of course) have over time incorporated some of the important innovations into their own designs.

But then it would be as if saying that a gun manufacturer that uses a S&W introduced ammo is an "imitator" of S&W. To my mind, that is a natural progression of things that is quite legitimate and ultimately helps competition, brings features and prices downstream, and helps the consumer.

Well, my first "high tech" light was a Fenix P2D. Since I bought it, I have dropped it from high a far, put in my mouth to hold it, loaned it to friends who dropped it on the beach while digging clams and it is like the Timex watch, it keeps on ticking. From what I have seen, it comes down to the Ford vs Chevy. They are all good, it just depends on what you want.

I had a Fenix P3D Cree, Fenix P3D Cree Q5, and a Fenix P3D Rebel 100, all were great flashlights and I had no problems with any of them.

I currently have the tk10 and a P2D that I carry at work. I keep the tk10 on turbo mode and I use the P2D in low mode to do reading.

Surefire snobbery and Fenix owners who can't justify Surefire's cost without actually handling them are the main route of these bashing wars.

As mentioned above by Gunner12 they are generally two seperate markets but are close enough to overlap. I own numerous Surefires (weapons and handheld) and a few Fenix's (L1T, E1, L2P's, L1P's, P1 CE, and so on.) I have an X200 mounted on one of my guns, and a SF L1 in my pocket.

I have lost my Surefire U2 for a week (in chemistry lab) and wasn't really worried about it. It was a loss but its just a tool in my eyes (go figure, got it back the next week because the chemistry lab professors couldn't figure out how to use it.) Losing a Fenix wouldn't cause that much heartbreak in the grand scale of things because it is significantly cheaper.

The car analogy is good but its more or less Honda/Toyota vs BMW/Mercedes Benz. Both get you from point A to point B and both have a wide range of prices ranges but those BMW/Mercedes can cost of a heck of a lot more (was thinking a Honda S2000 vs a Mercedes Benz SLK65 AMG.)

But enough about that. It has been rpetty much outlined that Surefires are generally more expensive and geared toward more "hardcore" users and Fenix's more for recreational users with focus on value/performance.

Buy both products because my Fenix's are loaners and back pack/car lights and Surefire's are my EDC's/weapons lights. The more lights you have the better

Thanks a lot for the replies guys, appreciate it.

I get the point now that I shouldn't really compare the Fenix with Surefires. They are pretty much their own respectable brand and are meant to be for different type of use so on so forth.

Since their are so many rave reviews about Surefires being that tad bit bitter then the Fenix I'm hoping my next torch will be a Surefire.

But what really baffles me is that Surefire torches mainly have a luman of about average 90 lumens while the TK10 is 225 for the same price?

I'm guessing that with Surefires are you mainly paying for the quality? Or is just that because Surefire is kind of like Comparing a BMW to something like a Merc? BMW is just as good but because you have a Merc badge you are paying that bit extra? :duh2:

edit: looking at the box it says uses a 'lifetime' cree. Does this mean the LED will never run out of life?

Sorry, if I'm annoying you guys, I'm new to this stuff. :laughing:

LED's don't burn out like incan bulbs. They slowly degrade over time, but it's so slow that they would last for years or decades of continuous 24/7 use. You will have long since upgraded and/or died before they "burn out"

Surefire provides out the front lumen, after losses in the reflector. The Fenix TK10 has been tested by a few members here and it seems to be around 200 lumen out the front.

LED's don't usually burn out(unless severly overdrivern or not heatsinked). They slowly degrade. Too slow for most to notice.

unique said:

But what really baffles me is that Surefire torches mainly have a luman of about average 90 lumens while the TK10 is 225 for the same price?

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Surefire takes a long time to develop and test a flashlight and when it is finished, they do not change it because a new led has come out. And with the rapid evolution of leds during the past few years, they have been behind the performance curve.
A current example is Surefire U2B with P7 led, your can already get other flashlights with P7, but Surefire is not ready yet and when they are ready, it might be possible to get a better P7, but Surefire will probably not update the U2B for a year or two.

Fenix can and do this kind of changes much faster.

Another point is that Surefire usual is a bit on the low side with their specifications and some other manufactures are a bit optimistic.
A very common way to specify a flashlight, is how much light the leds sends out, not what comes out of the flashlight.

Marduke said:

LED's don't burn out like incan bulbs.

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I've had a lot more LED lights fail on me than ones with incan bulbs.

unique said:

But what really baffles me is that Surefire torches mainly have a luman of about average 90 lumens while the TK10 is 225 for the same price?

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I think many people are baffled by that as well. As several members have said, SF measures the the lumens out the front ... the amount of light you actually see. I'm not sure how SF do the testing, but from what many members here say, SF under rates their lumens number. I can't test myself, I could only take it for what it's worth.

ampdude said:

I've had a lot more LED lights fail on me than ones with incan bulbs.

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Did the LED bulbs burn out?

I would assume the failures are due to something other than the LED burning out unless you're severely over-driving the LED.