Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix’s LD05

This is a quick comparison review of 4Sevens' Preon II Ti Black and Fenix's LD05. Two very similar looking pocket lights, both powered by 2 x AAA batteries.

Let's take a look at some manufacturer specifications:


Note that the weight is what I weighted using my own scale excluding batteries, so YMMV.

The packaging

Fenix has recently changed some of their newer flashlight packaging to these blister packs, it's a PITA to open. 4Sevens on the other hand, put the Preon II Ti Black in a gift box. :thumbsup:

The size different
from left, Fenix LD05, 4Sevens' Preon II Ti Black, iTP A3 EOS SS Upgraded, LiteFlux LF2XT R2, Energizer L92 AAA Lithium battery.


A close-up of both lights

As advertised, Preon II Ti Black does have a rubbery feel on the body, compare to the cold metal feel on the LD05. Both flashlights experience battery rattles, with LD05 rattles the most between the two.

Tail-cap

The edged 47 logo at the tail-cap is a nice aesthetic touch. Both flashlights are using reverse clicky switch with slight press on the tail-cap for mode changing while flashlight is on. However, the clicky switch on LD05 operates much smoother than the Preon. I've had a few stuck switch while trying to turn off the Preon.
Fenix initially advertised the clicky to be a push button with "momentary" feature. After further inquiry, was inform that there was a "translation" mistake and they promptly corrected it. :duh2:

Emitter and reflector

LD05 has a better throw with its more focus hotspot, but Preon has the brightness advantage. See beam shots later.

Head

The threading on LD05 is smoother than on Preon. Even after some heavy lubing, the Preon Ti head still feels gritty putting on to the Al body.


There is a slight gap between body and head on the Preon. I believe this is common as I have the same gap on my other Preon Kit too.
Running both on High/Max mode, Preon's head gets pretty hot pretty fast compare to LD05. On the Preon, the heat also doesn't travel to the body as much as LD05.

Clip

Fenix LD05 clip is tight! Was a little disappointed because what advertised on Fenix website is a polished stainless steel clip; there wasn't any mention of Ti coating on LD05 until further inquiry about it.

Now on to some beam shots. All shots were taken with Canon S5 IS digital camera in manual mode using f/2.7, Exposure 1/10 sec, ISO 100.
EDIT: Preon on left, LD05 on right
Low mode


Medium mode


High mode


Preon II Ti Black on High


Fenix LD05 on High


LD05 (from left), Preon II Ti Black, iTP A3 EOS SS Upgraded Edition

The back of the driver board looks the same between Preon and A3 EOS, and what's more interesting is the threading on both Preon and iTP A3 EOS is the same. That means you can play lego with Preon and iTP A3 EOS. Tested iTP A3 EOS on Preon body and Preon head on iTP body, all works!

EDIT: Added new Preon on iTP and iTP on Preon photo.


Since both lights are meant for pocket carry, weight will undoubtedly be one of the key deciding factors. In this case, Fenix LD05 is really too heavy for my shirt pocket carry due to the stainless steel material used in the head and tail, couple with thick Al body, while the weight of Preon II is just nice for this purpose.

There are noticeable PWM on the Fenix LD05, though better than iTP, it's still noticeable. Preon on the other hand has no noticeable PWM, even when I try to look for it. It's operating at a much higher frequency than LD05.

Whining can be heard from Preon in Med mode, though I have to put the light close to my ear. No whining on LD05. :thumbsup:

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

:thumbsup: Thanks for sharing this excellent comparison. Great photos, too.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Nice comparison. I have also been testing the two light and another difference is the driver, the Preon is not stabilized in brightness, the LD05 is very well stabilized.
But I wonder about your pwm comparison, ITP uses 200 Hz and Fenix uses 125 Hz, i.e. Fenix is supposed to be the most noticeable.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Very nice review!

The Preon II locks out by slightly unscrewing the head, does the LD05 lock out the same way?

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

spoonrobot said:

The Preon II locks out by slightly unscrewing the head, does the LD05 lock out the same way?

Click to expand...

The answer to that is no, the LD05 uses the threads as connection to the head and has no lockout.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Dangit! Another light I can't use.

Thanks for the answer though!

HKJ said:

Nice comparison. I have also been testing the two light and another difference is the driver, the Preon is not stabilized in brightness, the LD05 is very well stabilized.
But I wonder about your pwm comparison, ITP uses 200 Hz and Fenix uses 125 Hz, i.e. Fenix is supposed to be the most noticeable.

Click to expand...

thanks for the heads-up :thumbsup:.
for the past week that I've been using (playing, actually) both, I occasionally encounter Preon to flicker a little when switching from Med to High. Since it occurs infrequently and only for that first second or so, I brush it off as potential battery issue as I'm still on first set of Alky, now that you mention it... hmmm... :shrug:
For PWM, that could only mean one thing, that is I'm more sensitive to iTP's PWM than Fenix's. :thinking:

I've updated the specification table with lock-out on Preon (how did I miss it? ), refresh the page to see the updated table.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

I like the looks of the Preon, but... ugh.. Modes :thumbsdow Why can't we get a flashlight without this crap anymore.

I'd prefer just a twisty tailcap with a momentary push button switch as well, like my old 2AAA River Rock/Nuwai light. Instead of worrying about a questionable clicky switch.

I understand the Preon kit comes with a twisty tailcap without the switch. I wonder if you are able to avoid the modes with this twisty? It sounds like a two hand twisty or is there a button on the end?

I read in the other thread that the clip may scratch the body unless you unscrew the head and load the batteries from the front. That's kind of lame.

It would be nice if there was a warm tint version.


Yea, this light is a bust for me. I just found out about the Sunlite Slim which appears to have the features and options I want, including a warm led head option.

hello ampdude, me too interested in the Sunlite Slim after reading HKJ's review.
now on to Preon, you are still able to access the different modes with the twisty. it's meant to load battery from the front, same like LD05. Oh yaaa babee... warm tint... :buddies:
Perhaps you wanna take a look at LiteFlux LF2XT as an alternative to Sunlite as it offers a toggle-able momentary mode.

Could you perhaps do a shot of the iTP on the Preon II body? I'm thinking of just getting the II body and clicky for my iTP as I don't use it much with it's current body.

defloyd77, post #1 updated with photo of iTP on Preon and Preon on iTP as per request. Hope this helps.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Good one rookiedaddy. Bring those during the KD trail gathering.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

An excellent comparison. Missed this thread the first time around.

I have both. The LD05 is better for carrying in the back-pocket of a pair of dress pants, despite the tight clip. Bit disappointing that the Preon II isn't as good at heat dissipation than the LD05. I use my Preon II often on high-mode. (Guess I shouldn't do that too often.)

I find the clip on the Preon II to be overall better than the one on the LD05. But must admit that I prefer the med./low/high interface on the LD05 instead of the Preon's low/med./high.

I use a Preon I tailcap on my Preon II due to the Preon II tailcap cover rotating 360 degrees in place. Bit annoying. Makes it into a twist-only model, but can still be worked one-handed with a bit of practice.

Wish the LD05 was rated for use with lithium cells.

Overall, these two are evenly matched. (That's why I bought both.)

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Hello Monocrom, thanks for the kind words.
Agreed. Both are evenly matched. However, I still hope Fenix will consider revising the PWM in LD05 to constant current or at least improve it.
Here is a thread by HKJ where he compare various AAA flashlight beam-shots including the two review here.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Thanks for the link.

Re: Quick comparison review: Preon II Ti Black vs Fenix's LD05

Anyone with photos of the disassembly of the tail sections?

anyway..