Fenix TK-20 saves the night! Pic heavy.

I just got back from a camp out at one of our regional zoo's. The Lehigh Valley Zoo aka Trexler Game Preserve to be exact. They offered a chance to camp out in the zoo overnight, as well as go on a night time nature walk and night time zoo tour! Of course the best part of the description was where they said "Participants should bring flashlights."

Of course I went over kill and packed more flashlights that I could possibly need, and didn't use half of them!

On the nature walk it was just getting dark, so the flashlights weren't needed to navigate, but once in the woods we used them to help spot things in the shadows. Most of the people had cheap incans. They were flashing around dim yellow/orange beams, filled with horrible artifacts from the incan bulb. There were a few LED lights in the crowd, nothing spectacular. Actually one of the brightest and most annoying LED lights in the group, excluding myself, were contained in a little girls shoes! When her multi-colored flashing LED shoes went off it was pretty bright and obnoxious.

Then of course some little kid had a CFL based lantern that was just flooding out bright annoying light in our faces, which made it hard to see anything else. Thankfully he didn't have it on very long. That's great for in the tent, but not for trying to walk down a trail.

The female guide had a cheap incan flashlight as well. Just one of those $2-3 types you get with the plastic body. When everyone tried to illuminate something I would of course over power them all. I was using my Dereelight CL1h v1 with a XR-E Q4 5B neutral tint at 1.2A or my Dereelight CL1H v4 with a XP-G R5. I gave my wife my Fenix TK20 since I wouldn't be too upset if she dropped it, etc.

Once back at the zoo it was time for the night time zoo tour. I was thinking to myself "Which lights to bring! Should I get the Ultrafire WF-500 with a 630 bulb lumen lumens factory bulb? The Mag85? They might be too bright, maybe I'll just stick to the LED based lights." and then the tour guide said "No flashlights on the zoo tour!" Well, that made that decision easy. I had a feeling the flashlights would disturb the animals, so it made sense and I was fine with that, but this is where it gets good. The tour guide said her flashlight was shot and asked if she could borrow someone's flashlight. I took the TK-20 from the wife and promptly handed it over to the guide.

So off we went, and the TK-20 sure looks a lot brighter when it's in someone else's hands. Maybe too bright. On our first stop she was lighting up a snowy owl, but just with the spill.

Here's a pic:



I set my Canon SX200 IS camera to a 3200 ISO mode. This lets me take shots with a decent shutter speed. There was no way I was going to be able to capture these images with long 1-5 second exposures at a lower ISO, as there would be too much motion blur from everything moving around, including the flashlight's beam. So the pics are what they are, but you get the idea.

Here's a shot of the guide with the Fenix TK-20 in hand:



The neutral tint did an excellent job of rendering the outdoor colors. The beam's hot spot was a bit intense for close range critters, but the throw was helpful for when she wanted to point out things in the distance, like this ostrich:



After the snowy owl I also showed her how to twist the TK-20 to switch between high and low. There's not a huge difference in the output, so I wasn't sure which see what using most of the time, but when I got the light back later it was on high and pretty warm. So she may have put it on high soon after I showed her low.

Asphalt beam shot!


After the tour she continued to harness the power of the TK-20 to gather up supplies for the camp fire.




She then continued to use the TK-20 to help light up the fire pit while one of the tour group members helped start the fire:


After that I got the TK-20 back. I was wondering if she'd comment about the flashlight, like "This is a great flashlight! Where could I get one like this?", but she didn't. Maybe the next time she fires up her cheap flashlight she'll be like "Wow, this looks really dim! Something must be wrong with it."

As far as the other flashlights, I used my Zebralight H60 to finish setting up our tent after dark. Then I hung the Zebralight H60 from the top of the tent as our indoor tent light. My Liteflux LF3XT saw some use, mostly in max low just to help navigate around on the dark paths. My Ti Quark 2x123 also saw some similar use. That's about it.

Cool story! I don't think non-flahites understand quality lights. They either think the lights are to bright or they think fresh alkaline batteries in their store bought Mag light is all they need to do.

My wife will not hand me her TK-20, that is her favorite flashlight and it is hers.

Great pics for 3200 ISO! A shame about the guide not seeing the light, she might ponder it during her next blackout..

then the tour guide said "No flashlights on the zoo tour!" Well, that made that decision easy. I had a feeling the flashlights would disturb the animals, so it made sense and I was fine with that, but this is where it gets good. The tour guide said her flashlight was shot and asked if she could borrow someone's flashlight.

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I think this is hilarious!!

"No flashlights on the tour!" Oops, my light is dead. "Does anyone have a flashlight I can use?!?"





Can't believe she didn't even comment on the light. Hard to believe someone can be so oblivious/indifferent. Course, the fact that she had a $3 light for her night tour job says a lot. I'm always a bit surprised that people will spend the absolute bare minimum necessary even though it's for a tool/item they will need to use a lot or depend on.

Yeah, she wanted to be the only one with a flashlight to make sure it didn't shine in the wrong place. At one point it was obviously too bright for her and she was holding most of her hand over the front to let only a little bit of light trickle out.

Of course, I got a picture of that. This is her glowing hand and fingers:

Cool story. Thanks for sharing.

I wonder how did tour guide have not a "real" flashlight. :laughing:
- "oops, my lights is dead" :fail:

WadeF said:

Yeah, she wanted to be the only one with a flashlight to make sure it didn't shine in the wrong place. At one point it was obviously too bright for her and she was holding most of her hand over the front to let only a little bit of light trickle out.

Of course, I got a picture of that. This is her glowing hand and fingers:

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LOL

This remember me the I am the Legend's flashlight [better, the weaponlight] scene. :shakehead

One guy was shining around a fauxton. I kinda had to laugh to myself that he paid money to go on a nature walk, camp out, etc, and only had a fauxton as a flashlight.

I think part of the problem is that city-dwellers like me forget what REAL darkness is, the kind you find when you're out in the country away from any man-made light source... which is why you get people like the guy who only brought the fauxton.

A little 5-10 lumen light may be fine for campsite chores, but to me it's a helpless feeling only being able to see 15 feet in any direction because you only have a low power light. (Which is why I prefer throwers! TK11, TK12, two TK20s... )

Cant wait to get home and view these pics...

Stress_Test said:

I think this is hilarious!!

"No flashlights on the tour!" Oops, my light is dead. "Does anyone have a flashlight I can use?!?"





Can't believe she didn't even comment on the light. Hard to believe someone can be so oblivious/indifferent. Course, the fact that she had a $3 light for her night tour job says a lot. I'm always a bit surprised that people will spend the absolute bare minimum necessary even though it's for a tool/item they will need to use a lot or depend on.

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You do realize that most people believe that the Maglite is the best flashlight ever built right? I mean it says so on the package and it's the most expensive flashlight in the hardware store. I don't know one person, not one, who ever even heard of Fenix nor Olight nor even Surefire let alone Dereelight or RDS or Peak. Of course many members of police and military know about good flashlights but I don't know anyone in police or military. When a young man or woman joins the service the last thing someone is going to ask them about is flashlights.

Since I was I boy I ALWAYS liked flashlights. My wife always knows what section of the hardware store to look for me. Despite that - I had never heard of a flashlight better than a Stinger and assumed it was only expensive because it was rechargeable.

Point is I don't find it the least bit surprising when someone is using a cheap plastic flashlight for even important uses.

feels "weird" when I'm witnessing someone else using my light...
in a good way..
like, 'yeah, thats my baby in action'

recDNA:

See, that's the thing. I'd at least expect someone to pick one of the better off-the-shelf lights (which usually does mean Maglite, when you're at Target anyway) for actual important work. I'd understand if she'd showed up with a Mag, 'cause given the poor selection at most stores, that IS a premium choice.

But picking the $3 light is really scraping the bottom of the barrel! You KNOW there had to be better choices, but she immediately went for the cheapest thing on the shelf... Boggles the mind. I would think that being able to SEE would be something worth spending some extra money for!

I got bit at least once (maybe twice) when I really needed a light and didn't have one, and that was all it took for me to learn the lesson. Similar to what I wrote above, I myself, not knowing any better, bought a MiniMag LED. Though in my defense, I did browse and compare the selection on the shelves for quite a while! :thinking: Out of curiosity, I looked it up online later, which lead me to Quickbeam's review site... which later led to CPF... and well you know the rest!

Anyway the point is, after someone's been caught short in the dark before, you would hope they would at least make the effort to be more prepared next time.

In the guide's defense I think she had been there less than a year, and I don't think these evening events are a regular thing. So maybe she hasn't had enough experience with it to realize her needs yet and she may not be doing this type of thing often enough for her to want to seek a better flashlight.

In the guide's defense I think she had been there less than a year, and I don't think these evening events are a regular thing. So maybe she hasn't had enough experience with it to realize her needs yet and she may not be doing this type of thing often enough for her to want to seek a better flashlight.

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True enough. And some people just don't give a hooey about tech stuff, strange as that may seem to some of us!

By the way, very cool story and it's awesome that you even got photos of the action too! Nice to see the TK20 being used; it's still one of my favorite lights!

I like seeing gear being used, also like the TK20.

Great story - thanks for sharing! I love seeing a TK20 in action as mine is still one of my favorite lights that I don't see myself parting with any time soon.

That is a shame that the tour guide didn't "see the light."

When she asked for a flashlight you should have handed her an Olight SR90, or an HID spotlight

Teach her a lesson... Let's see her try to block those lights with her hand! Next thing you know every animal in the zoo will be awake

O-Boy can I relate to this story!
Last week I accompanied my 9 year old son on his Cub Scout trip to the bureau of meteorology at night.

The knowledgeable chap giving the tour took us outside to view all the instruments and balloon launching facilities (all very interesting).

Whilst outside he was using a large generic 6V type incan torch. Frankly it was so pathetic I was almost laughing. Within a minute or two it went flat. The tour guide quickly grabbed a beacon light from one of the balloons (a 2 x AA unit). Whilst this little light might be visible for miles (which is its intended purpose) the beam it put out was useless!

I could not hold on any longer!

I ripped out a Fenix LOD, put it on medium and to every one's amazement we had more than enough usable light. The guide was suitably impressed and moved onto further equipment including a radar dome on top of a building to which he apologised for not having a light suitable to illuminate it. :fail:

Of course you all know what happened next!

Yes the LOD on high illuminated the whole dome.
The guide was in a state of shock that a single AAA could produce so much light. I did not have the heart to tell him I had a modded mag (300M) in may car!

I also now have a whole pack of cub scouts (& parents) wanting a LOD (LD01) for their next birthday.

no flashlights allowed? i would pass. keep em darn animals, see if i care if i cant bring my flashlight(s) with me.

going into dark area to walk around and not bring a light.. that just makes no sense to me.. all i can imagine is the lawsuits because of injuries of falling down because they wouldnt allow people to see where they are walking. (i would of atleast snuck in a zebralight or similar at the minimum..)

cool story and trip anyways.

sometimes its just fun shedding the light to other people.. last saturday at a wedding i did carry 2 lights with me, lummi raw and preon1.. but didnt need either.. and wasnt around when others did need..

but i did have to do a show and tell with my knives. as one guy was showing off that he had a knife with him (a small sak).. and buddy of mine winked at me across the room to come over.. and asked very casually "so.. how many knives you got with you today.." and baffled of the question.. not knowing why he asked i said." hmm 2 to 4 i think. not sure how many.. why?" and rest of the table looked real funny at me.

guess they were still trying to grasp a) guy brings a knife to wedding party.. and b) dont know how many he has! hahaha.

so i had to pull them all out to count them.. they asked. (i was very nice and only brought tiny ones) sog micron, the knife in squirt ps4, sog flash1 and sanrenmu 710. and smartly i started with squirt and then micron.. then flash and 710 (building it up small to bigger so the "sheeple" wouldnt get scared too much)

but i knew atleast one other there had a knife with him.. i saw the clip when he pulled lighter out of the inside pocket of his suit.. spyderco clip it was but i didnt get around to ask what model it was. but i am pretty sure i was the only one with flashlight (unless those whom i had given a flashlight had theirs with them.. hmm gotta ask them next time i see them if they had their itp with)