I almost passed the Fenix TK50 by because I have been trying to cut back on flashlight purchases (Stop laughing please!). The majority of my EDC lights are 123A powered and I have AAA, AA, and 9 volt lights packed away with the survival gear for those end of the world situations. Even though they would fulfill basic needs and could be readily replenished from remote controls and smoke detectors if need be, I still really wanted a D Cell light that could meet a desire for really extended low power run time. I have a couple of Mags converted to EverLEDs that would provide the throw that the others lacked and still provide decent run time, but I still yearned for something more. I think many of you can relate to that. The converted Mags are good lights, but not quite what you truly desire. Enter the Fenix TK50.
The light arrives in a neat plastic carrying case. Fit and finish are excellent. As god as any light I have ever handled. The light is well balanced when the batteries are installed. It is quite grippy with bare hands. If you are wearing gloves it will depend upon the type of glove. "Wind Stopper" type gloves make the light slippery to handle for example. The tail cap is a lockout design and use of the lockout for long term storage is encouraged by Fenix due to parasitic drain. A half of a turn does it. It is built to accept a lanyard and will tail stand, which is great given the runtime expectations. The head features an anti roll design but it is only partially useful. It will work on a level surface or slight grade. The design will not handle any type of steep incline. The head is slightly larger than a Mag so the Mag accessory anti roll bezel will not fit. The reflector is smooth and well finished with the LED well centered. Last night I carried the TK50 on my usual walk in placed of the E2DL or LX2 I usually carried. The temperature change from 72 degrees to 2o degrees did induce a spot of condensation on the inside of the lens. It was a little smaller than a dime and very fine. I would call it fog as there were no visible larger water droplets. Upon returning inside after a 30 minute walk the lens cleared very quickly.
The switches are well positioned on the body and have a nice feel to them. There is a soft yet audible click when depressed. The power switch works flawlessly but there is no momentary function. The mode switch does not always seem to work, but I think a large part of that was my attempt to use the mode switch at an angle with the power switch at the more natural 12 o'clock position. Rotating the mode switch to the 12 o'clock position yielded more consistent results. The switch to the blinking modes is easily accomplished by a quick double press of the power button if the light is already on or a triple press if the light is turned off. Both the general mode and blinking mode are memorized, so you can leave strobe memorized on the blinky side and make another choice for the general mode. That is a great feature. The strobe is what I believe Fenix calls the "randomizer" as it varies its speed when left engaged.
The tint is cool white, but you do not really notice any blue unless you place it beside a neutral or warm emitter light. In use the beam looks very white. Output is a tight and well defined hotspot that is very similar to the Streamlight Super Tac. Although useable at short range this light is really designed for throw. Use of high power at very close range against a bright object will actually blind you. There is a corona around the hot spot and then a dimmer very wide spill beam. As would be expected with a smooth reflector three are rings in the spill beam, but they are not really a factor in normal use. The power settings are well spaced (subjective opinion). Low is surprisingly useful. Tail standing in low mode the TK50 provides enough light in a 12 foot by 14 foot room to dress by, and remember that the TK50 is capable of running in that mode for 20 days (Per manufacturer) on one set of cells. The reflector is efficient enough to provide a very useable beam of 100+ feet on low power under the conditions describe below. On low power there is no useable spill at that distance, so the hotspot is all you will get. At closer distances there is sufficient spill to navigate non threatening terrain. Low power would be adequate for many close at hand tasks.
The turbo setting is impressive. I can verify a useable beam at 500 feet in city lighting (Street lights, porch lighting etc…). This was measured based upon the normal 50 feet of frontage for property in this area multiplied by the number of houses with the target house being sided in white. Given the conditions present I am reasonably certain that the TK50 will provide useable light at a distance that will exceed your ability to define what you are looking at. I would expect that since a Super Tac will do 500 to 600 feet the TK50 should do 700 to 900 feet. Unfortunately there is no totally dark area nearby to test that premise. As I walked my normal route which includes some darker but not totally dark areas I was able to confirm that the TK50 will easily out throw my E2DL and LX2. I will pass on covering the middle two power levels other than to say that they offer a lot of flexibility and compromise between output power and run time.
My overall impression of the light is very favorable as long as you like a tight beam profile. This of course can be modified in part or whole with the selective use of diffuser material. As an emergency / survival light its output versus run time is superb. With a 12 pack of batteries you could have light from just this one device for up to 120 days if run 24/7. If you are a professional or volunteer responder who needs a light that can throw without eating a set of cells every couple of hours then this light may be for you. It can run for almost an entire night on high power even during the darkest winter night. Step it down a time or two and you could go for an entire night (That's almost 14 hours in our area) without a need to change the batteries. Our county EMA resupply trailers carry D cells to resupply responders and special teams in the field, and I would suspect that many of yours do as well. That makes the TK50 a darn good fit. The only negatives that I see are the size (Although you should never lose this light!), and the occasionally unwilling mode switch. Although it has a strobe mode I would not think of this as tactical light. I would think of it as a great survival / emergency light for the home or a nice light for special teams. While I normally favor the smaller 123A powered lights, the ability to go an entire night on one set of inexpensive alkaline cells and run for days and days on low power makes the TK50 a winner.
The light arrives in a neat plastic carrying case. Fit and finish are excellent. As god as any light I have ever handled. The light is well balanced when the batteries are installed. It is quite grippy with bare hands. If you are wearing gloves it will depend upon the type of glove. "Wind Stopper" type gloves make the light slippery to handle for example. The tail cap is a lockout design and use of the lockout for long term storage is encouraged by Fenix due to parasitic drain. A half of a turn does it. It is built to accept a lanyard and will tail stand, which is great given the runtime expectations. The head features an anti roll design but it is only partially useful. It will work on a level surface or slight grade. The design will not handle any type of steep incline. The head is slightly larger than a Mag so the Mag accessory anti roll bezel will not fit. The reflector is smooth and well finished with the LED well centered. Last night I carried the TK50 on my usual walk in placed of the E2DL or LX2 I usually carried. The temperature change from 72 degrees to 2o degrees did induce a spot of condensation on the inside of the lens. It was a little smaller than a dime and very fine. I would call it fog as there were no visible larger water droplets. Upon returning inside after a 30 minute walk the lens cleared very quickly.
The switches are well positioned on the body and have a nice feel to them. There is a soft yet audible click when depressed. The power switch works flawlessly but there is no momentary function. The mode switch does not always seem to work, but I think a large part of that was my attempt to use the mode switch at an angle with the power switch at the more natural 12 o'clock position. Rotating the mode switch to the 12 o'clock position yielded more consistent results. The switch to the blinking modes is easily accomplished by a quick double press of the power button if the light is already on or a triple press if the light is turned off. Both the general mode and blinking mode are memorized, so you can leave strobe memorized on the blinky side and make another choice for the general mode. That is a great feature. The strobe is what I believe Fenix calls the "randomizer" as it varies its speed when left engaged.
The tint is cool white, but you do not really notice any blue unless you place it beside a neutral or warm emitter light. In use the beam looks very white. Output is a tight and well defined hotspot that is very similar to the Streamlight Super Tac. Although useable at short range this light is really designed for throw. Use of high power at very close range against a bright object will actually blind you. There is a corona around the hot spot and then a dimmer very wide spill beam. As would be expected with a smooth reflector three are rings in the spill beam, but they are not really a factor in normal use. The power settings are well spaced (subjective opinion). Low is surprisingly useful. Tail standing in low mode the TK50 provides enough light in a 12 foot by 14 foot room to dress by, and remember that the TK50 is capable of running in that mode for 20 days (Per manufacturer) on one set of cells. The reflector is efficient enough to provide a very useable beam of 100+ feet on low power under the conditions describe below. On low power there is no useable spill at that distance, so the hotspot is all you will get. At closer distances there is sufficient spill to navigate non threatening terrain. Low power would be adequate for many close at hand tasks.
The turbo setting is impressive. I can verify a useable beam at 500 feet in city lighting (Street lights, porch lighting etc…). This was measured based upon the normal 50 feet of frontage for property in this area multiplied by the number of houses with the target house being sided in white. Given the conditions present I am reasonably certain that the TK50 will provide useable light at a distance that will exceed your ability to define what you are looking at. I would expect that since a Super Tac will do 500 to 600 feet the TK50 should do 700 to 900 feet. Unfortunately there is no totally dark area nearby to test that premise. As I walked my normal route which includes some darker but not totally dark areas I was able to confirm that the TK50 will easily out throw my E2DL and LX2. I will pass on covering the middle two power levels other than to say that they offer a lot of flexibility and compromise between output power and run time.
My overall impression of the light is very favorable as long as you like a tight beam profile. This of course can be modified in part or whole with the selective use of diffuser material. As an emergency / survival light its output versus run time is superb. With a 12 pack of batteries you could have light from just this one device for up to 120 days if run 24/7. If you are a professional or volunteer responder who needs a light that can throw without eating a set of cells every couple of hours then this light may be for you. It can run for almost an entire night on high power even during the darkest winter night. Step it down a time or two and you could go for an entire night (That's almost 14 hours in our area) without a need to change the batteries. Our county EMA resupply trailers carry D cells to resupply responders and special teams in the field, and I would suspect that many of yours do as well. That makes the TK50 a darn good fit. The only negatives that I see are the size (Although you should never lose this light!), and the occasionally unwilling mode switch. Although it has a strobe mode I would not think of this as tactical light. I would think of it as a great survival / emergency light for the home or a nice light for special teams. While I normally favor the smaller 123A powered lights, the ability to go an entire night on one set of inexpensive alkaline cells and run for days and days on low power makes the TK50 a winner.
