Fenix TK15: First $ light

After buying a half dozen Romison lights for around $20 each, I made an impulse buy today at a gun show and picked up a TK15. I find it to be a nice enough light with nicer feature than I had before, buy can't see any difference in brightness between it and my two Romisen RC-F4's.

I have a Romisen RC-2R4 R5 that is brighter than any others including the Fenix, but it is unreliable. It always lights, but usually very dim. Ocasssionally it does work like it should and is bright.

I had a RC-F4 with a Q5 and was slightly brighter for awhile, then quit altogether.

Should I be disappointed that my new $90 light isn't the brightest of all, or should I be satisfied because the cost will bring higher quality?

Usually brightest doesn't mean best. I don't own any Romison lights but all of my Fenix lights are very good quality.

Just don't drop your Romisen light on the ground, whether deliberately (for testing) or by accident. :sick2:

The Romisens should live through a series of dropping. Generally speaking the robustness of the Fenixes should be higher as Fenix continuously improves on their design and have been developing those lights for a very long time. Fenixes also have one of the best regulation circuits available. They pretty much maintain exactly the same brightness over nearly the entire runtime. I don't know how well the Romisens do in that department. Also I would suspect that the ratio of lights with defects leaving the factory is higher with Romisen.

Tim, thanks for starting this thread. I feel it's a significant topic since light output is among the primary things we want in a light. In fact, I am guessing that it is THE most important thing, considering that in reality, the durability of a light really only needs to last a couple years or so (until technology surpasses our current light), at which time, we all want to replace our current "best" lights. At least this is true for many of us anyway. Not all.

Having said that, there is a peace of mind having a rock-solid light vs. a cheaper one. This, of course, is especially true for those who are dependent on ONE source of light (emergency workers, etc.)

It is a little disappointing to know that our more expensive lights do not outshine some of the cheaper ones. This is likely due to the fact that the light output is what we SEE, whereas the quality of the light is not as visible at first. We want to SEE the benefits from the higher cost, right away.

As much as we want to believe otherwise, it's probably more logical, in many cases, to have a few of the cheaper models than to have just one higher end light (assuming same cost), knowing that we will be replacing them anyway, within a couple years or so. Then again, I wouldn't want to have my lights to be as unreliable as what you just mentioned of your Romisens, even if only used for camping, etc.. Thanks for the info, I'll write those off my list of potential lights to buy.

Jonny

I think the fact that both your Romisens have problems would be enough to make you appreciate the Fenix. The first flashaholic light I bought was a Fenix LD10 R4. Even though Im more interested in some other lights right now the Fenix is there when I need it.

In the end you can only carry around so many lights at one time. Do you want a couple lights that work great or piles of lights that your funbling with because they only work sometimes?

No buyer's remorse here. The more I use the Fenix the better I like it. The first night home I was comparing it to my cheaper light, but it was raining out and they seemed to be the same. Last night I was outside and noticed that though the spots were nearly the same, The Fenix put out a lot more light around the spot and the Romisen was all spot. the

I shined both into a tree 30 yards away and found that the Romisen had a bright spot but little spill. The Fenix had a bright spot and also lit the entire tree and is much more useable. The Fenix clearly puts out more light.

Though I was attracted to the higher lumens rating, I am certainly not disappointed. The Fenix costs nearly 4 times as much, but will be clearly worth it if it holds up, and I am sure it will.

I have to add that though I have had a couple of Romisens fail, I have a couple of others that have worked well for several years. I have given a couple of others away that have held up as well.

Anyone know if it will perform any differently with recargeable 18650's than it does with CR123's? I ordered a couple yesterday along with a charger.

I also have the TK15. I'll pay a little more for quality/reliability, in a factory light. There are many do-it-yourselfers making far better and cheaper lights, but I've always been the impatient plug-n-play consumer.

I like the Fenix so much, am considering buying a TK41, when it has a few reviews from the field.

Charles