Received my new Fenix E15 today

dmattaponi · Jul 20, 2011

E15 arrived today. First impressions are okay, not great. I'm looking forward to trying it out tonight in lower light conditions. I'm a flashlight newbie really, but my amateurish description of the light is that it appears to be a non-orange peel reflector with a nicely centered LED. The beam is okay, with no holes, but it has some areas that appear a little darker or more solid than others. The beam is not as "floody" as my 4Sevens CR2, Mini 123, or Fenix P1D. The hotspot is slightly irregular meaning not perfectly round, but not much different in shape than the other lights mentioned. Light is a nice white color. In the daylight it appears more natural than the S2 Mini123, and a little whiter than the R5 CR2. I think the Q5 on the P1D is ever so slightly bluer. The E15 reminds me of a fat and short E01 with the same type of male threaded head, but in brass. I would rather it have an old-fashioned spring in the battery case, but it appears to have some strange looking "leaf"springs in there. I don't know if it's because of the fresh battery, but even though this light is rated at less lumens than the other lights I've mentioned above, the E15 appears to be at least as bright as the others in even some of the higher 180 lumen settings. The lens makes it somewhat hard to see the LED as it kinda distorts what you are seeing. I'll get around to some pictures maybe tomorrow if anyone is interested, but for now I think this light will replace my others as my primary EDC. I like the first twist 75lumen, followed by the long lasting (30hrs) 10lumen setting. I have a hard time telling the 75 and 140 lumens apart from the 180+ lumens of the other lights. Cosmetically, one thing that I don't like is that the Fenix logo on this light is not nicely done. It is dark, and the F has a darker line (looks like a scratch) going through it. Not nearly as nicely labeled as my other Fenix lights, but maybe that is just my example. There is also a dark, faint (hard to read) hot symbol up near the lens. Otherwise, at first glance, I would say this is a good EDC pocket light.

regulator · Jul 20, 2011

Interesting little light. Is the optic protected by a glass lens or is it just plastic? Thanks for the info.

dmattaponi · Jul 20, 2011

I'm not sure. I remember reading somewhere that it is plastic. It isn't very recessed, so if it's plastic I would expect it to get scratched pretty easily in a pocket full of other things. Fenix says simply that it is a "high efficiency total reflection lens"...whatever that means?

enomosiki · Jul 20, 2011

E15 uses XP-E combined with TIR to give it as much throw as it can have in a size barely larger than a 123. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since if they used a reflector on the light, as opposed to TIR, it would simply be a tiny floodlight with no useful throw whatsoever. A TIR lens requires higher precision to create than standard reflector, so if your beam profile has artifacts it's likely that Fenix has machining problems. But, AFAIK, it's the first time that Fenix put TIR in any of their lights, so you have to cut them some slack.

What I'm more concerned about is whether or not if E15 is driven using CC or PWM. I'd suspect that it's PWM considering its small size, but if Fenix somehow managed to get it CC than I'd grab it in a heartbeat. Until I find out, however, I refuse to open my wallet.

StandardBattery · Jul 20, 2011

dmattaponi said:
E15 arrived today. First impressions are okay, not great. I'm looking forward to trying it out tonight in lower light conditions. I'm a flashlight newbie really, but my amateurish description of the light is that it appears to be a non-orange peel reflector with a nicely centered LED. The beam is okay, with no holes, but it has some areas that appear a little darker or more solid than others. The beam is not as "floody" as my 4Sevens CR2, Mini 123, or Fenix P1D. The hotspot is slightly irregular meaning not perfectly round, but not much different in shape than the other lights mentioned. Light is a nice white color. In the daylight it appears more natural than the S2 Mini123, and a little whiter than the R5 CR2. I think the Q5 on the P1D is ever so slightly bluer. The E15 reminds me of a fat and short E01 with the same type of male threaded head, but in brass. I would rather it have an old-fashioned spring in the battery case, but it appears to have some strange looking "leaf"springs in there. I don't know if it's because of the fresh battery, but even though this light is rated at less lumens than the other lights I've mentioned above, the E15 appears to be at least as bright as the others in even some of the higher 180 lumen settings. The lens makes it somewhat hard to see the LED as it kinda distorts what you are seeing. I'll get around to some pictures maybe tomorrow if anyone is interested, but for now I think this light will replace my others as my primary EDC. I like the first twist 75lumen, followed by the long lasting (30hrs) 10lumen setting. I have a hard time telling the 75 and 140 lumens apart from the 180+ lumens of the other lights. Cosmetically, one thing that I don't like is that the Fenix logo on this light is not nicely done. It is dark, and the F has a darker line (looks like a scratch) going through it. Not nearly as nicely labeled as my other Fenix lights, but maybe that is just my example. There is also a dark, faint (hard to read) hot symbol up near the lens. Otherwise, at first glance, I would say this is a good EDC pocket light.

Sounds Perfect to me!!! It probably just looks brighter due to the focused beam of the TIR. Is there still some nice flood as Fenix was saying in their advertisements?

dmattaponi · Jul 20, 2011

Had some time to compare the new Fenix E15, with my Qmini123 S2, and Fenix P1D Q5 tonight. I like the E15 the best. Across my 39ft living room in complete darkness, the E15 appears as bright or brighter than the others at their highest setting. All three lights have fresh batteries, although the two others have been used for a minute or two, here and there. The E15 has a brand new battery. All batteries are 4Sevens brand. Both the mini123 and P1D have a more distinct corona around the central beam at least up close, but at a distance there isn't much difference between them. The E15 beam is more evenly distributed without the distinct corona. There is something different about the beam of the E15, but I can't really put it into words, maybe a little "fuzzy" compared to the other two when shined on a white ceiling from a few feet, but no artifacts. After using it in the house, I took it out into the backyard, and the 3 lights were all were able to illuminate the fence on the border of the yard. None appeared to be noticeably brighter, and throw was about the same between the 3. I'm surprised at how comparable the E15 is with the other two considering it has lower lumens, and a smaller reflector.

All in all I really like it, and I think it will be my regular EDC. I like the UI of the Fenix lights (med, low, high) better than the 4Sevens (low, med, high). I don't use a light much for general walkabouts in low light. I like having a light for night time walks if I need it, but generally only pull it out if I wamt to see something at a little distance, so the Fenix UI is more suitable for my use. I like that the E15 has decent throw (I would consider it more throw than a flood). Also nice natural color to the light (especially compared to the S2), and no mode skipping like the m123. Small size, good battery life (according to the manufacturer). E15 looks like a perfectly good single battery 123 EDC light IMO, and I'm looking forward to reading a real review from someone who knows what they're doing, on the Fenix E15..

parnass · Jul 20, 2011

Thanks for the comments, dmattaponi. How hot does the light get during periods of prolonged use on MEDIUM?

dmattaponi · Jul 21, 2011

Haven't run it other than to try it out, but I just timed it at 10 min on the medium setting, and it's just barely warm to the touch.

parnass · Jul 21, 2011

dmattaponi said:
Haven't run it other than to try it out, but I just timed it at 10 min on the medium setting, and it's just barely warm to the touch.

Thanks for conducting the test. The result is encouraging. I prefer lights which remain cool or slightly warm to the touch during prolonged periods of use.

calipsoii · Jul 21, 2011

enomosiki said:
What I'm more concerned about is whether or not if E15 is driven using CC or PWM. I'd suspect that it's PWM considering its small size, but if Fenix somehow managed to get it CC than I'd grab it in a heartbeat. Until I find out, however, I refuse to open my wallet.

Why the hatred for PWM? Properly used, PWM is unnoticeable and prevents tint shift. I'd rather have a proper PWM light than a CC light any day of the week - when I pay for a light to have a white beam, I expect that it'll still have a white beam on Lo. Not green/purple/orange/whatever tint the LED decides to shift to when it's starved of current.

derfyled · Aug 4, 2011

enomosiki said:
AFAIK, it's the first time that Fenix put TIR in any of their lights, so you have to cut them some slack.

The E05 and the E11 are using TIR

enomosiki · Aug 5, 2011

calipsoii said:
Why the hatred for PWM? Properly used, PWM is unnoticeable and prevents tint shift. I'd rather have a proper PWM light than a CC light any day of the week - when I pay for a light to have a white beam, I expect that it'll still have a white beam on Lo. Not green/purple/orange/whatever tint the LED decides to shift to when it's starved of current.

Because CC is more efficient than PWM, and tint shift is minimal enough to be unnoticeable or nonexistent. I've went through plenty of CC lights with low modes, and I have yet to come across beam that changed its color to green/purple/orange. Even my Quark AA Tactical with XP-G S2 (a bin that's plagued with tint issues) and Scorpion V2, both running on CC, don't suffer from this problem when they are on moonlight.

derfyled said:
The E05 and the E11 are using TIR

E05 uses a diffuser. E11 came out after E15.

derfyled · Aug 5, 2011

enomosiki said:
E05 uses a diffuser. E11 came out after E15.

You're right about the E11, my bad. But the E05 uses an optic, it's just that the end of it has a diamond shape pattern that diffuse the light but it's still an optic. There is a picture in the E05 page that shows it. But, I'm unsure if we can call that a TIR optic...

van Christie · Sep 5, 2011

Anyone tested this light with a RCR123A? Or not compatible?

Received my new Fenix E15 today

dmattaponi

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regulator

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dmattaponi

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enomosiki

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StandardBattery

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dmattaponi

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parnass

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dmattaponi

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parnass

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calipsoii

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enomosiki

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