Olight M3X and Fenix TK41 arrived. First impressions and test.

My newest toys got here today. Olight M3X and TK41 along with a Zebralight H51. I'm very impressed with all three so far. I will have to wait for dark to finish testing the M3X and TK41 but I did a burn time test on both lights and I'm pleasantly surprised at what I found from the M3X.

Olight claims that the light will burn for 1.2 hours on high mode. I put in some Redilast 2900 batteries that have been sitting for a couple of weeks since I charged them. I didn't check to see what the voltage was before I put them in the light but I hadn't used them since I charged them 2 weeks ago and they were at about 4.18 volts then. At 2 hours I was really not seeing any fall off in brightness and at 2 hours and 3 minutes, the light shut down. At first I was a little scared that the light died and I put 2 fresh batteries in and it lit back up. I put both batteries on the meter and one said 3.26 volts and the other said 0 volts. The circuit in the battery had shut down. I put it on a charger and reset the circuit and then rechecked the battery and it was at 3.16 volts.
I'm very happy with the extended burn time of over 2 hours when I was expecting only 1.2 hours.

The Finex TK41 was listed at 2 hours and 10 minutes on turbo mode. I put in 8 freshly charged Duracell 2450 mAH NiMh AA batteries in and turned it on. It started to dim at 1 hour and 50 minutes. A little less than I expected but still I'm happy with this burn time when considering the output of the light and that it uses easy to charge AA NiMh batteries.

Shining the beams from my office through the living room and kitchen onto the kitchen wall in the daylight hours, I'm very impressed with the light output of both of these lights. I am using my trusted Jetbeam BC40 as a comparison. Both the hot spots on the M3X and TK41 are similar to each other although the TK41 hot spot is a little larger and a little less defined. The TK41 has a somewhat whiter tint than the M3X and both are a little warmer than the very white tint on the Jetbeam BC40.

The Jetbeam is listed at 830 lumens with the TK41 listed at 800 and the M3X at 700 lumens. I'm sure the spill will be better on the Jetbeam but the M3X and the TK41 look much brighter.
As far as the lights heating up, the TK41 got a little hotter than the M3X but not enough to make me worry at all about harming the light. The M3X didn't get close to hot at all.

The little Zebralight H51 is a cute little thing and the headband is very comfortable to wear. I can tell that this light will be very useful. I do have to say that I had to play around with it for awhile to learn the UI which is a little confusing.

Tomorrow I will be receiving a Shiningbeam Blaze and a iTP H01 to test out along with a TITANIUM-CH-8800 eight bay charger and some Tenergy 2600mAh NiMh batteries.
This is fun.

hi. nice to hear your first impressions on the two throwers.hope you could post some long range outdoor shots soon.

Chidwack, I don't want to pick on you but the way you are using your 18650 cells is pretty dangerous. Never put two (or more)18650 cells into a light with a series battery configuration (like the M3X) without checking the voltage of the cells to make sure they match. If the voltage does not match the cells can explode making the light into a pipe bomb. Next, you are running your cells down way to far. 3.6V is about as low as you want to get the resting voltage. Do not rely on the protection circuits. The circuit kicked in on your one call as a last resort backup. 3.16V is way too low. You are causing damage to the cells and possibly your self when they explode.

I wanted to see how long the light would run on 2 batteries. I know I should have checked both batteries before I put them in the light but I didn't because I knew I charged them 2 weeks ago. I just got excited to try the new light. I was kind of waiting for the brightness to start to dim or for the light to drop to the lower mode at which time I would have shut the light off but I'm not sure I noticed any drop in output until the light went off. Kind of took me by surprise.

As far as posting some long range shots, I'm not good enough with the camera and uploading pictures to do that yet. I have been outside using the lights. Man, these things can throw. I was happy with my Jetbeam BC40 but these lights are a whole different world. I'm looking at trees and homes across the fields that I couldn't begin to light up with my BC40. Our friend who lives across the field on the next street over just called and wanted to know what the heck I was doing. She knew I got these lights in today and was just giving me a hard time. She said she looked outside and all the trees were lit up. I would guess she is about 225 yards away. Tomorrow I will go outside and use my range finder to scope out houses and trees and get an idea of how far they really are.

As far as the beams of the TK41 and the M3X. The TK41 gives off more overall light. More spill. The ceiling bounce is really good and this light will work great as an emergency light if the power goes off. The M3X does good also but just a little less than the TK41. I really didn't get a chance to check the limits of throw on these lights because I could light up anything I can see from my house. I would guess that there are things about 350 yards or more away which I had no problem making out what they are. At far distance objects, the M3X lights things up just slightly more than the TK41 but not by much. The TK41 has a little bit larger hot spot and a little more spill so more of the object is lit up with the TK41. It has more usable light.

I like the way the M3X feels in my hand better than the TK41. I like the extra modes better on the TK41. It has low, medium, high and turbo. High on the TK41 throws better than my Jetbeam BC40. Turbo blows the jetbeam away. I have decided to mount the Jetbeam BC40 on my AR15 as it's smaller and lighter than the M3X and it still gives me all the throw and brightness I will ever need on a weapon light.

One more thing. The strobe on the TK41 is sickening to look at. Makes me want to puke. I think it's more effective than any other strobe on my other lights.

Both the TK41 and M3X are keepers. If I were buying one of these two and I could only buy one, it would be the TK41. I love the fact that it uses AA NiMh batteries.

I couldn't wait so I took my rangefinder out tonight to check out distances. It's starting to snow so it cuts down on the throw of these lights. I scoped out a house down the road that I was lighting up at 310 yards. There is a big street light outside of that house and I could still see the light from the M3X. I'm not sure my old eyes are good enough to make things out that far away anyway. Both these lights have all the throw I will ever need.

i have recently held both m3x and tk41 lights though at different stores thats why i couldnt directly compare them. the m3x was white without any green tint while the tk41....well thats common knowledge
for a while now. nice to hear the tk41 has a more usefull light. nice to have a flashaholic giva comparison with light they both have on hand.

and yes i agree the tk41 is my hands up winner because of the use of common AA's and the multiple light levels.