Klarus MiX6 vs Fenix LD01

EDIT: The Klarus MiX6 is apparently a design created by Foursevens and stolen by Klarus. I'll remove this edit if I can get better information about what really happened, and it turns out that Klarus did no such underhanded thing, but until then, I assume Klarus stole the Preon Revo design. I can't support anyone buying a stolen design. My original review follows...

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The Fenix LD01 (the black flashlight) is a fantastic single AAA LED flashlight. Some consider the R4 version the best available AAA flashlight at any price. The Klarus MiX6 (the gold flashlight), in comparison, has been panned by some reviewers. I own both. Of the two, the Klarus MiX6 is the one I carry.



I had the Fenix first, and was quite attached to it, so when the Klarus arrived, I was skeptical. However, after carrying the Klarus for a few days, I was shocked at how large the Fenix seemed when I picked it up. The Fenix LD01 is a tank.




One reviewer said the Klarus didn't feel smaller because it's nearly as long as the Fenix. I suspect this reviewer did not carry the Klarus for long, and made that decision without gettin a feel for it. Not only is it 4.4mm shorter, but you don't feel the tail lanyard while holding it, making it feel more like 8mm shorter. More importantly, it's 2.4mm narrower. The shocking part about picking up the Fenix after carrying the Klarus is how wide the Fenix feels. Here's a closer look at the tails. The Fenix does tail standing well, but it feels as long as the lanyard portion.



Much has been said about the superior beam of the Fenix. Granted, it's a tad bit nicer. It's slightly brighter, and lasts slightly longer. However, both are current and temperature controlled, and the difference in performance is sight.



The Fenix has a wider, deeper reflector. The reflector on the Klarus is about as wide as a Maglite Solitaire. That larger reflector is nice, but comes at the cost of increased size.



The Fenix is so much wider, the Klarus can fit inside it.



The Klarus is beautiful. It feels better in my hand. It functions nearly as well. There is no question that the Klarus is the one I will carry, so long as it doesn't break!

Here's the nasty part about the Klarus:



Actually, that's an Eastern Hognose snake I found in my driveway. It flattens it's head when scared.

When dropped, the Klarus flattens it's tail spring... permanently. I'll do this mod if/when I flatten the tail spring. That's a very unfortunate downside to this light, and the main reason people seem to dislike it. The other complaints I find mostly unwarranted. There's nothing wrong with male threads on the head. I prefer it to the Fenix female threads. The Klarus is not be a "battery crusher", at least until I make the mod. Feel free to crank down the head hard. That's what the faulty tail spring is for: to let you crank all the way down without crushing the battery. The head is not likely to fall off and get lost as suggested in one review.

All in all, the physical design of the Klarus is far superior to the Fenix. That makes it a joy to carry. It's beautiful by comparison and feels better in my hand. These issues matter. Why no one seems to get a AAA completely right is beyond me. Here are the two things that need to be done to make both the Klarus and the Fenix great lights:

- Allow 10440 LiON rechargable batteries to be used, which would double runtime, and increase brightness.
- Turn off when the head is tightened, and as I unscrew it, start dim and get brighter. Don't make me fiddle with modes by screwing back and forth.

All in all, both are great lights. If Fenix did a Klarus stainless knock-off, with these two improvements, they'd own the AAA flashlight market, at least the high-end. Until then, the Klarus will be my main EDC light.

Nice comparison. I have both lights, but the Klarus gold one serves as a shelf queen - it's a little too slippy for my liking. And what's with the strobe on a light that size?
Some folk do use 10440 cells with the LD01, but it's certainly not recommended with the Klarus.

Dubois said:

Nice comparison. I have both lights, but the Klarus gold one serves as a shelf queen - it's a little too slippy for my liking. And what's with the strobe on a light that size?
Some folk do use 10440 cells with the LD01, but it's certainly not recommended with the Klarus.

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Interesting. I agree it's surface is smooth. I haven't had any issues with dropping it, but I do fear breaking it when I do, because of the design flaw with the tail spring. I can go either way with the strobe. It's only useful to please the kids. The way these lights should work is turning off when the head is screwed down tight, and turning on and becoming brighter as I unscrew it. This switching modes through repeatedly screwing and unscrewing the head is a hack inherited from tail switch lights.

The LD01, from what I've read, doesn't work quite right with the 10440s. The medium and low light levels get messed up, so it's really only for fun. They should be able to output somewhere around 200 lumens with the 10440. With variable brightness selected by unscrewing the head, the modes would go away.

I gave away my Fenix LD01 to a friend's kid today. He's somewhat scared of the dark, and I'm hoping this little light will help. It's was nice carrying the Fenix LD01, and I love my Fenix PD-32 as a general duty light. However, the Klarus seems to be in a class of it's own when it comes to size and styling. Maybe Foursevens can come out with a better light.

Thanks for the comparison :thumbsup:
Yes,the strobe is not very needed for such a small flashlight,but this small thing looks awesome-especially the gold version.

waywardgeek said:

the Klarus seems to be in a class of it's own when it comes to size and styling.

Click to expand...

It is a nice light, and the beam is very good too. Mind you, I was really disappointed when I first got mine, turned it on, and thought, "that's not very bright" . Changed mode, which was even dimmer. Left it for a day, and then realised it also had a high mode (and strobe). Reading instructions never was my forte

I agree to about everything waywardgeek wrote above! :thumbsup:

The design of the Klarus is about the nicest around, some might miss something to hold on though, as the whole light is smooth all around. That's why it's so nice to the touch however and the roundness makes it nice to EDC. The inspiration for the MiX6 may have come from the Sapphire (or Arc Titanium)...

As nothing can ever be perfect, Klarus added that f***ing strobe, which can't be avoided when switching the modes. I hate strobe on each and every light which is not a tactical light, but especially on small AAAs it's a real no-go. If I rated the MiX6 5 stars for design, function and beam, the strobe would tear it down to 3 stars only! :green:

I've started an AAA collection a while ago now and know about each available light by now. The LD01 is a very old design which still works, the light is tough, bright and has a superior beam. It's about the largest AAA by now, that's the downside, the stainless version is quite heavy.

There's one light which may beat both the LD01 and the MiX6 - the Bronte RA01. That one is sized between the Fenix and the Klarus, it's a tad brighter, good beam, no blink mode. The downside is the much to stiff spring in the Bronte, it has to be shortened for smooth operation, Bronte offers a smaller spring by now. The Olight i3 may be another opponent here, it has a clip for those who think that's needed on an AAA light. Last, but not least, there are the Nitecore T2s and T5s which are also of the same kind of light, but they sport another silly blink mode. We also could add the 4Sevens Preon1 to the list, the Rofis ER12, the Dereelight DA3, the Titanium Innovations IlluminaTi and perhaps some others, there's quite some choice in that class! :thinking:

To finish with the LD01 and the MiX6, I have to point out that you get the Fenix in both anodized black aluminium and in stainless steel (R5), while the MiX6 is available in stainless steel, gold (stainless steel with gold coating) and titanium. My personal choice for EDC would always be stainless steel, while the golden one is highly nice as long as it's mint and the titanium is the least heavy one...

I looked a bit more at how the Klarus is constructed. The rubber ring glued to the head seems to be designed to save the light from damage when the battery is inserted backwards. It has nothing to do with the operation of the light. Also, this light is not a battery crusher. The tail spring is not crushed flat when the head is screwed down tight. The weak link in this light seems to be the poorly designed tail spring. Fix that, and it's a winner.

The way this light should work is to detect when the head is fully screwed down, and then increase the brightness as the head is unscrewed. A traditional spring would force the battery to make contact while unscrewing the head, and the on/off and brightness could be controlled electronically.

So do an LD01 SS and call it a day? Stainless steel, (feels like) bulletproof, tail standing, can do 10440 with care...

Ualnosaj said:

So do an LD01 SS and call it a day? Stainless steel, (feels like) bulletproof, tail standing, can do 10440 with care...

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Thanks for the suggestion, but no... the LD01 is a tank to start with, and the stainless steal version is a pocket crusher, just from the weight. I want a small, beautiful, and functional light... form AND function. The LD01 has most of the function, other than this hack of having to turn the head back and forth to select a mode, being too big, and somewhat broken support for the 10440 battery. I gave away my aluminum LD01 and don't miss it so far. The SS version, designed for aluminum, yet implemented in stainless steal, sounds worse than the aluminum version.

That said, the LD01 is a fantastic light. However, there's ample room for improvement.

Wow.. i could never imagine trading my awesome LD01 for a blingtastic light like that.

As it is, the LD01 has a better beam, lasts longer, is able to tailstand, includes a pocket clip... I guess if i wanted fake gold plating, a light that is harder to hold, and has less functionality, i would buy the other crappy one...

waywardgeek said:

That said, the LD01 is a fantastic light. However, there's ample room for improvement.

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When will we see the debut of your next project? I'm sure the lights you build will address these flaws, yes?

Crud... if you accidentally post twice, can you delete the duplicate?

Divine_Madcat said:

Wow.. i could never imagine trading my awesome LD01 for a blingtastic light like that.

As it is, the LD01 has a better beam, lasts longer, is able to tailstand, includes a pocket clip... I guess if i wanted fake gold plating, a light that is harder to hold, and has less functionality, i would buy the other crappy one...

Click to expand...

Great response! Steve Jobs understood people. If you ask them, "Do you want better functionality and lower price, or would your rather pay more for glitz?" Steve knew that people would say they wanted functionality and lower price, not beauty and status. He also knew that in reality people are stupid and vain, and will put out lots of cash for a pretty, less functional device. He built an empire on that knowledge.

I am in fact both stupid and vain, at least when it comes to the few things I adopt as part of who I am, and carry everywhere. I paid $56 for a gold plated AAA flashlight because it's small, feels better in my hand, and is more pleasing to my eye. My $26 previous one did in fact work better as a flashlight. I simply did not like it as much, mainly for the ascetics.

Like Jobs, there are few things I own and care about. It's hard for me to adopt stuff, unless I can really love it. I wouldn't be looking at carrying a flashlight, except I'm losing central vision due to Stargardt's Disease. I need a light now days just to see what's in the pantry. The Fenix LD01 is a well designed and built light, but I don't want it. It does not call to me. The Klarus is like a beautiful girl with a fatal flaw: no brains. I want to lover her, but she's slightly broken. Still, I need a damned light, and she's the best date I've got for now.

egrep said:

When will we see the debut of your next project? I'm sure the lights you build will address these flaws, yes?

Click to expand...

I'm tempted! I can do the electronics, but I'm pretty useless when it comes to the mechanical stuff. I work for a mixed signal ASIC company, and I often wish I could do some of my own chips. In this case, I'd love to design one that regulates current flow with a buck/boost converter, senses head rotation, deals with the battery intelligently, and maybe even communicates with a recharging base. I might even want to have the the thing user-configurable over the USB charging cable, so you could muck with settings that control how the light works. Oh well... I'm not really going to do anything but ***** and complain that no one else is doing it!

waywardgeek said:

Oh well... I'm not really going to do anything but ***** and complain that no one else is doing it!

Click to expand...

Which isn't really being too productive. - Norm

Now that I've carried the Klarus MiX6 for about 9 months, all I have to say is it rocks! Damn... I should get paid for a product statement like that. I've dropped it on concrete several times, yet there's not a scratch on it. It looks new. I've not bent the tail spring like I was afraid I would. Either they've enhanced the tail spring or I've been very lucky. I use it several times a day as my vision in low light is basically zero. My favorite part is no one thinks that I'm a big geek for pulling out a gold plated flashlight, even though everyone knows I'm a huge geek. The one downside to this fantastic light is that sometimes I have to cycle through the modes more than once, because it skips modes sometimes. I'm going to order a second one just in case I lose this one. I do have a problem that the flashlight sometimes slips out of my pocket. I don't know if being mostly smooth makes that worse, but I have lost it in the folds of my couch a few times. The LED is still the best made.

I've carried my Klarus MiX6 for over four years now. It still looks new, and I use it multiple times a day. I've dropped it on concrete several times, with no visible damage. I figured someone would come out with a better light for my use case by now, but I can't find one. The gold looks awesome, but Klarus stopped selling them, and only sells the titanium now.

It saved my bacon once again, just last week. My central vision is fading (a macular dystrophy thing), which is why I need the light every day. I ride my bike to the bus to get to work, and I need my bike like to get home in the dark. I charged my bike lights overnight but forgot to put them back in my backpack, so I had to ride home in the dark, in the rain, in crazy traffic with scary drivers north of San Francisco. I held the light between two fingers while riding the 2 miles uphill, and got home safely.

I know light preference is a matter of opinion, but I know of no pocket light that compares. It's smaller than Chap Stick, tough as a tank, and pretty as a gold watch. It's low light is just right for reading menus, the medium light is great for navigating outside in the dark, and the high mode is great when trying to find the cats when they escape at night (we try to keep them in at night because of coyotes). I'm sad this model is no longer made, and that a better light has not been offered. One day I'll lose this light, or maybe it will finally break, and that will be a sad day.

I've been carrying my titanium Klarus MiX6 daily for more than five years. I wear it on titanium chain around my neck, attached with a mini-clip (along with a ti Inka pen and a ti pill vial with my meds) . Probably my most carried and most used light out of the dozens I have. It is absolutely perfect for what I need in an EDC light. I've since bought brighter AAA lights, and ones with longer runtimes, but I'll keep carrying the little Klarus until it dies on me. Might pick up another one just to have a spare while they're still available.