Fenix Pd 35 vs Nitecore P12

Who has compared both the Fenix PD 35 and Nitecore P12 -- they look like clones.

I had both. I gave the P12 to my son-in-law as I prefer the PD35. They are very similar. The P12 has a moonlight mode and I'm not a moonlight guy. My son-in-law is. The P12 has a slightly smaller hot spot and thus would travel further. We had them out this past week on a camping trip outdoors and couldn't tell which one was brighter. Shining out into the forest, they looked the same. The P12 has to have a button top 18650 battery as per their reverse battery insertion protection. The PD35 has springs on both ends. I prefer that as most of my batteries are the flat top unprotected Panasonic NCR18650B's.

Thanks!

I just got the new PD 35 and can't decide whether to keep it.
It's well-designed, priced right, and easy to operate.

I just don't like the CW tint.

How did you like the T6 neutral tint on the P12?

hatman said:

Thanks!

I just got the new PD 35 and can't decide whether to keep it.
It's well-designed, priced right, and easy to operate.

I just don't like the CW tint.

How did you like the T6 neutral tint on the P12?

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My P12 was just CW like the PD35. The tints were almost identical. I can understand a tint issue. I've had lights that were too cool (bluish). My PD35 is OK.......not neutral but at least bearable by my standards.

The P12 has a moonlight mode, a low battery/voltage indicator, and a strobe memory. I prefer it over the PD35.

hatman said:

Thanks!

I just got the new PD 35 and can't decide whether to keep it.
It's well-designed, priced right, and easy to operate.

I just don't like the CW tint.

How did you like the T6 neutral tint on the P12?

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If you choose to keep your PD35, you could send it to Vihn and have any tint you wanted!

Joeymt3 said:

If you choose to keep your PD35, you could send it to Vihn and have any tint you wanted!

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Thanks. I have two issues with that.

I'm on his list and have started to order several times. What always stops me is that I'm not sure I fully understand his offerings. (And I've never found the secret decoder ring that explains them.)

Also -- what I like most about the PD 35 is the price.

That said, I suspect I'll like the pricier SC 62w even more as it seems to have the right tint coupled with the right size.

Have you emailed him? I just email him and tell him what I want and he tells me the price to send via paypal or check.

I've sent him lights and had him change the LED and not do anything else. It's very affordable. I can't remember the price but it was cheap just to swap an LED.

I sent him a PD32 for a LED swap, dedome, and boost and I paid $55 for those three services and that price covered shipping back to me.

I too was a little concerned about my first purchase with vinh. After the first couple purchases, I've learned to trust him and learned that he is a great guy to work with. I think that's why he now mods lights full time. He's got a huge following and stays very busy. He stands behind his work as well.

I understand the price difference though. It's not for everyone's budget. It also will also change your mind on how you buy lights. I haven't bought an unmodded light since my first

Thanks, Joey.

I emailed him a list of lights I wanted modded and he said he didn't work on any of them.

Since he was selling some of those same models, I didn't understand his response.

Interesting to hear someone other than myself with questions about Vinh's variability. Don't get me wrong. The dedomed dropins he sold me are very, very good throwers, with a decent tint. The SL1 is an amazing thrower. Just wondering if he is changing because he is so busy. He has made it clear to me that he does not care if I am a customer or not. CPF member Nitroz has done some really good work for me, with another on its way back right now. He also has my NiteCore TM26. We'll see if he can do something with it.

The tint on my P12 is on the cool side of neutral. Inside of the house with white walls it is OK. My wife likes to use it for reading while camping out, but the tint is not ideal for the forest, my opinion. I removed the brittle plastic ring inside the P12 so I could use flattop batteries, no big problem.


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Joeymt3 said:

I sent him a PD32 for a LED swap, dedome, and boost and I paid $55 for those three services and that price covered shipping back to me.

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Is that what you would recommend for someone who already owns a PD 35?

hatman said:

Is that what you would recommend for someone who already owns a PD 35?

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I would recommend a P12.

hatman said:

Is that what you would recommend for someone who already owns a PD 35?

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I would recommend that to you.

You can tell your modder what tint you want and dedome or not and tell him to give it a current boost. Lots of options.

Yes vinh will accept your light for mods.

Joeymt3 said:

I sent him a PD32 for a LED swap, dedome, and boost and I paid $55 for those three services and that price covered shipping back to me.

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He quoted me a price of $75 for those mods on my PD 35.

IMHO the P12 has well spaced brightness levels (I find the 450lm level on the pd35 meaningless but that's just me), three strobes and the ability to tail stand, and a built-in voltage indicator..all these things give P12 an edge over the PD35, provided they are of the same quality. However as a P12 owner I started to question its quality(or design) when I accidently dropped it and it was killed by the ~.8m drop. During my search I found that a number of the P12 owners had the same issue, and one of them(CPFer) suspected weak circuit board design.
So in general, the P12 comes with better features and the PD35 is probably better constructed and/or designed.
Please correct me if I'm wrong

TCY said:

IMHO the P12 has well spaced brightness levels (I find the 450lm level on the pd35 meaningless but that's just me), three strobes and the ability to tail stand, and a built-in voltage indicator..all these things give P12 an edge over the PD35, provided they are of the same quality. However as a P12 owner I started to question its quality(or design) when I accidently dropped it and it was killed by the ~.8m drop. During my search I found that a number of the P12 owners had the same issue, and one of them(CPFer) suspected weak circuit board design.
So in general, the P12 comes with better features and the PD35 is probably better constructed and/or designed.
Please correct me if I'm wrong

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Thanks for posting this, at least to keep me at bay before getting the P12. Will wait for others to chime in.

I made a thread about my P12 going through the washing machine with the tail-cap slightly unscrewed and it survived with no issues.

Followup -- I bought the PD 35 and like everything about it except the tint.

It's garish and I pretty much hate it. For the past year, I've been buying only neutral or high CRI lights and now I remember why.

If you're not picky about tint, highly recommended. If you are, run away......

hatman said:

Followup -- I bought the PD 35 and like everything about it except the tint.

It's garish and I pretty much hate it. For the past year, I've been buying only neutral or high CRI lights and now I remember why.

If you're not picky about tint, highly recommended. If you are, run away......

Click to expand...

It can vary from light to light.....even among the same model. If you like it you may have to purchase another and then sell the one you don't like. I once got a SWM V11R. I like it a lot but it was the most bluish of any light I've ever had. Months later, I got another for a good price which is what enticed me to buy it and it was better than the first one so I then sold the one I didn't like. I tried to get a neutral in V11R but they were getting hard to find.

The color that I despise the most is greenish. Only had a few like that though (Nitecore HL-50, Olight S65 & Fenix PD32 XP-G2). I did manage to change out the LED on my Fenix PD32 to an XP-G2 to a tint I really like but it was a pain in the butt to get the head off.