I recently picked up a PD35 2014 for walking at night. This replaces a PD31 Limited Edition which I was very fond of, but I wanted something that had more lumen headroom for bad weather (e.g. fog), mode memory, simpler UI (no twisting the head for turbo), faster access to strobe, and dual battery springs (after having an 18650 damaged after a drop in the PD31).
The PD35 2014 meets all of these needs and maybe I was just lucky but my light also has one of the most neutral tints I've seen so far in the many lights I've owned. So I'm a happy camper, right?
Well, in my mind, these new lights have a flaw in the spec for the Low mode. In the PD31 the "mid" mode was 67 lumens. On the PD35 2014 the "low" mode is only 50 lumens (and on the regular PD35 only 45 lumens). This difference is made more dramatic in practice by the fact that the PD35 2014 has a much wider hotspot than the PD31, so you end up with a) less light b) spread across a larger area. The end result in real world usage is that I would be quite comfortable walking in the dark with the PD31 on a battery conserving mode, whereas on the PD35 2014 I'm constantly tempted to jump to the next higher mode (180 lumens). In my opinion, the "low" mode just isn't very good for seeing more than 6-8 feet in front of you, and while the PD31 wasn't exactly a torch on it's equivalent setting, it didn't fade at short distance as badly.
I don't know why Fenix chose the spec that they did. Personally I'd rather have a mode I can use than a 38 hour runtime - if I was really strapped for power the "Eco" mode is always there. They've dilluted the light output too much IMO.
Otherwise I do like the light a lot, but if another model comes out with a tighter spot and more lumens on the low it'll be an easy sell for me.
I do wish that Fenix would put out wider and narrower beam editions of their more popular models, or at least offered an adjustment lens attachment that tightened up the beam for those who want more throw or a brighter spot.
The PD35 2014 meets all of these needs and maybe I was just lucky but my light also has one of the most neutral tints I've seen so far in the many lights I've owned. So I'm a happy camper, right?
Well, in my mind, these new lights have a flaw in the spec for the Low mode. In the PD31 the "mid" mode was 67 lumens. On the PD35 2014 the "low" mode is only 50 lumens (and on the regular PD35 only 45 lumens). This difference is made more dramatic in practice by the fact that the PD35 2014 has a much wider hotspot than the PD31, so you end up with a) less light b) spread across a larger area. The end result in real world usage is that I would be quite comfortable walking in the dark with the PD31 on a battery conserving mode, whereas on the PD35 2014 I'm constantly tempted to jump to the next higher mode (180 lumens). In my opinion, the "low" mode just isn't very good for seeing more than 6-8 feet in front of you, and while the PD31 wasn't exactly a torch on it's equivalent setting, it didn't fade at short distance as badly.
I don't know why Fenix chose the spec that they did. Personally I'd rather have a mode I can use than a 38 hour runtime - if I was really strapped for power the "Eco" mode is always there. They've dilluted the light output too much IMO.
Otherwise I do like the light a lot, but if another model comes out with a tighter spot and more lumens on the low it'll be an easy sell for me.
I do wish that Fenix would put out wider and narrower beam editions of their more popular models, or at least offered an adjustment lens attachment that tightened up the beam for those who want more throw or a brighter spot.
