narmattaru
Enlightened
Review example was provided by manufacturer.
CL25R was my 1st branded flashlight. And after a couple of years I can say that i`ve collected all the models from CL line. After CL30R, Gulliver in word of camping lights, Fenix focused on an opposite size and made a small 16340 powered flashlight .
Specification from Fenix website
APPEARANCE
The same plastic box that we used to see. My one successfully survived travel from China to Russia, which not all the packages does.
On the rear side i`ve noticed a detail, unseen before, but long time expected. Guys, Fenix gave us here runtime chart! With stepdowns and all the stuff that we search for in reviews. Well, I`d honestly like to say 谢谢 for doing this. That is so much better than what we used to see, specifications like "1.5hours in turbo" with real 1.5min of turbo and then 2 hour of 60% brightness. Of course i`ll check it.
Package is simple and includes:
16340 battery with (!) intergrated micro-USB charging port!
a couple of 0-rings
small metal rings for keys
manual\warraty card
Appearance of CL09 is simple. That is solid cylinder, black bottom and semitransparent plastic white top. BTW, this one seems to be as thick as others from 20\25\30. I also have nitecore camp light, which reflector didn`t survived falling from table and cracked. I`ve red that someone from Russian flashlight forum also faced this. CL09 fell like 5 times, even on concrete – nothing happened.
SN, model name – everything as usually.
CL09 is quite small, just a little bit longer than 18650 battery.
But if you looking for something bigger and brighter, CL line has a lot of options.
There is a small buckle at tail to hang CL09. And you can use magnet as well. Very useful.
Spring is only at tail. Head part have regular contact plate. That is not that good when we talk about full-size lights, but or this one that`s no problem at all. I don`t see any advantages of placing spring at head here, that`ll lead only to extra 4-5mm length.
Threads are small and triangle, well lubricated
16340 battery definitely deserves to be mentioned. Usually batteries included in package are not of highest capacity and i`d better buy package without batteries to save money and have a choice for my favorite batteries. But this one is a good part of package. Why? Because Fenix managed to shove micro-USB charging port in such a small battery. So if you have only one battery , there is no need to carry charger with you. You take powerbank with you and charge this battery wherever you want. There is red-blue charge indicator.
I measured 0.34A charging currency, it took little less than 2 hours to fully charge it. Though Fenix states 700mah, I measured capacity 3-4 times and all the results were about 650mah. Well, that is also decent capacity.
That is all about appearance.
Well built, solid stuff flashlight. Diffusor dome is really tightly connected with metal body, so there is no way to take it off without breaking small pegs that position dome correctly.
UI
Simplest. Just twist head and modes will cycle. The same UI that is used at keyilghts.
Modes always start with LOW. Then goe MID-HIGH-TURBO-RED-RED FLASH-GREEN.
Nothing to add. Simple and working
Btw, in deep discharge you can only enter low mode, but that is expected.
That`s all, folks )
CL09 PERFORMANCE
The best way to use CL09 is to hang it. If you tailstand it, a lot of light will go upward and be wasted. Of course in tent that may be not that bad, as light will reflect from walls.
Tint is more CW than NW, something intermediate. I think that is because of white plastic dome that cuts warm light frequencies.
I haven`t noticed any trace of visible PWM-shimmering at any mode.
And now is my subjective opinion about modes.
LOW – very dim, may serve as nightlight (thought i had to point at at the wall, or it still was too bright for eyes adapted to darkness). Something like 0.5 lum would be perfect for nightlight mode. But still that was enough for me to walk in attick without hitting my head.
MID – in small tent (for 2 persons) brightness will be enough to play cards.
HIGH – at 1-1.5 meter distance you can easily read, this mode is ok even for room like my kithchen which is 3×4 meter. Of course I mean that your eyes have already adapt to darkness.
TURBO – too bright for small tent. That is ok for room.
Red -green – are quite bright for night light. I often use red light, but I have no idea about usefulness of green mode here in camping light.
"Red flashes" mode is perfect for road safety, when ride bicycle.
Btw, I placed luxmeter about 1.5meters under kitchen cell light and here is what I measured
Cell light (3 х 60wt lamps) 65lux
CL09 0-2.9-7.4-20.4
CL25R 0-2.9-9.3-16
C30R 0-2.1-4.4-18-34
CL20 is not mentioned as I cannot balance it properly. You can see what I mean below on GIF. Hope they are good enough to explain what you can expect from CL09.
Also, I have to notice that 25\30R have a kinda of dark spot under them so if I had placed luxmeter at the sides it would shown more numbers.
And here is my runtime chart.
There is almost half an hour of good brightness in turbo. Stepdown from hight is kinda stairway-like. Not that smooth, but, well – that each of these drops are soo small that eye will not notice it in reality. And it seems that there is a discharge protection in battery, as lowest voltage that I `ve measured was 2 ,68v for the included one, and about 1.9 for regular Soshine.
I also want to point that this lead to extended runtime, but it also deeply drawns battery which is definitely not good for it.
Well, as you can see, Fenix promised us 3hours of runtime in turbo and we got it, which is undoubtly rare matching of real and promided specs -)
But that is only for Soshine battery. I think that there is something with my included one, i was told that guys in Fenix`ll run addittional tests. Please take a look at the video. I had no chance to practice my English in last decade, so pardon me for bad pronunciation. there are also some videos with rest of CL models
OVERALL.
An interesting thing. I like it and find it functional for it`s size. And my experience with the rest of CL line let me assume that you can rely on CL09. It will not breake and will provide you with a good light, taking almost no space in pocket or backpack. If you also have 1-2 spare batteries or powerbank – that may provide you with light for a long time. Placing usb-charging port in such a small battery is a good idea.
CL25R was my 1st branded flashlight. And after a couple of years I can say that i`ve collected all the models from CL line. After CL30R, Gulliver in word of camping lights, Fenix focused on an opposite size and made a small 16340 powered flashlight .
Specification from Fenix website
APPEARANCE
The same plastic box that we used to see. My one successfully survived travel from China to Russia, which not all the packages does.
On the rear side i`ve noticed a detail, unseen before, but long time expected. Guys, Fenix gave us here runtime chart! With stepdowns and all the stuff that we search for in reviews. Well, I`d honestly like to say 谢谢 for doing this. That is so much better than what we used to see, specifications like "1.5hours in turbo" with real 1.5min of turbo and then 2 hour of 60% brightness. Of course i`ll check it.
Package is simple and includes:
16340 battery with (!) intergrated micro-USB charging port!
a couple of 0-rings
small metal rings for keys
manual\warraty card
Appearance of CL09 is simple. That is solid cylinder, black bottom and semitransparent plastic white top. BTW, this one seems to be as thick as others from 20\25\30. I also have nitecore camp light, which reflector didn`t survived falling from table and cracked. I`ve red that someone from Russian flashlight forum also faced this. CL09 fell like 5 times, even on concrete – nothing happened.
SN, model name – everything as usually.
CL09 is quite small, just a little bit longer than 18650 battery.
But if you looking for something bigger and brighter, CL line has a lot of options.
There is a small buckle at tail to hang CL09. And you can use magnet as well. Very useful.
Spring is only at tail. Head part have regular contact plate. That is not that good when we talk about full-size lights, but or this one that`s no problem at all. I don`t see any advantages of placing spring at head here, that`ll lead only to extra 4-5mm length.
Threads are small and triangle, well lubricated
16340 battery definitely deserves to be mentioned. Usually batteries included in package are not of highest capacity and i`d better buy package without batteries to save money and have a choice for my favorite batteries. But this one is a good part of package. Why? Because Fenix managed to shove micro-USB charging port in such a small battery. So if you have only one battery , there is no need to carry charger with you. You take powerbank with you and charge this battery wherever you want. There is red-blue charge indicator.
I measured 0.34A charging currency, it took little less than 2 hours to fully charge it. Though Fenix states 700mah, I measured capacity 3-4 times and all the results were about 650mah. Well, that is also decent capacity.
That is all about appearance.
Well built, solid stuff flashlight. Diffusor dome is really tightly connected with metal body, so there is no way to take it off without breaking small pegs that position dome correctly.
UI
Simplest. Just twist head and modes will cycle. The same UI that is used at keyilghts.
Modes always start with LOW. Then goe MID-HIGH-TURBO-RED-RED FLASH-GREEN.
Nothing to add. Simple and working
Btw, in deep discharge you can only enter low mode, but that is expected.
That`s all, folks )
CL09 PERFORMANCE
The best way to use CL09 is to hang it. If you tailstand it, a lot of light will go upward and be wasted. Of course in tent that may be not that bad, as light will reflect from walls.
Tint is more CW than NW, something intermediate. I think that is because of white plastic dome that cuts warm light frequencies.
I haven`t noticed any trace of visible PWM-shimmering at any mode.
And now is my subjective opinion about modes.
LOW – very dim, may serve as nightlight (thought i had to point at at the wall, or it still was too bright for eyes adapted to darkness). Something like 0.5 lum would be perfect for nightlight mode. But still that was enough for me to walk in attick without hitting my head.
MID – in small tent (for 2 persons) brightness will be enough to play cards.
HIGH – at 1-1.5 meter distance you can easily read, this mode is ok even for room like my kithchen which is 3×4 meter. Of course I mean that your eyes have already adapt to darkness.
TURBO – too bright for small tent. That is ok for room.
Red -green – are quite bright for night light. I often use red light, but I have no idea about usefulness of green mode here in camping light.
"Red flashes" mode is perfect for road safety, when ride bicycle.
Btw, I placed luxmeter about 1.5meters under kitchen cell light and here is what I measured
Cell light (3 х 60wt lamps) 65lux
CL09 0-2.9-7.4-20.4
CL25R 0-2.9-9.3-16
C30R 0-2.1-4.4-18-34
CL20 is not mentioned as I cannot balance it properly. You can see what I mean below on GIF. Hope they are good enough to explain what you can expect from CL09.
Also, I have to notice that 25\30R have a kinda of dark spot under them so if I had placed luxmeter at the sides it would shown more numbers.
And here is my runtime chart.
There is almost half an hour of good brightness in turbo. Stepdown from hight is kinda stairway-like. Not that smooth, but, well – that each of these drops are soo small that eye will not notice it in reality. And it seems that there is a discharge protection in battery, as lowest voltage that I `ve measured was 2 ,68v for the included one, and about 1.9 for regular Soshine.
I also want to point that this lead to extended runtime, but it also deeply drawns battery which is definitely not good for it.
Well, as you can see, Fenix promised us 3hours of runtime in turbo and we got it, which is undoubtly rare matching of real and promided specs -)
But that is only for Soshine battery. I think that there is something with my included one, i was told that guys in Fenix`ll run addittional tests. Please take a look at the video. I had no chance to practice my English in last decade, so pardon me for bad pronunciation. there are also some videos with rest of CL models
OVERALL.
An interesting thing. I like it and find it functional for it`s size. And my experience with the rest of CL line let me assume that you can rely on CL09. It will not breake and will provide you with a good light, taking almost no space in pocket or backpack. If you also have 1-2 spare batteries or powerbank – that may provide you with light for a long time. Placing usb-charging port in such a small battery is a good idea.
Last edited:
