Fenix UC30 for walking / general purpose light?

In my investigation of finding a good night time walking light for times when I don't wear a headlight, the Fenix UC30 seems to check off a lot of ticks in what I'm looking for

- USB rechargeable
- cylinder in shape, appears comfortable to hold but can slip in a pocket
- battery low warning
- Levels providing good lighting vs decent runtime
- Price is not too horrible (seems to be $60 everywhere)

Having said that, for a walking light I would think you would want a bit of throw but a wide enough beam to amply light up what is right in front of you. Does the UC30 provide that?

Any alternatives I should consider? I see a lot of somewhat similar no name lights on Amazon that supposedly have good user reviews. I would say $60 is probably the most I want to spend.

Thanks for any input.

Hi , i am fans of fenix , i know well about fenix products, RC09 and UC30 are good for night time walking

I actually just ordered a Thrunite tc20 as a walking light. It's a bit bigger and heavier, but that means brighter and longer runtime. I figure that with a walking light the extra weight won't matter. It should have a good general use beam shame and is USB rechargeable.
Even with the 20% off coupon it's $10 more than your budget though.

geepondy said:

In my investigation of finding a good night time walking light

Click to expand...

May be late answer, but useful for someone.

I do have UC30 but the old model (square button). Older version is actually better than the current one since the current one is designed for the "Interet experts" more than for real life use (similar to E16). New UC30 has narrower beam (with longer reach). It is stil very usefull for close (in front of your legs - 5- 10 meters) but the old one is better in that regard (wider and richer light).

Dimension is perfect for any hand and can be held for hours without discomfort. We do carry it on a paracord and that helps bringing the switch always to the same position. Nobody ever complained about having a problem locating a switch which is very well made. And signals battery low very well. It never turned itself on by mistake (newer model needs to be locked out).

UC30 is not something anyone would like to carry around in the top (hips) pocket, but it can be temporarily stowed in the pocket well. It sits perfectly nice vertically in the cargo pocket.

As it has white LED you (and one more person on each side) can walk slowly on a nice path using the 10lm setting, and 100 lumens will let you run through heavy mud or over snow and ice in the woods. Turbo was also done better on the old model but not relevant.

Downside: rubber plug can compromise wateproof rating. So if wateproof is crucial...

We actually wanted to buy another RC30 last year but did not like newer version for the above reasons. We bought Fenix RC11 which is excellent, tad smaller, absolutelly wateproof, has the same excellent wide and rich beam but must be locked out before stowing. Its advantage is also its con: special cable is needed for charging (e.g. you might forget to take it with you when travelling). I repalced the cell with the one having inbuilt USB port, just in case. Plus, bought RC09 so now I have 2 cables.

Feniq quality is excellent. We have 10 years old Fenix lamps heavily used and often dropped working perfectly. Our UC30 is in its 3rd year and looks and works perfectly (aside from the stretched rubber USB cover but the Fenix handles that perfectly).

General con for Fenix: no way to get directly into the Low mode. Easily solved by lifting your lamp to the neutral destination and rapidly cycling the button. But still, a con.