[Review] Fenix PD36R (2019 model) a worthy successor of the Fenix PD35 TAC

The older PD35 TAC has been many people's favorite tactical flashlight for the last 3 or 4 years, and this is the successor. The PD36R sport a 1600 Lumen Luminus SST40 LED and includes a USB-C connector to charge the included 21700 battery.


In my opinion, this flashlight has all the potential to be a great all-rounder. We'll have to see how it performs.
If you look at all the accessories it came with, I'm satisfied. This amount of high-quality accessories I like a lot. I bought this flashlight on Aliexpress, but you can get them anywhere you want.

WHAT'S IN THE PACKAGE:

• Fenix PD36R
• Lanyard
• Holster
• USB-C charging cable
• Fenix 21700 battery
• Spare O-rings
• Deep carry pocket clip
• Warranty card
• Brochure

Handling
The PD36R is a 21700 battery type flashlight. Which means that the diameter of the body is wider than the typical 18650 type flashlights. The 2-way deep carry pocket clip lets you carry it the way you want. In your pocket or outside your pocket. This kind of clip is definitely one you usually only find on the high-end flashlight. If you rather want to carry it on your belt, they even included a holster.
With the knurling, it doesn't feel slippery at all, and the pocket clip adds some extra grip.


The PD36 uses a forward clicky switch, which is the typical Tactical switch you can find on this type of light. It is used for power, and the side switch is used to change modes. The main switch can be used for morse coding and won't change the output. If you hold it in the way I pictured below, you can use your pinky to change modes if you need to. This is not the easiest way to do it, but it will do.


The pocket clip is spray painted, but I don't want to test its toughness. Most of the time I just break it.. and I feel like that is a waste of my money. lol.


Nope. This is not meant to be tail-standing





BUILD QUALITY
The anodization of the PD36R is spotless. Nothing to complain about. The thing I don't like so much is the black shininess. It looks a little cheap IMHO. This doesn't mean that the quality is subpar, it just means that it doesn't look as good as Jetbeam's anodization.. lol


The flashlight body has some knurling to increase grip. It's not slippery at all. For the rest, it looks like many other kinds of aluminum flashlights.


The PD36R has 2 main parts, the head, and the body, and there is no tailcap. The tail switch is attached to the battery tube, and can not be separated. This means there are only 1 set of threads. Very nicely shaped, and with just a bit of lubrication. A little on the conservative side though...



The Front End


This starts to get a little more exciting. Fenix decided to add a Luminus SST40 with a maximum output of 1600 lumens. Later more about the lumen part.
The bezel is lightly crenelated and glued, so I can't take it apart. The glass is said to be "toughened ultra-clear glass lens with an anti-reflective coating". Behind the glass lens, you find a smooth reflector. The Luminus SST40 is well centered.


Fenix doesn't let you choose the tint, unlike the smaller manufacturers who let you choose the LED tint you like. Without the proper equipment, I can't really tell the exact color temperature (Kelvin). The beam is a little greenish though.


DIMENSIONS:
Length PD36R: 139mm ( 5.47")
Head diameter: 26.7 mm ( 1.049")
Body diameter: 25 mm ( 0.98 ")

WEIGHT:


Empty: 90 g ( 3.17oz)
With battery: 162.9g ( 5.75oz)
Fenix 21700 Battery: 72.8 grams (2.57oz)
Size compared to Astrolux FT01, Nitecore MH25GTS, Fenix PD36R
Compared to these lights, it's just a bit smaller than the others.

DRIVER & USER INTERFACE:
The Firmware is rather simple. The side-switch is used to change modes, going from Eco to Turbo. The tail switch is only used for power. The UI is rather simple.


MODES:
Eco -Low - Med -High -Turbo
Strobe
FROM OFF:
The side switch doesn't do anything in the OFF position. The rear switch is a mechanical switch, so a double- or triple-click doesn't do anything.


Half-press rear switch: Momentarily turn on
Full-click rear switch: (to last used mode, mode memory)
FROM ON:
Rear switch: Single-click: OFF
Side switch: Single-click: change mode
Side switch: Double click: changes 2 modes
Side switch: Press and Hold: STROBE
BLINKY MODES MENU:
It only has a police strobe by pressing the side switch while the light is on.


LOCK-OUT MODE:
Fenix advises unscrewing the body from the head slightly to break the electrical contact. This will protect from any accidents that could happen.


PWM:
Yes, ECO mode has visible PWM when you swing the flashlight quickly. You don't really notice it, except when there is a fast-moving object in the beam.


UI CONCLUSION:
The UI is rather simple, and I would have liked to have a second switch on the rear end, just for direct-access to Strobe. You can definitely use it in 1 hand and still be able to access strobe, but you need to use your pinky. The other thing I kind of miss are shortcuts to Turbo and Eco mode.


BATTERIES AND CHARGING:
The PD36R is a 21700 battery type flashlight. And fortunately, Fenix also included their own ARB-L21 lithium-ion battery. The only thing to keep in mind before using it to take the plastic washer away. They even added a little notice, so you won't forget this. See the picture below.


Fenix added a protection board to the battery and therefore makes it too long for 99% of the battery chargers currently on the market. Thus you have to charge it inside the light! (Extra safety).


You should be able to use 18650 batteries when using a battery adapter. Fenix doesn't provide one in the package, but some flashlight makers add one, just in case. But since this is supplied with a battery, I can totally understand they didn't include an adapter.


On a side note: my Samsung 21700 40T (flat tops) don't work because of the reverse polarity protection. The positive side doesn't connect to the driver board because of this.


Battery Voltage Indicator


When you switch on the PD36R, the side switch LED will show the battery level by using 2 different colors. Red and Green.


Solid green: 85%-100%
Flashing green: 50%-85%
Solid red: 25%-50%
Flashing red: 1-25%
Built-in charging:


The manual states it can charge up to 3Amps. Be sure to have a high power USB charger. This will reduce charging times. 3A is really fast, but my USB charger can only supply 2 Amps. See the picture below.


When the battery finishes charging, the little LED indicator on the side of the head will turn green. The battery was at 4.23V after I took it out of the flashlight.


PERFORMANCE:
All of my readings were taken from a fully-charged Fenix 21700 ARV-L21. I recharged it between each test. I tested Amps with a Fluke 77III and original Fluke wires.


AMP MEASUREMENT:
Eco: 2mA
Low: 21mA
Med: 55mA
High: 1.56A
Turbo: 3.99A

LUMEN MEASUREMENTS:
All output numbers are relative for my home-made integrated Sphere, set up with a Hagner E4-X Lux Meter for measurements. For extremely bright flashlights (above 5000 lumens) I am adding a Kenko PRO1D ND-16 filter. The base measurement is done with a Convoy S2+ that has been tested at 137 lumens.



Runtime:


We can see that Turbo doesn't last so long and drops to 1000 lumens at 5:45 minutes. From 20 minutes onwards it produces a constant output of about 800 lumens. It lasts till 2 hours and 30 minutes before dropping. The PD36R starts dropping to 300 lumens at about 2 hours and 33 minutes. At 2.43 hours it drops to 100 lumens. 2:53 hours it drops... this lasts at least for another 1 hour.


THROW:
Measurements were taken indoors with the Skytronic LX-101 Lux meter. Unfortunately, the measured numbers were way over the stock numbers so I decided to do another test, using the professional Hagner EX-4 Lux meter, whose numbers were much closer to the Fenix numbers. I may return to using just the Hagner for Lumen en Throw measuring instead of using the Hagner just for Lumens and the Skytronic for measuring throw.


Measured with the Hagner EX-4
Turbo mode:


Indoors (5m): 24500 cd = 313 meters / 0.195 miles
Outdoors (10m): 21100 cd = 291 meters / 0.18 miles
Fenix claims 19,977 cd, so outdoors at 10 meters is relatively close to the claimed beam intensity. This shows that even measuring at 5 meters is unreliable.


PROS:

• great number of accessories, including a high quality 21700 battery
• Simple UI
• Great runtime
• Good output

CONS:

• No shortcuts to Turbo, Eco or Strobe

More pictures of the Fenix PD36R can be seen on 1lumen.com

Great review. I very much wanted this light, but 30 lumens on the lowest setting is a miss, IMO. I chose the PD35 v2 because it goes down to 5 lumens and has a stated max runtime of 400 hours.

But who says I can't still get a PD36R anyway??

I love Fenix lights, but I don't understand why they make so few lights with neutral emitters. Thrunite is great that so many of their lights are available with neutral or cool white tints. If it's high CRI then I actually have been liking cool white more, but they usually go for the highest output emitters instead of higher CRI ones.

Fair arguments.
I like neutral white as well, but to each his own. Fenix isn't famous for emitter choice, meaning: they don't seem to offer different choices of emitters for a particular model.
The LOW mode could be a CON, as long as you mainly use it for daily tasks or EDC.

Thanks for the nice review.

In my opinion the PD36 would have been a great successor to the PD35 TAC if it had had the same user interface.

What made Fenix great in the late 2000s was their innovative UI. They seem to have been lagging behind in that respect ever since.
The PD35 TAC was the only exception and was hoping it would start a new trend of Fenix lights with programmable UI.

What buffles me :thinking: is why Fenix didn't implement the PD35 TAC UI, one of their best-selling lights, into newer lights like the PD36 and TK22.


By the way, has the PD35 TAC been discontinued?

I just got this light last week. I have been using it daily in my job and have found it better than the Olight M2R I had been using. I did pick up a Maxpedition holster for mine, I am quite rough on holsters because I am constantly crawling under houses and in attics. The holster that comes with the light is very cheap.

Thanks very much for the great review!

We all glad to see that the nice successor to PD35 TAC! But it seems that neutral LED would be a better a choice.

Labrador72 said:

Thanks for the nice review.

In my opinion the PD36 would have been a great successor to the PD35 TAC if it had had the same user interface.

What made Fenix great in the late 2000s was their innovative UI. They seem to have been lagging behind in that respect ever since.
The PD35 TAC was the only exception and was hoping it would start a new trend of Fenix lights with programmable UI.

What buffles me :thinking: is why Fenix didn't implement the PD35 TAC UI, one of their best-selling lights, into newer lights like the PD36 and TK22.


By the way, has the PD35 TAC been discontinued?

Click to expand...

Hello there,

The PD35 TAC is still on sale.

Thank you!

I bought the PD35 TAC together with the PD36R, just to see what the 35 Tac was all about.I prefer the 21700 battery type lights because of the extended ended runtime/brighter.

21700 is a big advantage, especially considering the form factor is not that much bigger than a 18650 light.

The PD35 TAC was not a success because of the 18650 but because of the two-state UI which the PD36 doesn't seem to have.

Does this come with a spare rubber switch boot? Is even replaceable with the non-removable tail cap?

I really like and trust Fenix.

Labrador72 said:

21700 is a big advantage, especially considering the form factor is not that much bigger than a 18650 light.

The PD35 TAC was not a success because of the 18650 but because of the two-state UI which the PD36 doesn't seem to have.

Click to expand...

I agree that the PD35 TAC's ability to switch between Outdoor and Tactical is a nice characteristic that attracts people.

Output measurements of the PD36R taken at 2s using the Texas Ace Lumen Tube calibrated with Maukka lights and Sekonic C-800-U.

Fenix PD36R	Highest	1,810 lumens	6226K	0.0066 DUV	67.4 CRI		-39.3 R9	39.8 R12	65 Rf	95 Rg	included battery
Fenix PD36R	2nd highest	867 lumens	6034K	0.0098 DUV	67.4 CRI						included battery

Thanks for review.
A version with another led would be nice. (neutral)
I read in the PD36 manual that 18650 batteries are "banned" but I see on the Fenix website that an ALF-18 Battery Holder adapter is on sale.
With this also the PD36 can use the 18650 or not?

Edit: I found a youtube video where he says that with ALF-18 adapter the PD36 works with 18650.

I like the look of this light as well. I also wish that it had a lower lumen setting such as 5 or 10.

My main concern about this light though is the rubber cover over the charging port. Seems like it could get opened by accident, and eventually break. Is the port waterproof with the cover open? Why did they not just make it a magnetic charging port like the Olights, or their Own E Series like the E30R. Those changes would have made this a great light in my opinion.

I tried this flashlight, truly impressive performance.
If there was a 5000K or 4000 K version I would buy one for me too.
Even a sixth light level with a power of 1 lumens would be nice.
The specimen I tested has a slight vibration when charging the battery (with the original cable) it seems to fade or disappear when the charge is about to be completed.
I don't know how to explain, it seems like a tingling on the torch body and / or a vibration.
I wonder if it's normal.

Does anybody knows if the Thyrm switchback large will work with this light?
Thank you.