Tag: best tactical flashlight

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Fenix TK20R V2.0 Review (3000 Lumens, SFT70 LED, 21700, USB-C)

Today I have one I am excited to bring you, it’s from a New brand on the Channel with Fenix and the TK20R V2. Through the years I have gotten a lot of questions on Fenix and what I thought of specific models and I and I just didn’t have the experience to answer, so I was excited when Fenix reached out to start working together. This is the first of 2 reviews for Fenix you will see in the coming weeks. 

 

The TK20R V2 is an updated light that’s using a Luminis SFT70 LED, producing 3000 lumens, has onboard USB-C charging of the 21700 battery. You can check out more at https://www.fenixlighting.com/ The light I was sent is preproduction, and actually has a Luminus SST70 LED, however that has been changed in the production light to a Luminis SFT70 LED. 

 

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Here is a link to the USB-C Cable I used in the video https://amzn.to/3Dwt0rA

 

Packaging & Accessories

I received a preproduction light, and final packaging was not ready at this time. Accessories that came with mine included a USB-A to C charging cable, the light, and the branded button top protected 21700 battery (ARB-L21-5000). Mine came with a velcro patch as well, not sure if this is normal or not. Other things that are expected to come with the production model include a lanyard, holster, 2 spare orings, user manual and warranty card.

 

Construction & Design

I am only going to hit the high points here, and let the photos and video do the rest of the talking. The light is made from T6061 aluminum and nicely anodized black. At the tail cap you have 2 protruding buttons, a larger round mechanical switch that takes a good amount of force to push, and then a smaller rectangle mode button. The light does not tail stand as a result.

The pocket clip only mounts on the rear of the light. The body tube has concentric ring knurling like texture on the body, this provides a good amount of grip and looks nice I think. 

The recharging port cover is worth noting here, instead of using silicone rubber covers like many manufactures do to seal the USB-C ports, Fenix’s solution on the TK20R V2 is to have a retained aluminum cover that twists one full revolution to reveal the port. It has orings at the top and bottom and lots of anodized threads, so it’s silky smooth. Also under this port cover is the battery level indicator and recharging status LED. This just makes sense to me and has nothing to catch, or get in the way like the silicone covers sometimes do. 

 

Internally there is a stiff spring at the front of the light as well as in the tail, threads are smooth, square cut and a bit dry. Up front the head is glued in place but the bezel is removable. There is a crenulated bezel made of aluminum protecting the AR glass lens, deep smooth reflector and nicely centered LED. 

 

Retention

Since this is a pre production prototype I don’t have the lanyard or holster that the light will ship with in it’s final form. What I can talk about is the pocket clip. It only attaches at the rear of the light and is relatively narrow for the lights size. It’s stiff and does a good job of retaining the light in my front pocket, with about 1” of the light sticking out. 

 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 152mm, maximum diameter at the head at 34.1mm, minimum diameter in the body at 26mm. I measured the weight here with the battery and clip at 203.2g or 7.17oz so a little on the heavy side. The light is IPX8 water rated and drop resistant to 1.5M.

LED & Beam

The Fenix TK20R V2 is using the Luminis SFT70 LED in cool white. The light I was sent is preproduction, and actually has a Luminus SST70 LED, however that has been changed in the production light to a Luminis SFT70 LED. My Opple meter shows it as 6035k and 67 CRI when on in turbo. In lower lumen modes it warms up slightly to around 5600k and has a notably green tinge to the beam to my eye. The beam has a pronounced hot spot in the center and minimal spill with some tint shift noted. Parasitic Drain was measured at a very low 1.8uA. There was very minimal PWM here, it’s basically constant current. 

 

Below are the official outputs from Fenix. I will note the mode spacing is pretty good to the eye here. 

Official Total Outputs for the SFT70 verison

  • Turbo – 3000 Lumens
  • High – 1000 Lumens
  • Medium – 350 Lumens
  • Low – 150 Lumens
  • Eco – 30 Lumens
  • Strobe – 3000 Lumens

 

Heat & Runtime

For all of my runtime tests I used the included 5000mAh battery and measured the % of relative output change, not total output (lumens). Starting with Turbo it lasts for about 2:20 before reaching equilibrium. During this time the light peaks at about 45C. It runs at this equilibrium very steadily out to the 3 hour mark.

I ran the same test and compared turbo to high and to medium modes for total runtime. You can see in the graph that High in green had a few more stepdowns but ended up at a very similar total runtime as turbo. Medium is a very flat output curve out to 7:40:00 mark where it begins stepping down several times, eventually shutting off at 9:18:00 when LVP on the battery kicks in at 2.89v.

 

UI 

UI here is very simple. The light has 2 buttons on the rear tailcap of the light. There is the larger power button which Fenix is calling the Tactical switch, it’s a forward clicky switch with momentary, and then the smaller button which they are calling the function switch. You can half press the tactical switch to turn the light on in the last mode used before locking fully on. Once on you use the function switch to cycle through the 5 modes in a linear manner. The light does have memory mode. At anytime you can press and hold the function switch to get to strobe mode. 


Recharging

I already talked about how the recharging port works on the TK20R V2, it’s under the aluminum nut that unscrews from the base of the head. It’s nice robust design. Also inside that port is your LED battery status indicator and charge indicator. When recharging it starts as red, and goes green when charged. The light is not capable of being used when charged. It does support C to C charging but has no PD charging support.  

The light is powered by a Fenix branded button top, protected 21700 battery (ARB-L21-5000) with a capacity of 5000mAh. I tested the capacity with my Vapcell S4 Plus charger and came away with 4863mAh. I tried the light with an unprotected button top battery and had no issues. 

Charging itself using the onboard USB-C port and included battery from LVP at 2.89v to full at 4.226v took 2:38:00. The light has a soft start charging when the battery is low before it jumps up to about 3A at the very beginning, and it falls as the battery charges. So a bit of a different curve then what I typically see.

 

Final Thoughts

I am excited to see Fenix on the channel. It’s a brand that I can find locally at two different sporting goods stores, and a LGS, which I think can be appealing to many people if you need something of quality and don’t have the time to wait for an online order. Of course they can be found online as well. 

As for the Fenix TK20R V2, It’s a pretty nice semi tactical light. The controls are easy to use, and strobe is easy to access if you want it. It has a useful beam that’s a good combination of flood and throw without making too many compromises. That said it is still cool white, and at lower tints the LED does have a pretty strong green tinge neither are my personal preference but at the higher end of the consumer market where this light is aimed won’t care like enthusiasts do. The USB Port cover design here is really nice, and I am surprised more lights don’t do something like this.

You can pickup this new release and other Fenix products at https://www.fenixlighting.com/ I will have a link in the description.

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Olight Odin Dedicated Weapon Light Review (2000 Lumen, 21700, XHP 35.2 LED)

The Olight Odin is Olights first purpose built long gun flashlight. It’s using a Scout mount, has a pressure pad and is capable of 2000 lumens. There have been a fair bit of sponsored Odin reviews, I strive to be different here and tell you how I see it. Thanks to Skyben for sending it to me let’s take a look and get to the review.

 

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Packaging & Accessories

Olight once again does a very nice job here on packaging. It’s very appleske with a white magnetic fold out box and a full color photo on the front with specs on the back. On t he inside everything is packaged very nice inside little boxes, etc. Opening the front cover you have the quickstart guide along with the light and all the accessories. There are quite a few accessories with this light including the light itself and the 4 direction mount. You also get the 5000mAh 21700 proprietary battery, the MCC2A magnetic charger cable, and the new locking pressure switch. Lastly you get a few small zip ties to help mount the pressure switch, a small allan key, and a few extra screws and manual.

 

Construction

The Olight Odin is made from aluminium and hard anodized in a fairly glossy black. Starting at the tail cap, you have a very similar recharging point that was on the Olight Warrior X Pro, with the longer lugs to help you find the tail switch with gloves. It’s a two stage switch with a half press being momentary and full press locking on the light. Around the rear button is another ring and what looks like a space for an o’ring this is for the included pressure switch to lock on to the light which I will explain later. On the sides of the tail you have some tear drop areas milled in place for grip and style. Inside there is a large spring loaded brass contact. 

Threads are anodized, square cut and robust. It does take several turns to get them off. This is one of the few Olights where the positive terminal of the battery faces the head. The body tube is smooth except for the Scout mount. That’s fine, remember this isn’t an EDC light or designed to be handheld, it’s designed to be mounted primarily. 

The head you can tell was milled as one piece but it’s glued on to the tail and is non removable. It has a little larger ring which I assume is to help with thermal for the electronics. Styling wise you have two milled away tear drops, about the size of an endmill. At the front there is a black bezel with small almost saw tooth shaped crenulations. The edges are reasonably sharp. The lens is glass (Good for cleaning powder residue off) and underneath that is a TIR optic. 

Mounting 

This light uses the “Scout” mounting system that Surefire pioneered with the scout series of lights. It provides a 2 post mount thats about 7.75mm off the body of the light. It’s an extra piece that’s screwed to the light with 2 small hex head cap screws with locking compound on them. When I backed the screws out with a 1.5mm Hex key.

Olight included their locking mount that is designed to fit onto a standard picatinny rail. It can mount on the left or the right, and face forward or backward. It utilizes two hex head bolts and comes with the appropriately sized hex allan key. I would recommend once you get it to where you like it, to put some blue locktite on these screws, to make sure nothing backs off during use. This mount has 2 positions on where you can mount the light either on what I will call the bottom or the side. In addition to this light can mount either direction.This mount also locks once the light is in place to help secure it. Lastly the light does have threaded screw holes in it so you can use other 3rd party mounts like my favorite offset mount by Arisaka Defense. You may have to get a little creative with these in the order you mount them to tighten down all the screws depending on what your mounting it on. The big thing here is you have a lot of options.

The pressure switch is an evolution of what we saw on the M2R and Warrior series of lights. It’s designed to go on a picatinny rail as well and is rubber so it can slide on top and to secure you can use the included zip ties. The big difference here is that the end that attaches to the light has a locking mechanism. Simply push the ring forward to engage 4 small detent balls to grip onto the light, pull this ring back to unlock. It’s pretty secure for normal use and won’t break free under normal conditions. I did see a few posts in the Olight Facebook group where people had the lock come loose during extreme combat type situations so your luck might very. I would recommend disconnecting the pressure switch during transport in a bag to prevent the light from coming on accidentally. Cable length on the pressure switch is 165mm.

Size and Weight

I measured the overall length at 136.6mm, maximum diameter on the light (not including the mount) is 29mm, minimum diameter is 24.16mm. Weight with the battery was 174.1g, adding the pressure switch it’s 222.3g. 

LED & Beam

Olight has recently gotten into the nasty habit of not defining the LED they are using on some lights, and the Odin is one of them. With the TIR optic in place you can’t see the LED either. What I can tell you is it’s a fairly neutral white tint at the Turbo setting and in lower modes it’s a bit warm.. The beam is almost all throw with the focus in the center. There is just a very slight spill and there are a few artifacts here, which I think are the edges of the bezel showing. This is perfect for it’s intended use as a weapon mounted light where you want a tight focus. 

Heat & Runtime

The Odin produces upto 2000 lumens on turbo and this lasts 2 minutes before it steps down to 52% relative output. I saw maximum heat at 60C at 2:40 of runtime. Normally I would say this is too hot to hold but since this light is designed to be placed near the muzzle end of a hot firearm it’s not really an issue. We saw one more step down at the 12 minute markand the light ran at a fading 42% output for 2 hours. At the end it had one more step down before stopping right at 3 hours of runtime. I would have wished to see Turbo last longer here but suspect the time is thermally regulated as we can see the temps heat up some after cooling off initially. Overall runtime is the best out of a 1” weapon light that I have tested.

UI

The UI here is pretty simple. On the light itself, the rear button has a half press which gives you the lower lumen mode, and a full press gives you the full 2000 lumens. If you press and hold in either mode the light is in momentary. If you do a quick press in either mode the light stays on. When the pressure switch is connected you only have the full 2000 lumens but the same press and hold gives you momentary and quick press gives you constant light. There is no strobe mode on this light. 

 

Recharging & Power

The Odin uses Olights Proprietary 21700 5000mAh battery which is required for this light. It’s one of the only recent Olights I can remember where the positive terminal goes in facing the head. Proprietary batteries are one of the things I dislike the most. This probably won’t be something you swap out a lot but if you want extra power be sure to buy one and keep properly stored in your kit. Olights MCC3 charging system here is a winner because it’s super easy to recharge and leave the light mounted on your weapon. It’s red when charging and green when charged, and this version charges up to 2A. Total charging time here was 2 hours and 7 minutes which seems pretty quick.

Pro’s

  • Use of the Scout mount meaning you have tons of mounting options to fit your application.
  • Complete Kit with a decent mount.
  • Good Beam for the purpose.


Con’s

  • Only is compatible with 21700 batteries, CR123A’s are not an option if your out in the field and need more light after several hours. 
  • Some possible durability issues with the locking pressure mount system.
  • LED used is unspecified but is Neutral White.

 


Conclusion

For me this is going to be the light I plan on leaving on my 16” build. The way I have it configured now it’s easy enough to remove if I want to, but I feel pretty confident in it’s ability to perform to leave it. I may end up picking up an offset Arisaka mount to get it a little closer to the hand guard. 

 

Overall I think this is a good light for most citizens and hunters. Before I would trust my life to it in a police or military role I would want to do more durability testing. With the current pandemic and ammo shortage of 2020, I didn’t put that many rounds through my AR during range testing but what I did shoot the light held up without issues. 

 

Pickup the Olid Odin on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2E2JxZN

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/v50nRek

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Olight M2R Pro Review (1800 Lumens, 21700 Battery, Neutral White, Faster Charging)

Today I have up for review the Olight M2R Pro. I have been critical of Olight in recent reviews with Pro models because they are not much different from their non Pro lights. However the M2R Pro is the first “Pro” model I think that’s worth of the “Pro” name. Thanks to SkyBen Trading for sending this to me to take a look at and review. I will have a link to their shop in the description below. Make sure to check it out. 

 

YouTube Version of this Review: 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/SILnvUP

Pickup the Olight M2R Pro from Skyben Trading on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YP6P91F

 

Packaging & Accessories

Olight has quite a nice compact box for the M2R Pro. It’s white with a picture of the light on the front and throw and lumens numbers. On the back are more features, details and a spec table. The box itself is a magnetic side folder, that once inside you see the yellow warning card telling you to remove the battery protector. Once inside you see the light protected by it’s belt holster along with the accessories. 

Accessories that ship with the light are the Olight proprietary 5000mAh 21700 battery. It has the positive and negative as well as a plastic spacer on one side. You also get the dual direction pocket clip, standard Olight lanyard. The holster looks very similar to what came on the standard M2R. It’s pretty high quality, lightly padded, and has a plastic clip to secure the light, a hole at the bottom and a belt loop with a button. Lastly you get the new Olight MCC Charger that’s variable charge rate is capable of up to 2A. More on the charger later on in the review.

 

Construction

I am going to do some compare and contrast of the differences in the M2R and M2R pro for this section of my review. So if you haven’t seen my original review, make sure you check that out too. They are definitely similar but have differences as well. 

 

Size – The biggest difference between the standard and Pro M2R is the size. The standard light is using a standard button top protected 3500mAh 18650 battery, and is 130mm in length and about 25mm at the head in diameter. The M2R Pro is using a proprietary 5000mAh 21700 battery. As a result it’s grown in length to 136mm, and grown in diameter to 26.6mm in the head. Weight is up slightly to 180g a difference of 25g. 

 

Both lights are made from black anodized aluminum and share very similar styles. Starting at the head, the M2R Pro features a much more aggressive bezel. The points actually come to a point, more like a strike bezel. I wouldn’t want to EDC this bezel in my pants pocket because I think it would fairly easily rip the lining of the pocket. I have a few concerns about the longevity of the included holster as well. Thankfully the Bezel does screw off fairly easily, now all we need is for Olight to make a less aggressive model for people who want it. 

The lens on the M2R Pro is also different. Gone is the orange peel reflector and glass lens on the M2R. Instead a deep, plastic TIR type optic is in it’s place. This is a reflector and lens combo, that has no glass lens over the top. It means you can’t see the LED underneath either. The result on the beam pattern is a very focused hot center, and very minimal spill. 

Further down the head on the Pro we see similar but larger tear drops milled into the bezel. As we get to the switch area there is a similar anti roll ring except it has no milling on it like the M2R Standard had. Buttons are very similar but not exactly the same. The Pro is slightly shallower and silent when pressed unlike the Standard.

Bodies have another larger difference, the M2R Pro is more aggressive, each of the bars for lack of a better term are actually triangles that the points are slightly rounded. This really locks in better on your hands with or without gloves yet it’s small enough to still fit on the rifle mount that fits on the M2R. Internally Olight has went to a single tube design on the M2R Pro vs the dual tube design on the standard. They can get away with this due to that custom battery. 

The tail cap is also different on the Pro. Internally it’s contacts are different, and the battery goes in with the positive side facing the head, which is the opposite of most other olight’s including the M2R Standard. Externally they are similar, but the pro has a more beveled edge on top. On the very top the Pro features a revision of the button. The new button and charging surface is much more raised, the center is taller and has 3 prongs protruding from it. This makes it easier to actuate with gloves on. 

LED | Beamshots | Runtime

The Olight M2R Pro is using a Cree XHP35 in Neutral White, same as the M2R used, except in this application it’s driven a bit harder. Tint is pretty neutral white but does have a bit of green especially on lower power.

Olight lists the official output as the following. Outputs are thermally regulated.

Turbo – 1800 – 750 – 250

High – 750 – 250

Medium 1 – 250

Medium 2 – 60

Low – 15

Moon – 1

Overall Turbo is where you see the most difference with the modes on the M2R Pro about 300 more lumens, and 50 more on high. What I do like is that Olight is telling the step down progression and approximately how long each lasts on the box. Not a lot of brands are as up front as Olight is on this one. I applaud them for their honesty here. Heat on the M2R Pro was pretty well controlled. I measured for 10 minutes on Turbo and the hottest I saw at the 10 minute mark was 97F.

The beam pattern on the M2R Pro is pretty different then the Standard light. It’s got a hot centered beam with a much sharper cutoff and minimal spill which results in more throw. For a tactical light or one you mount on a weapon the Pro is the better choice due to that tighter beam and longer reach. Olight claims 300 meters on the Pro. 

For the first time that I can remember Olight is being upfront about runtimes and their progressions on higher level modes. My testing showed this was pretty accurate as well. Starting off on Turbo we cana see it lasts for just over 4 minutes, this is a gradual step down during that time. It then steps down to 750 lumens for what olight is saying is 145 minutes which agrees with my testing, then another 45 minutes before it shuts off. So total runtime from Turbo is 200 minutes. Lower modes obviously last longer.

 

UI

UI on the M2R Pro is similar to the M2R. The biggest difference I can see is in how the tail switch works. Now when you half press the button, you get medium 1 about 250 lumens, and then turbo 1800 lumens when you full press. This is in configuration 1, In configuration 2 the tail switch goes to turbo on half press and strobe on full press. 

 

UI is similar to other Olights but with some differences. Long press from Off to go to moon light mode, Double click to go to Turbo, and Triple click to go to strobe.There the front eswitch is mostly used as a mode switch but can be used to turn the light on and off from off as well. 

 

Recharging

The Olight M2R Pro features Olights new faster charging system. It’s capable of charging at 1A, 1.5A and 2A. This new magnetic charger looks almost identical to the old but it can be differentiated by the red background on the inside and new markings on the outside. This system is supposed to be smart and charge all your existing Olights (With the exception of the two pistol weapon lights that require slower charging) at optimal speeds. Getting the maximum speed out of the charger requires you got get the position just right I found out. It will start charging at pretty much any angle but it seems to be a little sensitive on the exact position rotation wise for maximum charging speed. If you really care about this get a in line USB voltage meter to monitor what’s going on. I have several that I have reviewed here on the channel if you need any suggestions.

 

I charged charged the included 5000mAh 21700mAh battery that came with the M2R Pro using this new charger. LVP on the battery kicked in at 1.84v and then I put it on the charger. I saw my charge time take 6 Hrs 15 minutes at 1.82A max. Charging seems to start slowly as it analyzes the battery, then ramp up, and then slow down at the end of charging. This is typical of Lithium ion charging and a good sign to see.

Pro’s

  • Much more user friendly to disassemble the head, but no glass lens on top.
  • Neutral White returns again.
  • Faster Charging system! 
  • New button on the rear is easier to operate and locate with gloves and has a more pronounced half and full step.

 

Con’s

  • Unfortunately Olight has replaced the standard battery configuration with a proprietary one. Using a normal 21700 with a magnet won’t work either.
  • I would love to see a less aggressive bezel be offered as an accessory or option.
  • No glass lens on top of the optic which means scratches will stay with the light.
  • Magnet still isn’t strong enough to hold the light in a horizontal position

 

Conclusion

The Olight M2R Pro is the first Pro series of light from Olight that I think deserves the name. It’s has some pretty significant differences from the standard M2R yet remains a similar light. I was a fan of the original M2R and I am a pretty big fan of the Pro as well. While I think the move to a 21700 battery was smart, I am disappointed Olight went to a customized proprietary battery version rather then keep the pretty standard button top 18650 they had in the M2R. I understand from a monetary reason why they did this and it allowed them to simplify the design of the light and minimize the size increase which maximizes compatibility with other accessories such as the rifle mount but it’s still disappointing to see standards be used. 

 

That said I am a fan here, I think the Pro version is a nice revision. I love the more aggressive milling on the body of the light, and the new smart charging system but that it remains compatible with the older accessories. The tail switch is nice as well and revised UI makes sense. I like how you can get half power with a half press and full turbo with a full press and lock on. The larger size of the light still remains compatible with the rifle mount and pressure switch as well for you guys looking to mount this one your firearms. The new beam shape gives you a better spot at distance. It’s nice to see they stuck with Neutral White here too. Overall I quite like the M2R Pro. 

Pickup the Olight M2R Pro from Skyben Trading on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YP6P91F