Tag: fenix flashlight

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Fenix PD36R Pro Review (2800 Lumens, 21700, USB-C)

Today I am taking a look at the new Fenix PD36R Pro. It’s an update on the previous light and includes a substantial increase in runtime. The light may look and sound familiar though because I took a look at the TK20R V2 earlier this year and it shares a lot of similarities with the new PD36R Pro. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to review. 

 

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Links to Purchase

https://amzn.to/3OYXRCK

https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-pd36r-pro-rechargeable-flashlight

https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-pd36r-pro-2800-lumen-flashlight/

 

Packaging & Accessories

The light I have is an early production sample that was sent before the packaging was finalized. That said I expect a typical Fenix full retail package that’s designed to hang on store shelves in your local sporting goods retailer. Included in your light will be a Fenix 5000mAh 21700 battery, USB A to C charging cable, Nylon Holster, pocket clip, Lanyard, spare o-ring, user manual, and warranty card. There is a few accessories that are not included but will also work with this light like a remote pressure switch that screws onto the tail, 3 different rail mounts, and a diffuser cone. All of these are sold separately. 

 

Construction and 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 shares a lot of physical traits with the TK20R V2. The light is made from T6061 aluminum and nicely anodized black, there is a special edition red camo version too at some retailers. 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 a concentric ring knurling-like texture on the body, this provides a good amount of grip and looks nice I think. The charging port is covered with a textured silicone cover that fits very tightly, below it is a small LED indicator to show the charge level while charging. Red when charging, blue when charged.

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 and the bezel is machined into the head. There is an AR glass lens, a narrow deep smooth reflector, and a nicely centered LED. 

 

Retention

Since this is a pre-production light 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 size of the light. It’s stiff and does a good job of retaining the light in my front pocket, with about 1” of the light sticking out. In my medium hands, the light is a nice size without being too bulky.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 5.74”, and the diameter at 1.09” at the head. Weight with the battery and clip came in at 6.00oz. The light IP68 water rated, which means it can survive 6.5ft of water for 30 minutes. The USB port itself is waterproof as well, so even if you don’t have the cover in place that won’t be a problem. Here are a few comparison photos with the Fenix TK20R V2, and some other lights. 

 

LED & Beam

The Fenix PD36R Pro is using the Luminis SFT70 LED in cool white. My Opple meter shows it as 5456k and 60 CRI in medium mode. In higher modes, it cools off slightly and has a slight green tinge to the beam to my eye (and meter). The beam has a large pronounced hot spot in the center and a large spill with some tint shift noted. Compared to the TK20R V2, the hot spots are a similar size but the spill is larger here on the PD36R Pro. The Parasitic Drain was measured at a low 4.0uA with the tail cap off. There was some PDM here, especially on lower modes but my eye or camera didn’t see it only my Opple meter did. 

Measured outputs vs Stated Outputs

All readings were taken at the 30-second mark. The light was cooled in cool water between measurements.

 

Turbo – Measured – 2160 Lumens Claimed – 2800 Lumens 77.14% of Claimed

High – Measured – 978 Lumens Claimed – 1000 Lumens 97.80% of Claimed

Medium – Measured – 349 Lumens Claimed – 350 Lumens 99.71% of Claimed

Low – Measured – 157 Lumens Claimed – 150 Lumens 104.66% of Claimed

Eco – Measured – 35 Lumens Claimed – 30 Lumens 116.66% of Claimed

 

Heat and Runtime

For my heat and runtime, I tested with the supplied Fenix 5000mAh battery, on my Texas Ace Lumen tube. Turbo starts out here a the claimed lumens but by 1 minute it’s stepped down to about 750 lumens because the heat was up to about 43C. It increases the output some in the next 20 minutes as heat dissipates, but the light has a substantial drop at about 2:10:00, then again at 3:20:00, and once more at 4:30:00, where it runs at it’s the lowest output for many more hours. Total runtime was right around 8 hours, and the light does flash in the last hour of use to indicate it’s the battery is low.

I then did a comparison between Turbo, High and Medium runtimes and there isn’t really any real surprises. Lower outputs are more stable and have longer outputs. 

 

UI 

UI here is very simple and it’s the same that was found on the TK20R V2.. The light has 2 buttons on the rear tail cap 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 any time you can press and hold the function switch to get to strobe mode. 

 

Recharging

Recharging on the PD36R Pro is accomplished via the USB-C port on the side of the light near the head. The port cover is worth mentioning here, it’s very tight fitting, and can be a bit of a challenge to remove despite a small tab to pull on. You have wide access to the port so cable compatibility shouldn’t be an issue here. The light charged via C to C cables and PD chargers without a problem. One thing to note is that you can’t use the light during charging.

I charged the included 5000mAh battery (Rated at 4870mAh in my testing)  from LVP at 3.044V to Full at 4.227V in 4:13:00. The charging speed starts off slow for the first few minutes, then increase significantly with a peak of 2.5A before slowly declining. The total charge time was 4:10:00. One thing that was concerning was that the terminating voltage was slightly too high. Not sure if this was my multimeter or maybe due to the prototype nature of my light. When fully charged the side LED indicator goes from Red to Blue.

 

Final Thoughts

The Fenix PD36R Pro is a pretty large upgrade over the older PD36R in nearly all metrics and is overall a well-rounded flashlight. However, I can’t help to draw on the large number of similarities to the TK20R 2.0 that I reviewed earlier this year. Same LED, Same UI, Same battery, very similar performance, Same tail cap, and same clip. Where they differ is mainly in the charging port cover, and head size. The TK20R V2 is more of a tactical purpose, where as the PD36R Pro is more EDC/General use while also being capable of tactical use. 

It’s a well built light, one of the best USB-C port covers I have seen, and a very easy to use UI with the two dedicated buttons on the tail. I’ll give it a ding for not being able to tail stand and for not lacking a true moonlight mode of 1 lumen or less. 

 

Links to Purchase

https://amzn.to/3OYXRCK

https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-pd36r-pro-rechargeable-flashlight

https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-pd36r-pro-2800-lumen-flashlight/

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Fenix GL19R Review (1200 Lumens, 18350, Tactical WML)

Fenix introduced a new line this year with the high-performance weapon-mounted tactical lights. Today we are looking at the brand new GL19R a midsize pistol mount light, with a TIR style reflector, onboard USB-C charging that runs off of a standard 18350 battery. With the name GL19R, I had to put this one on my Glock 19, it just seems it was meant to be. Thanks to Fenix for sending this preproduction sample to me to look at and review. 

 

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See more about the Fenix GL19R at https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-gl19r-rechargeable-tactical-light-1200-lumens/

 

Packaging and Accessories

Since this is a pre-production model I don’t have any samples of the retail box or the final accessories. It did come with a 1100mAh Fenix branded but standard flat top 18350 battery, USB-A to C charging cable, as well as two different rail attachment points to fit both Glock and 1913 sized rails. A quick note on the manual, I thought it was kind of interesting they included some basic gun safety instructions that were actually good such as “never point a firearm at something you are not willing to destroy”. 

 

Construction & Design

The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized in a flat black color. The overall design is similar to what I have seen from other weapon lights, nothing very revolutionary. The front untwists to give access to the battery. It has springs on bother sides, which is good. The front bezel has small crenulations and stands proud of the large TIR Optic. The optic is topped with glass which is great for cleaning and scratch resistance.

I will cover the mount in the section below. The user interface buttons are plastic, with a little texturing. They are hinged at the bottom and the actual button to press is at the top. I like this, as I rest my finger above the trigger on the frame of the handgun.

Labeling on my light is a little strange, there are sections on the head and one on the body that is shiny and it looks almost like they put a sticker or paint to cover up something, then did laser engraving again. I expect this is unique to the preproduction unit I have as they make slight label changes.  I do like that the engraving here is grayer than bright white and the required CE and No Recycling markings are made on the underside where they won’t be seen when mounted. 

 

Size and Weight

I measured the length at 70mm (not including the buttons) width at 30mm and height at 31mm including the top of the mount. The outside diameter of the head is 25mm. Weight with the battery came in at 3.50 ounces with the battery or 99.2g. The light is impact resistant to 1M and IP68 water-related. 

 

Mounting Options

As mentioned before the light is designed to be mounted on the rail of a firearm. It came fitted with the aluminum insert for Glock, but a 1913 piece was included. It’s secured with a small Torx screw. The light uses a quick-release system on the right side of the light, with an adjustment screw on the left side. It’s a little different from the system that Olight uses and doesn’t have as much range of motion. Once properly adjusted it does fit snugly but it’s not as easy to switch between firearms without adjustment. Probably not an issue for most people. The lock is pretty easy to actuate, while it does it flush I would prefer a bit more force needed to unlock it, just for extra security. 

As far as holsters, being such a new product I couldn’t find any with a search online and Fenix didn’t have any partners signed up at the product launch, so you will have to turn to the custom holster market if you want a holster for your firearm and this light. That is one of the problems with new companies getting into the market for the first time. 

 

LED & Beam

The GL19R is running a Luminus SFT40 LED. No official tint is given by Fenix here, but my Opple meter measured it at 5570k, and 62 CRI. The beam mostly spots as you would expect in this application, the TIR reflector helps increase the size of that hotspot and minimize the spill. On Turbo there is almost no PWM according to my Opple meter but there is a decent amount on High as visible from the meter. 

I have a calibrated Lumen Tube now from Texas Ace and this was the first light I put on it for lumen output and later runtimes. Official outputs put Turbo at 1200 lumens, I tested it at 1197 Lumens at 30 seconds, and on High, it’s rated for 350 lumens, I tested it at 339 lumens, so all very close to as advertised. 

 

Heat & Runtime

In Turbo mode, you can count on that full output for the first 30 seconds, before you see any declines, the decline happens slowly out to 3 minutes, where the light is making about 500 lumens. It holds this for about 50 minutes before a significant stepdown and shutting off right at 1 hour. During this time the hottest I saw was at 43C at the 55-minute mark. The light does have thermal protections at 60C according to the manual but I never saw that high of temp when I tested at room temperature. 

I compared Turbo to High outputs and while High produces quite a bit fewer lumens about 340 lumens, the shape of the curve is a very linear decline out to 2 hours of runtime. In high mode, my meter did measure a decent amount of PWM too. 

There is a low voltage warning on the light with the battery indicator on the left side, it flashes red, but it also reduces the light’s output to only 50 lumens so it’s hard to miss. Fenix does recommend charging the light every 4 months if not used for peak performance. 

 

UI

UI here is a little different but logical. From off you can press the light to turn it on or off into the mode used last and this will turn it on constantly. If you long-press from off the light will go to momentary if held for more than 1 second. To select your different output mode when press one of the buttons and hold, and then click the other to toggle between High and Turbo and vice versa. Kind of difficult to do while mounted in a tactical situation especially if you follow Fenix’s recommendation that the light only is activated with the non-trigger finger and to use a two-handed grip. To get to the strobe with the light on press and hold either switch for half a second to enter or exit the strobe. This is momentary strobe only, not ideal for a tactical situation with ½ second being kind of a long time to activate. It’s worth noting the light does have a way to lock it if you wish and that memory mode works as long as the battery is installed, when the battery is removed the light goes back to default mode. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is accomplished via a USB-C port on the left-hand side of the light. The port is covered with a silicone port cover that fits well. The light is compatible with PD chargers however it does not charge in the PD mode. One thing to note is that the light will not work while charging. 

Using the onboard charging here from LVP at 3.074V, the light reported it was full in 1:44:00 and the cell tested at 4.160V. Max charge rate here was 0.72a during the constant current charge phase, with a small spike before it started to decline. Roughly a 1C charge curve here, good for overall battery longevity. 

LED Indicator on the side servers as both a charging status indicator (Red when charging, green when charged) and as a battery check. Check the manual for what the different colors and blinks mean. 

 

Conclusion

The Fenix GL19R is a solid offering from a company experienced with tactical lights but new to pistol-mounted lights. The build quality here seems to be good, and the mounting system works pretty well. The rear buttons are certainly better than some brands but it’s hard to beat Shurefire’s toggles in my opinion. I would say it’s as good if not better than the system Olight is using on their similarly sized models. I really like that they are using a standard battery size here, so nothing is proprietary and it will easy to get replacement 18350’s in the future. 

I think the UI here while it works could probably be optimized, the UI here means you have to go into a situation knowing what you want to use, for me that would be high mode, and then bump up to Turbo if I needed it. To do that while easy in theory I find is a little hard to actually reach. I would prefer a quick double or triple tap for turbo, and something similar with strobe. 

Other than the UI side of things I think this is a solid offering. Hopefully, Fenix is able to partner with some holster manufacturers soon and we see some support for that soon. 

 

Let me know what you think of the Fenix GL19R in the comments below!

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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.