Fenix PD35 ,850 Lm,powerful,compact 18650 flashlight-REVIEW

[raymond~]

Thanks for your collective responses and sharing your experiences
with the PD35. Picked one up based primarily on your enthusiasm
as well as i4 charger and a pair of 18650 batteries. After carrying
around a Surefire 6P with Malkoff reflector for several years. It's
now playing second fiddle to the PD35 the past week. r-

 

[vic303]

I just picked up a PD35 at REI this evening as I had a discount plus my dividend there. That brought it down to almost half off retail, which was nice. I was surprised to like this light as much as I did. I had been wanting a Olight S10, and got to try several different Fenix and Nitecore lights at REI. But this one just felt right in the hand and in the pocket.

Your review, FL, is very informative and has excellent pics too. Thank you for posting it. I am impressed with the handling of this light, the switches, the modes offered (Yay, no extraneous flash modes!), and the side switch is nice. The beam profile and output was rivaling the much larger Nitecore EA4. I am liking this light a lot!

 

[Sekon]

Great review!
Thanks for that. I purchased the PD35 which is my second Fenix,, I am very happy with this light! I also own the TK20,, which I like as well,,, But, I am looking into the TK61... would like a good thrower...

Thanks Again
Cheers

 

[FlashLion]

I just picked up a PD35 at REI this evening as I had a discount plus my dividend there. That brought it down to almost half off retail, which was nice. I was surprised to like this light as much as I did. I had been wanting a Olight S10, and got to try several different Fenix and Nitecore lights at REI. But this one just felt right in the hand and in the pocket.

Your review, FL, is very informative and has excellent pics too. Thank you for posting it. I am impressed with the handling of this light, the switches, the modes offered (Yay, no extraneous flash modes!), and the side switch is nice. The beam profile and output was rivaling the much larger Nitecore EA4. I am liking this light a lot!

My Fenix PD35 is a wonderful flashlight!

Thanks for your collective responses and sharing your experiences
with the PD35. Picked one up based primarily on your enthusiasm
as well as i4 charger and a pair of 18650 batteries. After carrying
around a Surefire 6P with Malkoff reflector for several years. It's
now playing second fiddle to the PD35 the past week. r-

PD35 is really handy light.
Enjoy it guys! :twothumbs

Great review!
Thanks for that. I purchased the PD35 which is my second Fenix,, I am very happy with this light! I also own the TK20,, which I like as well,,, But, I am looking into the TK61... would like a good thrower...

Thanks Again
Cheers

Thanks.
I don't have the TK61,but from what I read on the forum,it is another great light from Fenix. Definitely a good choise for a thrower.

 

[John Pombrio]

I own a PD35, it worked well for the first month. I seem to have a serious issue with the switch, my flashlight is temperamental and unreliable. I think Fenix should recall them and do further testing. If other people have the same issue please post it. I own many Fenix lights and hope this is an isolated incident.

Like Braddy said, try tightening up the switch. When I called Fenix with their battery problem, the lady had me do exactly that with the switch. Of course, it didn't fix a broken Fenix battery...

 

[John Pombrio]

Your voltage results are similar to what my batteries do when charged on the ARE-C1 charger. Using either Tenergy or Fenix batteries, my freshly charged batteries measure about 4.15 volts. While I wouldn't mind if the charger would charge all the way to 4.2 volts, I'd rather have them charge to 4.15 volts than charge over 4.2 volts.

After returning my defective Fenix battery (returned all of them and their charger as we did not know what was wrong with them), I bought the Obtronics 3400mah batteries and the Nitecore intellicharger version 2 from Amazon. I charged up the 4 batteries and every single one of them came out of the charger with exactly 4.2 volts on them. Mind you, I used my HP voltmeter with 5 digits below the decimal point but all measured exactly 4.2 volts. I drained one for a while until the voltage started dropping a bit and the extra digits popped up so the voltmeter was not just rounding up or down. Surprising results!

 

[FlashLion]

After returning my defective Fenix battery (returned all of them and their charger as we did not know what was wrong with them), I bought the Obtronics 3400mah batteries and the Nitecore intellicharger version 2 from Amazon. I charged up the 4 batteries and every single one of them came out of the charger with exactly 4.2 volts on them. Mind you, I used my HP voltmeter with 5 digits below the decimal point but all measured exactly 4.2 volts. I drained one for a while until the voltage started dropping a bit and the extra digits popped up so the voltmeter was not just rounding up or down. Surprising results!

That's great. My I4 has 4.21V terminating voltage. Your is even better. I just would like their build quality to be higher,but they do their job well and my I4 is my trusted charger.

 

[tobrien]

nice review as usual! (I know I'm late replying, but one of my best friends just got a PD35 and I found your review first through Google )

One question: so the PD35 is, in fact, wide enough for the "fat" 18650s? My friend uses two CR123s right now and I'm recommending him to use 18650s (because they are twice the capacity, better voltage holding under load, rechargeable, etc.)

Can anyone confirm if the PD35 will fit Redilast 3400 mAh 18650s?

Thanks guys!

 

[FlashLion]

Thanks tobrien! Your comments are always welcome.
The PD35 should fit any protected 18650 battery. I don't have a Redilast 3400,but I doubt it will not fit.

 

[tobrien]

Thanks tobrien! Your comments are always welcome.
The PD35 should fit any protected 18650 battery. I don't have a Redilast 3400,but I doubt it will not fit.

No problem! your reviews are always awesome!

thank you for the info about the Redilast 3400 fitment. Worst case scenario, I can trade him an AW for the Redilast haha (if, for some reason, there were fitment issues)

 

[tobrien]

as a testament to your review's awesome-ness, it ranks first in Google for "fenix pd35 review" it seems

 

[FlashLion]

That's great! Thanks for the info tobrien. I'm glad that my review is helpful.

 

[tobrien]

no problem man

 

[lightoff]

Is this the latest PD35? I am confused by the title. Is it 850 lumens or 960 for the new version?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJ3LM6C/?tag=cpf0b6-20

 

[FlashLion]

Is this the latest PD35? I am confused by the title. Is it 850 lumens or 960 for the new version?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJ3LM6C/?tag=cpf0b6-20

My review is on the first(old) PD35. It was described by Fenix with maximum output of 850 lumens,but measurements show that the first PD35 is actually about 980 lumens with a 18650 battery!!
So no matter which version you will get,it is an impressively bright flashlight.:thumbsup:

 

[5S8Zh5]

edit: PD35 850 lumen ordered and on the way. Thanks for your in depth take me down from this fence review.

 

[Grijon]

Thank you, FlashLion - incredible review!!

 

[FlashLion]

edit: PD35 850 lumen ordered and on the way. Thanks for your in depth take me down from this fence review.

Glad to help
Thanks for reading!

Thank you, FlashLion - incredible review!!

You're welcome! Thanks for reading!:thumbsup:

 

[Jvvjvv]

Very well done review thanks for all the work you did. Been on the fence as to which small light to get, this thread did the trick. I have several 18650, multiple battery lights, so this little guy will be perfect. Thanks again, have a great holiday season.


JVVJVV

 

[CelticCross74]

I bought the older "850" lumen PD35 based off of this and a couple other reviews all state how underrated the light is! Had my new old PD35 a couple of months and now for no reason it just flickers and goes out! Anybody got any ideas?