Fenix CL20 lantern review

[fenix1]

Thanks for the review. Do you have the spanish version online?
I'm also dissapointed by the red mode, difficult and low runtime, but i'm going to buy it anyway

Fenix will release another two camping light with much better runtime:twothumbs

 

[D6859]

Fenix will release another two camping light with much better runtime:twothumbs

Any url?

 

[Sarratt]

Fenix will release another two camping light with much better runtime:twothumbs

When will they be released please?
Will they be AA powered ?

I saw a hint of one but not AA powered correct ?

 

[burntoshine]

Fenix will release another two camping light with much better runtime:twothumbs

Please make the SOS mode more hidden. And please continue to use neutral white LEDs. I am really impressed with the CL20. Other than the SOS mode coming on before you can get to the solid red mode, and the poor solid red mode runtime, everything seems very well thought out and well executed with this light.

I look forward to seeing the other lanterns.

I am happy to see that Fenix is still making great and thoughtful lights. Fenix was the brand of the first decent flashlight that I bought.

 

[CarpentryHero]

It looks and feels like a snow globe, I love mine

 

[RobertM]

Thanks for the great review!

 

[Palaeoboy]

Had this light for the past week and although I only purchased it out of curiosity I must say its far more versatile than I ever expected. As a tent/camping light it really is perfect. Its clearly designed for tent illumination in mind. The magnetic base though makes it a wonderful car service light. With its compact size and SOS facility Im going to leave it in the car as a breakdown and night repair light where it works well. I do like the dual battery arrangement which is really handy.

Where I think it could possibly be improved, entry into red I think should be to solid red first rather than SOS as another poster has suggested as well. I think also the price point is just a bit high. While I feel it its worth the money most will baulk at the price its at I think. It really is a close proximity light as you would expect for tents so it doesnt illuminate a whole room as well as you may hope if you were wanting to use it as a blackout/home emergency lantern but having a pair of them would well fill this role well. Judging by the above post by Fenix I suspect a larger light for larger room illumination seems on the cards so I await that with great expectations having been very pleased with the smaller first attempt. An up to 300 lumen model in the same package would be magic.

PS The first thing that came to mid when using this light from red to white was how perfect it would be as a darkroom light. If it had been available before the age of digital cameras Fenix would have sold thousands of them for this purpose!

Additional Note - I noticed another criticism with this light in that getting the battery cover/base on and off I believe is going to become problematic. You have to use significant force on the metal hanger in order to pull the cover off. I can see if its not removed for a while that it will stick and getting it off will become harder and harder with time. the hanger on mind mine is already starting to bend out of shape just taking the cover off a few times. If the hanger breaks off completely there is no notch or groves around the base that would permit you to prise the cover off with fingernails or screwdriver etc. In fact its almost be rounded in order to prevent any other method to get the cover off. In time I suspect this will be a real issue. Still love the light though.

 

[stockae92]

That seems to be a great little light. I really like Fenix for their creative and useful products. My MC10 is my most used light. I use it every day, and having the ability to stand tail up and "point" the beam horizontal is very useful for me.

The CL20 or future variation will be on my short list of flashlight to own.

 

[Poppy]

Elitl,
Nice review... thanks!

Had this light for the past week <SNIP>

Where I think it could possibly be improved, entry into red I think should be to solid red first rather than SOS as another poster has suggested as well. I think also the price point is just a bit high. While I feel it its worth the money most will baulk at the price its at I think.

Palaeoboy,
I agree, and in fact, I'd balk at the price. IMO, it should be $10 less to be more competitive. It should take an 18650 instead of CR123. And for maybe an extra $1.00 in manufacturing cost, a USB charging port for the 18650. They can market the battery as an optional add-on, as Coleman does its CPX6 battery packs. If they sell it for $30 without the battery, I believe, it would really, be able to break into the mass market.

LOL... well, at least, that's MY take on it.

 

[Palaeoboy]

Elitl,
Nice review... thanks!



Palaeoboy,
I agree, and in fact, I'd balk at the price. IMO, it should be $10 less to be more competitive. It should take an 18650 instead of CR123. And for maybe an extra $1.00 in manufacturing cost, a USB charging port for the 18650. They can market the battery as an optional add-on, as Coleman does its CPX6 battery packs. If they sell it for $30 without the battery, I believe, it would really, be able to break into the mass market.

LOL... well, at least, that's MY take on it.

I do agree that a ten dollar reduction in price would hit the mark quite well. I suspect that as with all new lights you see prices drop 20% or so from immediate release price that their ultimate target price is just where we think it should be.

I dont think this particular model should be a 18650 light however. The size of the light is deceptive in photos its smaller than I expected it to be. An 18650 would make it considerably larger. The easy common find anywhere while camping AA batteries are really the appeal of this light. It just happens that they also made it a dual option to take CR123a batteries as well which is great choice. With the longevity of Lithium i can use the CR123a and keep one on the side of the fridge or in the car for years without much degradation or corrosion risk and/or pop into a corner store or station for AAs if I need replacements in a pinch. I love the size of the CL20 and the battery formats I just feel it needs a bit more of a kick above 165 lumens. Either way Im going to get a blue one and use two of them in tandem for a variety of lighting situations.

I suspect however that a complimentary model that does use 18650 batteries will be forthcoming although it will be twice the size I imagine but will have substantially greater output. One just has to look at their HL55 Headlamp producing 900 Lumens in an incredibly compact package to see how easily they could develop that into a similar camping light

 

[fenix1]

Additional Note - I noticed another criticism with this light in that getting the battery cover/base on and off I believe is going to become problematic. You have to use significant force on the metal hanger in order to pull the cover off. I can see if its not removed for a while that it will stick and getting it off will become harder and harder with time. the hanger on mind mine is already starting to bend out of shape just taking the cover off a few times. If the hanger breaks off completely there is no notch or groves around the base that would permit you to prise the cover off with fingernails or screwdriver etc. In fact its almost be rounded in order to prevent any other method to get the cover off. In time I suspect this will be a real issue. Still love the light though.

Thanks for your splendid review and kindly suggestions, we've adopt partly. The AA batteries and battery cover will be more easier to remove in the following products, for we've modified the structure. Thanks again.

 

[fenix1]

When will they be released please?
Will they be AA powered ?

I saw a hint of one but not AA powered correct ?

It will be released next month,powered by 18650 or CR123A battery.

 

[MojaveMoon07]

Has anyone else had this experience (below) ?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...g-light-with-neutral-white-and-red-leds/page3

My biggest complaint is that the springs for Enloops insertion are a bit tight. I ruined the casing on a couple of fairly expensive Enloops trying to pry them back out. Haven't tried a CR, but imagine there is a similar possibility of damage ... but who cares since you have to toss that battery anyway. Not very green. On the other hand, I hope to use my Enloops repeatedly for a long time, so I wish they would put one of those cloth tabs under the battery bay so that I can yank on the tab to pop the batteries out thus protecting the casing. I might try installing a cloth tab anyway.

 

[MojaveMoon07]

Hi Fenix,

You are saying that you will make the battery cover easier to remove and the batteries easier to remove in the CL20 in future manufacturing of the CL20 ?

Thanks for your splendid review and kindly suggestions, we've adopt partly. The AA batteries and battery cover will be more easier to remove in the following products, for we've modified the structure. Thanks again.

 

[Phaserburn]

My battery cover is a beast to remove. I took the oring off for indoor use because of it.

 

[rpm00]

Any opinions vs the Seige from anyone who has both?

 

[Poppy]

I have neither, but you are comparing apples to oranges.
One is regulated, the other not.
One runs on 1/2 18650 (CR123), or 2/3rds 18650 (2AA), the other- three 18650s (3D cells are fairly equivalent on relatively low outputs).
One is VERY back-packable. The other... are you kidding! ?

The point I am trying to make is that one can write an essay comparing the two, and perhaps not hit on what is important to YOU.
HOW do you want them compared?

 

[PieDemon]

Please make the SOS mode more hidden. And please continue to use neutral white LEDs. I am really impressed with the CL20. Other than the SOS mode coming on before you can get to the solid red mode, and the poor solid red mode runtime, everything seems very well thought out and well executed with this light.

I look forward to seeing the other lanterns.

I am happy to see that Fenix is still making great and thoughtful lights. Fenix was the brand of the first decent flashlight that I bought.

This was the first spec sheet that popped up for Cree LEDs with specifics about colours: http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/C...d Modules/XLamp/Data and Binning/XLampXPe.pdf

It's the spec sheet for the XP-E LED, take note of the forward voltages at 350 mA on page 2 remember these and take them into account with the flux ratings further down. Check the differences between the dedicated single colour ones and the warm/neutral/cool whites. Not sure what the difference with the "photo red" and other red earlier is though (see page 6) and why it has such a high luminous flux while its just a small shift in the spectrum (see page 7 at the bottom).

Its basically a recurring thing I've seen again and again in LEDs, for some reason the red ones are pretty inefficient compared to their output. I wish the datasheets had accurate Watt equivalents of light energy vs the input (true efficiency rather than efficacy). It might be our silly eyes being less sensitive to the red spectrum vs other wavelengths. But my interest in the red LEDs has never warranted investigating it beyond this quick glance at numbers mentioned above so far.

 

[torchflux]

Had this light for the past week and although I only purchased it out of curiosity I must say its far more versatile than I ever expected. As a tent/camping light it really is perfect. Its clearly designed for tent illumination in mind. The magnetic base though makes it a wonderful car service light. With its compact size and SOS facility Im going to leave it in the car as a breakdown and night repair light where it works well. I do like the dual battery arrangement which is really handy.

Thanks much for the helpful review and feedback, it's appreciated.

Yes understood that the battery cover/hanger issue with changing batteries seems to be a design issue. Perhaps Fenix will address this at some point?

As others have mentioned, it's great to see Fenix coming out with unique market-niche products like this, especially from a high end flashlight manufacturer.

The battery lantern market seems to be dominated at present by some of the more 'generic' flashlight and camping-gear manufacturers (thought I'd perhaps except Streamlight from such characterization); and as also mentioned on the 2015 Fenix catalog thread I'm enthusiastic to see more lanterns 18650-and-otherwise from Fenix.

anyway there seems to be plenty of room for innovation and new designs in battery lanterns (when compared with for example, the flashlight end of things as of 2014-2015).

 

[torchflux]

Thanks for your splendid review and kindly suggestions, we've adopt partly. The AA batteries and battery cover will be more easier to remove in the following products, for we've modified the structure. Thanks again.

Whoops, missed this!

thanks, good to know that feedback works - and we are interested in seeing the new upcoming lanterns from Fenix.