# Review: Fenix TK72R: rechargeable, 3 x XHP70, 9000 lumens, beamshots / compare



## kj75 (Apr 20, 2018)

In the past year, a new big Fenix flashlight was shown on several trade shows. The wait was rather long, but from now the TK72R is available. Fitted with three XHP70 leds, a removable accu and a charging and discharging function. Therefore a two-in-one: A flashlight that has good runtimes and a powerbank to charge your other devices. Specialties of this light are the built-in OLED-screen and the unique interface. It unique how the brightness of this light can be adjusted to your wishes. So again a Fenix that has a bunch of interesting features, which make this light very interesting to me to have a closer look at. Special thanks to Fenixlight and Knivesandtools.nl for the opportunity to test the new output-king of Fenix! In this review I’ll show you the light and its details, tell you how it works, and compare it to some other handheld-searchlights. At the end of the story a very important chapter: The indoor and outdoor-beamshots. Enjoy reading and watching!

*the new king made by Fenixlight: TK72R*







*powerful appearance*





*robust and stable*






*fitted with three XHP70 leds*





*a control panel with OLED-screen*






*charging and discharging option*





*Firstly, we’ll have a look at the specifications, given by manufacturer:
*
*· Uses 3 Cree XHP70 LED's with lifespan of 50,000 hours - max 9000 lumens
· Included 7.2V/7000mAh Li-ion battery pack 
· 156mm Length x 59mm Head diameter x 50mm Body diameter
· 412 grams (excluding battery)
· OLED digital screen displays: output, runtime, battery status
· Micro USB charging, USB discharging 
· Inner waterproofing treatment of USB&Micro USB port 
· Three switches in the neck - easy and fast operation 
· Three output modes: Low, High and Memory
· Instant Turbo 
· Lockout function 
· Low-voltage warning function 
· Digitally regulated output maintains constant brightness 
· Intelligent overheat protection protects from high surface temperature 
· Reverse polarity protection to protect from improper battery insertion 
· Made of durable high-strength and oxidation-resistance aluminum 
· Premium type HAIII hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish
· Toughened ultra-clear glass lens with an anti-reflective coating*

*and the output and runtime specs:*






*Unboxing:*

The TK72R comes in a neat “closed top” package. No plastic case here, like the TK75-2018 has, but a neat box. In front we see the light and the main applications, on the back the features and the runtime and output graphs. Fenix is proud of the RedDot that the TK72R has won, we see the symbol several times back on the carton. In the box we see some cutouts for the light and the parts; this makes it easy to (re)store the flashlight. This package is an “all-in-one” box; also a powerful charger and the battery is included. So, we don’t need anything else here; this package is ok to me. Please have a look at a couple of photos below that show the carton and the contents!

*a “closed-top” keeps the TK72R in place*





*description, main features and output and runtime-charts on the back*_



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*the TK72R has gained a prize, the prestigious RedDot-award*
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*foam keeps the light and its accessories in place*_



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*the contents: ready to go, battery is already inserted*
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*Impressions:
*
The TK72R is a large and rather heavy flashlight, but much more compact than its big brothers TK75-2018 and RC40-2016. For your reference: it has about the same dimensions as the LD75C. My first impression is the same as always had when I met a Fenix-product: Very well built, excellent fit and finish. Like most flashlights the TK72R comes in main black color, the second color that we see back around the lenses and the display is matte silver. What I see back on this matte silver is that it's not scratch-free: After some weeks use you can clearly see some “user-traces”. The TK72R has a powerful appearance, thanks to the thick body and the triangular head that has three XHP70 “quad-leds” in it. The light is very stable and can be put down on it tail as on its head without any problem. The body has fine knurling and six slots to ensure good grip. Anodizing and engraving (in grey color) is done well, I couldn’t find any defect here on this powerhouse. Most striking detail on the TK72R is the control panel on the head. It is fixed to the head by some torx-screws and has an OLED screen in the middle of the panel. Below the screen we see three buttons: a larger one and two of the same size above it. Like we saw back at the latest Fenix-lights, the switches are made of metal, which will ensure long life and durability. At the opposite some information engraved: serial number etc. On the third side we see the micro-USB charging and the USB-discharging port, protected by a rubber cover. Special feature here is that the ports have “waterproofing treatment”, which means that the rubber cover isn’t specially needed to prevent it against water, only for dust. A big plus here! Having a look into the triangular head, we see three rather deep but small “orange-peel” reflectors that have perfectly centered XHP70-leds in it. This shows that the quality-control is very good at the Fenix-factory, I couldn’t detect any defect here again. When we “dismantle” the TK72R, we have three parts. Striking detail here is the “symmetrical” tube; it doesn’t matter how you screw it onto the head. Machining and greasing of the threads is done well; inside we see three gold-plated poles for the battery. No springs here to prevent against shocks, but the TK72R feels safe and robust. On the back you can choose out of two loops to add the lanyard. The lanyard is re-designed and feels better to me than the previous versions. Summarizing I can tell you that the fit and finish of the TK72R is like it should be to a light in this class: Excellent done. I could tell you more about the light in this chapter, but let’s have a look now at a selection of pictures that I took. These photos will show you much more about the light and the details!

*the king of the TK-series*_



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*searchlight and powerbank in-one*
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*big triangular head with three XHP70’s*_



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*well-constructed*
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*rather heavy but easily to control*_



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*the TK72R has its own design*
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*small but rather deep reflectors*_



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*fine knurling and slots to ensure good grip*
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*the cooling-fins; nice design!*_



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*a cover protects the USB-ports from dust*
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*special feature is that the ports have inner waterproofing treatment*_



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*a close up to the head*
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*big tail, stable standing*_



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*de TK72R in three parts and the battery*
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*it doesn’t matter how you insert the battery*_



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*a look into the lights’ head*
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*keep this in mind, otherwise the light will not work*_



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*reddot winner*
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*comes with powerful charger*_



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*the redesigned lanyard*
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*after turning on, the brands’ name lights up for short time*_



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*the display informs about remaining power and lumens continuously*
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*if the padlock is shown, the light is locked*_



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*the icon for strobe*
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*the sturdy pouch*





*the TK72R fits well*






*charging the light*





*using the TK72R as a power source*






*during charging, the light can only run on lowest level*





*mounted on a belt, good option during longer trips*






*compared to the Fenix LD60, that Fenix released a couple of years ago*





*same size, but the output has increased more than three times!*






*the TK72R next to the previous output king of Fenix, the RC40-2016*





*more leds to the RC40-2016, but less lumens*






*the TK72R on a cold day*





*the light stands lower temperatures without problems*






*some gear: TK72R, tactical pen T5 and Ruike P105-K knife*





*the LEDS are perfectly centered*







*User interface:*

Like you’ve see already on the pics, the TK72R is a large and robust light. But, thanks to its length, it can be carried in your coat pocket if you want. Best way for longer time is to use the holster that can be fixed on your belt. The body is quite thick, same dimensions as other lights that run on four 18650’s, but the grip is good. The triangular head prevents against accidentally slipping out of your hand, the control panel can be reached easily by your thumb. 

Charging the light is an easy job with the provided charger. I’d recommend to charge the light by day, because a full load of the cells takes about 4,5 to 6 hours. During the charging, the actual voltage is continuously at the screen. Same for discharging: You can easily check the remaining power. For your reference: Fully charging a cell phone (in my case a depleted Samsung S6) takes about 20% of the battery. So I could recharge five times my cell phone with a full TK72R. A plus to the RC40-2016: you don’t need to press a button to activate the discharging anymore, it starts directly when you connect a device to the flashlight. Good to have a powerful flashlight and high-capacity power bank in one! A plus to light that have a built-in powersource is that the battery can be replaced; you have also the opportunity to purchase a spare-battery if you use a flashlight for many hours non-stop. 

Back to how the TK72R works! As I showed you, the light has a control-panel with three buttons. The buttons have a good pressure-point; but I would like to see them different in shape and a bit bigger in size. The bigger (middle) button is to turn the TK72R on (in last used mode) or off. Press and hold for about a second to turn on/off. The left and right switches above are designed for mode selecting. Special feature of these buttons is that these are also “shortcuts”. If the light is in standby, you can start directly at 200 lumens (left switch) or 5000 lumens (right switch). Turning on these direct modes works the same as with the main switch, to turn off you can only use the middle/main button. The unique feature of the TK72R is that it’s possible to pick every output mode (by steps of 100 lumens) between 100 and 9000 lumens. You can “tune” the output by little steps (100 lumens per click) through shorts clicks on the plus or minus button, or by big steps (1000 lumens per step) by pressing and holding one of the buttons for about a second. I never met a flashlight before that has so many fixed output levels! Because this torch is designed for big tasks, the direct low modes starts at a rather bright 200 lumens. Little high to me, and although it has a lower of 100 lumens, I’d prefer a mode of less than 5 lumens on this light. Some applications at night don’t need more light, and the light would have better runtimes too. The light has direct-turbo too, that only can be activated with the light on. Click the main switch to enter turbo, click again to go back to the last used mode. There’s also strobe, that has two frequencies. This mode is extreme blinding, beware to try this out indoors! A flash-icon is visible on the screen. No SOS-mode can be found on this light. The light is prevented against overheating: When the temperature of the light get above 65 degrees, the light will decrease by steps of 1000 lumens until 2500 lumens is reached. If the battery gets low, the light will step down to 1000 lumens until the battery protection turns it completely off. The light can be prevented against accidentally turning-on: three quick clicks on the main button will (de)activate this (good) function. This is indicated by a padlock-symbol on the screen. Overall this light works like other Fenix-torches: easy and effective. Nice solution that the light has steps of 100 and 1000 lumens. I miss momentary and turbo from off, although the direct mode to 5000 lumens is strong enough to start with. 

In practice, the light works fine. It’s a bit heavy when you carry it in your hand for longer times. In highest modes, the light will get warm soon. For longer use, the output of around 4000-6000 lumens is a very good one to me. The TK72R will run a long time in these modes without getting overheated. This is the advantage of a big flashlight against a smaller one that can reach this output only in turbo mode. In contrast to other lights that are equipped with XHP70, the TK72R has a less floody beam. This is also because of the small en deep reflectors. I’ll show you more about the output and the beam later in this review.

*Modes:
*
I can be short here, because the TK72R has only two main modes: LOWEST and HIGHEST. Between the two (range of 100 to 9000 lumens) you can choose every level by steps of 100 or 1000 lumens. So, the spacing is very good… Like I mentioned earlier, a lower level is desired. Three direct modes here: direct-LOW(200 lumens), instant-HIGH (5000 lumens) and direct-TURBO (9000 lumens). One special mode here: STROBE, this is an instant-mode. The TK72R has LOW-VOLTAGE warning, but the actual voltage is continuously displayed on the OLED-screen. The torch has an electronic LOCK-OUT mode. Most modes that are needed are there.


*Size comparison:*

I showed you the TK72R earlier next to some Fenix-brothers, but now I’ll show you the flashlight next to another powerhouse, the Olight X7R Marauder. Both are in the same price-class and powered by the same leds too. Later in this review, in the beamshots-section, I’ll show you more about these two!

*the Fenix TK72R and the Olight X7R *





_t*he Fenix TK72R and the Olight X7R*_





*the Fenix TK72R and the Olight X7R*





*both smooth reflectors, but difference in diameter*





*both powered by the same XHP70 leds*





*the backs: the Fenix TK72R and the Olight X7R*
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*Tint:*

The tint of the TK72R is coolwhite, and is surprising good in the whole profile. Have a look at the picture below to see what I mean: The X7R shows yellow/green in the corona and spill, the TK72R has the better color here.







*Beamprofile:*

The three quad-led give a big, broad beam to the TK72R. A big and equal hotspot, medium corona and not that much spill. So we can’t expect a for reaching beam, but a large area illuminated at about 50-150 meters away. The TK72R really creates a wall of light! The beam is clean and free of defects, neither PWM could be detected. 

*Beamshots:*

Time for a couple of beamshots now! Starting indoors on a white wall. Because the TK72R has around 90 output levels, I chose for the options “lower-modes” and “higher-modes”. Lower means 100 up to 1000 lumens (steps of 100); higher means 1000 to 9000 lumens (steps of 1000). Mostly GIF’s here, otherwise it will take a lot of space to show them all. Distance to the wall about 1 meter.

*Camera settings: ISO100, WB daylight, F/2.7, 1/125 sec, 35mm*

*the lower modes on a white wall
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*the higher modes on a white wall*_





Going outdoors now! First location is a road, a wall at right side and some trees at left. I always use the same settings for my beamshots, so this time some pictures will look little overexposed. This is because the big output of the TK72R. Again two GIF’s, first the lower and after that the higher modes.



*Camera settings: ISO100, WB daylight, F/2.7, 4 sec, 35mm

the lower modes shown at the road
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*the higher modes shown at the road*





Same road, tripod some further away. Here’s the TK72R against the X7R Marauder. The Olight has clearly more flood. And keep in mind that the X7R should have 3000 lumens more than the TK72R.

*the TK72R versus the Olight X7R Marauder, both on highest level*





Another location: A field and a treeline at the left. Compared against the X7R, you can see that the TK72R lights up more trees, the X7R has clearly more flood.

*the TK72R versus the Olight X7R Marauder, both on highest level
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Let’s compare the TK72R now to the previous Fenix output-king, the RC40-2016. This big torch still has an almost unbeatable combination of output and range, but the TK72R has also a wide beam that reaches a good distance.

*the TK72R versus the Fenix RC40-2016, both on highest level
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Now the TK72R and the X7R together! With both lights you can light up a very large area!

*the TK72R and the X7R both on highest output-level
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I picked another location to show the higher levels of the TK72R. A field at the left, a ditch in the middle and a wall at right side. The humidity was rather high here, so at highest modes, you’ll see some more reflections. Here we go!

*a GIF of the higher levels of the TK72R*





Let’s see the TK72R now next to another 9000-lumens torch, the Olight X7 Marauder. The TK72R has better output at medium to higher distance, the X7 has great flood.

*the Fenix TK72R against the Olight X7 Marauder, both on highest level
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Same location, compared now to the X7R Marauder. This light has the same profile as the X7, but some more output.

*the Fenix TK72R against the Olight X7R Marauder, both on highest level*






*Conclusion:*

As seen on earlier products of this manufacturer, the TK72R is also a very well constructed and finished flashlight. I’m sure that it will last for many years. I like the design. The light is a bit heavy to carry for longer times but comes with a good holster. The brightness is impressive, the tint very good. The powerbank-function works easy, the TK72R can charge a device for several times without problems. For me, the buttons may be some larger and different in shape; if that, it's easier to find the right one in the dark. The shortcuts to low and medium level is a nice find, together with the instant turbo you can choose your desired level very quick. I don't know or many user will use the “fine-tuning” on this light, but it can be a handy feature. I miss momentary on, and would like to see also a better and more economical low. An upgrade to USB-C type would shorten the charging job. I detected also that a tripod mount is missing: a pity, because the light is very well suited for photography. 

If you're looking for a sturdy and durable big torch for different applications, that sometimes need more or less light, the TK72R is a very good pick. Comforting thought is that is also a powerful spare battery for your phone. Also recommended for Fenix-fans who like to have the opportunity to carry a lumens monster in your coat pocket. The light is much more compact than the TK75-2018 and the previous lumens-king RC40-2016. 


*Special thanks to Fenixlight and Knivesandtools for providing me the TK72R for testing!*

*the TK72 on highest level*_



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*the TK72 on highest level*_



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## lumen aeternum (May 29, 2018)

can the pack be charged outside of the body? To reduce heating.


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## kj75 (May 29, 2018)

lumen aeternum said:


> can the pack be charged outside of the body? To reduce heating.



No, you need to charge it inside.
But, because it's not fixed, you can use a spare pack, although this is pricey solution...


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## aginthelaw (Aug 25, 2018)

Can the light be discharged to 0% with no effect on the battery pack? I assume there’s still juice left in the batteries so they won’t suffer damage


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## kalantan (Apr 9, 2021)

Mine is only a year old with very light use. The battery never gets to 100% charge as per the light's indicator. Stays at 85% fro days after charging up. After a few weeks in my pack, the battery shows at 59% when first turned on. Anyone else have this issue?


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## torretto7542 (Jul 14, 2021)

kalantan said:


> Mine is only a year old with very light use. The battery never gets to 100% charge as per the light's indicator. Stays at 85% fro days after charging up. After a few weeks in my pack, the battery shows at 59% when first turned on. Anyone else have this issue?



Try the following: Charge the light completely. Discharge it, until it shows 00%. Recharge it again. I guess it has to be calibrated. Mine never got charged over 92%. First 100%, after turning it on, 92%. After I did this, it charges nearly up to 98 - 100%.

Please answer me, if this was successful.


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## lumen aeternum (Jul 15, 2021)

So after 3 years, what newer lights are comparable or better? Run at 5000, turbo higher.


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