Fenix TK50 Review

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woodrow said:
I just received the Rayovac platnum precharged D batts I ordered. Much lighter than alkalines...and low works immediately. Light feels 1/3 lighter. Might see if the SF M6 diffuser fits. Very happy right now! Edit: (I guess rayovac precharged d batts are only 3000 mah, so I am not sure what runtimes will be, but they also weigh half as much as alkalines (70 vs. 140 g) so I am willing to take a little drop in runtime to get the much lighter weight and 'free power'.
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Given the capacity and weight, I wouldn't be surprised if that's a Sub-C (or similar) cell in a D-cell shell - essentially the same idea as using the adaptors for AA cells. A real NiMH D-Cell should have a capacity of 8000mAh or more; 10,000mAh D cells are fairly common nowadays.

If they work for you, fine - but I personally find it verging on fraud to sell something like that as a "D Cell".
 
Johnpaul said:
Hi there 357mag1, just a quick question from a newbie who bought the TK50 a few months back, i have seen the adaptors on here made by mdocod and they look to be very well made, but in your post you say that you have to remove a nut so that the adaptor will fit into the body of the TK50, how do you have to do that if they are custom made to fit into the tube....?????

Thank You
Johnpaul
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Sorry if I led you to believe the adapters were specifically made for a TK50. I'm sure mdocod designed them to work with Maglites. I just happened to try them in my TK50 and found they work fine. The nut is put on hand tight when you load the adapter with cells. It keeps enough pressure on the cells so they all stay in the adapter. It works fine in the TK50 if you insert the loaded adapter and then remove the nut.

Hope that helps.
 
So why isn't this light pushing 800 lumens like the TK45 and TK41? Are D cells really that poor? Still, 250 lumens seems pretty weak when a Zebralight is getting close to that on a single AA cell. I would love to have a really high output D cell light for work.
 
g.p. said:
So why isn't this light pushing 800 lumens like the TK45 and TK41? Are D cells really that poor? Still, 250 lumens seems pretty weak when a Zebralight is getting close to that on a single AA cell. I would love to have a really high output D cell light for work.
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I think you might be missing the point of this light. First, the R5 is not capible of that kind of brightness..it would need a xml, secondly this is meant to be a long runtime light. Alkalines do not do well with heavy loads. That being said, This light is easilly brighter in spill...and of course kills in throw my Fenix TK12 R2 and Olight M20 R5 lights...with the Olight claiming 300L
 
g.p. said:
So why isn't this light pushing 800 lumens like the TK45 and TK41? Are D cells really that poor? Still, 250 lumens seems pretty weak when a Zebralight is getting close to that on a single AA cell. I would love to have a really high output D cell light for work.
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Hi g.p.,

The total output lumen is not the most important factor to judge the flashlight performance.
You need to have a good look this review again. :thinking:
The 255 lumens of TK50 may not seem weak if you look at the following table.

tkseriesspec001.jpg

You can find the above values at Fenix homepage as well.

Max. output of TK50 is not the highest value among the above TK series, but the max. beam distance & peak beam intensity is second despite XP-G R5 emitter.
If you want to have a higher & higher output light powered by D-cell, I'd recommend you to get a TK60(XM-L). :)

P.S.: TK50 runs with 4 x AA's (Eneloop Ni-Mh) by using 2 x D-cell converters too. The runtime on turbo brightness is around 2 hours.
 
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woodrow said:
Alkalines do not do well with heavy loads.
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Thank you for the replies, that's what I was wondering. Still, can't D cells be pushed a little harder than this in turbo mode? I understand that XPG's can't be pushed as hard as the XML's, just wondering why they don't make an XML version. I haven't seen the TK60, so I'll check that out. I understand that lumens aren't everything...my Masterpiece Pro 1 is my furthest throwing light by a long shot and only puts out 250 lumens...but I have never seen more lumens have a negative effect on a light.
 
g.p. said:
Thank you for the replies, that's what I was wondering. Still, can't D cells be pushed a little harder than this in turbo mode? I understand that XPG's can't be pushed as hard as the XML's, just wondering why they don't make an XML version. I haven't seen the TK60, so I'll check that out. I understand that lumens aren't everything...my Masterpiece Pro 1 is my furthest throwing light by a long shot and only puts out 250 lumens...but I have never seen more lumens have a negative effect on a light.
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I think the new version of TK40 is TK41 and the new one of TK50 is TK60(maybe wrong).
The new lights are powered by 8xAA's and 3xD (or 4xD cells using extending tube) respectively.
The max. output of TK60 is appr. 1000 lumens, need more power.
More lumens need more heat dissipation & bigger head area of surface at least & more care.
 
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Thanks for the great review.

I particularly liked the control shots against the building. I was quite surprised by the distinct square pattern thrown by the Night Hunter.

Looks like the TK50 is a very well made unit.

cheers!
 
357mag1 said:
The TK50 pulls about 1.8amps on fresh cells so runtime with the above setup should be two hours or a little better.
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357mag1,

In your reply concerning how long the two AA-D converters would run you say the time would be approximately two hours. Given that the converters use 2 cells times two converters at 2000mah per cell shouldn't the light run for over four hours? Just learning about this stuff but I'd like to know how this is calculated. Anyone else feel free to help. Thanks.
 
Sci Fii said:
357mag1,

In your reply concerning how long the two AA-D converters would run you say the time would be approximately two hours. Given that the converters use 2 cells times two converters at 2000mah per cell shouldn't the light run for over four hours? Just learning about this stuff but I'd like to know how this is calculated. Anyone else feel free to help. Thanks.
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Hi Sci Fii,

Each converter uses 2 cells in parallel, it increases capacity(2x2,000=4,000mAh) but keeps voltage same(1.2V).
TK50 uses 2 D-cells in series.
So total voltage is increased to 2x1.2=2.4V but keeps total capacity same(4,000mAh).

Runtime will be 4,000mAh / 1800mA = 2.2 hours
I think TK50 does pull about 1.5A in general and (4,000mAh / 1500mA) x 90% = 2.4 hours.
90% is efficiency of circuit of TK50.
Anyway it runs on turbo brightness more than 2 hours.
 
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candle lamp said:
Hi Sci Fii,

Each converter uses 2 cells in parallel, it increases capacity(2x2,000=4,000mAh) but keeps voltage same(1.2V).
TK50 uses 2 D-cells in series.
So total voltage is increased to 2x1.2=2.4V but keeps total capacity same(4,000mAh).

Runtime will be 4,000mAh / 1800mA = 2.2 hours
I think TK50 does pull about 1.5A in general and (4,000mAh / 1500mA) x 90% = 2.4 hours.
90% is efficiency of circuit of TK50.
Anyway it runs on turbo brightness more than 2 hours.
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candle lamp,

Thanks for the reply, however, I still am confused. Each new "cell" has two AA in it. Two AA's times 2000 equals 4000mAh. But there are two cells containing 4000mAh's. That should total 8000mAh for the pair. As I said this is new to me but shouldn't the 8000mAh be divide by the 1.8. Sorry if I'm confused but appreciate any help.
 
Sci Fii said:
candle lamp,

Thanks for the reply, however, I still am confused. Each new "cell" has two AA in it. Two AA's times 2000 equals 4000mAh. But there are two cells containing 4000mAh's. That should total 8000mAh for the pair. As I said this is new to me but shouldn't the 8000mAh be divide by the 1.8. Sorry if I'm confused but appreciate any help.
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When batteries are connected in series, voltage is incresed but no change in capacity.
When those are connected in parallel, capacity is increased but no change in voltage.

Two eneloop cells are in parallel in each converter, so capacity is increased to 4,000mAh.
Two converters are in series, so no change in capacity. :)
 
candle lamp said:
When batteries are connected in series, voltage is incresed but no change in capacity.
When those are connected in parallel, capacity is increased but no change in voltage.

Two eneloop cells are in parallel in each converter, so capacity is increased to 4,000mAh.
Two converters are in series, so no change in capacity. :)
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OK. I think I got it. I'll read some more elsewhere to understand better but I get what you're saying. Thanks.
 
Thanks to your review I just ordered a TK50.. :)
I can't wait to get it..
Long rintimes and looks to be a great thrower too..
Love the Building shots!!!!

AWESOME JOB!!!!!
 
Wow! Awesome review. Thank you.

Page one is the sh*t with all the pictures. :twothumbs
 
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