Fenix TK45 High Performance Flashlight

Very nice flashlight. I especially like how the controls are laid out. Right button controls on-off and flash mode. Left button controls intensity. The flashlight remembers the last intensity. Press twice fast on the right button to enter flash mode and control the flash mode with the left button. It takes no time to get use to the feel of the controls and you won't make mistakes in the dark. It is -very- intuitive.

Very powerful beam. More than enough to light up whatever you point at. The flashlight works well (on low mode) to light up the stove interior but not blind me when I worked on it and on a higher mode to light up my orchard or woods on a moonless, cloudy night. Point it at the tree line at pitch dark and you will see everything at a distance. Sweep it at the huge oak tree and nothing in the tree will remain hidden. The light cuts through driving rain and a halo surrounds the beam of light. Very cool. You can actually see the beam of light near the flashlight. (Yes, when a November rain storm came through I did check how it works.) I've seen complaints that the beam is not a "thrower". My take is that everything within 300 feet is going to be lit up. Everything within 600 feet illuminated. I use this as a tool; not some tactical toy. Most off, at night or in a storm, I'm concerned with things out to 100 feet at dark, not a mile away. For use in the real world, a wide beam allows you to have more things illuminated with a wider beam. That is the trail in front of you, along the sides of the trail and in the far distance so you can choose your path.

On low (8 lumens) mode there is just enough light to light the path right in front of you (but not further). They won't see you coming and low mode can last about 9 days continuous without recharge. It is too weak to be used walking a difficult trail except if the path is mostly clear and known. On my drive in winter, this is enough for the next 10-15 feet. Great for going around the house / bedroom without waking anyone. On the next setting, medium, there is about the same light as a 3-D cell mag light (95 lumens) but this lasts 20+ hours. More than enough to light a difficult trail and avoid things that will trip you. Better than my 18V dewalt lamp. On the next setting, high, it lights up everything around you and for some distance with 300+ lumens like a super flashlight and this should mode lasts over 6 hours(!). You don't need to follow the path on high mode. High mode is enough to completely light up my wooded drive way for a good distance. Than comes TURBO with 760 lumens. Turbo lights up everything and is expected to last 2+ hours. Incredible.

While I have had it for a few weeks, I have not recharged the batteries yet (envelop batteries). Still going strong. The directions say to unscrew the top a couple turns to prevent the batteries from being drained.

I did buy the Sanyo charger that comes with eneloop batteries and will use that charger with my La Crosse charger so I can charge eight batteries at once. The most important feature of this flashlight is that you don't need to buy strange battery sizes. The TK45 uses eight (8) AA batteries so in a pinch you can take batteries from everything else to feed the flashlight. Eneloop batteries work perfectly in this.

The flashlight has a good heft and good size. Large enough to hold enough batteries for -HOURS- of use and small enough to be useful while you work in tight spots. It is not a small flashlight. It is not a toy. It does have some heft but not enough to bother me. I had thought that I would have liked to see the flashlight be made of slightly thicker metal on the body and end cap. On the other hand, It is not long enough to use as a club so the body don't need to be super thick. And, in a pinch, I think the back end would survive to pound nails (or whatever or whomever) with out any damage. I would liked to see another lanyard mounting hole on the back. And while I am at it, I would like filters for the beam(s). I also still need to find a holster or shoulder rig. (If the end cap had a lanyard mounting hole, it would allow for a simple strap to function as a shoulder rig - HINT: some one make this for a reasonable price.).

Highly recommended.

This light is very bright and works great both indoors and outdoors. It casts a broader light and not a narrow beam, so it's best within 100 yards.

I don't like the on-off switch, as it drains the batteries. You need to unscrew the rear lid to prevent battery drain, which is annoying. It was likely designed this way so the flashlight would remember what intensity the light was set on, but I'd rather have a hard on/off switch so I don't have to futz with the tailcap in the dark.

My first experience with a high performance flashlight was an Inova T4 (max 110 lumens or so) that I bought from a store while on a visit to the U.S. back in 2006. I used that light uptil now and am very much satisfied with it.

I stumbled across the Fenix TK45 while checking amazon.com and was quite shocked to see the maximum output rated at 760 lumens! (and I thought my 110 lumens T4 was bright!). I was a bit nervous about going for "Made in China" product! (well go to admitt I have a unwavering bias towards Made in U.S.A. products, thanks to my 4 years of under-grad college life in the U.S.). Any way TK45 was reviewed quite favorably on both amazon.com as well as other internet forums. So I took the plunge with it, neglecting models from Surefire and EagleTac.

I have had the light for two weeks. I primarily use it as personal companion in underground work (I run 4 different subterranean mining operations in the Salt Range region of Pakistan). these are underground rock salt mines (with mine heights of over 125 feet) and underground coal mines (with mine height of 7 feet). So far the TK45 has performed outstanding in these areas. I will make an observation that TK45 is ideally suited for tight, constrained or defined widths areas like tunnels, underground mines, and perhaps not that well suited for longer range applications. Now don't get me wrong, TK45 still has an enormous throw but what I mean to point out is that the beam is quite spread out and not tightly focused. So in any place with a defined width, the illumination from TK45 in front will be 360 degrees of brightness. I have used the TK45 on surface also at night (mind you on a moonless night it is pitch dark in these barren and scarcely populated areas of salt range in Pakistan) and it does give excellent illumination (a hiding bandit in Salt Range at night has no chance to hide!). Battery life has been good, so far the sanyo enelope batteries I ordered with the light have not needed any recharging. I think using a standard AA size battery for such a high powered flashlight is really economical. One of my problems with Inova T4 was that fact that it used three CR123A batteries that needed replacement every four underground visits for me. So that comes out very expensive. I will have to wait and see how does TK45 behave in extreme hot weather of Salt Range (come May, June and July) when temeperature can soar to around 48C (or 118F). So far in cold weather with temperatures around -1C (or 30F) it has performed without any issues. I did notice a bit more than normal and robust build up of moisture on flashlight surface in the humid underground conditions of a coal mine. It was bit more than I would call normal. May that has something to do with some specific material used in construction of flashlight as I did not have that problem with my Inova T4. I will have to check this further come August when the monsoon season starts here and humidity remains over 95% for whole month. Having four different output levels is also very user-friendly as in an application like mine I dont all the time need high illumination and this sustains the battery life.

I would say an excellent flashlight, great design, superb illumination, economical to use, expensive to buy. Well done Fenix (as far flashlights go, I can be comfortable with "Made in China").

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