List Price: $135.00
Sale Price: $100.37
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Some pictures I was able to find while researching this light made it look bulky and a little big. If you are looking for a tactical to mount on a weapon, this is too big. If you are looking for an all-around hand carry light that can do a little bit of everything while excelling as a bright spotlight, this is will make you grin from ear to ear. Compared to my 2-D Mag-Lite with a converted LED bulb, the TK35 would fit into the face of the Mag-Lite while just touching the inner part of the black outer rim. Its diameter is a bit less than the Mag-Lite. However, it is far shorter than the Mag-Lite, by about half. Where the Mag-Lite beats the Fenix easily, is in the clubbing department. The Mag-Lite is solid and weighty, the Fenix, while hard and sturdy, feels much lighter and cheaper. This is not to say the Fenix is cheap, it's just not effective as a club. You can hear the inner springs vibrate if you thump the Fenix on something. The advantage of the Fenix is the relative light weight.
As a weapons light, this is light weight enough to use with a hand gun if you carry the light in the other hand. There are 4 brightness levels. Low is no good for use with a gun. Medium is OK. It will kill a person's night vision, but shining at my eyes in a mirror, I could still easily make out the outline of my body. On high, it is blinding and will disorient a person, but with squinting, they could make out your body. On turbo, it hurts the eyes, forces one to turn away and you cannot make out the outline of the body. A person's first reaction would be to put their hands in front of their eyes while turning the head.
As long as you don't need the club feature, this light would make an awesome police light. I am not in law enforcement in any way. I am in the military.
Room test: Besides my 2-D Mag, I also have a Streamlight pen light that fits into my uniform pen holder on my sleeve. It is about 10 lumens. The Fenix on low setting is a little brighter than that, but much more yellow. On medium setting, the Fenix light up a dark room about the same as my 3-watt LED Mag. The Mag has a tighter spot that is whiter, but I like the spot on the Fenix. It is more effective, I think. On high, the Fenix easily lights up a room when aimed at the ceiling. It outshines the LED Mag handily. On turbo, the room is very evenly and well lit. It's not quite having all the lights on in the room, but almost. Even with the room lights on, the Fenix on Turbo will add light to the room when reflected off my bedroom ceiling. The light seems to get whiter the brighter it gets.
Outdoor test: I haven't been able to do this one as much. Most of the times, it's been slightly foggy out. While comparing to my headlights isn't a perfect comparison, it's real world. The Fenix on turbo doesn't cover as much an area as headlights, but it can outshine my low beams. It can just about keep up with my high beams, only because the spot is tighter. As a spot light, this Fenix rocks. It may not outshine the real big boys, but for its size, it is a champ. Out to 100 meters, it lights up very well. Like I said, I haven't been able to use it in the dark outdoors without some fog, so can't comment on the 300 meter claims. I just know this light rocks and easily fits in my hands.
Ergonomics: Don't let the shape fool you. It fits very well into my hands. I have no problems with it not being round. It is easy to grip. I have not had any problems with dropping it. The light will stand up on end, but it rocks and you have to steady it first. Then it will stand on its own. I would have changed the design here so it was stable standing on end.
Battery life: This is not scientific. I just changed out my batteries after almost a month. It was still working, but as the battery wears out, you keep losing a brightness level until there is only one. When you cycle through the settings, if one setting has worn out, there will be no change when you click. The cycles are still there, but the light output will remain with whatever is left. It is hard not to use this light and go to the turbo mode, especially when it's a new toy. I found I used this light on high and turbo the most...easily the most. I use high to save on batteries (~5 hours) since turbo drains the battery quickly (1.5 hours.) Some patriotic gentleman graciously donated a bunch of batteries to me and some friends, so I will use the CR123As for the next several years. However, if not for that, I'd have gone with the rechargeables. If you are a light fanatic, you will go through 4 CR123As every 2-4 weeks, depending on your usage. Once again, I doubt anyone wanting the capabilities of this light will keep in low or even medium that much. The difference between medium and high is so great, that yeah, I keep it in high and jump to turbo a lot.
Sturdiness: It's feels well made. It feels strong. But is is light weight compared to others. You can hear the inside do the springy thing even with a modest bump. I haven't beaten up this thing and don't plan on it. I believe it will hold up well over the years so long as I don't use it as a hammer or club people on a regular basis with it. My gut tells me it is probably tougher than it seems, but time will tell. For what I intend, this should be more than enough.
Features: I love that it has 4 intensity levels. It also has an S.O.S. mode and an incredible strobe light. It comes with a decent sheath and a lanyard. It also comes with a spare o-ring. The box is nice, but I really don't care about that as much as the product itself. The battery compartment is good, too. It's easy to load and unload, install and uninstall. It's waterproof for a few feet. I wish I could dive with it (maybe will try later on in it's life cycle) but oh well. The two button feature is great. Big button power. Little button features. Easy. I find it is OK to use one handed once you have oriented the light according to the manner of the task. Depending on task, you may want one or the other button on top.
Value: I don't know if you can call any flash light over $100 a "value." But, comparing it to other lights in the same category, it is just that a tremendous value. It is not a pocket light. But it is small enough for all purpose use. It makes a great camp light. It makes a great emergency light. It makes a great glove box light. It makes a great around the house light. It makes a great two-handed gun light for most situations. It makes an awesome portable spot light. It makes a great spare head light just to say so because it can.
Cons: Not for little kids. They will burn their eyes out. Needs to be flat standing on end. Tactical rim would be nice for self-defense. Wish battery compartment didn't spring-rattle.
Overall: If you are looking for something in this class, buy it. You will love it, even with the few very minor cons. This is the best light I have ever owned. I have zero buyer's remorse. If my wife wanted one, I'd buy her one in a heartbeat.
Being a flashlight kind of guy, I would still buy a smaller tactical light that I could mount on a rifle. I'd look at a different Fenix.
12 MAY 2011 Edit:
I've had a chance to use the light outdoors on a clear night in the country. I ranged the distances with a range finder the next day, so distances are accurate. Out to 150 yards, this light is completely effortless on Turbo. It is so even and lights thing up brilliantly even when scanning. It does 200 yards nicely, but you can tell it starts losing some of the brilliance. After 250 yards, you'll still see things, but it's not as easy. The light starts to fade fast. I couldn't test 300 exactly due to the terrain, but could shine my way up a hill that was 650 yards. Nope, it couldn't go that far, though it may show reflection from eyes.
After some more use, I'd say you could easily use this light as a weapon as it is metal and would hurt someone, but it won't have the mass of a 2-D Mag light. Once again, the casing would likely survive impact, but I could not vouch for the internals. I don't see why it couldn't survive a big strike, but I'm not going to test it.
I carry this light in a bag and in the car and I haven't scratched the glass at all. I'm pleased with that. I'm on my third set of batteries. The first two sets, I used about the same. This third set, I am using less as the newness wears off. I still am thrilled with the light and think it is everything I had hoped for and more.
I like the comment another reviewer made about using this as a night stand lamp. Absolutely. Until I get outdoors more this spring and summer, this has been my favorite and most frequent use for this light. It can provide just enough light to type on a computer at night without disturbing my wife, or I can turn it all the way up and have a well lit room without having to get out of bed and turn the lights on.
13 SEP 2011 Update:
Maybe because it was cold out, but when I first got this light, it didn't heat up too bad even in turbo mode. I think I even used it frequently indoors. After about the 5th battery change, I noticed the light getting very warm, just about too hot to touch. Now, Fenix does state the heat build up in turbo mode clearly, with a warning on the light itself, but I hadn't noticed it at first. The light will shut off after about 30 minutes continuous on turbo. The other issue of note is that the battery cage seems to rattle even more. The white plastic clips that hold the battery cage together definitely resonates cheap. I think I will gorilla glue it and that should solve that.
I've been able to use it outdoors in good weather a little more. It is still an impressive, versatile, and practical light. Still no regrets. People certainly do notice how bright the light is. Its hard to judge distance across a body of water, but at one campground, it lit up the other side of a very large pond easily. You can't even make out a person on the other side. This light is so bright, that there are situations when it is too bright, and that is easily fixed by using a lesser setting.
Indoors, the reflective light lit up everything. In the great outdoors, you don't get that reflective light out in the clear open night. The beam is just right. It is a great balance between spot without being too focused and lets you see enough of what's around the area you want to see. The farther out you go, the spot still holds and offers great illumination. Great balance and performance for a little handheld light. After all this time, I am still happy as heck I got this light!
With frequent power use, the CR123As go quick. Get a couple sets of the rechargeables if you don't have a gob load of free batteries handed to you.
14 AUG 2013 Update:
Fenix has some new offerings, including an update to this model. I don't own that new update, but wanted to point out that after about 2.5 years, my light has held up well and is still going strong. The brightness still impresses others. I've had zero mechanical issues. I would recommend any Fenix product. This light in particular, is starting to prove itself timeless.
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Painfully bright light yet amazingly small and lightweight. Do not point at wife will get very mad at you.Best Deals for Fenix TK35 Flashlight
I've been skeptical about making the jump to an LED flashlight. For many years I have been using a Streamlight xl-20 but have grown tired of always needing to charge it and replacing the battery sticks every other year. Up until now the only experience Ive had with LED has been cheap key-chain lights and the little LED lights sold near the check stand at the big home improvement stores. The light from these were always to blue for my taste and I didn't think they would ever make one as bright as the big Streamlight. Boy was I wrong. I decide to do some research on these new high intensity LEDs and make the jump. After reading a lot of good reviews about the Fenix TK35 I decided to order one. I'm glad I did! This light outshines the old Streamlight hands down. The color of the light is almost white not the annoying blue as most cheaper ones. This thing is bright!! I think medium will suit most situations and high can really reach out there. Turbo mode is crazy bright! I did a little test at the back of our property by shining it at an object that was a little over 500 feet away. On high it illuminated it very well and on turbo mode it really brought out the details. I have no doubt this will shine even further. The design feels solid and the shape feels good in the hand. Operation is simple. The belt case that comes with it is an added bonus and is well made. If you decide on this light I doubt you will be disappointed.Honest reviews on Fenix TK35 Flashlight
My most three powerful flashlights are the Fenix TK40 630lm, the Fenix TK45 760lm, and the ITP Light A6 Polestar 700lm and I love them all. I'm crazy about flashlights, I use them all the time, around the house, at work, camping, hiking, and everything/everywhere else that needs a flashlight or an excuse for one. I recently purchased this Fenix TK35...and wow it's AWESOME! For the price, it's cheaper then both my other Fenix-es, but a pit more then the iTP flashlight (not by much), it is so nice...very bright! This flashlight uses either 18650 or RCR123A or CR123A batteries. The 18650 or more expensive so using the RCR123A rechargeable batteries is a great option. But I think if you use the 18650 batteries it will give better light performance. One of CON or minor complaint I have about the flashlight is the where the operating buttons location. It's on the bottom or tail of the light. So using one hand is not an option. When you need to change the mode you have to flip it over, used both hands to manage the modes. But that's not really a minus just a personal preference dislike.So how well does it perform? It's so powerful comparing to the other 3 lights in turbo mode that it outshines them all, my Fenix-es (TK40 and TK45) and of course the iTP Polestar by a mile! The iTP Polestar is not really in this league, but it's still a nice light. The TK40 comes pretty close but a bit shy. I have also tested this light while driving in the Shenandoah mountain at night against my HID headlights the other day. I have to say, WOW, the light threw even farther then my headlights on high beam. I was so impress! For the price, compact size, and it's powerful light output it is truly a deserving 5 stars, and one other nice feature, it came with a holster! Not like my other two Fenix. And about the battery life, I really haven't tested it but so far it's been a week with 4 RCR123A batteries and still going strong with no problems.
If I would of known how nice this light is from the beginning, I would of just brought 4 of them and saved myself over 100 bucks, instead of getting the TK45, TK40, and the Polestar. But honestly I don't regret purchasing the TK40 and TK45, they both have served me well. iTP Polestar also have been good to me on many occasions.
Bottom line, I highly recommend this Fenix 35 flashlight! You'll love the performance and it's compact size.
