Order of the Fenix#

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:41:28 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the last person on Earth to have found out about this headlight, other times people rush into the road to accost me and excitedly ask "what the hell is that?", so it's probably still not quite as famous as it deserves to be.

"That" is the Fenix L2D - an LED torch with 180 lumens output that takes standard AA cells. Capsule review follows:

• it's bright. In this respect it can be described succintly and without caveat as the bog's dollocks.
• I've had it three weeks and not broken it, which bodes well. It looks well-built in much the same way as a mini Maglite is well-built - that is, it would probably survive being driven over, but it wouldn't actually be any use in a fight.
• better with NiMH than alkaline cells - it runs for longer and doesn't rattle on rough bits of road (NiMH cells are usually very slightly fatter than disposable cells).
• switching between the three normal output levels is easy 0 just push the button. It would be even easier if they took the useless SOS flashing mode out. Switching in and out of "turbo" mode requires twisting the barrel and is fiddly on the move.
• the lockblocks bracket is not so great, really. It's a chunk of shaped rubber and two velcro straps: one strap holds the rubber to the handlebars and the other holds the torch to the rubber. Because the torch barrel is fairly long it tends to vibrate over lumps, and the rubber gradually rotates around the handlebars until the beam starts dazzling oncoming helicopter pilots. This might be less of an issue with the P2D variant, which is shorter because it works on oddly-shaped batteries, but I wanted standard cells because I have a gazillion of them (at last count) lying around already.
• I can't confirm its waterproofness from personal experience, but it looks as though it ought to be.

The review I linked to has all kinds of detail about runtimes. I won't comment further on that because I can rarely remember how far mine goes between charges anyway: I will say, though, that it stays bright until almost the end of its runtime then dies to utter uselessness in less than ten minutes - so, always prudent to have a spare pair of batteries.