Fenix E21 - good for country roads?

Surveyor11

Thinking of buying a high powered Fenix (or similar) for use on what may be a winter of commuting on back roads (Carpenterstown via Westmanstown to City West). I have a Maglite converted to a high powered LED which is providing some good light up front.

To augment this, was thinking of a Fenix E21 - or maybe even use it on it's own. I see that some of the bigger fenix's use the 18650 battery size, which presumably needs a specific charger and different sized batteries? So don't want to invest in an expensive torch with batteries and charger that go with it.

The E21 seems to foot the bill for me, in that it uses my existing AA rechargeable stock, and should light the way for about 2.5 hours on full power - more than adequate for my use. Any comments welcome.

Edit - found this thread useful: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055705708&page=5

karltimber

have a look here too

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77359193

K

cdaly_

I've been using a TK11 for the last couple of years. That's been plenty bright enough for me. I did about 5 hours of dark, unlit Wicklow roads recently on its low (60 lumen) setting and that was fine. Its high (285 lumen) setting lights up the road a lot, helpful for descents.

Your E21 has 48 lumen low and 135 lumen high. It's likely that the low setting may be ok for an unlit road and the high should be fine.

I recently got an E11 which has 32 lumen low and 105 high. I've yet to use it on an unlit road so I can't say how good it'll be bit I'll report back when I do. I got it mainly 'cos it's light for helmet mounting (the TK11 is about 200-250g vs about 60g for the E11) and I'll have the TK11 on the handlebars when required.

ROK ON

I have two TK11's.

When they work they are as bright asI would ever need on a country road but at low and high settings.

The rod that you aim to use it on is one that I know very well - and I have used it around Westmanstown. It is a great light WHEN IT WORKS.

I have found them to be unreliable very very often. Both of them tend to simply switch off. I thought that it was a battery thing - but it does not appear to be.

Some journeys they simply flicker on and off when it suits them.

SO from that point of view I dont think that one could recommend them. I think that they are the price they are for a very good reason, in hindsight.

cdaly_

Have you sent them back for warranty? 2-years all in and lifetime labour warranty according to my new E11.

Surveyor11

OK, thanks for the reply. That's disappointing to hear - the fenix's look like a quality product. I'm looking at the E21 - it's a small unit and rated as totally waterproof (something about rated to 2m underwater, much less than the even wettest of cycles:pac:).

cdaly_

cdaly_ wrote: »

I've been using a TK11 for the last couple of years. That's been plenty bright enough for me. I did about 5 hours of dark, unlit Wicklow roads recently on its low (60 lumen) setting and that was fine. Its high (285 lumen) setting lights up the road a lot, helpful for descents.

Your E21 has 48 lumen low and 135 lumen high. It's likely that the low setting may be ok for an unlit road and the high should be fine.

I recently got an E11 which has 32 lumen low and 105 high. I've yet to use it on an unlit road so I can't say how good it'll be bit I'll report back when I do. I got it mainly 'cos it's light for helmet mounting (the TK11 is about 200-250g vs about 60g for the E11) and I'll have the TK11 on the handlebars when required.

So I took the E11 out for a test spin this evening. Riding a 1km stretch of unlit road with streetlamps at junctions at each end. Moon shining from behind clouds so some light there.

On the low (32 lumen) setting, there was enough light to see at modest speed (25kph). I could see enough surface to avoid holes etc and was lighting up road signs nicely. Was bright enough to sometimes get oncoming drivers to dip. It was entirely inadequate to light my side of the road in the face of oncoming traffic but seemed sufficient for an unlit road.

On the high (105 lumen) setting, things were better. Easier to see surface problems and still worked with oncoming traffic. I wouldn't try descending with this light though.

I'm intending to use this as a city traffic attention getter and as an auxiliary light for night riding, not as my main light.

On the basis of this and of my experience with the TK11, I'd say the E21 would be only enough and no more but I'd say you would do better with the TK11, particularly if you handlebar mount it. There's an initial outlay for the batteries and charger but they have a universal charger which will do lithium batteries as well as the AA/AAA Nimh so you're set for all your charging needs.

Surveyor11

OK, cheers for the detailed info cdaly_, very useful. Had a look at the E11, it's small ok. Will have another snoop around and maybe get something more powerful, might even just bite the bullet and go the whole hog for this - probably works out the same when I factor in charger / spare batteries.

kuro_man

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k997/a39159/bike-light-led-80-lux-black.html

I use one of these - works well on country roads, good visibility at 30kph, casr dip headlights. Battery lasts about 90-120 mins on full power - 6 hours on low power. it uses standard AA rechargeable batteries so you could keep a second set for backup.

It doesn't flash and its fairly heavy, sometimes it rotates downward, but I might have used a shim thats too small.

Surveyor11

Thanks for that Kuro Man, had that one in mind. Picked up a Led Lenser B7 - quality built and comes with a bike mount and claimed output at 200 lumen. Bring on the dark!:pac:

Edit - yes, I agree the only downside of the B7 is that it doesn't flash. Thought this would be a feature o na bike specific light, but the light it emits on high setting is pretty savage!