Fenix TK11 TAC

The front part of the flashlight is what most people care the most about. Output, beam shape, beam color, and of course runtime. The TK11 is using a Luminus SST40 LED for a claimed maximum output of 1600 lumens and sits deep in a smooth reflector. In front of the reflector is an ultra-clear glass lens with an anti-reflective coating. Although this doesn’t make a huge difference, it’s nice to have :–)

The glass lens is protected by a crenelated bezel without any real sharp edges and that’s how it should be, if you want to keep your pockets undamaged.

One con of having a smooth reflector and a clear glass lens is that it makes all its weaknesses more apparent. An orange peel reflector makes the beam more smooth with a less concentrated hotspot. The TK11 TAC has a clear hotspot and some sort of rings. It’s not that bad, but some white wall hunters do care about this 🙂 I think this is much worse if you use it for indoors, or close up work, but not outdoors. You can see a slightly green hue in the lowest output, but that’s no longer noticeable when you increase the output.

• Length: 140 mm / 5.5 ”
• Head diameter:  34 mm / 1.34 ”
• Body diameter: 23.4 mm / 0.92 ”

Weight: 

• Empty: 160.3 g /  5.65 oz
• With battery: 210 g / 7.41 oz

Tactical flashlights

Size compared to other great tactical flashlights.

Image 1 and 2: From left to right: Fenix PD35 Tac, Thrunite TN12 v4, Fenix TK11 TAC, Nitecore MH25GTS, Olight Warrior X PRO, Fenix TK22 v2.

And most of my Fenix collection:

Image 3: From left to right: Fenix E12 v2, Fenix E35 v3, Fenix PD35 Tac, Fenix TK11 TAC, Fenix PD36R, Fenix TK22 v2, Fenix TK30.

The TK11 TAC has a double-switch assembly. The dial is used to select the user interface with either the Tactical mode group or the Duty mode group. The Duty mode group works a little like your average user interface with 3 modes and a strobe feature.

Available modes:

• Low, Medium, High
• Strobe

From OFF in Tactical Mode:

• Half-press: High momentary
• Single-click: High continuous
• Press and hold: Strobe

FROM OFF IN DUTY MODE:

• Half-press: momentary on and changing modes
• Single-click: continuous on
• Press and hold: Strobe

From ON:

• Half-press: Cycle through the modes from Low to High if you are in Duty mode. Or turn off if you are in Tactial mode.
• Single-click: Off
• Press and hold: Strobe

Mode memory:

• Yes

Blinky modes menu:

• Strobe. Always accessible with a press and hold.

Low battery warning:

• Yes, if you look at the runtime graph you can see there are vertical lines, which means the light was shortly off. This is the low voltage warning.

Lock-out mode:

• The dial has a lockout mode, but I would suggest just unscrewing the tailcap to be safe.

PWM:

• Not visible by eye.

Fenix included a 18650 battery with a capacity of 3500mAh. Its model number is ARB-L18-3500U and contains a Micro USB charge port on the side of the positive terminal of the battery. Unfortunately, they are not included by default, so you have to buy one separately.

Whilst charging, there is a red indicator LED visible at the positive terminal which turns blue when it finishes charging.

Instead of using a 18650 battery, you are also able to use 2*CR123A batteries. The max voltage is 6V, so you shouldn’t use rechargeable 16340 batteries.

Unprotected, flat tops (18650) fit without a problem.

Lumen measurements:

All output numbers are relative for my home-made Integrating Sphere. It is set up with an Extech SDL400 Lux Meter for measurements including a Kenko PRO1D ND-16 filter. The base measurement is done with a Convoy S2+ that has been tested at 255 lumens.

All of my readings were taken from a fully-charged Fenix 3500mAh 18650 battery .

Amps were measured with a Fluke 77III, at the tailcap.

As you can see, these numbers are pretty close to what Fenix claims. I couldn’t get Amp reading for Low and Medium, because I think the driver is inside the switch and not inside the head. Its highest output couldn’t reach 1600 lumens in my case. Also, for people who love low outputs, the TK11 is not for you.

Here is the list with most of the single 18650 throwers we reviewed, reaching 500 meters or farther.

Runtime:

The runtime test was done with the 50cm integrating sphere, including the Kenko Pro1D ND-16 filter and Extech SDL400 data logging Lux Meter.

High starts out just below 1600 lumens and starts its fastest drop from 6 minutes and 30 seconds, until 10 minutes 35 seconds to stabilize around 580 lumens. Then it tries to increase output again, probably there is a temperature sensor inside. When the battery runs really low, it will still glow for 2 more hours. It then shuts off. I’m not sure if that is low voltage protection inside the flashlight or just the battery protection. If you look closely, you can see some vertical lines in the flattest line, which means it’s actually blinking.

Low was going to take more than 47 hours, and I still have many more reviews to do, so unfortunately I can’t test this. It will probably be a long straight line for 47 hours which makes this type of graph not very useful and pretty to look at.

Throw measurements

Measurements were taken both indoors and outdoors with a professional Hagner E4-X Lux Meter.

The shed is about 65 meters / 71 yards away.