FENIX PD25R EDC FLASHLIGHT / TORCH. (REVIEW)
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I feel like I’m out of my comfort zone, I usually write about bags and packs but hell I use a flashlight I know what I like and don’t like, what’s useful, practical and down-right annoying so in that I’m as qualified as the next guy right? OK we’ll see.
Full disclosure; FENIX reached out and said they’d like to send me a gift as a thank you for featuring their FENIX RC05 in my EDC lays outs for many, many years! I said that’s very kind, may I have a PD25R?
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| WHAT'S IN THE BOX? |
That was 6 months ago and I’ve been using this really quite brilliant flashlight everyday, as bike messenger, to find customers house numbers, read street signs, find the correct order in my bag and generally just find my way around austerity England that has no street lights and apartment blocks with pitch black hallways cos the light bulbs have been stolen again. Honestly, sometimes it feels like I’m in a post apocalyptic computer game : ) In short, I’ve used this flashlight for work, in the real world, inside and out.
Criticism? It could be a bit bigger in the hand especially in the cold when I’m wearing gloves but then… I could have just chosen a bigger model so that’s on me.
I’M NOT A FLASHLIGHT NERD BUT.
Let’s talk stats and I’m going to give you some of my real world applications for context. For instance the FENIX PD25R FLASHLIGHT is up to 800 lumens in output and 15530 candela!(brightness) on its most powerful mode (Turbo), it has a 250m bean distance so these combined allow me to easily see, a house number from the other side of the street, in total darkness, while riding or to put it another way, an apartment number from one end of the corridor to the other.
I think this is impressive and has made it possible to ride and deliver right through the winter in good order, an actual game changer. Other benefits to using PD25R? It’s dropped rested to 1m and waterproof down to 2m. So far I haven’t dropped in any water but I’ve dropped it a few times including down the stairs with no issues, it didn’t even get scratched! Runtime for me was about 3 hours, then it dropped to low/eco mode which I found was at least enough torch to get done and home.
So it’s a great flashlight with a broad beam and good range, really impressive for its size but there’s more I like to this flashlight, which I think is quite hard to find in modern flashlights.
SIMPLE ON OFF BUTTON WITH A GOOD CLICK.
In the trade this is called a tactical tail switch. A big textured rubber button that’s easy to find and use even with cold wet gloved hands, that simply works by pressing it until it clicks for “on” Press it again until it clicks for “off” Simple and yet in this day-and-age this feature seems quite hard to find. I’ve owned a few other EDC flashlights in the past and it seems to me that they were designed in a warm dry offices by people with small delicate hands. The product itself would look and operate wonderfully in a controlled environment but for me, next useless in the real world.
So yeap, the PD25R has a big beautiful chunky on/off button, for me that’s a deal done!
6 MODES, SIMPLE SELECTION.
The PD25R has 6 modes including strobe. so that’s; Eco, Low, Med, High, Turbo and Strobe, each mode can be selected using the dedicated mode section button on top and toward the front of the flashlight. To the centre of this button is a small power indicator; green for go, red recharge now.
To select your required mode simple toggle through. Press once for Low mod, press six times for Turbo, press and hold for 2 seconds for strobe on and a quick press for strobe off, simple. The mode selection also has a memory and banks your last mode. So if you’re a Turbo person, select Turbo and that’s what you’ll get when you next switch on.
I really appreciate that the mode selection is separate to the main off button, it does not take much to impress me.
SIMPLE TO CHARGE.
The PD25R comes as standard with a 700mAh rechargeable battery and can also operate on a disposable CR123A Lithium battery, which as you know can be purchased over the counter anywhere. The survivalist in me really likes this if the rechargeable batter fails or comes to the end of its recharging cycle, you can grab a back-up repayment in Walmart.
Access to the battery is by unscrewing the end cap, including on / off button mech, pretty intuitive and standard stuff which I like a lot.
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| BIG BEAUTIFUL CLICK ON, CLICK OFF BUTTON. |
SIMPLE ON OFF BUTTON WITH A GOOD CLICK.
In the trade this is called a tactical tail switch. A big textured rubber button that’s easy to find and use even with cold wet gloved hands, that simply works by pressing it until it clicks for “on” Press it again until it clicks for “off” Simple and yet in this day-and-age this feature seems quite hard to find. I’ve owned a few other EDC flashlights in the past and it seems to me that they were designed in a warm dry offices by people with small delicate hands. The product itself would look and operate wonderfully in a controlled environment but for me, next useless in the real world.
So yeap, the PD25R has a big beautiful chunky on/off button, for me that’s a deal done!
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| MODE BUTTON inc POWER INDICATOR LIGHT. GREEN FOR GO! |
6 MODES, SIMPLE SELECTION.
The PD25R has 6 modes including strobe. so that’s; Eco, Low, Med, High, Turbo and Strobe, each mode can be selected using the dedicated mode section button on top and toward the front of the flashlight. To the centre of this button is a small power indicator; green for go, red recharge now.
To select your required mode simple toggle through. Press once for Low mod, press six times for Turbo, press and hold for 2 seconds for strobe on and a quick press for strobe off, simple. The mode selection also has a memory and banks your last mode. So if you’re a Turbo person, select Turbo and that’s what you’ll get when you next switch on.
I really appreciate that the mode selection is separate to the main off button, it does not take much to impress me.
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| 700mAh CORE RECHARGEABLE POWER. |
SIMPLE TO CHARGE.
The PD25R comes as standard with a 700mAh rechargeable battery and can also operate on a disposable CR123A Lithium battery, which as you know can be purchased over the counter anywhere. The survivalist in me really likes this if the rechargeable batter fails or comes to the end of its recharging cycle, you can grab a back-up repayment in Walmart.
Access to the battery is by unscrewing the end cap, including on / off button mech, pretty intuitive and standard stuff which I like a lot.
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| USB SYMBOL MARKS THE SPOT. |
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| TYPE-C USB CHARGING PORT OPEN. |
The Type-C, USB charging port is concealed under a really beautiful twist to open / close, waterproof port, indicated by a USB Trident symbol.
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| LUMINOUS SST20 LED. |
THE LED CANNOT BE REPLACED BUT I DON’T CARE.
The LED is a Luminous SST20 unit and can’t be replaced but I don’t mind that because it has 50,000hrs lifespan. In the old days LED or bulb replacement was a thing, so much so flashlights would have a spare stashed somewhere in the body. A good example would be the MAGLITE. different times : )
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| TOUGHENED ULTRA CLEAR LENS. |
LENS TOUGH & ULTRA CLEAR.
The PD25R has a toughened ultra - clear glass lens with anti reflective coating, enhancing the power of that 700Ah battery and the SST20 LED. This is inset deep inset into the body of the flashlight protecting against damage.
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| DUAL ACTION BODY CLIP. |
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| THIS NICE LITTLE FLASHLIGHT POUCH IS INCLUDED AS STANDARD. |
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| EVERYTHING WORKING TOGETHER. |
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| BODY CLIP REASSESSED. |
BODY CLIP / POCKET CLIP.
The FENIX PD25R has a really nice, simple dual action body clip so for instance, you can hang it from a belt, lens down or you could slip it onto a cap visor for hands free operations. This clip seems to be made from some really high grade spring steel and clips securing to the body of the flashlight. There’s a reassess in the body of the flashlight for this purpose and all seems very secure. However, if a thing can happen, it will happen so in close country, I’d still carry it zipped-up in a pocket, pouch or use the little pouch FENIX provides.
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| THE PD25R IS A GENUINE THING OF BEAUTY. |
LOOKS LIKE A MINI BLACK LIGHTSABER.
I think the FENXIX PD25R is a thing of beauty, with its tough black anodising it looks like a mini stealth lightsaber but as designer I was wondering if there was any reason for the design. I think most of it is simply aesthetic and why not but the knurled areas do indicate that they provide grip and unscrew to expose the charging port or remove the end cap and battery. The area just behind the lens cap has parallel reassess punctuated with flats, that do provide a flat spot to help stop the flashlight from rolling and the parallel reassess give the flashlight some grip when the body clips’s in play. You know, I might be other thinking this and its just make manufacture and assembly easier but what ever, the FENIX PD25R is a real purdy looking flashlight.
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| THE FENIX PD25R PURDY LOOKING FLASHLIGHT. |
IN CONCLUSION.
In truth I didn’t pay for my FENIX PD25R it was a gift but having used this now indispensable tool for over 6 months, thru the darkest, coldest, wettest part of the year and knowing it’s large enough to be useful, small enough to be convenient, tough, intuitive to operate and bright enough to make jobs easer, even fun! Would I pay for my own, with my own hard earned cash? now I know just how great it is? the answer is; Hell “YEA” all day or, all night long.
AND FINALLY TO FENIX
Thank you for reaching out with this offer, it's actually helped me in my everyday worklife, I really appreciate it.
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