Fenix E12 Thoughts

I've tried a few flashlights from Fenix over the years but none of them have blown me away. That's pretty much the case for this E12. Companies like Olight, Thrunite, and Nitecore seem to be ahead of the game when it comes to performance and design. I don't see Fenix sticking around much longer if they keep making bland lights. I had this one on loan last year and wasn't sad to see it go back to its owner. It performed like it should, yet it failed to excite me.

Design wise, this looks like any other Fenix. The quality is impressive for a $25 light. I've had issues with Fenix lights in the past, though this one was surprisingly good in that regard. It runs off one AA battery which helps keep it a manageable size for EDC (around 3.5" long). I didn't mind that there was no clip since I usually carried it in my EDC pouch anyways. I don't like the boring black and would've liked to see more color options. Fenix is doing a better job these days when it comes to different colors opposed to a few years ago when this light was made. The knurling all over the light is nice and helps give you some extra grip. I've got no major complaints when it comes to the quality or design. 

The E12's output isn't as impressive as it once might have been. These days you can generally find AA lights that have over 200 lumens max. The high mode only gives you 130 lumens for 1.5 hours, medium is 50 lumens for 6.5 hours, and a low of 8 lumens for 40 hours. When it comes to usage, 130 lumens is generally all that'd you need for basic stuff. It's always nice to have more lumens though which is where this light falls flat compared to recent competition. The beam looked nice as far as tint goes and was more flood than hotspot.

I loved the clicky on this light! A clicky is much easier to use in your EDC than a twisty in my opinion. The rubberized button helps you differentiate it from the rest of the light. You can also tailstand the E12 if that's important to you. I really liked the simple UI. You click once to turn the light on and then do half presses to cycle between the modes. That's my favorite type of UI because of how easy it is to control the modes. I was a little bummed there wasn't mode memory or momentary on, but neither are necessarily dealbreakers. 

As far as an EDC light goes, it works as it should yet you can find much better options today. If you love Fenix, maybe check it out. Otherwise, look for a recently released light from somewhere like Olight. Flashlight performance always seems to improve every year, so it's usually better to buy new lights instead of older models. I don't personally recommend it, but it was a decent light overall. Thanks for looking!