The Fenix E05 is ultimately a $20 flashlight that isn’t
anything particularly special. It’s a great quality light, but it isn’t really
bright enough for my needs.
The quality of this list is great. I haven’t run into any
issues with mine. All the machining was done extremely well. The threads are
very smooth. It’s all very impressive for $20. I will say that I find Fenix
lights hit or miss when it comes to quality. Some are good, while others are
just really crappy. This one just happens to be pretty good.
The E05 is pretty compact, which is good for an EDC light.
There’s plenty to grip, and the knurling all over the light does help provide
some additional grip. Despite how small it is, the light is super easy to
operate one-handed. My only big complain is that this is a twisty light. I
personally don’t like twisty lights, because I think a button is faster and
even easier to turn on. Unfortunately, there aren’t many clicky AAA lights that
are bright and affordable, so I just settled for this one instead. The light
can also tailstand if you need that in your flashlight.
The amount of light that the E05 puts out is pretty impressive
considering it runs on an AAA battery. The max output is 85 lumens, the medium
mode puts out 25 lumens, and the low mode is 8 lumens. 85 lumens is plenty
bright enough for most EDC tasks and comparable to the high mode of other AAA
lights. The max runtime is 15 hours on low, 4 hours and 15 minutes on medium,
and 45 minutes on high. I haven’t encountered any issues with runtime as I only
use this light every so often. AAA batteries are easy to find, so it’s not too
big of a concern that the runtimes aren’t the best, in my opinion. The tint of
the beam is pretty neutral, and luckily doesn’t have any blueish or purplish
tint to it. With cheaper lights, I’ve found that most of them have purplish
tints to the beam. It’s good to know this one doesn’t have that issue. The beam
has a hotspot opposed to having a lot of flood. I prefer flood lights, so I’m
not the biggest fan of the hotspot. I do like that the modes start at low and
then go to medium then high. I personally never need that much light, so low
normally is always good for me. I’m also happy that there’s no strobe or any
other fancy modes. The modes are basic, but do the job just fine.
Like I said at the beginning, for $20, you’re getting a
light that isn’t that special. It’s a great quality light, but not something
I’m particularly in love with. It was one of the best, affordable lights on the
market when I bought it. However, Olight recently released the i3E that is
cheaper/brighter, yet it lacks some of the features that the E05 offers. I
haven’t tried that one personally, but maybe I’ll pick one up to do a
comparison post. Still, this E05 is a classic, and I’d recommend it. It’s not
fancy, but it will always work when you need it to. Thanks for looking!
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