{"id":966,"date":"2012-03-22T12:15:04","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T17:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=966"},"modified":"2012-03-22T12:15:04","modified_gmt":"2012-03-22T17:15:04","slug":"edc-flashlights-fenix-pd20-vs-sipik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=966","title":{"rendered":"EDC Flashlights: Fenix PD20 vs Sipik"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regular readers know that after the first of the year I decided to start carrying a flashlight every day. I asked for suggestions and got quite a few good ones. I ultimately decided on the Fenix PD20<\/a>\"\" and wrote a review<\/a> of that light.<\/p>\n

SayUncle linked to that review<\/a>, and the first comment to that post was a link to a $9 light<\/a> that the commenter claimed “performed about the same.”<\/p>\n

Well, I had to order one. It came in Friday.<\/p>\n

The verdict? It’s not even close.<\/p>\n

Now, let me go ahead and say that it’s a very good $9 light. I don’t feel ripped off or cheated or anything like that. But, comparing it to the two Fenix lights I have is about like me comparing my 13 year old Jeep Cherokee to a brand new Toyota 4Runner. They might perform the same function, but one does it a whole lot more…elegantly<\/i> than the other.<\/p>\n

The first thing I noticed was that the crenelated bezel slides up and down to get that spot-to-flood effect anyone who’s ever had a MagLite is used to. Note that it slides<\/i>, not screws. That means that if you set it to “spot” and then put it in your pocket, it may be on spot, flood, or anywhere in between when you pull it out again. Not only does it slide up and down, but it also twists. The twisting isn’t functional, it’s just a byproduct of the way the bezel is attached.<\/p>\n

Now, I’m not familiar with using those crenelations to get all stabby on someone, but it seems to me that you would want to be able to have them twist the skin of the guy you’ve just pressed your light into. <\/p>\n

It’s also rather large compared to the PD20<\/a>\"\". That may or may not be a factor to you, but since I have to cram everything in to one pocket (when I pocket carry my PF9) that’s a major thing for me.<\/p>\n

The big thing, of course, is the light output. Again, it’s very good for a $9 light. It vastly out performs the $5 LED light we used to use, but when put up against the PD20<\/a>\"\" its just…disappointing. In “flood” mode the coverage area isn’t any better than the PD20 (note: the PD20 does not have an adjustable beam) and in “spot” mode….well it gets a little weird there.<\/p>\n

The beam turns from round to square. Let me show you what I mean:
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See what I mean? It’s wierd. It’s also not nearly as bright:
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Bottom line: The Sipik is an okay light, and well worth the money. The PD20<\/a>\"\" is much better<\/i> and priced accordingly.<\/p>\n

More pictures after the jump.
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Regular readers know that after the first of the year I decided to start carrying a flashlight every day. I asked for suggestions and got quite a few good ones. I ultimately decided on the Fenix PD20 and wrote a review of that light. SayUncle linked to that review, and the first comment to that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disaster-preparedness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}