There are two reasons for a flashlight housing to be any color other than black.
First, a splash of color can help make a flashlight stand out, whether in a tool box, bag, table, or junk drawer. A flashlight that stands out is easier and quicker to grab.
Second, like other EDC (everyday carry) tools, there’s a “pocket jewelry” aspect. When you buy a pair of shoes or boots, there might be 2 or more colors to choose from, right? Footwear is functional, but they’re not all only available in black.
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Even for functional items that aren’t displayed to the world, it’s good to have color options.
Fenix has offered different flashlight colors before, mainly with their keychain-sized lights. Some of their headlamps are available in different colors or with headband strap color options.
But what they’re doing here is different. With recent PD36R Pro marketing materials, Fenix introduced 4 new colors of this popular rechargeable flashlight. You can now buy it in black, red camo, “dragon’s breath,” magma, and urban gray.
The pricing varies – $120 for the black flashlight, $125 for the red camo, and $130 for yellow, orange-grey, and gray camo options.
While checking the pricing for this story, I saw that Fenix has new colors for another rechargeable flashlight model, the TK20R UE.
Here, you can choose from copper camo, metallic sand, city gray, and tropical green. At the time of this posting, they’re all $139.95 each.
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Readers pushed me towards trying out rechargeable flashlights a few years ago, and I overdid it with Fenix.
I have a PD36R test sample that I purchased based on reader recommendations, but it mainly sits in the corner of a shelf, along with a bunch of other generic-looking flashlights that I’d be hard pressed to tell apart from each other. I grab them on occasion, but none have been upgraded to go-to flashlight status.
Part of that reason is because, for my personal use, I tend to lean towards 16340 and 18650-sized lights, at least in the context of rechargeable flashlights. I prefer smaller lights.
Both of the lights discussed above are powered by 21700-sized Li-ion batteries, and they charge via USB-C.
The magma color is a $10 upgrade from the black.
When choosing shoes or boots, with most other aspects and the price being equal, I might lean towards a particular model based on color or aesthetics. Because of that I don’t feel too bad that I’d do the same with flashlights.
While it’s way too garish for public-carry, the magma-camo PD36R Pro would likely get a spot on my desk or workbench. At this time, I have four flashlights on my desk, two of which I used this week. I used two other models for different purposes – a long-throw spotlight flashlight for checking the tree line for deer, and a compact EDC flashlight with magnetic tail cap came in handy for aligning the holes of my benchtop mill stand.
It seems strange to talk about color without a single mention about brightness output or emitter color temperature. But, Fenix has done that too.
Checking my inbox to see if there was lower introductory pricing, I found an email that Fenix sent at the start of the year – “Black flashlights are so 2022” – where they featured their Cerakote-finished flashlights. Cerakote? I should start opening Fenix newsletters.
Correction: The Cerakote-finish flashlights are from Fenix-Store, a Fenix flashlights retailer.
The new color options are also exclusive to Fenix’s direct store.
I hope that more brands jump onto the colorful flashlight finish bandwagon. Every model should always be available in black, but I for one like having color options.
And yes, I know some of you are screaming about the price. To put it bluntly, most people don’t need a premium flashlight, let alone multiple premium flashlights. Some do. For many it’s a daily or very regular-use tool. In the middle are enthusiasts who want more powerful, featured, and reliable flashlights that can endure more demanding usage environments.
If you’re such a “cheap is good” user, Fenix’s E-series starts at $12.95. I bought my wife an E01 (they now have an E01 V2.0) back in 2010, and it’s still working reliably. Fenix’s modern pricing quickly climbs upwards from there.
Do you care about having more color options?
Joe H
I use a flashlight a lot every day and night. It’s one of the things I reach for the most. I hate all black flashlights. Flashlights tend to get pulled out in dark conditions and there have been times where I have dropped my flashlight pulling it out of my pocket and resorting to having to use the light of my phone just to find my flashlight. I’ve had bright colored flashlights in the past and loved them for that. I usually just hate dark colored tools in general because dark tools fall and roll under things and get lost. I like the looks of these flashlights and wish more lights had these options. At least Streamlight and a few other companies often offers lights in different colors than just black. I wish black was not the standard color of flashlights in general and at least a brighter color of almost any sort was the norm.
Adam
Same, can’t be arsed to get anything like that in black. At least gimme a red.
I’ve long been partial to orange and blue (old Gulf racing colors) for just about anything, but those aren’t real common so I’ll default to red.
No color = no buy, for me.
MoogleMan3
These lights have a nasty green tint, hard pass. I like the magma design a lot though.
Franco
Painting all Fenix with 1 brush? I have 2 Fenix, neither has a nasty green tint.
MoogleMan3
The two mentioned in this post. Look up beamshots. It’s the emitters they’re using.
Adam
The Sft70 in the Pro is pretty new I think. Still nasty green?
JR Ramos
If you get out of the mainstream big-brand flashlights, multiple colors and even patterns have been around for many years now (I guess Olight being an obvious now-mainstream example, too…and Lumintop since they established an Amazon presence). Having owned a few Fenix lights honestly I don’t see the “premium” anything, certainly not enough to justify their pricing but they got on the same wagon with others. Their warranty is so-so, which ostensibly is a big chunk of the retail pricing. I love their copper-look power buttons. I do not love their foray into proprietary batteries (not as bad as Olight or Nitecore, however).
I wish colored anodizing could be more durable than it is…if they aren’t shelf queens they start to look pretty ratty in short order.
Are they doing the legit Cerakote process or just borrowing that term for a similar MAO type finish?
Franco
I do not have warranty experience, but many have told me they are quite good at taking care of the customer.
My 2 Fenix are nice. I wouldn’t say, wow, the best, but definitely up there with the premium brands, at least, that is what I find. There are some premium brands which I think less of than Fenix.
Stuart
Sorry, I mixed things up.
It seems the Cerakote flashlights are from Fenix-Store, a retailer. I’ve ordered from Fenix directly, via Amazon, and via Fenix-Store before. I haven’t mixed up Fenix Lighting and Fenix-Store in a while, and suppose I was due.
Anyway, Fenix-Store has a page describing the Cerakote brand and process, and so it’s a legit refinishing.
Fenix direct hasn’t done this yet, but they are moving in the direction of new color and patterns options.
JBC
On the subject of Cerakote, I’ll take this opportunity to ask if you would consider an article/discussion about the similarities & differences in characteristics, including durability, among various coatings for either protecting or highlighting tools and accessories. Whether it’s for making a tool easier to locate or to increase it’s longevity, I would personally like to know more about aftermarket coatings and what you and your readers prefer and recommend.
Stuart
Can you be more specific? If you’re only talking about flashlights, that’s relatively easy.
Aftermarket coatings are generally done for aesthetics and customization. For durability, there are plenty of companies that specialize in work-duty-grade products.
All that is to say I can’t think of any scenarios where one *must* choose an aftermarket coating.
If you want to make a tool easier to find, fluorescent spray paint or duct tape is cheap and effective. Special coatings aren’t necessary for this.
Once you start looking at semi-custom models, you get more choices, such as brad blasted, tumbled, raw machined, and so forth, most of which differ in form and not really in function.
If you can give me some examples, I’ll see what I can do.
JR Ramos
Cerakote and similar are much thicker and more durable “anodized” coatings than typical anodization option. Like the pretty colors on the light hosts above and that all the brands use…that is necessarily the somewhat wimpy Type II anodization. Some factories do it a little better than others but it’s not all that durable so it’s mostly appearance and enjoyment. It doesn’t affect heat dissipation in any meaningful way but there can be a reduction there with true Type III (aka “military) anodizing, even more so with ceramic types. They affect that less than most powder coating application and I think plain old plastic-layer paints fall somewhere between.
There’s a whole world of coatings out there, though, many very high tech types that are just not fea$ible for the consumer goods market and even most light industrial applications. Usually it comes down to affordability and aesthetics at a cost that is accessible….rust resistance, splash of color, etc. Also usually not very necessary, all things considered.
There can be a wide variation of quality, which is just a crap shoot. Some of the China anodizing/coating/plating factories are top notch and some are still real hole in the wall polluted sweat shops that do not have the money (or desire) to put in to consistency, maintenance, etc. so what they put out may be ok, may be crap, and will likely vary from month to month. Same with the higher tech processes like “cerakote” approaches…..some are capable and some attempt it but put out dismal failures. We saw that over the last couple years with flashlights where “white” became a thing and most of them were terrifically fragile, even flaking as if they were paint, simply because the factories didn’t have the expertise to do it correctly.
There’s always an environmental con$sideration with these coatings, too. Some of it takes a LOT of energy to produce, there are chemical costs and containment/disposal costs, etc, etc. Health and pollution concerns with nickel or chrome plating and such. In the cutting tool world some of the PVD coatings are quite impressive, though and far surpass the cheesy “titanium” drill bits and such that we’re used to seeing in the consumer market. That process is expensive but much better overall as long as it suits end needs.
There are some good gunsmith treatises around the web that explain some of the basics/differences/characteristics of various steel treatments…which are for appearance and which are more robust, etc.
DarioGP
I’m sure the lights are good. But they could have spelt their website link right on their advert. 🤣