Fenix LD20 2009
Reviews / Lights
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At A Glance
It wasn’t long ago that Fenix were the choice of budget light seekers, for night riding, everywhere. In recent years bike light technology has come on leaps and bounds and also dropped in price. However, the Fenix is still a popular choice and with good reason. They are well made, available from UK retailers, very bright and they won’t break the bank, this model retails in the UK at just under £50.
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On The Trail
The LD20 is bright, very bright for a torch style light. Much brighter than the Tesco’s torches that did the rounds about this time last year! You’d want to use a couple of them in order to do a proper off-road night ride; one on the bars and one on your head, or use it with your existing light set up as a helmet light. The spot is very bright and great for seeing round corners. There are quite a few settings which can get a bit confusing though! In general mode there are 4 settings, 9 lumens, 47 lumens and 94 respectively as well as a flashing mode. The you can twist the bezel and set it to turbo mode, which sees a whopping 180 lumen beam from a very small and lightweight torch! There is also an SOS turbo mode. Quoted battery life is 2 hours for Turbo at 180 lumens and 5 hours for the 94 lumens mode. Depending on your current light set up and how you use it will of course affect the battery life too. We coupled it with a Hope Vision 4 on the bars and found the spot of the LD20 flooded out the centre of the beam from the Hope. After about an hour and half though the high capacity rechargeable batteries we had loaded it with were losing power. If you remember to turn it off and on as and when you need it you can easily string out the power over a three-hour ride. Of course if you have a lower powered main light you may want to utilise the LD20 more and get less life out of it.
Overall
A well made, bright torch that is available in the UK and backed up with a warranty should you ever need it. There are cheaper options out there, but the quality of the Fenix cannot be called into doubt and the UK dealer and support network should go some way to make the extra cost seem worthwhile.
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This review was in Issue 3 of IMB.
For more information visit FenixRelated
By Rou Chater
Rou Chater is the Publishing Editor of IMB Magazine; he’s a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, but his passion for bikes knows no bounds. His first mountain bike was a Trek 820, which he bought in 1990. It didn’t take him long to earn himself a trip to the hospital on it, and he’s never looked back since. These days he’s keeping it rubber side down, riding locally and overseas as much as possible.
