Having a reliable flashlight can be very useful but it’s not often reasonable to keep on your person. The Fenix E05R mini keychain LED flashlight is tiny, lightweight and powerful giving you up to 400 lumens of light on your keychain. Small enough for EDC (every day carry) and rechargeable for convenience. Let’s take a closer look.
Specs
This little durable gem is made out of A6061-T6 Aluminum Body and weighs just .8oz and measures 2.6″ by .60 inches in diameter. Shaped by CNC machined aluminum with a hard-anodized HAIII anti-abrasive finish the finish is polished and solid. It’s is not much bigger than a AA battery.
The Fenix E05R mini flashlight uses a Cree XP-G2 S3 White LED that can burst out 400 lumens of light. The Spot beam or more focused beam of light has a 22 degree angle while the Spill beam or the surrounding luminous light measures a 95 degrees angle. This gives you some good overall vision when you’re looking around for something in the dark.
Battery Power
The power comes from a built-in 320 mAh rechargeable Li-polymer battery that is cleverly sheathed behind a section of the aluminum body that you twist open to expose the micro-usb port.
What’s nice is that you can still operate the light while it’s charging. This can be helpful in a pinch if you run out of power. It’s common now a days to carry some sort of portable battery for your smartphone anyway. The Fenix E05R is IP68 rated so it’ll withstand a drop in the water up to 6.5 feet for up to 30 min.
Fenix has provided us with the E05R mini keychain light so that we could bring you our first hand review coverage.
How to use the Fenix E05R mini keychain light:
- A metal button in the traditional spot operates the Fenix E05R.
- From the off state: A short push (0.5 sec) turns it on, push it again for med, again for high. A long push turns the unit off.
- From the off state: A long push (1.2 sec) turns on burst mode. Let go to return to low setting
- When the light is on: a long push turns the light off.
- A Double push locks or unlocks the light. When you push the light if it blinks twice it means the E05R is currently locked.
The E05R light output, distance, duration:
ANSI/PLATO FL1 | BURST | HIGH | MED | LOW |
---|---|---|---|---|
OUTPUT | 400 lumens | 150 lumens | 25 lumens | 3 lumens |
RUNTIME | / | 55 minutes* | 5 hours | 30 hours |
DISTANCE | 64 meters (209 ft) | 40 meters (131 ft) | 17 meters (55 ft) | 8 meters (26 ft) |
INTENSITY | 1046 candela | 412 candela | 72 candela | 15 candela |
IMPACT RESISTANCE | 1 meter | |||
SUBMERSIBLE | IP68 |
Note: According to the ANSI/PLATO FL1 standard, the above specifications are from the results produced by Fenix through its laboratory testing using the built-in 320mAh Li-polymer battery under the temperature of 21 3 C and humidity of 50% – 80%. The true performance of this product may vary according to the different working environments.
*The High output is measured in a total of runtime including output at reduced levels due to the temperature or protection mechanism in the design.
What could be better
The max runtime is 30 hours but the 3 lumen low setting is too faint to be useful unless you’re trying to be incognito.
When using burst mode, long press and hold to use is great. Letting go is a different story; the Fenix E05R doesn’t return to the off position, it will default to the low setting no matter the previous state of output. This can be problematic as the low 3 lumen setting is so faint, it can be hard to notice and could drain your battery. There isn’t a rating on how long the light will last on burst mode, nor is there any way to lock burst mode in as the battery will probably deplete quickly that way.
When using the light in burst mode for slightly prolonged periods and then shutting it off we experienced instances where the light seems to become unresponsive and would not turn back on for 10-20 seconds. Similarly when we play with the light as one often might do turning it on/off and cycling through the settings, playing with the lock and unlock… the light can again become unresponsive for a few seconds. After that it returns to normal.
That’s a Wrap
The Fenix E05R mini keychain LED flashlight is beautifully machined and small enough to keep on your person no matter what you’re doing. Stick it in your pocket, on your key ring or even easily usable on a lanyard around your neck.
An instant-on mode gives you 400 lumens on demand in addition to the normal low, med, high settings. The E05R is IP68 dust/impact resistant and is submersible in up to 6.5 ft of water for up to 30 min. Convenient personal light with no batteries to replace.
Fenix E05R Mini Keychain Flashlight $29.95
www.fenix-store.com