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This is the FENIX E12 (Month-Long Review)
Apr 22, 2025
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View Video Transcript
0:00
Adam here and today we're going to be
0:01
checking out the Finex E12 doubleA
0:05
flashlight that the brand has kindly
0:08
gifted me and I've been reviewing for
0:10
the past month and I can't wait to show
0:12
you some of the things I love about
0:15
it. Fenix E12. This is a everyday carry
0:21
lightweight everyuse case light. Today
0:24
we're going to check out some of the
0:25
things we like, don't like, and who it's
0:27
for. So, the FX E12 is a battery
0:31
operated, fully
0:33
aluminum, small form factor EDC light.
0:38
It has a magnetic tail switch. It has a
0:43
removable belt
0:45
clip and has three light modes. It is a
0:51
high output. I would say a high output
0:53
for what it is. High is 200 lumens,
0:55
medium is 30 lumens, and then low is 5
0:58
lumens. And for a little light like this
1:01
that runs off one, that's pretty
1:03
impressive in my book. Um, we've
1:05
reviewed other Fenix lights that are
1:06
considerably brighter but are massive in
1:10
my book. And so for that amount of light
1:11
to come out of this little guy is pretty
1:13
stinking sweet. So this little guy only
1:15
weighs 1.9 O. It will run on low for
1:21
about 100 hours. That's pretty
1:23
significant amount of time off of one
1:25
aoublea battery. Um, I've even been
1:29
running rechargeables, which don't
1:31
really seem to have the same capacity
1:33
and run time that a normal
1:36
non-rechargeable AA battery has. Um, and
1:39
I have not had any problems. It runs a
1:40
really long time. And the magnetic tail
1:43
switch. This is a feature that is
1:44
really, really cool. If you have ferris
1:46
metal that you work around and you want
1:47
to plug it onto something, it has enough
1:51
hold that it'll hold the light well, but
1:52
not too much where it's hard to get off.
1:54
So, as you can see, this is not a very
1:56
large flashlight. I think they did a
1:59
fantastic job with keeping the side, the
2:02
form factor small enough, but not making
2:05
it so small that it's hard to keep track
2:07
of. Um, it doesn't fall out of your
2:09
pocket easy. It's not going to get lost
2:12
in your change drawer or anything like
2:13
that. Um, it has some some heft to it,
2:16
which is nice, but again, not too not
2:18
too big. The next thing I love about
2:20
this light is the three
2:23
different levels of output that it can
2:26
is capable of. Uh, there's a low,
2:27
medium, and high setting. And the the
2:30
highest setting being 200 lumens. It
2:32
doesn't sound like a lot, but it's super
2:35
bright for how tiny this thing is. And I
2:37
love that you have those wide array of
2:40
options being 200 on high, 30 on medium,
2:43
and then five on low. You can pretty
2:45
much get enough light for whatever you
2:47
really need. Um, if you're just needing
2:50
to see something really quick, that low
2:52
five lumens is great. If you need a
2:54
little bit more, that 30 can help out.
2:56
But then at the max at 200, it's super
2:58
you can look for things that are maybe
3:00
out in the woods if you're camping or
3:02
you're trying to find something. The
3:04
other thing that I love that goes along
3:05
with the three different levels is that
3:07
the switch will remember where you left
3:09
off. So, if you leave it off on medium
3:12
and you completely turn it off and you
3:14
turn it back on, it will be on the
3:16
medium setting. You don't have to cycle
3:17
through low, medium, high every single
3:20
time. Some a lot of uh headlamps I've
3:22
ever dealt with, they have a you turn it
3:25
off and then you cycle through all the
3:27
different uh brightness modes. And that
3:30
is one thing I absolutely love about
3:31
this. If it's on high, you turn it off,
3:33
it's going to be on high when you turn
3:34
it back on. I have dropped it. I have
3:38
used it a lot working on my vehicles and
3:40
just everyday tasks. It gets dropped.
3:43
Um, and it is a tough little bugger.
3:47
This thing has stood up to quite the
3:50
test and I'm sure it'll surpass anything
3:52
that I can throw at it. And um, that is
3:56
just a great testament to how Fenix is
3:59
building their products. We've reviewed
4:00
other Fenix products here on the channel
4:02
and again just full aluminum
4:05
construction, super beefy componentry.
4:07
The quality is just out of this world as
4:09
far as I'm concerned, especially for the
4:11
price point that this little light is
4:12
at. And so I really think that the
4:14
quality and the materials used is a
4:16
very, very good point for this light.
4:19
Moving on to things that I like less
4:21
about this light. Um, now it's really
4:23
hard to find things that I don't like
4:25
about this light. um just because it is
4:29
a great little guy. But one thing is
4:31
this pocket clip. So the pocket clip, as
4:33
you can see, is below the shoulder of
4:35
this. And I wish that the pocket clip
4:40
actually extended a little further up.
4:42
It sits pretty high out of your pocket.
4:44
And that's the one thing um I would love
4:47
to see different about this light. This
4:49
is kind of a personal preference as
4:50
well, that it sits a little deeper in
4:52
your pocket. when I put my hand in my
4:54
pocket, sometimes I'll run into it and
4:56
instead of going into my pocket. So,
4:58
that would be nice if it sat a little
4:59
lower. I think I'd slip right past it.
5:00
What I love most about this light is the
5:02
three different levels of uh brightness
5:05
you can get out of it. But the thing I
5:07
don't love is the actual tail cap, the
5:10
switch that turns it on and off. to
5:12
cycle through the the power modes. You
5:15
have to be very delicate when depressing
5:18
it so you don't click it off, but also
5:21
you can depress it just a little bit to
5:23
change the brightness level. Not that
5:25
the the switch is bad, but I I wish that
5:27
they had a little bit different design
5:29
on how far you could push to change the
5:31
the brightness level before it clicked
5:33
and it shut off the light. Those are
5:36
really the only things I don't like
5:37
about this light. And they may just be
5:39
personal preferences. Somebody else may
5:41
think that they're great features, but
5:43
for me, that's those are like the two
5:45
things that I would change about this
5:47
light. If you
5:49
are somebody that likes to be prepared
5:52
and likes to carry a light on them every
5:55
day, this is for you. If you need a
5:59
small in your glove box
6:02
um or center console of your car, um
6:05
this is it for you. If you just need
6:08
something lightweight to go in your
6:09
backpack for camping, this is once again
6:12
it for you. This has so many use cases.
6:16
It has such versatility that I don't
6:20
know that there's anybody that wouldn't
6:21
be able to use this at some point, even
6:24
if it's in your drawer at home. Uh it
6:26
takes up very little space and is super
6:28
powerful. So, if you do have like a
6:30
power outage and you're going for a
6:32
flashlight, um this would be right up
6:34
there for one I would grab. as well as
6:36
being the double A rechargeables or the
6:39
AA single use. Yeah, very very abundant
6:42
for batteries out there. If you use your
6:45
phone light very often,
6:48
this is a substantial upgrade. Um, I
6:51
just checked and my iPhone 14 has the on
6:56
its brightest setting has a similar
6:58
output to this on the lowest setting.
7:01
So, if you find yourself wanting more
7:04
out of your phone flashlight, but don't
7:06
want to be packing around some super
7:07
massive flashlight, this is for you.
7:10
This is replaced my phone light. I
7:13
barely turn it on anymore. The only time
7:15
I use my phone light is when I don't
7:17
have this and I instantly regret not
7:20
having this. So, it definitely is for
7:23
you if you think your phone light is not
7:25
very uh powerful. If you like this
7:29
video, if this was helpful, if you maybe
7:32
if you even have one of these little
7:33
lights, uh, drop in the comment what you
7:36
think. Like, subscribe, and follow us
7:39
for more. Hit that bell notification so
7:41
you can see when our latest videos come
7:43
up. And we'll catch you guys on the next
7:45
one.
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[Music]