Cool! That one is on my short list.

The Fenix P1D Cree that died is well out of warranty. The thing looks like it went through a war - nicks, all the black worn off the edges, but it was a GREAT light. Stunning actually.

I hope the new Fenix 15E I ordered is as good. For those of you who haven't seem what these little lights can do - you'd be really surprised.

I know the drawbacks of CR123A regarding availability, but AA's and AAA's just don't seem to provide the performance for the size.

I buy batteries on-line in bulk and the price is pretty reasonable, and I plan ahead and bring spares along.

The issue I have with the Fenix lights, at least the specific models I researched, is that they do not allow rechargeable LiIon's. I am too cheap to buy primary CR123's, they are just too dang expensive. Although I like the CR123 smaller size, I use 1XAA lights that give me an option of Alkaline, NiMH, or LiIon. Unfortunately, that knocks out the Fenix offerings (no LiIon allowed). My wife and I do use the inexpensive Fenix 1xAAA light on keychains (with an alkaline battery). I forgot the model number, but it's the one that costs $15 or less. This little Fenix replaced our previous ARC 1xAAA's (yeah, an old light, but they were one of the first, if not THE first, 1xAAA keychain lights of good quality).

I get CR123A batteries for well under $1 ea shipped. I'm too cheap to buy rechargeables! Over time they'd be worth is but between the high cost of the batteries and the charger it's not worth it to me...I don't go through batteries fast enough to make it worth buying all the stuff to use rechargables.

Yes, it would definitely depend on your usage patterns as to which is "too expensive" - disposable primary cells or rechargeable LiIon's. My EDC light gets used several times every day and I would be replacing disposable cells every week or even more frequently. So that one gets rechargeables. The light on my shotgun, in contrast, rarely gets used and it still has the same pair of CR123 primaries in it as the day I installed the light - several years ago. I check that light by inspecting the batteries and turning it on for a few seconds every month or so, and as best I can guess, that initial pair of CR123's would probably last for the rest of my life, although I will no doubt replace the batteries within 5-10 years "just to be sure".

The Fenix E15 just arrived. Wow, this thing is compact, light, and solid. The light is better than expected.

It is twist operated. Basically that means after inserting the battery you put the LED portion back on, start twisting to close it. At some point the o-ring on the LED portion slips inside the body. After some more twisting the light turns on. To turn off the light you basically "untighten" the LED portion until the light turns off.

You can switch between three light levels. It turns on at mid-level. Turn off/on quickly (< 2 secs) and you're at low-level. Do it again and your'e at high-level. Turn off for more than 2 seconds and you start all over again.

By pinching the body between my palm and middle finger I can use my pointer finger and thumb to turn it on & off one-handed fairly easily.

Just sitting in my living room, its a bit more floody than my Fenix TK10, but actually brighter at mid-level for each (actually the TK10 only has mid and high). At roughly 15 feet distance the bulk of the light is about 4 feet wide.

I wish there was a little more twist between off and exposing the o-ring, but I don't think anyone would accidentally expose the o-ring. Clearly they are trying to minimize length.

The one thing that kind of bugs me is that when off it rattles a bit when shaken - like the battery is rattling around inside. Still, it never turns on when rattling. When turned on the rattling goes away.

In order for a twisty light not to turn on, the battery cannot make electrical contact on both ends, which in most lights means no mechanical contact either. So it rattles back and forth. Some lights solve this by putting a foam washer with a hole cut in the middle on one end of the battery. So the foam always keeps pressure on the battery and it doesn't rattle. When the head is screwed down, the foam compresses, the positive nipple on the battery pushes through the hole in the foam washer, and the battery makes electrical contact on both ends.

Another way to eliminate 95% of the rattle is to wrap the battery with a yellow sticky note. Cut the note to the proper size to be the length of the battery, stick it to the battery, and wrap it around. It it's to large while fully wrapped to fit into the tube, cut off the end of the wrap so it's wrapped less fully. Get it to where it barely fits inside the tube, but with enough friction to hold it in place. That kills most of the rattle.

Cool! Glad to hear the E15 is satisfactory. That one's on my short list.