LR80R – A chungus among us.
Ambassador Rob E.
The LR80R is, in a word, a chungus. This is a serious light for serious people doing serious work. I am none of those things, but I love it anyway. It is just so absurdly overkill for anyone not doing serious search and rescue work, but it is in fact still a fantastic light and hilarious to use.
Form Factor: The body, where you hold the light, is about the thickness of a 16 oz energy drink can and is well balanced and comfortable in the hand, despite the large head. My preferred method of carry is using the attached aluminum handle, it both feels nice in the hand and distributes the weight better. The only downside is the controls are not “one hand accessible” when carrying from the handle, but that is a minor inconvenience. This may be an issue for folks with smaller hands, but worked fine for me. The light is HEAVY, like will dent your wood floor if you drop it heavy, but it is still comfortable to carry. If you are going to be carrying it long distances, I would suggest using the included shoulder strap. The included proximity sensor to the emitter is nice, cutting the output when too close to an object.
Interface: I really like the interface on the light, it is greatly simplified from Fenix’s prior efforts. Two buttons, one for low lighting Eco 50 lumens>Low 150 lumens>Med 450 lumens>High1000 lumens and another for high lighting Low 3000 lumens>Med 6000 lumens> High>12000 lumens>Turbo 18000 lumens. The buttons are still non-textured metal, however when using the aluminum handle it’s mostly a non issue as the handle always orients you to the buttons.
Light Output and Beam: On full blast the light lights up pretty much everything around it. However it has so much power and some clever beam forming that while I would say this light is “floody” it actually throws a really long way, competing even with some lights dedicated for throw. In short it does dim to blasting and flood to throw all very well. Absolutely no complaints.
Charging: The light has USB-C charging supporting up to PD 3.0 (45W) which is fantastic, since the battery is mammoth and would take a very long time to charge on a standard 5V 1A usb port. The included 45W charger is a very nice touch providing a 45W USB-C port and a 12w USB-A. The light also has a 12W USB A out port allowing for charging a device off the light itself.
Other: The wrist strap and shoulder strap are a nice inclusion since the light is so large.