The head of the P2D CE is actually the same as the one that comes on the L2D CE. It houses an XR-E emitter and focused by a smooth aluminum reflector. Emitter and reflector are aligned very well, perhaps leaning just a hair to one side but really it's almost perfect. The lens used is made or hardened AR coated glass for increased light transmission as compared to regular uncoated glass. The Type 3 coating is a little smooth for my taste, which coupled with it's short battery tube, sometimes makes it slightly difficult to twist for single handed changing of operating modes. The emitter module is sealed inside the head and is not easily disassembled.

They body of the P2D CE is pretty compact as expected from a single CR123 powered light. Slightly larger than the UltraFire single CR123 powered lights, but the P2D CE has the advantage of a push button switch instead of a twist switch. It will still easily fit into any shirt or pants pocket without being too obvious, but is slightly big to be a key chain light. The entire light is coated in Type 3 anodizing. One thing to note is that the coating on the current line of Fenix lights is smoother and more shiny compared to the earlier LxP series of lights. Anodizing is extremely well finished, clean and smooth, without any marks or scratches. The body is hexagonal like the L1D CE. The battery tube is very short and looks a little odd to me. Even the tail cap is about twice as long at the battery tube. The aluminum body of the P2D CE is not as thick as the AA powered Fenix lights, because the CR123 cells it runs on have a wider diameter than AA cells. Inside the body is all nice and cleanly machined. The threads on this light are almost perfect. They are very smooth and free from accidental cross-threading, you won't need to turn them counter-clockwise to get the threads to align. Throughout the entire testing phase of this light, I did not experience any sign of cross-threading. Take note that UltraFire's gray protected 16340 cells with button tops are a little too long for the P2D, the tail cap will not be able to fully screw down, and part of the rubber o-ring will be exposed.

The tail cap houses a reverse push button. The rubber cap over the switch is smooth and doesn't have any texture on it. I really like the response of the switch, it's not too soft or too stiff and it has really short travel. This could be a bad characteristic if your carry this light in your pocket though since the switch is much easier to turn on. There's a thin band of checked texture around the tail cap which helps a little when unscrewing the tail cap. The "-" contact spring is gold plated and all the rubber o-ring came very well lubricated. Lastly, there are two holes and a notch for attaching straps or key ring while still allowing the light to tail stand.

The P2D CE has 6 modes in total, separated into 2 sets according to the position of the bezel. Cycling through modes in either set is done by half-pressing the push button, sort of like how the auto focus works on a digital camera.

General Mode (loosened bezel)
Off > Low > Medium > High > S.O.S.

Turbo Mode (tightened bezel)
Off > Turbo > Strobe

All the different levels on the P2D CE are controlled by true constant current regulation. This means that you will not experience any high frequency pulsing, unlike the C-LE for example which uses PWM to achieve lower output levels. My P2D CE sample has a warm yellow tint on the lower modes, though it shifts to a whiter tint on the higher levels. The dark ring around the hotspot is present, just like is most other XR-E based lights.

Overall output is very good. On turbo mode the P2D CE is very bright, it easily beats other single CR123 powered consumer lights in the market at the moment. Runtime is also very good, the regulation circuit works very well. Take note that the output level spikes towards the end of the battery life when running turbo mode on CR123 cells. However the numbers from my tests showed a slightly lower output compared to the L2D CE. The L2D CE which runs on 2x 1.2V NiMH cells totaling 2.4V, gives a hotspot about 500 lux brighter than the P2D CE running a CR123 3.0V lithium cell. This could be the effect of variations in output performance of XR-E emitters, or that Eneloop NiMH cells provide a higher current drain. You may choose to run the P2D CE on 3.7V Li-Ion cells, but with it's voltage of 4.2V off the charger, only turbo mode will be accessible. A weird observation I encountered was that on turbo mode, the P2D CE actually runs brighter with a Soshine cell measuring 3.7V compared to an AW protected high current cell measuring 4.2V, both fresh off the charger.

As the final part of this review, I would like to share with you a rechargeable solution which works best for the P2D CE so you wont have to spend much on lithium CR123 cells. It provides a nice balance of runtime and still maintains all the 6 output modes of the P2D CE.

You will need an UltraFire WF-138 charger and Soshine 3.0V Li-Ion cells. I chose to use the WF-138 over the Soshine charger because the WF-138 has 2 separate charging channels, so cells of different capacities can be charged at the same time. Also, other 3.0 Li-Ion cells may work too. Now, set the switch on the WF-138 charger to 3.7V (yes 3.7V, not 3.0V) and place your 3.0V Li-Ion cells into the charging bays. Setting the charging voltage to 3.0V will result in miserable capacities and runtimes.

Once they've charged up, the cells will measure exactly 3.7V off the charger and not 4.2V which is what you get when using 3.7V Li-Ion cells or the WF-139 charger. As you can see from the runtime graphs below, performance of these Soshine cells are pretty good. They get about half the runtime compared to Energizer's e² lithium's, but keep in mind that e²'s are rated at 1500mAh while the Soshine cells are only 650mAh. About 70% lower capacity yet only about 50% less runtime. The only down side to using this set up is that the low mode starts out about 4 times brighter than on CR123 cells and takes about 5 hours to stabilize to the real low output.

The Good - One of the most versatile single CR123 powered lights available. Priced competitively to other CR123 lithium lights in it's class in terms of functions and build quality. Good output to size ratio.

The Bad - Combination of smoothly coated head and short battery tube makes it a bit hard to switch between General and Turbo mode with one hand. Not as bright as the L2D CE.

The Relative - The dark ring which is commonly associated with XR-E lights it present in the P2D CE as well, but only appears within about a meter. It really doesn't affect practical usage at all. Uses a reverse push button.

Head module (front view).

Head module (side view).

Head module (rear view).

Battery tube (front view).

Battery tube (side view).

Battery tube (rear view).

Tail cap (front view).

Tail cap (side view).

Tail cap (rear view).