You're absolutey right about the Quark and you've done a real service by stressing it's advantages. I especially like the 18650 choice. And as you say elsewhere, one thing you have to have is a moon light capability. It's actually the moonlight that veered me off Quark originally tho because in normal times I'm not minimalist enough to use it and hated the thought of allways having to scroll past it constantly. But sigh, Teotwawki. Gotta do it. maybe I'll love it. Did invest in the ld20 on your advice in another thread as most durable.
And how about that?. Was told by a guy higher up food chain at a fenix seller that the reason they moved to the ld22 style was because surefire is sueing them for copying their poop and found couple of stories online backing that up. He said Quark was too small potatoes to bother with.
Maybe going to take a risk on a zebralight H52fw. Or not. Have you seen the specs on that sucker? XTL-2 Damn! And much improved moonlight modes over 51 and 502 also. Lower then Quark even. But I know, the switch, etc. Even more stupid then buying it is buying the first run probably but it's winter and best time to give it a workout. Really want a better headlamp and the Spark looks worse then Zebra QC wise. Their new version SG5 was released with a holder that's too lose. Light revolves on you. Obvious they don't give a dam.
That ST5 looked sweet tho. Like that T shape for one thing and also XML-2 for long battery life. Might of tried it if the new SG5 wasn't so crappy.
Quark tactical looks good cause in normal times us hedonists could program it to avoid moon mode and wondered if you tried it. Guessing you feel it's more techy so more breakable? And haven't looked yet at it's legoability and too beat to go back there now. Is it?
Quarks won't fit 18650 cells, just up to 17670 size. Although in a pinch (this being a SHTF thread), I can run the 18650, and many more cells, with the piece MacGyver tinfoil I EDC. I prefer the low voltage XML head since it has the "brightest" moonlight mode in my collection, yet is good for ~200 hrs per AA. I seem to be the low lumen junkie around CPF and use 0.3/3 lms about 40/40% of the time. I guess I have good night vision, which I always prefer to use since it allows me to see my environment much better outside of my light's beam. The minimalist bulk and insanely long runtimes on that lumen mix are just bonuses. That said, I really don't like dimmer moonlight modes, or XPG emitters, because they not bright enough and/or are too throwy for most of my general purpose close task work.
Never owned a Fenix since the don't match my priorities (sub-lumen, floody, wide voltage/battery tolerance). BTW, AFAIK, the SF suit was on using anodized lockout tailcaps, and it did hit 47s as well - the decision to go with electronic side switch just seems to be the rage now, perhaps at the expense of reliability. Don't get me started on ZL specs.... as I mention in the other thread, that company's marketing, warranty and CS policies make my skin crawl and both my ZLs have disappointed me when their lights fell way short of their claims (and by a factor of 2-5x on my favorite modes). I test with a light meter and stop watch and follow others efficiency testing. I find my QAAX, D25A and SC52 to be more or less equally efficient on a lumen-hr basis, and probably so would be the LD12 if I extrapolate Selfbuilt's tests. However, the lumen-hr marketing claims between the QAAX/D25A and SC52/LD12 differ by almost a factor of 2x - do you really think they've figured out how to be twice as efficient? Conservatism comes into play and ANSI rules are wide enough to drive a truck through - you learn where the games are played, and who plays them.
I'm a camper, and came from a headlamp background, but am not a fan of them anymore (partially due to its single purpose bulk and partially due to limited selection) and prefer to use flashlights in aftermarket or DIY head/neck band rigs. ZL, Spark, and Fenix headlamps seem to be only good ones I would consider, but you know my lighting priorities and corporate policy issues (Spark~=ZL).
I have tactical UIs - all the electronics/programming is in the head, it's a long proven design, and will be no better/worse than the regular interface in terms of reliability. But you can see from my above usage pattern that getting locked into two modes at a time is not ideal for me. Also, the pro interface does a few things better - it has a momentary max function from any lower mode that works like car high beam flashers (my favorite pseudo-feature of any light), and it works better with MacGyvering different sized cells in a pinch.
I also own both the Powerfilm 6 panel 4xAA and Goal Zero Guide 10+/Nomad 7 kits that Jim discusses, and both measure 80 sq inches of panel area, and I have tested both side-by-side in varying conditions using a MHC9000 to measure cell capacity. The short summary is that the GZ is twice a efficient in perfect conditions and the PF is twice as efficient in imperfect conditions, but to put it in perspective, the GZ does 60mph while the PF does 30 in perfect sun, and the PF does 10 mph while the GZ does 5 in imperfect sun. In the heavily forested Eastcoast, that means solar it's really only effective for stationary charging in 10am-2pm timeframe where I can fully charge 4 Eneloops from the GZ or 2 from the PF. That's emergency use only IMHO. GZ is the way to go for home or base camp charging, but I only take the PF if traveling by 2 feet or two wheels as it's ~1/4 the bulk. Also I like how the PF can charge 2 or 4 cells.... as battery conservative as I am, it's hard for me to come up with 4 cells, and you get more cell balancing issues.
Hope that helps... I do enjoy discussing the SHTF thing, and with the crazy weather lately, we tend to lose power at least a solid week per year now. My experience primarily comes from camping, which I believe will be reasonably close to a SHTF lifestyle... for a while at least.
