Newbie's getting started (AA light)

[Catul]

Just wanted to say hi to you all here. I started out with a quick search looking to buy one or two new flashlights for general use to replace the old 4D-cell Maglite - little did I know what I was getting into!

I have a ton of AA NiMh rechargeables (Eneloop and Imedion low discharge) so concentrated on flashlights that would use those; wanted to keep the cost reasonable, and didn't need an ultracompact EDC but rather one that could go in the drawer, glovebox, backpack etc.

I first ordered the Fenix LD20 R4 from Amazon yesterday (hasn't shipped yet :scowl:), then kept reading some more. Figured I'd do well to get one or two to take along with me for trick-or-treating with the kids as well; so I ordered the Romisen RC-G2 II Cree XP-G R5 from Shining Beam to hand to one of the kids, and a Quark AA2 R5 from 4Sevens for, well, an extra light :).

Both of these have shipped, can't wait to receive all these and see what the fuss is all about. ;)

 

[notsofast]

Welcome and congratulations on getting your feet wet. Compared to the old mag lights you are going to be amazed.

However you are going to discover the "fuss" is all about the chase, enjoy!

 

[Ian2381]

Wow, You did pretty well for your first 3 lights.
I'm sure you'll like them all.:thumbsup:

 

[tandem]

Welcome Catul! You seem to be right on track, have lots to play with and great cells for them too. Looking forward to your thoughts on all three of your lights once you've had a chance to compare them. +1 on mixing it up some, that's way more interesting!

 

[Catul]

Thanks for all the welcomes! I did read the forums for quite a while, had my head spinning, and then realized I couldn't really go wrong with the three I ordered, at least for my initial general use.

There's a wealth of information here, but hard to wade through and figure out a definite recommendation because of the large variety of options and individual preferences. I did end up speaking with someone at 4Sevens who was very helpful, that seems like a real class operation and I know I'll be returning to their site soon.

I'm looking forward to seeing how these lights work out - particularly interesting will be the LD20 R4 vs. the Quark AA2 R5, since they are so similar.

Oh, had been thinking of another tiny inexpensive purchase so bought the Fenix E01 at Amazon, was $12.81 with free Prime shipping :). Have to stop buying now, and play ... can't wait for this stuff to arrive!

 

[B0wz3r]

First, :welcome:

I think you'll find the Quark to be a great light. My first "real" quality LED light was a Quark AA^2 and I was simply floored at how bright the thing was. That was an R2 model I bought over a year ago, and have since gifted it to my best friend.

The Quarks are a great value for the money, and a good entry point into this hobby (obsession). It is good to try different brands too, so you can get a feel for different emitters, reflector types, etc. Eventually you'll figure out what you like and what your usage patterns are and end up getting a custom made that does exactly what you want... :whistle:

I'm fond of Jetbeam lights, though they seem to be having some QC problems lately, and Zebralights, and Romisens are great glove-box/junk-drawer/toolbox/kid-gift lights. Get them from Shiningbeam because they have better versions that aren't available elsewhere and great customer service.

 

[LEDninja]

:welcome:

Take it easy or
:broke:
Wait for your lights to arrive, find out what you like or more importantly what you do not like about them before buying more.

Romisen RC-G2 II Cree XP-G R5 - rather fat head for pocket carry.
Fenix LD20 R4 - rather long for pocket carry.
Quark AA2 R5 - rather long for pocket carry. Which model did you get? The UI is completely different. You may prefer one or the other.
Fenix E01 - Perfect keychain light but not all that bright.

So you need a pocket carry reasonably bright pocket EDC. (Wish you have gotten a 1AA and a 2AA instead of 2*2AA.)
In pockets of tight jeans the 1/4" difference between tail clicky lights and twisty 1AA lights is noticeable.
So I am recommending a Quark MiNi AA. Available in cool, neutral and warm tints. Neutral does not have the excessive blue of normal cool white LEDs. Warm is almost the same tint as an incandescent light.
If you have large pockets look at the LD10 (1AA), if not the LD01 (1AAA).

In the future look at the neutral or warm Tinted LEDs.
Mag 2C left, Preon 2 warm medium right.

 

[Edsterra]

+1 on the Quarks. One thing about them you might not realize is that they are mix and match, except for the 123(2).

I Also just purchased the AA-2 R5, which is terrific, but wanted to see it with a neutral beam, so I just swapped heads with my 123- neutral. Worked like a champ, I also wanted the flat tail cap as I'd gotten the tactical for outside use, so I swapped with another one I had to have the candle mode in the house. It's very handy as you can own several styles and configure them to your needs.

 

[B0wz3r]

Yup!!! Probably one of the single greatest things about the Quarks is their Lego-ability... I've got several and in less than 5 min. I can throw something together to meet most any lighting need I have. The one bad thing about them is it's so much fun mixing and matching to see what you can build, you can get stuck trying to figure out how to put them together, or simply just waste a lot of time playing around with them! :D

+1 on the Quarks. One thing about them you might not realize is that they are mix and match, except for the 123(2).

I Also just purchased the AA-2 R5, which is terrific, but wanted to see it with a neutral beam, so I just swapped heads with my 123- neutral. Worked like a champ, I also wanted the flat tail cap as I'd gotten the tactical for outside use, so I swapped with another one I had to have the candle mode in the house. It's very handy as you can own several styles and configure them to your needs.

 

[Catul]

So you need a pocket carry reasonably bright pocket EDC. (Wish you have gotten a 1AA and a 2AA instead of 2*2AA.)
In pockets of tight jeans the 1/4" difference between tail clicky lights and twisty 1AA lights is noticeable.
So I am recommending a Quark MiNi AA.

I did think about this a bit, re: two 2AA lights instead of a 1AA. I don't plan/need an EDC, don't want yet another thing in my pocket. For now, my iPhone 4's LED is good for quick and dirty light on the rare times I've needed one.

Also, not sure I like the UI on the Quark Mini with the bezel twisting (especially the number of twists to get to strobe, for instance) - much prefer the rear clicky. Almost got a tactical UI for quick access to two modes, but then it'd be a pain to access the other modes if needed.

Yup!!! Probably one of the single greatest things about the Quarks is their Lego-ability...

Yeah, I do like that and hadn't thought about it before - I could just buy the Quark Mini AA body for $20 and slap on the head from my AA^2 Regular.

In any case, since I'm new at all this, figured I'd try these lights first as general/keep-in-drawer/glovebox for now and see what else I want that wasn't covered by these. I need to see just how much brightness I really need in typical usage, and what UI I want/liked.

I might get the Fenix headband at some point, and then perhaps start looking for a light with more throw. But for now, can't wait for these all to get here already! :)

 

[CarpentryHero]

The Fenix LD20 and Quark AA2 fit in the Nite-ize headband.
I know because I own both.
Welcome to CPF, you've made great choices.
Let me know how the romisen holds up against the
Quark and Fenix ;)

:welcome:

 

[Catul]

The Fenix LD20 and Quark AA2 fit in the Nite-ize headband.
I know because I own both.

That's a great cheap alternative headband - just $6, should do the job fine for the infrequent times I'd like to mount the light; is it fairly lightweight to have one of these lights in that headband? Does the whole thing stay on fairly secure? Thanks!

 

[CarpentryHero]

Yeah it keeps it nice and secure, the stretchband that holds the light to the strap is long and elasticky so it keeps the light from being wobbly.
The Velcro you can set as tight as your comfortable.
I like it with the Quark because the Quark has a nice flood in the gradual and smooth spill off the hotspot.

 

[entoptics]

...Yeah, I do like that and hadn't thought about it before - I could just buy the Quark Mini AA body for $20 and slap on the head from my AA^2 Regular...

The Mini series is not lego-able with the regular series.:(

An AA body will get you a nice EDC though. Not near as small as the mini, but not that big either.

Congrats on your new lights. IMO, all seem like outstanding choices for your purposes.

 

[B0wz3r]

An AA body will get you a nice EDC though. Not near as small as the mini, but not that big either.

This is why my primary EDC is a ZL SC50w+; no longer than a Quark Mini AA, just a little bit fatter, and a nice side clicky switch instead of the twisty UI (I have come to loathe twisty UI's), and a beautiful tint.

My Quark AA with an XPE Q3/5A running off an AW 14500 is my messenger bag EDC, so I have it with me or close at hand most of the time. I keep a TwoFish lock block with it as well so it's instantly attachable to most anything; my helmet, my handlebars, my daughter's stroller, you name it. :)

 

[TITANER]

Catul ,you made a right choise for your first three lights.Both Fenix and 4 Seven are great manufacturers ,i guess you would like flashlihgts more and more deeply from them.BTW :welcome:.

 

[Catul]

So the LD20 R4 came yesterday, just played with it a little in the back yard. To this newbie, it's amazingly bright for such a small package - very cool!

I now understand how it's important to try several lights and figure out what UI one wants. The Quark AA^2 will have the same UI, I'll have to compare the general feel of these two to see which I like better.

In the meantime, in a moment of weakness and just to have fun with the kids at Halloween, I ordered the TK40 - overnight from Amazon, should have it tomorrow! Thought I'd get that out of the way in my typical-newbie-quest-for-lumens, and the 16-pack of Imedion AA batteries that arrives today will supply all these lights nicely.

Now I need to spend the entire weekend playing with all this stuff at length to really narrow down what it is I want, no more buying stuff - oof!

I also realize that a 1xAA EDC option will be good to have, and the UI is super-important. I've spent even more time on these forums and and focusing on the Zebralight SC61 and Nitecore D11 - tough choices eh?

Ideally, something that remembers that last mode and/or is easy to bring up to a certain level with one/two clicks. I like that the SC51 can be brought up in High with one click, would be nice if I could start it up in Med too instead of Low, and have a quick way to access strobe (though that last part isn't as important). The D11 will remember that last mode, and can hit strobe quickly. I think I also like its profile better than the SC51, though I'd have to see them both in person to decide - wish some local stores carried all these!

On top of all this, I comment to my wife that something like the LD20 would make a great Christmas gift to her mother - she still has an old heavy 4D Maglite, very unwieldy for an older person and inefficient too. My wife says we should look at getting these for the rest of the family too - so I'll soon have to start researching options for them too!

What a journey the last few days have been ...

 

[BarryG]

If you are looking at 1xAA light's, don't forget about the Jetbeam Jet-1 Pro V.3. I EDC mine 3-4 times a week. It has 3 levels that you can set the order of how you want it to come on. I have mine set up as M-L-Strobe. And you can change the settings in just a few seconds. Also one of the best 1xAA throwers out there.
Can be had for $56 with discount.
Just my 0.02




Barry

P.S. They might be going to update it from the R2 to the R5 since they just updated the Jet III M, I haven't heard anything about it but maybe someone else has?

 

[Gaffle]

Just looking at the Quark Mini Warm White, limited run, and it is only $37. A price like that is unbeatable compared to most of the brick and mortar flashlights. I mean it isn't $5, but it does so much more without getting hella costly.

If the general public only knew what was out there....

The Fenix LD20 and Quark 2AA are fine lights (don't know jack about Romisen). The only problem is once you get a taste, it doesn't stop. Good luck, your wallet needs it...

 

[Catul]

I'll start a new thread when I get ready to look for a 1xAA light. Lots to play with first.

Just put the Quark AA^2 on Moonlight and put it on the shelf by my younger daughter's bed - older daughter didn't like the nightlight on, younger one wanted it; problem solved - and I didn't think I'd really "need" these lights. :)

Now off to find a Low/Moonlight mode on a AA/AAA flashlight for under $20, cheaper the better - any pointers?