4Sevens Quark Round-up Review: Q123, QAA, Q123-2, QAA-2 - RUNTIMES, COMPARISONS, etc

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

:sigh:

 

[dts71]

How many sizes of holsters are there? My prime concern is if the AA and 123 holster are the same size.

 

[Toohotruk]

........

 

[DHart]

The 123 is the cutest and most easily pocketable...

The AA is the most flexible and versatile for powering options...

The 123x2 is the stud... potent, great capacity (17650), nice size for the hand.

I'm really happy to have all three. (No desire for a AA-2.) 😗

 

[Moonshadow]

Ctrain:

The description of the Tactical UI is on the 4Sevens thread here:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=196499

Essentially, you can program each of two settings (head tight, head loose) independently to any of the available levels or modes. And yes, you can hide the strobes if you want.

 

[selfbuilt]

How many sizes of holsters are there? My prime concern is if the AA and 123 holster are the same size.

Yes, the Q123 and QAA use the same holster. Because there is a fair amount of soft velcro on the inside of the closing the flap, it is able to accommodate the longer QAA and still close.

The description of the Tactical UI is on the 4Sevens thread here:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=196499

Thanks for providing the link Moonshadow. I don't know yet if David plans to send me any tactical versions to compare, but I would expect output levels and runtimes to be the same for the regular and tactical versions (i.e. differ in their UI and forward/reverse clicky).

 

[AFAustin]

I have been enjoying my Quark AA Tactical. Very nice light with impressive output.

My memory often fails me, but it seems that most if not all multi-level AA lights I've experienced have had very different output figures, through all levels, depending on whether they were fed NiMH or 14500 cells. The Quark, OTH, has the same output through all levels, except for the markedly different figures on max.

Is this an unusual attribute or are there many other multi-level AA lights that also have it?

 

[selfbuilt]

My memory often fails me, but it seems that most if not all multi-level AA lights I've experienced have had very different output figures, through all levels, depending on whether they were fed NiMH or 14500 cells. The Quark, OTH, has the same output through all levels, except for the markedly different figures on max. Is this an unusual attribute or are there many other multi-level AA lights that also have it?

That's a good point Andrew.

Truth is, there are currently relatively few multi-level 1xAA lights (i.e. 3+ modes) - most are either 2-stage or continuously variable. And of those that are, fewer still accept both 14500 and AA. At the top of my head, the only ones I can think of are the Fenix LD10/L1D, Olight T15, Lumapower Connexion X2, and Zebralight H50. The Fenix lights are mainly direct-drive on 14500, so that's out. The other 3 all have slightly higher outputs on 14500 than standard batteries, on all levels.

Of course, it's not an issue for the continuously-variable crowd - you can simply adjust down to an equivalent output level to suit your needs. But the Quarks are the only defined output lights that I can think of that keep all output levels but max regulated to specific outputs on all cells.

 

[AFAustin]

That's a good point Andrew.

Truth is, there are currently relatively few multi-level 1xAA lights (i.e. 3+ modes) - most are either 2-stage or continuously variable. And of those that are, fewer still accept both 14500 and AA. At the top of my head, the only ones I can think of are the Fenix LD10/L1D, Olight T15, Lumapower Connexion X2, and Zebralight H50. The Fenix lights are mainly direct-drive on 14500, so that's out. The other 3 all have slightly higher outputs on 14500 than standard batteries, on all levels.

Of course, it's not an issue for the continuously-variable crowd - you can simply adjust down to an equivalent output level to suit your needs. But the Quarks are the only defined output lights that I can think of that keep all output levels but max regulated to specific outputs on all cells.

selfbuilt, thanks for your reply. I no longer own them, but I used to have a couple of JETBeam AA lights---Jet-I Pro, and I think it was the MKII(?). IIRC, they both had lower outputs on NiMH vs. li-ion through all levels.

On another point, one thing that was bothering me with my otherwise excellent Quark AA tactical, was the difficulty in twisting the head one-handed. Last night I finally got around to looking into it a bit, and found that a too-thick o-ring was the cause. I sanded it down a tad, and my head is now a bona fide "easy twister". 🙂

 

[selfbuilt]

UPDATE July 23, 2009:

My original Q123-2 results were very unusual on 2xRCR - abnormally high output, unit getting very hot very quickly, and extremely short runtime (>3C discharge rate - only 17 mins to shut-down on 2xAW Protected RCR). 1xLi-ion and 2xCR123A results appeared normal in comparison.

4Sevens has just sent me a replacement head for testing, and the preliminary results make a lot more sense. Below is a graph showing the original (dotted line) and replacement head (solid line) on AW protected RCR and 17670.

As you can see, output and runtime on 2xRCR is now in keeping with what you would expect for this light and this battery source. :twothumbs

As for 17670 on this head, and total capacity/runtime seems comparable (although there is a small dip occurring around the time it previously dropped out of regulation). Note that like before, the light eventually drops out of regulation on 1xLi-ion, so the built-in battery protection circuit doesn't get tripped automatically (common for direct-drive lights).

These results are lot more reassuring - there must have some sort of fault for the >8V input source on my original Q123-2 head. Good to see the output and runtime being exactly where they should be. The full runtimes in the review have been updated. 🙂

 

[4sevens]

Selfbuilt - thanks for running the graph again. We've found these to be a small group of them. One of the components were lower spec than what we ordered. The parts supplier snuck in some other parts than what we ordered.
Needless to say, we won't be sourcing from them again.

About the Q123-2's unless you use rcr123's they will work fine with primary cr123a's. If you use rcr123's and are concerned, we can exchange the head for you at no charge. Theres not a way to test or determine this from the serial number. If you just use two cr123a's, you shouldn't be affected at all 🙂

 

[selfbuilt]

Selfbuilt - thanks for running the graph again. We've found these to be a small group of them. One of the components were lower spec than what we ordered. The parts supplier snuck in some other parts than what we ordered.
Needless to say, we won't be sourcing from them again.

About the Q123-2's unless you use rcr123's they will work fine with primary cr123a's. If you use rcr123's and are concerned, we can exchange the head for you at no charge. Theres not a way to test or determine this from the serial number. If you just use two cr123a's, you shouldn't be affected at all 🙂

Thanks for stopping by David - I'm sure everyone appreciates the update.

FYI, I can certainly confirm that performance on 1x17670 and 2xCR123A were completely normal on my "2xRCR-defective" head. The issue appears to be specific for 2xRCR on those specimens. And you would notice right away - the ~1hr lower runtime on the defective head is very clear.

 

[DHart]

Thanks for the heads up on this, selfbuilt & David. I am presently testing my 123-2 on two RCR123s on turbo to see if I have one of the defective ones... so far at about 1 hr. on turbo and going strong... looks like my sample "dodged the bullet". 😉 I sure do love the Q123-2! :thumbsup:

 

[Lobo]

Been away for a while but it's nice to see that you still are keeping up the great work, Selfbuilt.
EXCELLENT review!

And am I the only one who's surprised that the Quark AA seems to be the new king of the hill of AA throwers?

 

[DHart]

Been away for a while but it's nice to see that you still are keeping up the great work, Selfbuilt.
EXCELLENT review!

And am I the only one who's surprised that the Quark AA seems to be the new king of the hill of AA throwers?

The Jet I Pro v3 with SMO reflector is a slightly better thrower than the Quark AA. But the Quark has a much wider and more useable spill as well as a ring-free beam. The Quark is still a very competent thrower, however. :thumbsup:

 

[Unforgiven]

I'm partial to Constant current regulation and I'll admit that I'm not a fan of multi-flashy mode lights (beacon, SOS, etc) but the Quark tactical versions seems to fit the bill nicely. 🙂

I'm still waiting for a production constant current regulated light that I can program new drive levels or delete unwanted modes... 4-7 😗

 

[Lobo]

The Jet I Pro v3 with SMO reflector is a slightly better thrower than the Quark AA. But the Quark has a much wider and more useable spill as well as a ring-free beam. The Quark is still a very competent thrower, however. :thumbsup:

As I said in the other thread, it was just that the numbers surprised me.🙂 Could totally see that the real life performance could be different.

 

[ImGeo]

As always, love your review threads! Definitely more info than I could take in, but still very useful. Detailed and sharp pictures.... pure awesome 🙂

 

[HighLumens]

Hi, thanks for another great review!
Just a quick question (I'm quite sure it's a stupid question😳, but I'll ask it the same😉):
Would I burn something if I used the 123-2 head (9v) with the 2 AA body tube and 2 14500 cells:devil:??

 

[DHart]

Hi, thanks for another great review!
Just a quick question (I'm quite sure it's a stupid question😳, but I'll ask it the same😉):
Would I burn something if I used the 123-2 head (9v) with the 2 AA body tube and 2 14500 cells:devil:??

Two 14500's will provide at most 8.4v to the 9v head. YOu should have no issues running the 9v head with two 14500's - as long as they will fit in the AA-2 tube.