Fenix PD30 R4

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1. Fenix has sexiest design (only old pd30/q5, without knurling on the body, newer one less attractive, grip vs look - I prefer look)
2. Very pleasant pd30 button, oh, I love that feeling, quark reverse button stiffer and at night "click" can awake my son (that's why I use MiNi's as night watch light)
3. Clip on the quark - yeah, it's awesome, Fenix clip is worse by design: it will scratch anodizing, rattling over body and overall much stiffer (my old pd30 didn't have clip, so I judge on tk12 clip, I cannot stick it even to my jeans pocket, very-very stiff; from pics I see PD30 has the same system)
4. For general purprose fenix "low" 6-11 lumens is great while navigating over the house at night, you'll need to skip moonlight and low on quark, when going to the medium. But for deep night walking 6+lm is more than enough, 1-2lumens, no more required for night adopted vision.
5. For "night watch" mini's are better, that's why I choose tactical for EDC: I need two modes - medium and max, where medium suits on almost all usage scenarios with very pleasant warm non-blinding wide beam even for closework (now I do not need a diffuser)

...and now I know everything about quark preflash :ohgeez:
4sevens, please, do something with preflash :bow:

PS: I cannot use 4sevens headband with 123^2, only with mini AA (too stiff), and nitecore design is better with top-band: it is difficult to ajust beam direction to be exact the same to your eyes direction, even when you're looking forward.

1-) My first LED flashlight was the PD30 Q5, yes very nice but slippery, habitually people will like at least some rhombic knurling but for you it is more a question of look. For campig in the back country practicality is a must for me.

2-) I tried both PD30 Q5 and Q123² tens of times few minutes ago and I found any differences between push buttons. Both have the same stiffness for sure the PD30 is easier to reach but you loose the ability to use as a candle because it will tends to topple over easily. What I do is using the AD401 (open) on the tail to keep the PD30 Q5 stable when using as a candle.

3-) I agree.

4-) I agree but for me the low low is ok and I don't bother to pass thrue low low (0.2 lumens) to reach the next step at 4 lumens.

5-) Thank you for sharing your flashaholic's taste.

I think that 4Sevens did something about the preflash because I don't see anything looking as a preflash with my Q123² for the last month that I used it all the time, may be I bought from a new production batch.

When receiving the 4Sevens headband (with the prism) I tried it at home 3 hours in a row for testing, no problem at all with my Q123² in it.

I did another test when I found out there was two places to put spares batteries, this time I weared it for 5 hours in a row with 2 x CR123A and my Q123² with the prism - my head is normal - 23 inches circumference and I did'nt feel any abnormal pressure from the headband and I had no problem to insert the flashlight in the elastic insert and I was able to swivel the flashlight in the good direction up or down with no problem at all.

I is a real pleasure for me to share my experiences with theses nices lamps torches that we possess.

Have fun with your flashlights! :wave:
 
I'm outrageously indecisive. I actually think I'm going to stick with the Fenix for a few reasons:

1) I got lucky with the tint, it's a little green down low and a little blue-purple up high but it's something I can deal with, and to my eyes it's pretty close to white-white (the tint is inferior to that of the Q5, but that's to be expected)

2) I never use candle mode and I little like the slits on the rear of the Fenix since they make it easier to hit the button with my fat fingers

3) The Fenix has a rippled bezel edge so you can see when the light is on while the bezel is down, something I do ALL of the time

4) Apparently the Fenix is more rugged, which is important to me because I beat the crud out of my light (although I've heard that subjectively the anodization on the Quark is better)

5) The low setting on the Fenix is perfect for my uses, I feel like I would never use moonlight mode except for the closest of reading, and I've gotten used to cupping the bezel in my hand to hide most of the light when doing this with my Fenix.

6) The throw. I have no doubt that the Fenix will outthrow the Quark because of the smooth reflector, which is a significantly more "spilly" light.

The donuts were REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bothering me (and verily, they still are) but all of my sane, non-flashlightholic friends have convinced me that this is a very trivial issue and it's not even worth the cost of shipping it back to buy the Quark. Of course there's still a chance I'll change my mind and end up buying the Quark, I just don't know what to do. I think no matter what I do I'm going to be a little disappointed. All I really want is my old PD30 Q5 back :( I'll miss you old friend. Although I will say, unlike most of you, I'm more partial to the new design of the PD30 than the old one. It's a lot less slippery and I think the anodizing is better. (My old one had more silver on it than black after 18 months of abuse :P)
 
I'm outrageously indecisive. ...

Meh, I might buy a Quark some day to see how much I like it. I have two PD30's so will probably get their single AA and run a lithium AA primary in it. No point in getting too excited about it, I have my TK40 THE MASTER LIGHT.
 
I'm outrageously indecisive. I actually think I'm going to stick with the Fenix for a few reasons:

1) I got lucky with the tint, it's a little green down low and a little blue-purple up high but it's something I can deal with, and to my eyes it's pretty close to white-white (the tint is inferior to that of the Q5, but that's to be expected)

My canon 350D with daylight preset treats fenix pd30 Q5 as clean daylight - all RGB channels are very close +/- 1%
2) I never use candle mode and I little like the slits on the rear of the Fenix since they make it easier to hit the button with my fat fingers
I use flashlights as a candle frequently, and no problems with any tailstand-capable, including PD30
3) The Fenix has a rippled bezel edge so you can see when the light is on while the bezel is down, something I do ALL of the time
I don't care about this feature, just funny effect :)
4) Apparently the Fenix is more rugged, which is important to me because I beat the crud out of my light (although I've heard that subjectively the anodization on the Quark is better)
My TK12 has one chip on crenelated bezel, and all of 123^2 has it on the knurling. It's typical for hard anodizing: on the edges knurling is suspectible to chip, that's ok. PD30 didn't have anodizing chips and scratches after 1,5 years of careful usage (all of other lights used the same way)
5) The low setting on the Fenix is perfect for my uses, I feel like I would never use moonlight mode except for the closest of reading, and I've gotten used to cupping the bezel in my hand to hide most of the light when doing this with my Fenix.
Moonlight is useful when you awake in dark night: the spot didn't blind you and do not attract attention from anybody sleeping
6) The throw. I have no doubt that the Fenix will outthrow the Quark because of the smooth reflector, which is a significantly more "spilly" light.
PD30 Q5 isn't throwy at all, comparing to XP-E quarks and comparable with XP-G, Warm White quark 123^2 is almost flood, beam profile is very close to the mini aa, so quarks regular reflector cannot tighten the beam. I think this is due to the thick phosphor on the warms, which changes the light distribution: more to the front, less to the sides, meaning front part of the beam cannot be tightened by default reflector, required deeper and bigger reflector, but that's ok, flood beam is pleasant.
The donuts were REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bothering me.
Quark MiNi AA XP-G cool white have the same problem with donut hole, bigger brothers - don't. All of my fenixes are XR-E, so there's noticeable cree rings, which is annoying, but in real life usage nearly not visible

Both fenix and 4sevens have their own pros and cons, all of them are great quality lights, near excellent electronics, near excellent fit and finish and classic, pleasant look. As said before: buy both and use them both lovecpf
 
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