First "good" light

[L.Ramming]

I'm looking to buy a good EDC light after my 2 energizer tactical 1aa lights have both crapped out. I've seen the sale goinggear has on the old style 4sevens. Here is my question, I eventually want to end up with a 1aa light. The website has 2aa, 1x123, and 2x123 lights on clearance. Whick of thes would be best to buy and swap a 1aa body onto? Is there any difference in the heads?

 

[reppans]

Hmmm, unfortunately you are about a week or two too late, the AA2 XML would have been the light to get for the 1xAA body and EDC use (sorry, I took a few out of their inventory). Out of what's left on clearance that you have listed, however:

- the 2x123 is a high voltage 3-9V head, you can run 1x14500, but it will not run on anything else 1xAA (Alk, NiMh, Li)
- the 2xAA listed looks like a turbo which will work, but is a dedicated thrower with pencil beam and larger, difficult-to-pocket head. I personally don't like throwers for EDC use, which tends to be more close range use.
- the 1x123 is the proper general purpose low voltage head and would be the best of the three, IMHO, but this is the version with the non-removeable clip. So, you could remove the clip from the 1xAA tube and use this one bezel up (good for clipping to a baseball cap), or you could break this one off and file the nub down, and then use the normal reversible/removeable clip on the AA tube.

 

[roadkill1109]

I'm looking to buy a good EDC light after my 2 energizer tactical 1aa lights have both crapped out. I've seen the sale goinggear has on the old style 4sevens. Here is my question, I eventually want to end up with a 1aa light. The website has 2aa, 1x123, and 2x123 lights on clearance. Whick of thes would be best to buy and swap a 1aa body onto? Is there any difference in the heads?

Hello!

You're starting off right! My first "good" light was a Quark AA2 Tactical. You can eventually swap out the big AA2 tube with a smaller AA tube which you can order off the foursevens website. You can then run it with an AA cell or if you want bigger punch, order 14500 lithium cells.

There are a lot of CPF'ers who EDC the Quark AA 14500 like me. I never leave home without it. Its going on three years now, still working as good as the day I got it, and believe me, i USE this every day and use it as a nightlight in the evenings, it lasts the whole night long and still enough juice to be EDC'ed the next day.

You'd be hard-pressed to find something else with the same kind of regulation and efficient circuit. There is just one other that comes to mind, the Zebralight SC52, but its not lego-able like the Quarks. (which is why a lot of CPF'ers love the Quarks so much! I know I do! hahaha)

If you want a more efficient led with a better throw, you might opt to just get the Quark from the FourSevens website which offers the newer XPG2 R5 led.

This light is tough, I take it with me to the beach, snorkeling, in the swimming pool, hiking, backpacking, in the pouring rain, in cold environments! (-12 deg Celcius) I even once brought it to the sauna with me, but then i realized, the battery might explode, so I chickened out and placed it back in my locker. Long story short, this light will go almost everywhere with you, take a beating and come back for more. And its all covered by the 10-year warranty and great customer support! :)

But going back to the clearance sale of Marshall, I got myself a sweet deal on the Quark AA2 Turbo which I plan to use as the "alternate" head of my Quark AA EDC. Anybody wanna buy spare AA2 tubes? I got plenty... hehe.

 

[L.Ramming]

Hmmm, unfortunately you are about a week or two too late, the AA2 XML would have been the light to get for the 1xAA body and EDC use (sorry, I took a few out of their inventory). Out of what's left on clearance that you have listed, however:

- the 2x123 is a high voltage 3-9V head, you can run 1x14500, but it will not run on anything else 1xAA (Alk, NiMh, Li)
- the 2xAA listed looks like a turbo which will work, but is a dedicated thrower with pencil beam and larger, difficult-to-pocket head. I personally don't like throwers for EDC use, which tends to be more close range use.
- the 1x123 is the proper general purpose low voltage head and would be the best of the three, IMHO, but this is the version with the non-removeable clip. So, you could remove the clip from the 1xAA tube and use this one bezel up (good for clipping to a baseball cap), or you could break this one off and file the nub down, and then use the normal reversible/removeable clip on the AA tube.

Story of my life, day late and a dollar short. Do any other sites regularly have discounts on the Quarks?

 

[roadkill1109]

Story of my life, day late and a dollar short. Do any other sites regularly have discounts on the Quarks?

FourSevens had a Black Friday Sale last year, watch out for it! I scored a sweet deal on the Quark Turbo X back then! It costs 80-something now, I got it for like 52 bucks with all the discounts in place (shipping included)

Also, might want to sign up for Marshall's (as well as Dave's) email notifications when promos and discounts are being offered. With Christmas around the corner, i'm sure the sweet deals will be sure to follow.

 

[L.Ramming]

Who is Marshall and Dave, and where do I sign up?

 

[roadkill1109]

Who is Marshall and Dave, and where do I sign up?

Marshall owns going gear.com while Dave owns FourSevens. Just create an account on their website and there's an option to be informed during annoucements and promos.

 

[reppans]

OP, GG seems to have about the best regular discounts on non-sale items I've seen. You do know you can an additional 10% off any price with CPF discount, right? David's site has an 8% CPF discount too.

...i USE this every day and use it as a nightlight in the evenings, it lasts the whole night long and still enough juice to be EDC'ed the next day.

Anybody wanna buy spare AA2 tubes? I got plenty... hehe.

I just got my power back from Sandy Sat night... used the equivalent of ONE 14500 the whole time - Efficient moonlight and low lumens RULE!

Roadkill, you should go to the Zombie Squad forum and post "Tactical Spare AA Battery Carriers" in the For Sale section... I bet you'd get cleared out at $25 a piece.

Some of Roadkill's Lego creations have inspired my purchases too.

 

[L.Ramming]

Thanks for the info. It seems discount codes are in the CPF marketplace forum and I have to create a separate account there. :duh2:

 

[L.Ramming]

Another quick question, it seems they sell a 1aa tactical quark and a 2aa tactical quark. What's the advantage of the 2aa head? I assume the XML led puts out more light on a 14500, but is the difference major?

 

[reppans]

Another quick question, it seems they sell a 1aa tactical quark and a 2aa tactical quark. What's the advantage of the 2aa head? I assume the XML led puts out more light on a 14500, but is the difference major?

Assuming the same emitter, there is no difference between the 1xAA and 2xAA head. The XML does not come in a 1xAA version. A 1x14500 will output the same lumens as the 2xAA versions, but of course shorter runtimes. For the XML, 2xAA or a 1x14500, max output is 400 lumens as measured by Selfbuilt's reviews. The 400 lumens steps down to 280 listed spec after 3 mins, for heat reasons. 400 lumens will appear almost twice as bright as High (115 lumens I think) so it is significant, but not as massive as you might think (our light perception is not linear - it takes 4x the lumens to appear twice as bright, 2x lumens looks about 40% brighter).

The XML has a larger emitter than the XPGs and in the same head, will be floodier with a bigger hotspot, but may be also be less efficient that the XPG models if you go by 4/7s specs (but it looks about the same in the runtime testimonial thread to me). I like the XML version more for the flood than max output but that's purely preference.

Keep in mind that you lock yourself into 2 modes at a time with the tactical.

 

[roadkill1109]

You may want to check out the XPG2 offerings of the new Quarks, more efficient than the previous XPG leds, might give the best balance between runtime and lumen output. I use both the XML and the old XPG heads, the one with the XPG led lasts a bit longer than the XML one, but the XML one has a lower "moonlight" mode.

Congrats on lasting this whole time without power on the moonlight mode! It's so amazing that it can last the whole night, be EDC'ed the next day, then last again the whole night for several days in a row without losing power! The only other brand that i think that can match it is the Zebralights, but i will have to confirm this when I get my SC52! :D

I will try visiting that forum, thanks for the tip!