Need a replacement for my quark aa2 neutral

[littlemagic]

I was on a week long camping trip...full of pride because I have the best flashlight at camp... Yeah it's no mcgizmo or 007... But while I don't have a lot of money I do have more knowledge about this stuff than any of my friends.

well on night 3 I lost my quark in the woods. I was pretty devastated. You could imagine my frustration when I had to borrow a stupid rayovac plastic thing that broke when I dropped it. It was awful. The whole rest of the trip was very dark and lame.

I need a new light. Neutral or warm. No floodies. Something like the quark aa2 but I want to explore options. Maybe something more powerful... Something impressive. Probably aa cell because I don't use it constantly... Though I'm open to suggestions. I got mine in 2008 so the LEDs must be upgraded by now.

I was looking at the xeno f7 and e03, also the sunwayman m20c-t5, the lumapower something-or-other, the jet beam pa40 looks oddly cool, and I heard good stuff about klarus. What else is there? What's the best? Trying to keep the budget under 100. Thanks guys. You rock.

 

[Outdoorsman5]

All good lights that you mentioned, but if it were me I'd get another quark. Go to foursevens.com (their new website with the new rebranded lights...same lights, new logo.) Get another Neutral White Quark that takes 2 AA's and has the new XML LED. 280 lumens from a 2xAA light is incredible. The main reason I'd stick with a quark is that it is one of the few lights out there that has a true moonlight mode (zebralight & thrunite are the only other lights that I can think of that have it too.) If you liked/used the moonlight mode then you know its usefulness. Plus the legoability, efficiency, & overall output of the quark is among the very best.

 

[Gunner12]

If you liked the Quark, you should probably get another one. If you are afraid of loosing the light and would like something cheaper, look at Shiningbeam's offerings. The Shiningbeam Caveman, I-mini, and Spark all seem to be nice lights from what I've read. No moonlight mode on those though and only the Spark has strobe (if that's something you wanted).

Whenever I'm using my lights, I always have my lanyard around my wrist. Do you know how you lost the light?

 

[reppans]

+1 on the Quark XML .. w/1xAA tube and 14500. Hard to lose when it's always in a pocket or on.

 

[reppans]

Duplicate

 

[AnAppleSnail]

A few local stores sell a cheapie 1xAA light that is pretty crummy. But it has a GITD rubber thing on the body. I buy these lights for about $3, then take the rubber thing off, cut it in half (two cylinders, half the length) and put them on flashlight tailcaps. The Quark clip carries high enough that it charges when I'm carrying it, and it glows fairly well, so that it's visible in the dark.

Use a wrist strap, and carabiner the strap if you're running with the light. Get some reflecto-tape on it and it'll be easier to find next time.

 

[shelm]

If you liked the Quark, you should probably get another one. If you are afraid of loosing the light and would like something cheaper, look at Shiningbeam's offerings.

+ 1

Because of the rebranding Quarks were on sale (~41$). I heard that Shiningbeam lights are from the same factory as the Quarks, both related to Olight.

The Quark X has a nice large hotspot and most users report that the beam is greenish. But that helps a lot in green nature. Leaves, grass and trees look very juicy. SureFire even advertised greenish beams on the retail packaging as FEATURE lol.

Fenix, Quark (Eagletac), or Niteye, that's my vote. Good luck.

 

[littlemagic]

Whenever I'm using my lights, I always have my lanyard around my wrist. Do you know how you lost the light?

Yeah, it's embarrassing. I'm the guy in my group of friends that knows about this stuff we here all obssess over (lights, knives, knots etc) and I was playing super ranger/camper dude.
Amongst the Axe throwing, slinging rocks and General badassery, I wanted to make stuff for my camping friends. I made some bracelets and slings and walking staffs. When I was done, I was going to make two things for myself; one being a lanyard for the quark.

one night I clipped the quark to my belt loop for easy access. But I forgot that I had attached it so haphazardly when I ran into the woods for some reason. By the time it was dark I reached and it was gone.

Well, lesson learned. Thanks to your responses I'm getting another quark in xml. I'll make a lanyard right away, buy some trit, and probably get another light in 1 cell aa or aaa to have on the already bulky keychain ¬_¬

Thanks guys. You rock :beer:

 

[Outdoorsman5]

Well, lesson learned. Thanks to your responses I'm getting another quark in xml. I'll make a lanyard right away, buy some trit, and probably get another light in 1 cell aa or aaa to have on the already bulky keychain

When you get the new quark be sure to get the "Neutral White" version if you can. The cool white versions are a lottery when it comes to the color of the beam. A lot of the XML's are kind of green. The NW is perfect. I noticed over at foursevens.com that they do not have the Quark X AA2 NW with the Regular User Interface (now called the Quark Pro QP2A-X NW) is not in. Call them (678-608-0308) to find out when it will be in stock. They do have the Quark X AA2 Tactical NW (now called the QT2A-X NW) in stock. The tactical quarks have the User Interface where you program the output for the "head tight" position and the "head loose" position.

For you second light, if you plan to use it as a keychain light then get a AAA light. I have edc'd an AA light on my keychain, and they are a little too big. If you do get a AA light for your keychain then I'd recommend the Quark AA mini (twisty switch.) It's among the smallest. If you get a AAA light for your keychain then my favorite by far is the Olight i3 EOS. It's tiny, has 3 output options, awesome runtimes, and has a great beam.

If you decide to just have a backup to your 2xAA quark then I'd repeat "Reppans" recommendation. Get a Quark single AA light, and run it on a rechargeable 3.7v Li-ion 14500 (AA sized) battery. You'd need to get the battery & charger, but the huge benefit of this set up is that you will have a single cell quark that runs just as bright as the 2xAA quark. Runtimes with this battery are incredible as well. The Quark AA is my edc light (with the XML NW head on it,) and out of all my lights it is my favorite. The single AA quark runs best on the 14500 battery, but runs just fine (not as bright) on a standard AA battery (great if needed in a pinch.)

Good Luck

 

[bruc]

I dont see the "NW" listed anywhere.

 

[reppans]

I dont see the "NW" listed anywhere.

The NWs are listed within the LED emitter options pull down menu on each light. Most look sold out and discontinued. I did see availability with the QT2L though, but on the old emitter.

Unfortunately David has mentioned that it is not worth doing these tint runs.... not enough demand to make it worthwhile and they sit in his inventory. Don't know if he'll stop altogether or not. I'm not a tint snob and am fine with cools as well as neutrals.