Need some help to clear some things up

[JCK]

hey, I'm going out so I didn't have time to look, just t hought I'd put a quick post up, hoping you can help me.

Basically I live in australia, and am going to purchase a torch, Thinknig quark aa 2 tactical and 123 reg OR a nitecore D10 SP from here -

http://www.torchworld.com.au/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=578

this has all the specs as I dont have time to explain.

Basically I read a few problems about batteries in them, and was wondering, do you think I should get the D10 and if so what aa batteries i could use, or get the quarks which are on backorder, so would be a longer wait, and I want a torch now. I can't do the CPF "get em all", as money is a bit tight atm, w/ uni fess and such.

thanks for the help
JCK

 

[kaichu dento]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

Personally I'm a pretty big fan of the D10, although I like the older rampable version and think you could find a used one in the MarketPlace if you started a WTB thread.

I like the Quark AA too and have one in my pocket right now.

 

[skyfire]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

i would recommend the quark, as i love mine. for 2xAA cells, also consider the fenix tk20. its built like a tank and comes in a nice warm tint. throws well too.

 

[JCK]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

TK 20 maybe later
about the d10 with ramping, do you actually use it, or is it more coolness
and this would be used for hiking, so set levels of output may be better?

 

[bfksc]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

Basically I live in australia, and am going to purchase a torch, Thinknig quark aa 2 tactical and 123 reg OR a nitecore D10 SP...Basically I read a few problems about batteries in them, and was wondering, do you think I should get the D10 and if so what aa batteries i could use, or get the quarks which are on backorder, so would be a longer wait, and I want a torch now.

How about more details about what you want to do with the lights? EDC? Long runtimes? Brightness levels? Do you want max throw or balanced spill and throw? Etc...

Without more info, I'd use your ideas and suggest getting the Quark 123 with an AAx2 body tube and swap tubes as needed, or AAx2 with 123 body, whichever is a cheaper purchase. Except for the 123x2 (3.0-9.0v), the heads and tailcaps are the same among many of the models - only the battery tubes are different. The AA, 123, AAx2 models all use the same 0.9-4.2v heads. That's why some people refer to the Quark line as "lego-able" lights.

As for the D10, it sounds decent although I'm not a fan of the UI, but that's just me.

 

[JCK]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

hiking and backpacking
so decent runtime and tougness and not for EDC, so thinking both would be fine

 

[Bubu]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

I have purchased torches from both places, torchworld and 4Sevens. Both are good to deal with so you wont have any problem there. Delivery is also fairly quick from both places, about 2 or 3 days from Torchworld and about a week from 4Sevens.

I cannot comment on the D10 I have never used or even physically seen one. But I do own two Quarks, the Turbo and Regular and I am quite happy with both. I think the regular Quark is a bit more usefull for what you want. I have taken both the regular and the TURBO in the past when I have gone fishing in some not so accessible places. I found the regular Quark with the more floody beam to be better suited when trying to navigate through bushes and rocks at night.

I would have recommended a TK40 but I guess weight would be a factor if ur backpacking and hiking so that would be out of the question. There would be no doubt about the toughness of the TK40, not sure if you have seen this thread by aussiebob http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=233856

 

[JCK]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

Thats a pretty cool test by aussiebob, always heard the Tk40 is really tough, but those pics back it up for sure.
Nice to hear positve about both websites, not that I'd heard any negative in the first place.
TAlking about toughness, are there any smaller TK lights from Fenix that would be just as tough, gonna check there website now
EDIT: What about the TK12? gonna try and find some reviews now.

 

[carrot]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

The TK10 or whatever the successor to it is pretty nice. I have had a few issues with mine lately, probably due to cold weather, but it has been a nice light and people tell me it is quite durable. I have been itching to replace it with a Quark Turbo, though, as the styling is much nicer and the programmability kicks butt.

 

[jkilo]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

JCK, I would stress that whatever choice you end up making, allow consideration of tint to be a factor. While the cool tinted lights might appear brighter when being shown on a white wall, the warm tint is much better in the bush, and will allow you to make more sense of your surroundings at night.

I have Quarks in cool, neutral, and warm, and the warm is a winner outdoors, despite having fewer advertised lumens... the xp-e R2 is a close second with it's pure white tint. For now, the xp-g emitters are only available in cool white, while the xp-e can be had in any tint.

 

[JCK]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

JCK, I would stress that whatever choice you end up making, allow consideration of tint to be a factor. While the cool tinted lights might appear brighter when being shown on a white wall, the warm tint is much better in the bush, and will allow you to make more sense of your surroundings at night.

As I don't have much experience with torches and hiking, what kind of colour difference are we talking about here, is it more a green bush might not seem green, or things are totally washed out? And how important would you say colour rendition is when hiking or out bush?

 

[carrot]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

Greens and browns "pop" more with a warmer "neutral" tint. You could compare the light of a "cool white" tint to being more like moonlight. Colors are a little washed out with LED light but I find that all newer LEDs do a great job. The warmer or neutral tinted LEDs do make colors look a little more vibrant and less washed out but the "cool white" still works excellent. I do like the warmer tint outdoors but I don't find it absolutely necessary. Most of the time I am outdoors using a light it's to find my way around camp or to walk a path, not to identify things and such, for which a warm tint does not necessarily help. For what it's worth, warm white looks kind of gross indoors.

Incans offer the best color rendition right now in portable lighting but they also offer worse runtime and output for small pocket lights.

 

[kaichu dento]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

As I don't have much experience with torches and hiking, what kind of colour difference are we talking about here, is it more a green bush might not seem green, or things are totally washed out? And how important would you say colour rendition is when hiking or out bush?

Personal preference being king, all the aforementioned is definitely worth considering, especially Carrot's post, but in the end, it comes down to what you like.
As noted above, most modern emitters are going to be pretty nice, whether they're on the warm or cool side of the line, but I too believe that you'll be most happy with a warm/neutral tint. Although I too have a preference for warm/neutral emitters, I still find myself pretty happy with a cool white at low levels and just a couple weeks ago was noticing how my Quark MiNi xp-g was virtually undetectable from the natural moonlight, light pattern notwithstanding.

 

[JCK]

Re: Need some help to clear soem things up

Ok, so heres what I'm thinking of doing.
Gonna buy a 2 quarks and 2 body tubes
thinking of getting
Quark AA,
Quark 123 Tactical
Quark 123-2 body
Quark AA-2 Body

maybe throw in a neutral white head, if i ahve enough cash, but then again I think the 2 lights will be fine for my purpose, as I have an Xstreem 9 led torch powered by three 1.5 V aaa batteries that I picked up from supercheap auto, and I really like the colour of the light it gives off.

Side view

LED's

I took it apart

The beam colour seems really white, maybe a slight hint of blue, but its really unnoticable to me.

And I'm thinking, when I have more money, getting a zebralight warm H50 or30 or soemthing, as I figured I'd probably want a neutral white light when doing close up things, and cool bright white for seeing things distance and lighting up a place.

Of course I've never used a warm white LED torch before, only the old incans about 4 years ago, and I hated them, lit up nothing, really bad throw and spill and all that stuff that matters. Plus I didn't like that yello colour, I preferred white. Then again horses for courses...

 

[bfksc]

Ok, so heres what I'm thinking of doing.
Gonna buy a 2 quarks and 2 body tubes
thinking of getting
Quark AA,
Quark 123 Tactical
Quark 123-2 body
Quark AA-2 Body

Just make sure you don't try to run 2x123 cells with the 123-2 body because both of the heads you selected are limited to 0.9-4.2v and two 123 is 6.0v and two rechargeable 123's would be 7.4v - too high for the heads.
If you intend to use two 123 type cells, then you MUST get the Quark 123x2 head (might as well buy the whole 123x2 light) as it's rated 3.0-9.0v and can handle the higher voltage of the lithiums or rechargeables.

The beam colour seems really white, maybe a slight hint of blue, but its really unnoticable to me.

I don't know why they call it "neutral" white when it tends towards the warm white or yellowish hues. I don't like warm white lights except in the house for ambient light. For reading, cooking, etc., I prefer a daylight white colour. A neutral white should be just like daylight without any tint either way, hence the term "neutral".

When I compare all available flashlights side by side, the Mag 3D is cool white, MiniMag is slightly cool white, Energizer 1w is slightly warm white, and Quark is white with slightly green tint on lower settings and almost white on Max, Mag 3D Incan is puke coloured dim ugly yellow.
:sick2:
However, when I use any of the LED lights by itself for more than a few minutes the light looks fairly white and the incan Mag still looks like puke.