After playing indoors and outdoors with my new Quark Mini AA neutral white, here are some mostly subjective observations on the beam and related issues that might be important to a potential user:
(Fully charged Eneloop used throughout)
The Mini AA neutral reveals colors well, indoors and especially outdoors. I did not have a cool white Mini to compare it to, so used my Petl RXP headlamp on comparable lumen settings. To my eye, the neutral tint Mini AA presents a significantly improved, more three dimensional image than cool white, with better color clues to help identify objects-- very useful in an outdoor landscape (walking through brush, or on uneven ground,for example); not as important for indoor navigation or task work, where the settings are more familiar and predictable.
Indoor Note: for close-up, short term work, I might actually prefer the cool white--but for long periods of time, I find the warmer (neutral) tint friendly and easier on the eyes.
Back outdoors: GREAT wide spill, but spot a bit too tight and with too abrupt a transition to be IDEAL for walking/running. This is obviously a personal preference thing, but my wall test, confirmed by a jaunt outside, indicates spot diameter does not reach 2 feet until about 8 feet out from the emitter. When shining it at the ground in front of one's feet, the spot is closer to 1 foot in diameter. Because the spill is reasonably bright on both medium and on high, this does not result in a pronounced tunnel effect, but it would be nice if the spot were wider. It is really not an issue on high, because the spill is plenty bright and it is not necessary to shine the spot near one's feet to see the ground well. The problem is on medium, which --of course--is the preferred mode if long runtime is needed, as on a night hike. Probably high voltage 14500s would improve the beam on medium, but again at the cost of run time,
Interestingly, I found that on low, the beam was fine for navigating a totally dark garage: with no competition from ambient light (moonlight, streetlights, etc.) and on a smooth floor, the spill from the low setting was ample for walking about and the narrow spot not particularly distracting.
Flip side: the narrow spot is quite good outside when using the light on more distant objects. On high beam, and even on medium, what I would call useful illumination is projected out to a distance of about 100 feet. ("Useful"= Is that a bush or a bear lurking at the next bend in the trail??). The Mini spill lights up the foreground/ intermediate area well, and the spot gives nice definition to objects 30+ feet away.
So: as an extremely lightweight supplement/backup to a floody single-AA trail light like the zebra h501, the Mini AA neutral would add a lot of range with optimal color rendering, and the advantage of interchangeable batteries. Nice backpacking combination.
Others have commented at length on the form and mechanics of the Mini, and I have little to add here except to say that for a very small, almost weightless light, I found the ergonomics quite good.
One Conclusion: The neutral Mini AA is tantalizingly close to being a great super lightweight outdoors light. Nonetheless, in my mind it is a legitimate question whether the color/3-dimensional image improvement of the neutral tint is worth the loss of an apparently broader spot and more lumens in the cool white version. Certainly depends in part on how exactly one will most use the light. Since I don't have a mini AA cool white version to directly compare to, I can only conjecture-- But even if I had both, there would be a problem. Outdoors, I don't really WANT to sacrifice the color advantages of the neutral version to get better beam balance. I just want an improved beam. In short, I would like my cake and to eat it too.
How about someone slightly altering the reflector/emitter combo in the mini AA so I get neutral white PLUS a broader spot diameter and smoother blend of spot and spill? Or it might be that a Mini with a neutral R5 (!) would accomplish this without any reflector change???
Hmmm. 4Sevens, here's hoping. . .
And i hope this subjective, somewhat disjointed, and obviously not comprehensive assessment is useful to someone. I got tired of searching multiple threads for this sort of info. Perhaps others can add their impressions to the data/opinion base. Some mini AA neutral vs mini AA cool white beamshots would be helpful-- but IMHO can't resolve the REAL issue: Design the flashlight for the neutral beam, instead of just switching the LED! (And yes, "if wishes were horses. . . etc. etc.
)
(Fully charged Eneloop used throughout)
The Mini AA neutral reveals colors well, indoors and especially outdoors. I did not have a cool white Mini to compare it to, so used my Petl RXP headlamp on comparable lumen settings. To my eye, the neutral tint Mini AA presents a significantly improved, more three dimensional image than cool white, with better color clues to help identify objects-- very useful in an outdoor landscape (walking through brush, or on uneven ground,for example); not as important for indoor navigation or task work, where the settings are more familiar and predictable.
Indoor Note: for close-up, short term work, I might actually prefer the cool white--but for long periods of time, I find the warmer (neutral) tint friendly and easier on the eyes.
Back outdoors: GREAT wide spill, but spot a bit too tight and with too abrupt a transition to be IDEAL for walking/running. This is obviously a personal preference thing, but my wall test, confirmed by a jaunt outside, indicates spot diameter does not reach 2 feet until about 8 feet out from the emitter. When shining it at the ground in front of one's feet, the spot is closer to 1 foot in diameter. Because the spill is reasonably bright on both medium and on high, this does not result in a pronounced tunnel effect, but it would be nice if the spot were wider. It is really not an issue on high, because the spill is plenty bright and it is not necessary to shine the spot near one's feet to see the ground well. The problem is on medium, which --of course--is the preferred mode if long runtime is needed, as on a night hike. Probably high voltage 14500s would improve the beam on medium, but again at the cost of run time,
Interestingly, I found that on low, the beam was fine for navigating a totally dark garage: with no competition from ambient light (moonlight, streetlights, etc.) and on a smooth floor, the spill from the low setting was ample for walking about and the narrow spot not particularly distracting.
Flip side: the narrow spot is quite good outside when using the light on more distant objects. On high beam, and even on medium, what I would call useful illumination is projected out to a distance of about 100 feet. ("Useful"= Is that a bush or a bear lurking at the next bend in the trail??). The Mini spill lights up the foreground/ intermediate area well, and the spot gives nice definition to objects 30+ feet away.
So: as an extremely lightweight supplement/backup to a floody single-AA trail light like the zebra h501, the Mini AA neutral would add a lot of range with optimal color rendering, and the advantage of interchangeable batteries. Nice backpacking combination.
Others have commented at length on the form and mechanics of the Mini, and I have little to add here except to say that for a very small, almost weightless light, I found the ergonomics quite good.
One Conclusion: The neutral Mini AA is tantalizingly close to being a great super lightweight outdoors light. Nonetheless, in my mind it is a legitimate question whether the color/3-dimensional image improvement of the neutral tint is worth the loss of an apparently broader spot and more lumens in the cool white version. Certainly depends in part on how exactly one will most use the light. Since I don't have a mini AA cool white version to directly compare to, I can only conjecture-- But even if I had both, there would be a problem. Outdoors, I don't really WANT to sacrifice the color advantages of the neutral version to get better beam balance. I just want an improved beam. In short, I would like my cake and to eat it too.
How about someone slightly altering the reflector/emitter combo in the mini AA so I get neutral white PLUS a broader spot diameter and smoother blend of spot and spill? Or it might be that a Mini with a neutral R5 (!) would accomplish this without any reflector change???
Hmmm. 4Sevens, here's hoping. . .
And i hope this subjective, somewhat disjointed, and obviously not comprehensive assessment is useful to someone. I got tired of searching multiple threads for this sort of info. Perhaps others can add their impressions to the data/opinion base. Some mini AA neutral vs mini AA cool white beamshots would be helpful-- but IMHO can't resolve the REAL issue: Design the flashlight for the neutral beam, instead of just switching the LED! (And yes, "if wishes were horses. . . etc. etc.
)
