The Quark lights thread! (Part 4)

[Vox Clamatis in Deserto]

Just got my warm QAA tactical, wow. Kinda nostalgic, the beam looks like an old incandescent D cell light with partially depleted batteries. A couple of other XP-E lights that I judged to be slightly warm look green next to this tobacco tinted light.

I've got a 14500 on the charger, just popped an AA rechargeable in it for now. Also, I have the 2AA battery tube for Lego fun later.

Nice feel to the tactical clicky switch, just hope it lasts! I've never been that great with the clicky twisty programming on Henry's lights, the current settings of max and low are probably what I want anyway.

I wasn't going to get another Quark but the warm emitter and DHart's persuasion on the AA/14500 power sources tipped the odds against my fiscal restraint.

Wonder if there might be production runs with IR, UV, red, green or blue LED's? I'd be a buyer, I'm afraid...

 

[CaNo]

The Quarks are by no means ugly(especially without the clip) but they don't have that special feeling that makes you want it just by looking at it.
Combining this together into one light would be AMAZING for me.

Took the words right out of my mouth. :twothumbs

I personally don't care for the looks of piston drives and as for their reliability, I seem to recall people on here with a few problems with them (I'll search for the source in a minute). I'm not one for bling, in fact, I'm the anti-bling. I'll take my black rubber boot, thanks. Or maybe the blue one they had on the prototype Quarks. Or gray. Plain ol' charcoal gray or possibly the same color as the lanyard.

Actually for the Nitecore Piston Drives they have all been fixed. As with all new products and ideas, there will be glitches and it will not be a 100% in its first few lines. But atleast for my experiences, I have had nothing but perfect performance from my piston driven Nitecore D10 PD R2.

 

[defloyd77]

Actually for the Nitecore Piston Drives they have all been fixed. As with all new products and ideas, there will be glitches and it will not be a 100% in its first few lines. But atleast for my experiences, I have had nothing but perfect performance from my piston driven Nitecore D10 PD R2.

I can't really find my source, but I seem to remember something about sand too?

 

[Badbeams3]

There are some great pic`s being posted by our lucky dog members in the manufactures area...and from what I can tell the neutral whites are kicking butt...way more than I would have thought :thinking:

Scroll down a bit http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=196497&page=4

 

[ninjaboigt]

my warm quark is at homeeeeeeeeee i cant wait to get home...2.5 hrs more to go....

 

[Mr. Tone]

There are some great pic`s being posted by our lucky dog members in the manufactures area...and from what I can tell the neutral whites are kicking butt...way more than I would have thought :thinking:

Scroll down a bit http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=196497&page=4

Man, those are some great shots! Thank you to the guys over there in the Marketplace who are sustaining the rest of us still waiting. After seening those shots I am even more excited now. lovecpf

 

[defloyd77]

Man, those are some great shots! Thank you to the guys over there in the Marketplace who are sustaining the rest of us still waiting. After seening those shots I am even more excited now. lovecpf

Me too. Excited and somewhat confused with the AA shot next to the Fenix. It might be sort of an illusion, maybe it's just the hotspot that is more intense, either way it's great!

 

[Mr. Tone]

Me too. Excited and somewhat confused with the AA shot next to the Fenix. It might be sort of an illusion, maybe it's just the hotspot that is more intense, either way it's great!

Those infrared and green looking images are bad to the bone. That makes the beam quality of the Quark more apparent in comparison to the Fenix. Even if the hotspot is really intense at least we can tone it down to 0.2 lumens!:twothumbs And then throw the beam across the yard for kicks.

 

[pobox1475]

You do realize you have certain obligations since you're the first to post that you have yours, don't you?

I would have thought that I would receive the obligations (like maybe a Single Malt 😉 ). But any way here goes what I assume your after:


Standard warm tint clip less 123.


Packaging = A. Everything held in it's own compartment and I have never felt a rubberized box like this one. Really neat!

Included Accessories = A. Lanyard may not get used. But belt holster is currently and finger holder looks promising.

Ergonomics = A. So far have not found any quirks.

Features = A. Multiple levels to choose from and blinking modes to boot. Moon mode I will have to see if it grows on me. Blinking modes can easily be avoided by not cycling to them. You can turn off at any point and start from Moon.

Button = B. A little stiff, but being able to cycle to next level with a light depress is a nice feature.

Output = A. Best tint and beam I have experienced.

Value = A. Features, performance and hopefully longevity for a reasonable price.

Efficiency = Not Rated. I will leave this one to one of our resident Techies.

 

[Badbeams3]

somewhat confused with the AA shot next to the Fenix. It might be sort of an illusion, maybe it's just the hotspot that is more intense, either way it's great!

Yea that one is confusing. If the Quark had a 14500 in there it would make more sense.

 

[Mr. Tone]

Just got my warm QAA tactical, wow. Kinda nostalgic, the beam looks like an old incandescent D cell light with partially depleted batteries. A couple of other XP-E lights that I judged to be slightly warm look green next to this tobacco tinted light.

That is pretty crazy. My Q3 5A looks like it is pure white compared to my stock 3D Mag with new batteries. If yours is that warm I would guess that to be an exception and not the norm. Have you compared it to any of your incan flashlights? Just so you know I haven't received my warm Quark yet so the Q3 5A I have is XR-E not XP-E. I will compare the tints of the 2 different warm emitters when I get it.

 

[f22shift]

q35a shouldn't look like an incandescent. it looks white or pink in comparison. still behind for outdoor but better than the regular tints we are used to.

 

[Kwanon13]

The tint on my 132x2 looks just slightly pink compared to an M60WL, hard to tell unless really looking for it. The diameter of the beam is huge, impressive little light! :bow:

 

[DHart]

I mentioned this on the other forum, but there might be some here who aren't aware of this about the Quark AA.

The QAA on an alkaline cell or NiMH is nothing like the QAA on a 14500 li-ion.... with the 14500, the QAA is 80% brighter (appears about twice as bright!)

For those who haven't yet ventured into li-ion land, you may really want to consider doing so with your QAA. This light is quite limited when running on a AA... which may be ok in a pinch if AAs are all you have access to, but for every day use... consider the benefits of running a 14500:

• you can start every day with a full-up, topped-off cell (not a cell that has worn down, but still has some useful life),

• you get nearly twice the maximum output - high on 14500 is comparable output to turbo on other cell types

• no more buying and throwing away/recycling cell after cell, you get guilt-free lumens by recharging li-ions

For those who will use the light a lot... the 14500 cell is a wonderful thing!

Runtime on turbo is less with li-ion than with other cells, but consider that the difference between turbo and high is not a huge difference of output... in fact, high on 14500 appears the same brightness as turbo on other cells... plenty bright for most applications.... so look at the runtime for 14500 on "high" and compare that to runtime on "turbo" with other cells.

Here are runtimes as collected by selfbuilt:

=============14500======Eneloop AA======L91 Lithium
Q AA on turbo.........46 min............1 hr. 12 min............2 hrs. 1 min.
Q AA on High........3 hr. 2 min........1 hr. 30 min.

selfbuilt's review is here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=234960

 

[flatline]

My QAAW was waiting for me when I got home from work, so I thought I'd share my observations with you all. Just so you know where I'm coming from, this is my first premium light. I've been carrying a minimag with 1w LED upgrade from NiteIze on my belt for the last 10 years.

I'll start with the accessories...

Holster: Its sides are elastic which means it'll age poorly. It has a flap that closes over the top that is fastened to the front with velcro which means it's relatively noisy to open. I would have preferred they fasten it with a magnet or not have the flap at all. Really, I would have loved it if it was like the holster for my minimag (form fitting stitched canvas with no top flap and no elastic). It holds the flashlight well and, excepting the elastic, is made of very stout material, so it'll do until I get used to it or find a replacement.

Lanyard: top quality lanyard with two adjustable, err, things that you can slide up and down to loosen or tighten it. Good solid clip at the end. I won't use it with the flashlight, but I'm pleased to have it to use elsewhere.

Finger Holder Thingie: Played with it some. I guess I don't get it. I'll play with it later to see if I can figure out how it's intended to be useful.

...and now the QAAW itself!

It's wonderful. :twothumbs

It's tiny. I don't really know what my expectations were, but it felt akward at first to hold (I was trying to hold it like my minimag). Now that I've played with it, it's very comfortable. The 3 flat surfaces on the tube make it extremely easy to hold between your thumb and middle finger (using the index finger on the button) or like a pencil for up close work.

The button is stiff to click, but comforatable to half-engage to change modes. I like it, but I can see how people who prefer to hold it like a cigar might have troubles. Much easier to click with the index finger than the thumb.

The clip in the head-down configuration (how it came) makes it hard to twist the head. I'm not a clip user (I much preferr to belt carry), so I don't really have an opinion on the utility of the clip. I took it off the light as soon as I figured out how.

I switched the head and tail so that the tube was closer to the back. In the head-down configuration, the ring that tightens over the clip would turn in my right hand when I meant to turn the head with my left hand. It was annoying. By putting the head on the ring end, it stopped being troublesome and made the light slightly more comfortable to hold in my preferred grip.

The beam is beautiful. The color is noticeably warmer than what I normally expect from an LED light and colors indoors and outdoors look "right" (not washed out like the typical LED flashlight and not yellow like my 4D maglite). It's not quite like daylight, but it's closer than I've seen before in a flashlight. It makes my cheap LED flashlights look washed out and anemic.

Moon mode is perfect. Low is probably as bright as I'll use it for close work even in a well lit room (like the labs at work). Medium, High, and Max are all bright enough to be useful in daylight to various degrees. Even Medium is brighter than I'm used to carrying, so I'll have to spend some time with the light to determine if I find the higher output levels useful. Obviously, they'll be useful at a distance, but I don't have much occasion to require illlumination at a distance (maybe that'll change now that I have a flashlight that is capable of it). It'll certainly wow my friends (especially if I decide to use li-ions).

I'm very pleased with this light, although now that I see how small a 1xAA flashlight really is, I might be tempted to look for something bigger to put on my belt for EDC in the unlikely event that the QAAW isn't enough in some respect (can't imagine how, but my tastes may change over time, I suppose).

Anyways, it's a great light. I hope you enjoyed the observations of noob. 🙂

--flatline

 

[xenonk]

The QAA on an alkaline cell or NiMH is nothing like the QAA on a 14500 li-ion

I've been using an Akoray K-106 on 14500 and it exhibits a similar change in performance on li-ion. I was getting ready to mod it with a neutral emitter when the neutral Quarks hit, and that plan went out the window.

The momentary forward tac switch on the Quark will be more useful for me and I found that I only ever used two modes on the K-106 anyway, with the third always being set to something silly like beacon and getting skipped past whenever I use the light.

Can't wait for my neu-tac Quark to get here so I can trade up.

 

[jcw122]

DHart, how does the QAA on Li-Ion on Max...compare output wise, against the QAA^2 on NiHM on Max?

The "dangers" of Li-Ion batteries worry me much more than NiHM.

 

[xenonk]

The Quark AAs are rated for 90 lumen OTF, while the 123 and AA^2 are 170 lumen. They all share the same head though, so it's just something the driver does when fed somewhere north of 2 volts.

 

[Mikellen]

I mentioned this on the other forum, but there might be some here who aren't aware of this about the Quark AA.

The QAA on an alkaline cell or NiMH is nothing like the QAA on a 14500 li-ion.... with the 14500, the QAA is 80% brighter (appears about twice as bright!)

For those who haven't yet ventured into li-ion land, you may really want to consider doing so with your QAA. This light is severely limited when running on a AA... which may be ok in a pinch if AAs are all you have access to, but for every day use... consider the benefits of running a 14500:

• you can start every day with a full-up, topped-off cell (not a cell that has worn down, but still has some useful life),

• you get nearly twice the maximum output - high on 14500 is comparable output to turbo on other cell types

• no more buying and throwing away/recycling cell after cell, you get guilt-free lumens by recharging li-ions

For those who will use the light a lot... the 14500 cell is a wonderful thing!

Runtime on turbo is less with li-ion than with other cells, but consider that the difference between turbo and high is not a huge difference of output... in fact, high on 14500 appears the same brightness as turbo on other cells... plenty bright for most applications.... so look at the runtime for 14500 on "high" and compare that to runtime on "turbo" with other cells.

Here are runtimes as collected by selfbuilt:

=============14500======Eneloop AA======L91 Lithium
Q AA on turbo.........46 min............1 hr. 12 min............2 hrs. 1 min.
Q AA on High........3 hr. 2 min........1 hr. 30 min.

Is that an accurate runtime figure for the Q AA on high with 14500? (3 hrs. and 2 min.) If it is, that's over twice the runtime on an Eneloop!

 

[matrixshaman]

I think if you read post #1 in this thread Here and then read post #12 in that same thread you'll have an idea for a whole new Quark and one I think would be a big hit if 4Sevens would consider it. If it can be done at or under the price mentioned I'll bet this would be another 4Sevens winner. It doesn't seem any such light currently exists so who else wants to start making some noise for this or has this been brought up before here?