Quark Mini 123 Vs Illuminati

I already purchased an illuminati recently but I am feeling the craving for a new light already and I am strongly considering the quark mini 123.

My two main concerns are size and floodiness.

Does anyone have a comparison of a illuminati or fenix lod 0(or ld01) to the quark mini 123 both in size, and if possible, in beam? I have heard nothing but great things about the quarks beam and it being quite flood, which I like, but I am a bit worried about whether or not it will be too much on my keychain.

Thanks!

I go back and forth between my Mini 123 and EZCr2. I don't notice any diff. in size or weight.

Thats good to hear, the cr2 is even smaller that a AAA light I assume.

I'd still love a picture, but thanks I appreciate it!

Anyone else?

I'm surprised I'm not getting more encouragement, you guys are supposed to support me in feeding my addiction.:devil:

The Illuminati disappears in your pocket on a keychain while the Mini will be a fat bulge as would any CR123 light. For me the Mini would not be a good keychain light.

Dan FO said:

The Illuminati disappears in your pocket on a keychain while the Mini will be a fat bulge as would any CR123 light. For me the Mini would not be a good keychain light.

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I have to respectfully disagree. I had the Illuminati on my keys for a bit (and I'm a big fan of the Illuminati!) but now am a MiNi 123 man! (And sol-leks, I do want to take pics for you but I'm just pooped from work today and have to be back there in 7 hours... ugh...) I wear dress/dressy pants daily and I find that it is not that much bulkier. And since it is a bit shorter, it actually kind of folds up with my keys nicely. In sum, I do not think it is too cumbersome for keychain carry---and I'm pretty picky about this sort of thing. Of course, YMMV, but I want to put that out here.

The beam of the Mini is significantly floodier and much brighter (as you'd imagine from a CR123 light). There is just something about this little wall of light from this cute little thing! I love the feel of it in my hand and I have bought 5 of 'em (yikes!) for family and friends. I can't get enough of this little guy.

I promise that it is a significantly different experience than the Illuminati and for $39 shipped, you absolutely cannot go wrong!

I will caution you that the Warm version is a very different beast--I like it but for some reason I'm not as keen on it. If I had to rank them from fave to least fave:

1. MiNi 123 cool
2. Illuminati
3. MiNI 123 warm

The dimmer, more concentrated spot of the warm just sort of turns me off, strangely...though I love the warmth! I want an XP-G warm with essentially no loss in lumens... hee hee hee... I can dream, right?

Mini123 vs L0D:

The 123 has a slightly larger hotspot, very close to the same size flood, and roughly equal brightness as the L0D, with the 123 on medium and L0D on high. The 123 has a much smoother beam pattern. Of course the 123 is far brighter on high. The 123 has a somewhat greenish tint compared to L0D. L0D is a bit less noticeable when carrying in my coin pocket, but the 123 isn't bad there either. The 123 is just a little too fat for my preference to carry on my keychain.

Hope that helps.

Thanks you guys!

I'm so bad, but I already bought it like 15 minutes ago! Haha, sorry if I wasted your time. At the very least you guys have gotten me even more excited for my purchase though so thanks!

se4g4e, I would love to see a pic comparing the diameters of the two light, but since I already pulled the trigger you don't have to if you don't want too.
:devil:

Hey sol-leks your the one who told me about the illuminati when i bought the romiscen RC-C6 II warm.

I have the illuminati, mini 123, mini 123 warm, and mini AA warm. They are all great! You will not be disappointed at all its a great light. It replaced my illuminati on the keychain !! The warm mini 123 is great too even though it has a little less lumens than mini 123 but it out throws the xpg version because of a slightly tighter hotspot. the xpg has great beam profile and would be great if ever comes out as warm.

Hey glad I could lead you to a great light!
I love the illuminati, but I jsut couldn't resist the price and that 189 otf rating on the mini123. Plus, I hadn't bough a light in a few weeks, so y'know.
I looked at the warm for a long time, especially since I actually own no warm lights, but I decided to stick with the xpg because I prefer flood over throw and I was so happy with the illuminati I figured I would like it here too.

Since I own an RC-29 I have been contemplating getting the rc-c6 in warm or maybe, if I like the mini123, I will get the miniAA in warm.

Glad to hear you liked it, thanks for the feedback!

se4g4e said:

Mini123 vs L0D:

The 123 has a slightly larger hotspot, very close to the same size flood, and roughly equal brightness as the L0D, with the 123 on medium and L0D on high. The 123 has a much smoother beam pattern. Of course the 123 is far brighter on high. The 123 has a somewhat greenish tint compared to L0D. L0D is a bit less noticeable when carrying in my coin pocket, but the 123 isn't bad there either. The 123 is just a little too fat for my preference to carry on my keychain.

Hope that helps.

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One of my first thoughts when I pulled the mini out of the box was to A/B with the LD01.
I agree with se4g4e on tint, brightness, etc.
To me the weight is about the same or a non issue. The mini would hang shorter with the same claw, so it's down to personal preference.

The mini will feel smaller in the hand than it looks in any picture.

I would definately go with the mini 123 warm over the mini AA warm. AA is a little weak in the knees.

good to know. It will definitely be that or maybe a warm version of one of the romisen zoom lights next for me. Or the mg pli. Sigh....so many lights, so little money.

So I ordered a quark mini thursday night and received it today, gotta love 47's.

Don't have much to say about it beyond what has already been said. It is bigger than my illuminati, but I think I will still find it keychainable, although actual use will have to determine that. As everyone else has mentioned, it is impressively bright, I think it is even the brightest light I own since I usually favor AA lights. Of course it isn't dark out yet so I can't really judge the lumens that well. It is a little bit floodier than my illuminati which is nice, but they aren't too different, although I think the mini's output is a bit prettier, with smoother transitions.

I can definitely feel a difference in quality between this light and some of my more expensive lights(the illuminati feels much better crafted) , but it is definitely impressively solid for something so affordable. Also, I actually like in some respects that it is a bit bigger, since it tail stands really well. Additionally I think the tint at first glance is a bit nicer than the illuminati, but really, they are just different. The mini seems dazzlingly white compared to the illuminati but on the other hand this makes the illuminati seem warmer in some respects. I'd still call it a preference thing.

My mini has the same probably many people have mentioned, namely that the threads have a bit too much give so you have to loosen it quite a bit to ensure it doesn't turn on. I think I'll get used to it though.

Can't wait to play with it more once it gets darker!:thumbsup:

EDIT: With further use, I think the illuminati and mini are pretty equal in flood, but I think the illuminati has a larger hotspot. Not positive though, it is close and the difference in brightness makes it harder to tell.

It's been a few more days, and I am still pretty torn which will take permanent place on my keychain. On the one hand the illuminati has a really nice beam pattern that I think I find more pleasing. Also it is significantly smaller, it really seems about half as thick as the mini123. On the other hand, although it takes up more room in my pocket, I kind of enjoy the greater size of the 123 and of course the amazing brightness. I also prefer the aluminum and think in the future I will probably stick to aluminum lights. They have always been plenty sturdy in my experience and I really like how smooth the threads are with aluminum, I can work the 123 with one hand no problem. The titanium is very pretty though.

Its both a blessing and a curse to have to choose between two such great lights.

Here's one.

Haha, thanks but I gave in and bought one last week. The thought is appreciated though.

Oops! Kinda late, I guess I should have read further.

blub, that's a great pic and a very helpful size reference to me and I'm sure to others as well.

sol-leks, since they're both fairly tiny, have you thought of keychaining the illuminati and pocketing the MiNi.

Then again, if you only want to carry one, you can just rotate between the two... variety is the spice of life