Quark AAx2 with 18650

Hi new lurker here...I've read several reviews on this forum and just bought the Quark AAx2 Tactical R5, but I'm curious what the performance is like if the same head is used with the 18650 body tube and Li-Ion cell? Has anyone done tests of that cell with the low voltage head?
:thinking:
I would guess it should be similar to a CR123 for output since it has higher voltage than the AAx2? Or would it produce more light in Max mode? Any ideas?

You will get longer runtime.

Selfbuilt did a great post on this: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2993553&postcount=45

Yeah once you get above 2 x AA voltage levels in that head the output is pretty much constant. It'll be the same brightness but run longer. One caution though, assuming you are using protected Li-Ion, there will be no warning before you lose light.

apontes said:

You will get longer runtime.
Selfbuilt did a great post on this: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2993553&postcount=45

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Ah thanks, I read his review but I didn't read all of the replies after the review...my bad.

Good info in there for anyone wanting to make a Franken-light.

I mix and match my quark bodies, heads and batteries all the time.

I've been running an AA2 head on a 17670 in a spare 2x123 tube (same voltage but a tad less capacity than 18650) and it's very successful but using real life eyes it doesn't really seem brighter than on 2 x AA's, not for my non-calibrated eyes anyway. My 2 x 123 actually seems about the same too.

They all run quite long on the 17670/18650 batteries and the 17670 especially makes them very pocketable.

JaguarDave-in-Oz said:

I mix and match my quark bodies, heads and batteries all the time.

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I was pondering getting the 18650 tube and going with rechargeable lithiums, but I abandoned the idea when Wiggle mentioned that the light will just die instead of warning me by dropping the light output. Plus it will only give me a bit more runtime or a few more lumens on Max setting.

I was pondering something else...I can't find any posts that say you shouldn't run the Max/Turbo setting on the loosened bezel. I use the Med most of the time for typical use and want it on the tightened setting so I don't have to constantly check the head as it goes in/out of pocket or holster, etc. But I want to have Max available for extra light on the loosened setting. Does it make any difference to the contacts or cause any drive problems having the most current flow through to the head when it's loosened?

I use the 2 x 123 tube on my AA head because I like the smaller size. It's much more pocketable for me than in full AA2 rig. That's the same reason I never bothered to get an 18650 tube. They say it makes it only a quarter of an inch or so shorter than AA2.

I haven't seen any warnings about having full bright on the loose setting.

JaguarDave-in-Oz said:

I haven't seen any warnings about having full bright on the loose setting.

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Thanks, after checking out how the light knows to switch, I realized that it doesn't matter which mode is used on which setting.
However I also figured out why there is a preflash when using a lower setting than Max on the tight bezel setting - it's a UI programming issue. So I went back to using Max on the tight setting and the lower settings are used on loose. Works great without any preflash now.