A Practical thrower with good regulation ?

Hello,
After hours of readings, I still cannot find what I want, so I ask for your help

I'm looking for a good pocket flashlight (15cm max) with nice throwing capability because I need to use it outdoor.
But I'd like a very low mode too ( 10 lum max ) with huge runtime .

And, on the top of that, I'd like a good regulation with 18650 or other re charging batteries.

I like the DBS v3 but the low mode doesn't seem very low

Does this perfect flashlight exists ?

Thank you everybody

Quark 123^2 turbo on 17670's

The light you're looking for is a somewhat strange combination. Usually throwers are designed for just that... to throw far, and in order to do so, they must be bright. There aren't a whole lot of long distance lights with a very low low. Additionally, you have the requirement of size in which a lot of true throwers are fairly longer.

You best choice that comes to my mind is the Jetbeam RRT1. Nice tight beam, 16cm long, runs off a single 18650, 240lm on high for 3 hrs, and 30lm on low for 25 hrs.

The EagleTac T100C2 is also a good choice. Won't throw as far as the RRT1, but more compact at 14cm, also uses the 18650, 220lm for 3 hrs but 55lm for 20 hrs which is also brighter for your low light requirements.

My advice would be to get a 2nd light for general and low light use that really has a low output instead of relying on a single light for both duties...

It all depends on what throw means to you. If it's throw as experienced with a "super-thrower" then as was mentioned above you are looking for an odd combination...extreme throw with a low setting...it doesn't make sense.

If you simply mean that you want a light that has decent throw within the normal range then it should be easy to meet your requirements. Just find any light with a XR-E R2 with a low mode, add a smooth reflector is needed as also mention above.

I have a Thrunite XP-G R5 dropin that has a low of 3 lumens. I'm guessing they have a XR-E R2 dropin with a low of 2 lumens.

There should be many choices if normal throw is what you are looking for.

Ok , so if I buy an DBS v3 which seems pretty loved around here, and a quark AA, is it a good choice ?

If I want a quark 18650 turbo with good regulation, is it better to buy a quark 123 turbo or a quark aa2 turbo, with the 18650 body ?

The combination you're seeking doesn't make much sense because of the beam shape and not just the brightness. For close distances you want a wide beam. For long distances you want a narrow beam. If you take a narrow-beam thrower and dim it down for close range use, you get a little tiny spot on your nearby object instead of being able to see what you're doing.

Throwers are necessarily somewhat big, while low powered lights can be very small. So the obvious answer is two lights. Your DBS and any small pocket light would be a good combination.

If I buy an DBS v3 which seems pretty loved around here, and a quark AA, is it a good choice ?

Click to expand...

DBS or Jetbeam for throw.

Quark 123x2 (non-turbo) for close illumination. New warm tint releasing soon and may be a viable option. I have a few of the neutral tint light they previously offered and will probably never go back to cool white.

Two AW protected 18650 cells for thrower. High capacity 2600 mAh available and may work in your chosen light.

One or two 17670's for Quark

Pila IBC charger

Maxpedition 5" tube sheath if you need solid belt carry for thrower


I would avoid AA format since the thrower will benefit from Li-Ions. Might as well get moneys worth outta charger then.

I suggest a quark with xr-e head and AA^2 or your preferred li-ion configuration. EDIT: XR-E, dammit!

The previous versions of quark used xr-e LED, which is a smaller and more intense diode than the new xp-e LED. I really like how the neutral white quark xr-e throws. I doubt you'd find much more compact thrower than that, except possibly the jetbeam (of which I know very little). I haven't tried many of the "super throwers" available out there, but I think it is close to impossible to find something significantly better at this size.


I have neutral white quark AA and AA^2, and I use the last one for the exact purpose you describe. The single AA version is still plenty bright for the use you describe, but the AA^2 has that extra punch and more importantly: Much better runtime. It is still shorter than 15 cm, and quite slim. I'd say the quark gives useful light allowing me to see clearly out to somewhere close to 150 meters, or at least somewhere in the 100-150 meter range. Using a slightly bigger head (such as the jet beam M-III neutral white, which I got a week ago) does not extend this range significantly. I can see things better at 120 meters with the jet beam than with the quark, but I can't really spot things further away with the jetbeam than with the quark. I my opinion, if you need to see clearly things beyond 150 meters (as opposed to not just throw a blob of light to impress your friends) you need either a HID or incan searchlight. A slightly bigger head makes a better thrower, but the increase is real life distance of what you actually can SEE is not really that great.


In my book, the quark xr-e AA^2 offers a close to perfect compromise between size, available brightness (both max, low and intermediate settings), shape (slim and low profile, slips easily into most pockets except jeans pockets), throw and run time for outdoors use. I use the quarks for everything. The side spill is great for close quarter area illumination. The easy "tap-for-more-light, screw tight for max light" interface makes it easy for me to use the appropriate light level for the task at hand. You'll love the super-low (.2 lumens) and low (5 lumens).


The caveat is that you have to "lego" the light yourself with parts from 4sevens.com: Xr-e heads, bodies of your battery configuration, a switch and whatever accessories you care for (lanyard etc). This will cost a few dollars more than buying the regular light in a box. Still not overly expensive. Remember the cpf discount.

Oh, and I really love the neutral tint (5a), particular for outdoors use. I think the new warm whites (hopefully being shipped tomorrow) will be great to, but untested I won't speak for them. And the warm whites will be xp-g LED, which throws far less than the old xr-e version. I don't own any xp-g quarks, so I won't speak neither bad nor good about them- for all I know they would be good for your purpose as well. But I can testify for the neutral white xr-e

EDIT II: I did a very unscientific test of quark AA neutral white on li-ion 14500 versus jetbeam M-III neutral white. The quark seemed weaker than I remember my AA^2 to be (gifted). That could either be due to bad contact (it is really gritty), the battery not (yet) being delivering the full capacity or just an illusion on my behalf. Either way, I found two distinct targets that were "appropriate" for my test and I could just barely see at 150 meter with the jetbeam, 125 meter with the quark. The quark and the jetbeam has the same led (xr-e neutral white), the only differences is that the jetbeam has a bigger reflector and is possibly being driven harder.

EDIT III: The quark turbo has about 5% more throw than the "old" xr-e version, according to 4sevens. I don't know what that means in terms of how far you can see, but I doubt it makes for a really mind blowing real world difference.

Ragiska said:

Quark 123^2 turbo on 17670's

Click to expand...

I have to agree. It throws a decent distance and the spill is a bit narrower and brighter than the regular Quark line which makes it useable at closer ranges outdoors too (because of this I find the turbo much easier to use when walking in the bush on the lower brightness levels than I do the regular Quark line). You can set the lower brightness mode to .2, 4 or 22 lumens for super long runtime.

You can even make them compact enough to hide in your pants pocket by using a single AA tube and 14500 battery or a single 123 tube and 16340 battery.