Quark Turbo vs. Original

It's been awhile since I've looked into flashlights - so after searching, I'm still a little confused:

Given the emitters are the same:

What difference does the turbo head make vs. the original head? Specifically for the warm tint AA^2 ones for sale now, but I assume the relative answer is the same regardless of model.

• Greater throw yes - but how much effectively?
• And is that at the expense of spill? (probably a stupid question for here I know).

Thanks.

I've just come back from my evening run with the dog using my AA2 Tactical.

Set on Max, it is quite throwy for the size of the hot-spot so I'm not entirely sure how much more the Turbo Quarks could offer.

Unless they were 50% better at throwing I don't think there's a point at all, except that 4sevens knows heaps of us will buy both. Just for bragging rights.

Does your AA2 Tactical have the XP-E emitter or XP-G?

The difference is modest between my Quark AA2 Turbo and my AA Tactical w/ 14500 -- but my AA Tactical uses the older, smaller XP-E emitter (not the XP-G used in all current Quark models) and thus has a throw advantage for a given reflector size.

The reflector of the Turbo is ~1.5X the diameter of the reflector of the smaller light, so I'd predict more than 2X the hotspot intensity using the same emitter at the same distance. (This is due to having 2X the viewable reflector area head-on.)

Just to add to what's been said:

Quark Turbo XP-G R5 and Quark XP-E R2 lux measurements:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3365838&postcount=22

Quark XP-G R5 non Turbo, but these numbers are probably off some because this light has been modded, and makes around 100 more OTF lumens than before the mod. Also, I have another XP-G non Turbo light that I acquired after these readings and beam shots, and it appears to have a tighter hot spot. More testing is required, but this gives you something to look at anyway.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3366102&postcount=25

Beam shots:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3370099&postcount=38

Scroll to the bottom for beam shots in this post:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3376648&postcount=1

asdalton said:

Does your AA2 Tactical have the XP-E emitter or XP-G?

Click to expand...

XP-E and I love it. The tint is perfect white, no blue or green, just WHITE.

Great photos, thanks.

Then basically - spill is the same, but the hotspot is tighter: thus more throw, but a smaller hotspot in general. Yes?

Any consensus on how much further the throw is?

mmace1 said:

Great photos, thanks.

Then basically - spill is the same, but the hotspot is tighter: thus more throw, but a smaller hotspot in general. Yes?

Any consensus on how much further the throw is?

Click to expand...

Yeah, that would be a pretty good description of the difference. I would say that the XP-G R5 non Turbo actually has a larger spill area, but not by much, and while the Turbo will definitely out throw the non Turbo XP-G R5, the Turbo still has very useful spill.

It really depends on the distance you're wanting to use this light at, as well as other variables. If I wanted to shine something at a distance of 100+ yards (maybe even 70 or 80 + yards) the Turbo would be the clear winner, no contest, but under that distance, I think the non Turbo would be very effective (especially within 50 yards), and it would probably be personal preference as to whether you preferred a tighter hot spot or a more opened up hot spot.