Just recieved my AA2...

noparanoia

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Before the unit even arived 4Sevens had done enough to earn a big recommendation from me; based on an almost too-good-to-be-true combination of great products (based on what we actually want to see), customer service and fantastic value (CPF discount and free shipping to the UK? On an item that costs little more than £30).
I say "almost too good to be true" because I believe in the mantra "you get what you pay for" and would naturally expect in a situation where something is available at such a great price that something else would have to give.
That my way of thinking may need re-evaluation was confirmed this morning when the unit arrived in the mail. Initial impressions are incredibly positive. However it is very "initial", due to the fact that I am currently counting down the hours until nightfall when I can have a look at the beam in real darkness (drawn curtains, against the low winter sun just doesn't cut it).
As soon as I opened the packet I resolved to spend a few moments inspecting the light and the collection of fairly usefull objects that came with it; my inner five year old simply resolved to try and break it.
After around 3 minutes of fiddling I was conviced that I had achieved this task, when I partially unscrewed the knurled ring that sits between the tail cap and the body and holds the clip on, and got it stuck!
At this point I was completely confused as to what I had done (with no access to an exploded diagram to show me the individual parts and their functions) and was fairly sure I had broken it. I did however manage to twist it back into place with a pair of pliers, at which point I realised my mistake (not removing the O-ring first, thus the little knurled cylinder engulfed it as it ascended its thread (did I just unwittingly personify a metal cylinder?) causing it to get stuck) So yeah, when you get yours don't be stupid enough to do that.
Later I will write up my impressions of the beam, maybe with a few snaps as well.
I hope this has been in some way informative, and that you will forgive my sketchy write up, complete with run on sentences etc. (I'm in a massive hurry)
:twothumbs
 

noparanoia

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OK. I have a question to ask about this light.
Will the performance of the light be different with Nimh batteries opposed to alkalines?
Rechargeables are preferable to me for pretty obvious reasons and I already own a load.
I am guessing that the length that the light will run for will be determined by the mAh of the rechargeable cells, mine are 2450 and 2650 mAh Duracells.
How will the run time of these compare to the range of non-rechargeable batteries available in supermarkets, etc. ?
I also notice that these cells are universally rated at 1.2v, and wonder as to how this will affect run time and performance (I am talking lumens here; or any other concept of which I am not yet aware).
As you can probably tell I am a complete novice in these matters.
This was not my first port of call; I have searched the internets for any literature regarding this matter, but most of my findings were far too lofty for someone of my level of understanding. However, if you feel there is a thread or page that I may have missed please feel free to link to it :thinking:
Thanks :)
 

vickers214

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Dec 18, 2009
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Hello!

I will say that your Nimh batteries will out perform Alkaline by quite a margin, i got 10-20 minutes out of alkalines in my Eagletac P100a2, but get over an hour on my 2000ma Eneloop Low self discharge rechageables, and you get nearly 3 hours out of a Energizer Lithium.

You can get Lithiums on amazon for about £5.59 for 6, and they dont leak like alkalines, and Low self discharge means exactly that, the batteries dont loose much charge when idle unlike regular rechageables.

the longer run time is to do with the internal resistance inside the battery, Alkalines have a lot and cant supply the juice for a light to run at 'Turbo' for long, they are ok for low to medium, but still leak and destroy things:thumbsdow
 

AnAppleSnail

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Aug 21, 2009
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South Hill, VA
OK. I have a question to ask about this light.
Will the performance of the light be different with Nimh batteries opposed to alkalines?
A regulated 3xAA light like this is already changing the voltage to power the LED. The LED wants around 3.4V, and alkaleaks under high load give lower voltage than NiMH under load - so you'll be doing better with NiMH. I highly suggest investing $12 or so in a 4-pack of Eneloops with a charger. If you're using 'em in pairs the dumb charge isn't so bad. If you use the Quark on High (90 lumens) for 5 hours a day the eneloops 4pack will last about 2000-3000 days (1000-1500 charge cycles per battery) - it's pretty cheap if you don't lose batteries. Ten years for ten bucks? Count me in!

The capacity of an alkaline under high load is pretty sorry. The voltage drops, and the actual capacity is much lower. The ONLY time an alkaleaks seems to consistently outperform a NiMH is on low current draw - around 10 mA or less. That's really what alkaleaks are good for. They will eventually leak, for one reason or another. High drain and other abuses seem to make this more common, but they aren't necessary.
 

noparanoia

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You know I have never had an alk leak on me; but from the comments here I am thinking I must be one of the lucky few. I am glad to say that I have completely done away with alkalines, for all applications, in the last year or so. It feels really good charging my trusty cells and knowing I'm saving at least £50 a year and doing a small bit for the environment.

These lithiums sound insane! 3 hours compared to 20 minutes is amazing from such a simple fix. Are these rechargeable cells that can be used with the same charger as a Nimh cell, or do they require special treatment?
 

noparanoia

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A regulated 3xAA light like this is already changing the voltage to power the LED. The LED wants around 3.4V, and alkaleaks under high load give lower voltage than NiMH under load - so you'll be doing better with NiMH. I highly suggest investing $12 or so in a 4-pack of Eneloops with a charger. If you're using 'em in pairs the dumb charge isn't so bad. If you use the Quark on High (90 lumens) for 5 hours a day the eneloops 4pack will last about 2000-3000 days (1000-1500 charge cycles per battery) - it's pretty cheap if you don't lose batteries. Ten years for ten bucks? Count me in!

Are you suggesting that the Eneloop NiMHs will be better than my Duracell NiMHs? I only got the Duracells because they were the only rechargeables at the supermarket. If there is an advantage to having the Eneloops (and an extra charger never goes amiss) I would be happy to part with a bit of cash. Obviously if the difference was too subtle I would have to think twice.
 

vickers214

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The Lithiums are a disposable battery like an Alkaline,but use (I am a battery novice so i can only say what i think i know!) a dry powder to hold a charge so they dont leak and provide high drain torches the juice they need, but if you buy them instore they are £7 for 4!!!:duh2:

I use Lithiums in my 1aa lights as my Eneloop charger can only charge 2 at a time, but i would only get them if you leave your Torch for months without use, a normal Mimh will go flat.
 

noparanoia

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I am guessing that the self discharge of NiMH batteries can make them a bit of a liability. So it would probably be awesome to have both.
 

vickers214

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Just try your out first, if they meet your needs, to be honest i charge my up nearly every month, so i could get away with ordinary higher capacity ones.
if they dont then get some, they are cherrybobs if you look in the right places!
 

noparanoia

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I swear there is a fantastic thread on CFPs which has runtime graphs, for at least every quark model, which includes a whole selection of different batteries. But right now I can't for the life of me find it. Does this ring a bell with anyone. I think it might have been the ridiculously comprehensive review that covered every light in the quark line and had indivual pictures for each. It was comprehensive and very organised.

Edit: found it. For anyone interested it is...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/234960

Incredible stuff. I will happily go on record saying that the CPF people are probably the best I have encountered on the internet. Universally knowledgeable, helpfull and friendly. From the rest of the web I am used to seeing various combinations of those three attributes, or none at all :)
 
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vickers214

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yeah most CPF'ers are nice , there is 1 or 2 bad apples though who can't help but be un-helpfull.

If they post just ignore them as ive seen a couple of posts go off with some know it all wooden head being awkward, but to be fair the amount of time ive spent on here (FAR to much!) they are few and far between!

It is an excellent resource to help out people with problems:huh:
 
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