Getting a Quark Mini or Preon - Which tint?

I'm interested in picking up a Quark Mini (either AA or CR123A) or a Preon. I noticed they come in cool, neutral and warm.

For those of you who have the neutral and warm, which would you recommend? I know the OTF lumens decrease as the tint gets warmer, but I'm looking for a good EDC without the bright bluish white color I get from most my other LEDs.

Anyone have beamshots of each of them?

krevo said:

I'm interested in picking up a Quark Mini (either AA or CR123A) or a Preon. I noticed they come in cool, neutral and warm.

For those of you who have the neutral and warm, which would you recommend? I know the OTF lumens decrease as the tint gets warmer, but I'm looking for a good EDC without the bright bluish white color I get from most my other LEDs.

Anyone have beamshots of each of them?

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It is kinda hard to really capture tint with beamshots, but there should be some around.

I do want to warn you though, once you get used to warm tints, it is hard to go back to cool tints.
As far as I am concerned, the trade off in lumens is negligable and totally worth it.

first note: the neutrals and warms are limited runs, and are selling out, so check availability before you set your heart on one of them, or you'll have to try the marketplace. I know the neutral white preon 2 is sold out, not sure about the rest.

I have preons in cool, neutral, and warm, and I prefer neutral, but it's totally arbitrary and changes with my mood. The cool is a beautiful creamy cool, not at all unpleasant. The warm is like a campfire, makes me happy. I usually carry neutral.

There are lots of threads about the differences.. let's see

great thread by selfbuilt with lots of real-world indoor and outdoor beamshots showing the tints

I know I've seen comparison white wall shots of cool/neutral/warm but I can't find them. Was it UnknownVT? gah, I'm search challenged today. well there's this one: http://jtice.com/review/lights/led_tints/

Hm. maybe it was in cpfmp in the announcement threads when the tints came out. Well, anyway, it gives you a start.

-John

Personal preference. Personally, I like neutral.

iacchus said:

I do want to warn you though, once you get used to warm tints, it is hard to go back to cool tints.
As far as I am concerned, the trade off in lumens is negligable and totally worth it.

Click to expand...

+1!!!

I won't buy anything but neutral tint lights anymore. They are so much more pleasant and give so much better depth perception and color rendition, a cool tint light has to have something pretty compelling about it for me to even consider buying one.

I only buy cool white personally, but in all honesty my only experience with warms is from youtube videos and beam shots.

Mag 2C incan left, Preon 2 warm right.


Mag 2C incan left, EZAAw neutral right. The Preon neutral is supposed to be just a wee bit less yellow.


Mag 2C incan left, EZAA cool right.


I got the warm because I use my lights mostly indoors and I like the tint of incan household bulbs. No big tint shift between the Preon WARMS and when I flick a light switch.

I thought i liked neutral tint, but now i love warm tint!

thats my preference though, everybody at my work still like pure white. first time I turned on my sst-90 3000k. it took me back alittle, being so warm. but now that ive gotten used to it, theres no going back.

if you like neutral, you should try warm tints. and the quarks are priced very well too.

I have both and I really love the warm tints. I use the neutrals day to day now, but before them it was my Warm Mini AA. Seeing how the WW are limited, I would pick up a Mini AA while still available ( I run a AW 14500 in mine). If you find out you don't like it, I'm sure someone would buy it from you. 6 months from now there will probably be no more available from 4/7s.
I don't have any beamshots, but from what I've seen posted before, the shots of the warms didn't do them justice. If I would've made a judgement based on the shots posted, I might of passed. I'm glad I took a chance.

On the other hand, I don't think you can go wrong with a NW, if you plan on getting just one light go with the NW, otherwise get a WW while you can and add a NW later (if available).

I find the difference in lumen output is a non-issue for me, all of my warms put out plenty of light for my needs (Li-Ion for the AA Mini and the Preon I).

P.S. I just checked 4/7s site and the NWs are going fast! Don't wait too long!