4 Sevens High CRI Quark Mini123 Review

The 4 Sevens Quark Mini 123 HCRI 85+ Review

The QuarkMini series of flashlights expands again. 4 Sevens has added the Cree XP-G High Color Rendering Indexed 85+ LED based flashlights to their line-up, The Quark Mini 123 is a Limited Edition available in the Green Packaging.




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. . . . . . . . 4 Sevens High CRI line-up.

Shown Left to Right: High CRI Quark 123-2, High CRI Quark 123-1, High CRI Quark Mini123, Top Right: High CRI Quark Mini AA,
High CRI Quark Mini CR2, Bottom right: High CRI Preon 2 Black, High CRI Preon 1 Black, & High CRI Preon 2 Ti-Black.
. . . .* Please click photo thumbnails to enlarge *

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. . . . . . . . . .High CRI Quark Mini 123


The High CRI Quark Mini series of flashlights are high quality, with a sleek design, and offer easy one handed operation thru it's twisty user interface. Whether carried as a backup or a primary EDC light, the High CRI Quark Mini series of lights perform well, and offer the benifit of far superior color clarity and depth. The High CRI Led lights work well in the fog, smoke, snow and rain. Pending beam shots of the rain and fog will be updated as weather provides.

The review samples sent have come in the "Green" packaging. The High CRI Quark Mini 123 comes with same standard accessories on the standard Quark Mini's. A Lanyard, Split Ring, Spare Oring, Manual, and one CR123 Battery. The Quark Mini 123 is compatable with the 4 Sevens Finger Grip accessory (not included).


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. . . . . . . . . .High CRI Quark Mini 123
. . .Standard Accessories and Green Packaging


The High CRI Quark Mini 123 uses a twisty UI. The light has 3 Regular: Modes Low, Med, & High. And 4 Secondary Modes: Strobe, S.O.S., Beacon High, & Beacon Low.
Operation is simple. To turn on tighten head. The light comes on in low. To turn off loosen head. To change modes, While the light is on, loosen and retighten head.
Mode cycling is: Low, Med, High, Low, Med, High, Strobe, S.O.S, Beacon High, Beacon Low, repeat.
The current High CRI Quark Mini 123 design is identical to the previous Quark Mini 123 flashlights. The noticeable difference is the High Color rendering Indexed emitter.

They are rated FL-1 water resistance and offer waterproofing to 3M submerged continuous.
They are machined from T-6061 aircraft alluminum.
They feature square threads, which offer far greater strength over standard cut threads.
They use Saphire coated and anti-reflective coated optical grade lens.
The High CRI QuarkMini 123 has a Maximum of ~170lm, slightly less than the Std. Quark Mini 123 of 189lm.
I used the 4 Sevens CR123 1500mAh battery.

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The size of the Mini123 if perfect for everyday carry. Here is a size comparison.


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My results using this light have been very good.. The color rendering is best of all 4 Sevens lights. I have compared using the High CRI Quark Mini 123 against the Warm White, Neutral White, and Cool White tints. I am amazed at that quality of the HCRI tint. The Warm Whites appear to have a suttle rosey tint with thier warmer color compared to the High CRI. The Neutral Whites now look cooler with just a hint of Lavander tint, and the Standard R5 tints look much cooler with blueish tints.


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The Color Quality can be seen quite clearly to the human eye, but is difficult to capture in a photo. In order to provide a better understanding of Color rendering the first photo shows the differences in a cameras White Balancing, followed by photos taken using Automatic White Balancing. My first series of photos with white balance set to daylight was lost, will update another set if possible.


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. . . . . .50 Foot Beam Shot Comparison of
. . . . . .4 Sevens Standard Mini123 Lights
. . . . .with White Balancing set to Daylight.

For Short to Medium range lighting, the New High CRI Quark Mini 123's throw is the same as previous Quark Mini 123s. The warmer than neutral light at Medium ranges helps with seeing objects.


Conclusion, the High CRI Quark Mini 123 is definitely worth getting for true color appreciation. It is like a having pocket sized peice of sunlight.

Got Lumens?
Comments, Questions, Suggestions Welcomed
High CRI Quark Mini 123Light Provided by 4 Sevens

Fine review. It's got me thinking. Thanks for taking the time.

Geoff

Comparisons do change one's perspective. I had a couple Hi CRIs to choose from (went the std Q123 route) and while all were predominately yellowish when viewed separately, when viewed together one was shifted a bit toward the red side, w/ the other 2 now looking quite yellowish w/ a definite greenish tinge. All rendered colors very well, w/ the more reddish emphasizing the reds a bit by comparison at the expense of the greens, almost like the saturation levels were shifted a bit up or down, accordingly. I went w/ the more reddish not because it rendered colors better but simply because the more greenish reminded me more of the very greenish shift of the Quark Xs at low light levels, which indoors, to me, are a bit gruesome. Wonderful lights.

Thanks for the review!

I have the Mini AA High Cri (my 1st HC light) which I compared with my NW MiNi AA Q3 5A3, my ZL SC50w @4200k, and my Brinkmann MaxFire XL.
My MHC is very dark yellow in comparison to the NWs. Maybe I got one of the randomly placed 90 Cri units that David mentioned.
Side by side on a white wall, my MHC is just a fraction warmer than my Brinkmann incan.

I love my NWs, but I must say that this HC is amazing for what it's supposed to show you.
My son's and daughter's senior portraits come alive under this beam, flesh tones and eye color
The woodgrain of my red & white Oak tables pops under this beam.
The wife's curio cabinet looks like a fresh rainbow is on display inside.
Everything is fuller, richer, deeper - more alive and real.

Then .... I went outside at night with my dogs.
I'll just say that my NWs rule outdoors, due to being a bit brighter.
I'll reserve an outdoor HC review for a future date when maybe I'll own a High CRI Quark 123². (which might just be an ultimate outdoor torch)
I'd bet the higher voltage units would produce a better visonary experience over my AA unit.

Makes me want to have HC bulbs in my home now.

Pictures are a bit too small to make out the captions.

Danjojo said:

Pictures are a bit too small to make out the captions.

Click to expand...

Hi Danjojo,
They are clickable thumbnails. They open up full size in a window when clicked. .
GL

Nice pics, but when I click on them, it opens a new tab with nothing - can you please fix?

peterharvey73 said:

Nice pics, but when I click on them, it opens a new tab with nothing - can you please fix?

Click to expand...

Hi Peter,
Thank You for elaborating on Danjojo's comments. Some how the formatting for the urls got messed up.
Try it now, I beleive it's working properly.
Sorry for the screw up.
GL

Thanks bud, I thought they were thumbnails for clickin' but couldn't do it before so then maybe thought they just got sized too tiny haha

Nice review!

I have the MiniCR2 High CRI, and I have to agree that the color's pretty good - it's yellow-orange, more sunlight colored than the cool whites I'm normally used to. It makes me wish I'd gotten the Satin Black Edition Titanium when it was available... since this is the type of light I wouldn't mind having a spare or two of.

Hell, I'm still thinking of the Preon2 Black edition, although a Quark AA (non-Mini) would also be tempting.

Thanks for the good review. Light color makes a difference, just hard to decide which is best for my needs!

timbo114 said:

Makes me want to have HC bulbs in my home now.

Click to expand...

It's called a halogen, and at 100CRI it's better than high CRI!

Thanks for the review. Forced me to order one.

smurofjc said:

Thanks for the review. Forced me to order one.

Click to expand...

Your welcome.
Please feel free to come back with comments and photos.
GL