Quark X AA2 Mode switching question

Okay. So i have a quark x AA2. It's a very nice light that i love for the perfectly smooth beam with tons of flood -- just what i want. From my understanding, when the light is turned on in the loose configuration it goes Moonlight -> Low -> Medium -> High -> SOS -> Beacon and when it's tightened it goes Max -> Strobe. Okay. Gotcha. Say i have my light on in the loosened configuration currently at medium. When i tighten it to go to max it's, well, in max. HOWEVER, when i loosen it to go back to moonlight, it's actual on the medium i was on before switching to max. Is this normal????? I thought that if the light were loosened from max, it should go back to moonlight as that's the start of the sequence of modes for the loosened setting. Is this normal?

In addition, if the quark x is not turned on and is tightened, when i turn it on, it's in max like it should be. When i loosen it goes to moonlight it should. This is what i expected, but the above paragraph situation is not what i expected.

Anyone else with a Quark X aa2 can chime in on this and let me know if this is normal or a quirky quark?

Thx in advance.

I just checked mine, and it reacts exactly the same way you are describing.

Yes, thatt's normal, and personally I'm glad it is. Makes it a lot easier to stick with my two favorite modes during evening walks. If I want to check something in the distance on max and then go back to medium/high, I don't want to have to cycle between several modes to get there. This is especially true when using a tactical tail with a regular head, since the forward clicky would have to be unclicked (turned off) temporarily to switch modes.

If you do want to go back to moonlight, your options are:

• Keep cycling modes
• Turn the light off for three seconds and back on

oKtosiTe said:

Yes, thatt's normal, and personally I'm glad it is.

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+1

Quarks on start out moonlight from OFF (w/loose bezel). Temporarily going to max does not constitute OFF. I like it better that way too, as I'll use max temporarily to check something at a distance, then want to get back where I was.

Just wish they had buried the SOS/Beacon modes.

reppans said:

+1

Just wish they had buried the SOS/Beacon modes.

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Exactly. Its perfect except cycling through the unhidden strobe/sos is a bit annoying but I definetely need these modes Better safe than sorry!

Yep, normal. Fenix lights default back to the lowest setting like you explained but not the Quark.

Yeap that's normal. One of mine wasn't though, tighten the head = Max, loosen the head = Max. Back to 4sevens it went.

Just a related thought for 1xAA users.

I ended up getting the 1xAA body for EDC, and now exclusively use it that way (with AA^2 tube is my tac-cool spare batt container).

With 1xAA, the max is not significantly brighter than high, so I never used it in tight bezel mode. I ended up disabling the tight bezel max/strobe functions with plumbers tape (completely reversible), and now run it in regular mode with an always tighten bezel. Just gets rid of the loose thread head-flexing/mode-switching thing. Not worth doing with the 2xAA as the max is significantly higher.

Just an FYI.

(Along with burying SOS and Strobe, I wish all these light manufacturers would reverse the tight/loose bezel thing so regular modes operated with a tight bezel, and max/strobe with a loose bezel - guess I assume that most people operated in regular mode way more often than tactical mode.)

reppans said:

Just a related thought for 1xAA users.

I ended up getting the 1xAA body for EDC, and now exclusively use it that way (with AA^2 tube is my tac-cool spare batt container).

With 1xAA, the max is not significantly brighter than high, so I never used it in tight bezel mode. I ended up disabling the tight bezel max/strobe functions with plumbers tape (completely reversible), and now run it in regular mode with an always tighten bezel. Just gets rid of the loose thread head-flexing/mode-switching thing. Not worth doing with the 2xAA as the max is significantly higher.

Just an FYI.

(Along with burying SOS and Strobe, I wish all these light manufacturers would reverse the tight/loose bezel thing so regular modes operated with a tight bezel, and max/strobe with a loose bezel - guess I assume that most people operated in regular mode way more often than tactical mode.)

Click to expand...

You, my friend, are missing out. Get yourself a 14500 and a charger. The output from this little guy is insane off of one of these batteries. Like 400+ lumens if I had to guess. Trust me, its a monster.

reppans said:

Just a related thought for 1xAA users.

(Along with burying SOS and Strobe, I wish all these light manufacturers would reverse the tight/loose bezel thing so regular modes operated with a tight bezel, and max/strobe with a loose bezel - guess I assume that most people operated in regular mode way more often than tactical mode.)

Click to expand...

I don't mind the SOS or beacon modes, it's good to know where to find them if I'll ever need them. Having strobe handy for when the drunkies come out is a plus to me.
As far as the tight/loose bezel thing goes, I couldn't agree more, despite my using the max almost exclusively. Here's why:

• I use the regular head with a tactical tail, and knowing that accidental activations will only go to moonlight would make me feel slightly more at ease (I refuse to put the light in my holster/pocket with a loose head).
• If I ever do need the SOS or beacon mode, say I'm on a sinking ship, I would really prefer the head to be tightened in that mode, since I'll probably be spending some time in the water.

Tommygun45 said:

You, my friend, are missing out. Get yourself a 14500 and a charger. The output from this little guy is insane off of one of these batteries. Like 400+ lumens if I had to guess. Trust me, its a monster.

Click to expand...

I hear ya, I've read about about this config. it sounds very tempting. Biggest hesitation is that one of the primary reason I EDC a AA flashlight.... is I can cannibalize it's battery to run some other AA thing I'm probably carrying. I get that 3.7V kicks Max through the roof, but question on the 14500 mahs.... I see they're typically only 750. Does that mean on the lower lumen mods the light will only run 38% (750/2000) as long as a 2000 mah eneloop? Or is it really watts that drives the low-end runtimes: Li-ion > 3.7 x 0.750 = 2.78 which is greater than NiMh > 1.2 x 2.000 = 2.4?

oKtosiTe said:

I don't mind the SOS or beacon modes, it's good to know where to find them if I'll ever need them. Having strobe handy for when the drunkies come out is a plus to me.
As far as the tight/loose bezel thing goes, I couldn't agree more, despite my using the max almost exclusively. Here's why:

• I use the regular head with a tactical tail, and knowing that accidental activations will only go to moonlight would make me feel slightly more at ease (I refuse to put the light in my holster/pocket with a loose head).
• If I ever do need the SOS or beacon mode, say I'm on a sinking ship, I would really prefer the head to be tightened in that mode, since I'll probably be spending some time in the water.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant bury beacon, not strobe... strobe should be quickly available.

Good points, although I think one of the primary reasons to have a tight bezel for tactical modes is that if you have use your light as weapon, you don't want the head breaking off after striking someone with it .

Tommygun45 said:

You, my friend, are missing out. Get yourself a 14500 and a charger. The output from this little guy is insane off of one of these batteries. Like 400+ lumens if I had to guess. Trust me, its a monster.

Click to expand...

Using a 14500 at 3.7v will allow the AA to run like an AAx2 with the same output levels, so max would be the same 206 out the front lumens for the XP-G R5 cool white emitter. If you have the XM-L emitter, then it's 280 OTF lumens for cool white. With just the AA Eneloop, the light can only achieve 109 lumens with the R5 emitter in cool white (neutral white is about 7% lower or roughly 100 lumens). The XM-L version in single AA would produce roughly 120 lumens (a guess since I haven't seen the specs for the XM-L in AA).

reppans said:

14500 mahs.... I see they're typically only 750. Does that mean on the lower lumen mods the light will only run 38% (750/2000) as long as a 2000 mah eneloop? Or is it really watts that drives the low-end runtimes: Li-ion > 3.7 x 0.750 = 2.78 which is greater than NiMh > 1.2 x 2.000 = 2.4?

Click to expand...

It's a combination of voltage, amperage, and efficiency levels. The math suggests it will draw less current at the higher voltage of the 14500, but since the circuit and emitter are a bit more efficient at 3.7v the current draw is even less than the math suggests. I don't know exactly how much, but if you peruse Selfbuilt's reviews of AA and AAx2 lights, I'm sure you could find the runtime charts for the AA with Eneloop and AA with a 14500. That should give you an idea of the differences.

Thanks for the confirmation guys! I prefer it this way too. Although i like fenix (had ld20, ld10), i prefer quark X aa2. Lower low, more high for lumens and when i switch to the loosened configuration, it was in my last used mode. All very very nice. Only thing i'd like to improve on the already excellent quark is a stainless steel bezel in case i drop it.

InquisitiveInquirer said:

Only thing i'd like to improve on the already excellent quark is a stainless steel bezel in case i drop it.

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As long as you don't drop it on concrete, pavement, or patio stones, you're fine. The anodizing is fairly tough, and if it lands "softly" it may not get marks on it even on pavement. Having said that, what makes you think the light will always land on the ground bezel-down? Seriously, a stainless bezel only helps if it lands directly on the bezel. Probability suggests it will impact one of the other parts of the light about 4 in 7 times overall, or 1 in 2 times for the bezel and tailcap, so the odds of it landing on the bezel is less than half.

bfksc said:

It's a combination of voltage, amperage, and efficiency levels. The math suggests it will draw less current at the higher voltage of the 14500, but since the circuit and emitter are a bit more efficient at 3.7v the current draw is even less than the math suggests. I don't know exactly how much, but if you peruse Selfbuilt's reviews of AA and AAx2 lights, I'm sure you could find the runtime charts for the AA with Eneloop and AA with a 14500. That should give you an idea of the differences.

Click to expand...

Thanks.... this also explains why the AA^2 R5 vs the AA R5 runtimes seem to be around 1+1=3. I think I just might have to try out that QAA^2 X with 1x14500.... and maybe it's time to give the tactical version a whirl.