Quark Durabilty: A true story

Just to share my Quark AA story on its durability and reliability:

Being a noob a few years back, my first true "next-gen" light like most of the guys here was a Quark AA2. I chose the tactical because of the programmable output, instead of the click-click-click to get your desired output. After using it as my 'go-to' light for several months, I decided to get daring and ordered an AA tube and some 14500's (Trustfires 800mah). This is the configuration i've been running it on since then, I always have this light with me wherever I go (even in broad daylight) it's always in my pocket like my swiss knife.

It has seen its share of bumps and scrapes and even gets submerged under water at times during snorkeling trips. I never fail to clean the threads and properly lubricate the o-rings monthly to keep it nice and water-tight. At night it even serves as our nightlight in the bedroom.

I own dozens of lights, but this one, im proud to say, is the one i use the most.

My most recent story of its durability was this weekend, i threw i bunch of stuff in my gym bag (including this Quark AA w/14500) and left for the gym. (I normally leave my light programmed on MAX and on High when i leave the house) Anyway, when I got home from working out, i found buried deep in my stuff (shirts, towels etc) that the light had accidentally activated on MAX output. I immediately grabbed the light to turn it off but it was so HOT i couldn't even hold it! The fantastic thing about this is that it just kept going, no burnt smell in the pcb, no explosions, it just kept on working. I might have to change the o-rings though because i'm sure i ruined them due to the extremely high temp.

Fantastic little light. Can't go wrong with a 4Seven's Quark.


(Lesson learned: tail-cap lockout before dumping them in a bag with a lot of other stuff)

Yep - great light, which like you is by far my most used light. I carry mine all the time including when traveling OS - although in a modified mobile phone pouch on my belt. I have never switched it on by accident likely because it is in this pouch but I have even so taken recently to using lockout anyway.

Yep, the Quark AA with 14500 was my first light with a li-on cell. I have since "converted" to customs but it is still a great backup/kit light due to the AA compatibility.

Yep (+3), and my EDC as well. I dont think there's anything else out there that can run from ~300 lumens to ~300 hours, from a single AA-sized cell, not to mention backed by a decent warranty.

I've use a tactical Quark 123 for almost 3 years for work and it has seen it's share of drops and bumps and still works perfectly.

reppans said:

[...] I dont think there's anything else out there that can run from ~300 lumens to ~300 hours, from a single AA-sized cell, not to mention backed by a decent warranty.

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So true. I wish more manufacturers would make a point in making 200-300 lumen lights that can work for at least 2 hours at max mode on a single cell.

My favorite light too. I got mine from a trade (in Titanium no less) from one of the guys here.
Love it

George

I don't even know where to begin when I read this. I like to do research before I purchase a light. I have never seen so many past reviews about a brand of lights (4 sevens) were people were not happy. Looks like occasionally they get it right, but I have seen plenty of people say they are done with this brand of light for good and that the 10 year warranty is not even worth bothering with. I just do not get why people keep purchasing this brand.
As a base line for price I looked at Fenix. A pretty cheap light but the reliability seems pretty good. If I am going to purchase a cheap beater flashlight, might as well go for more consistent reliability. They don't give you a 10 year warranty, but at least they know how to cut threads that fit tight. I guess any flashlight can have bad things said about it because you can't please all the people all the time. But if a brand racks up over 20 really bad complaints, I know I do not want to be the 21 to write something negative. From my short time here, I have learned cheap lights cause headaches. Glad I listened and just stuck with Surefire and HDS lights.

brianna said:

From my short time here, I have learned cheap lights cause headaches. Glad I listened and just stuck with Surefire and HDS lights.

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I've bought 5 quarks of various types over the years. They have been good lights and reliable. My original has been through the washer-dryer cycle a couple of times. I really like the regular UI, light levels and the compatibility with Li-ion cells. However, after the first two quarks, the green tint became a disappointment. The most recent one I bought was more green than ever and had a defective moon mode so I returned it without replacement. I'll reconsider the brand when the trend is less green.

As for Surefire, I had four of them. My L1 had a water weak in the head and two others needed a new clicky switch shortly after purchase. So considering the higher cost, my Surefire experience was not so great.

Coincidentally, I just came back from collecting a neutral white Quark X AA2 Tactical from a friend living in the village. A friend of mine gave him the Quark a couple of weeks ago and he passed it back today complaining that it is not working. I thought the retaining ring in the tail cap was loose (happened to me a few times) so I brought it back to test. My conclusion is that there is no problem with the TC as it still works on my personal Quark. Cleaned up the threads but to no effect. The problem most likely lies with the circuitry in the head. I guess it will have to go back to 4Sevens. That makes it a total of 6 lights out of 13 pieces that I have seen being bugged with issues. Almost a 50% failure rate IMO. Not anywhere near reliable in my book.

But don't get me wrong. I still like 4Sevens lights. They are fun to have and reasonably priced, but I would be hard pressed to claim that they are reliable because I have quite some irritating experiences with my 4Sevens lights. Many of these are still user serviceable but that should not have happened in the first place.

pjandyho,
With a failure rate of almost 50 percent and the fact that shipping will most likely cost you more then the light is worth. Try fenix lights, they seem to have pretty decent reliability and tight threads so you wont get mode skipping or wobble. Better yet just save your money and purchase a Surefire. The quality, reliability, and high quality standards far out weigh the price which I will admit can be hard to swallow. It will fail one day but I am willing to bet in the long run it will be less expensive then continuing to purchase these substandard lights.

brianna said:

pjandyho,
With a failure rate of almost 50 percent

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In statistics, we can't just take a sample and assume it represents the whole. Given a sample size of 13 and a failure rate of 50% (Or any such anecdotal, personally-collected group, even "I bought 50 and they all worked") what are the odds that this sample represents the population of FourSevens flashlights?

This can be taken to great extremes of sums, integrals, and Z-values, but in short, one must ask: "If 4Sevens is a successful brand, can a 50% failure rate be common?" If not, why did it happen in this case? While it is important to take note of such rashes of failures, it's vital to keep them in context. Maybe the lesson here is really that the Singapore supplier needs to rethink its business from the ground up. The OEM can only do so much; the distributor really determines the service and customer experience.

As a side note, I'll point out that the tailcap can fail to work on one light and work correctly on another due to the exact geometry of the tail end. One may need the contact ring looser in order to work properly.

brianna said:

pjandyho,
With a failure rate of almost 50 percent and the fact that shipping will most likely cost you more then the light is worth. Try fenix lights, they seem to have pretty decent reliability and tight threads so you wont get mode skipping or wobble. Better yet just save your money and purchase a Surefire. The quality, reliability, and high quality standards far out weigh the price which I will admit can be hard to swallow. It will fail one day but I am willing to bet in the long run it will be less expensive then continuing to purchase these substandard lights.

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Thanks for your suggestion. I have been collecting and using Surefire since before I joined CPF, the latest being the UB3T. Lately I am into McGizmo, Zebralight and HDS. They all make fantastic and reliable lights. Those are what I use and trust most whereas Quarks are what I use for fun and non critical applications.

AnAppleSnail said:

In statistics, we can't just take a sample and assume it represents the whole. Given a sample size of 13 and a failure rate of 50% (Or any such anecdotal, personally-collected group, even "I bought 50 and they all worked") what are the odds that this sample represents the population of FourSevens flashlights?

This can be taken to great extremes of sums, integrals, and Z-values, but in short, one must ask: "If 4Sevens is a successful brand, can a 50% failure rate be common?" If not, why did it happen in this case? While it is important to take note of such rashes of failures, it's vital to keep them in context. Maybe the lesson here is really that the Singapore supplier needs to rethink its business from the ground up. The OEM can only do so much; the distributor really determines the service and customer experience.

As a side note, I'll point out that the tailcap can fail to work on one light and work correctly on another due to the exact geometry of the tail end. One may need the contact ring looser in order to work properly.

Click to expand...

I agree with you here, but with such failure rates I am afraid I don't have much confidence trusting 4Sevens products. Btw, I got all my 4Sevens products directly from 4Sevens. They ship free to me, and at such reasonable prices what more can I say? And to top it off, I have had very good experiences with their customer service on numerous occasions. All I am saying here is, much as I like their products and service, I still don't really trust their lights at all due to some less pleasant experiences. If you guys have read some of my posting recently, you would also read that I have had a "sudden death" occurred to my brand new Quark 123^2 high CRI halfway when it use. It just died off for no apparent reasons and only to revive itself again 2 days later. Why did it happen? Beats me.

pjandyho said:

Thanks for your suggestion. I have been collecting and using Surefire since before I joined CPF, the latest being the UB3T. Lately I am into McGizmo, Zebralight and HDS. They all make fantastic and reliable lights. Those are what I use and trust most whereas Quarks are what I use for fun and non critical applications.

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You own some really nice lights!!! These are the dreams flashlight porn is made from. I just don't get why you are slumming it with the 4sevens lights. Or any other non worthy light, considering you own Surefire, McGizmo and HDS. It is really going down hill from there.

Not everyone messure their lights by the thickness of the tube.
Feel the weight difference, then pick what you want to carry every day.
Some like to take their car to the mall, others might like to drive there with a old russian tank, or a semitruck. What is best/rugged and what is most practical might be 2 different things.

Since when are these best rugged lights not practical? What you said makes no sense, but then you might like to drive an old Russian tank with vodka to the mall com rad.

It will make sense to you one day. Just keep spending money on differet flashlights, and youll see the light someday when you start using them.
For example: You could try to walk up some of the mounitans aroud here, and youll try to shave every extra gram out of your backpack the next trip. I guarantee it.
I cant kill my quarks, even with the washingmashine, why would i need somethig with a thicker tube?
There are pretty lights, floody lights, big, small, rugged, cheap, expensive etc etc.
Different lights for different tasks. You wont find many Mcgizmo's in a mecanics toolbox. Why?, arent they rugged?? They are too pretty and too expensive to be tossed into a pile of wrenches and screwdrivers. Thats why. The most rugged switch is a twisty. Many pepole hate them and think they are not practical.

9 quarks - 9 still working perfectly. And im not babying the ones i use myself.

Ya make your choices and ya live with them.

I'm not going to argue that 4Sevens is the highest quality brand out there, but I've made my choices on what I consider to be important in a light and 4Sevens meets those priorities better than any other manufacturer (for me) - and I really don't have a budget constraint (well, except for McGizmos).

EDC-able 1xAA, compatible with all my other portable electronics, chargers, spare batts; sub-lumen lows offering deeply into triple digit runtimes, and night vision preservation; and a decent warranty and customer service, where you don't have to deal with shipping back to China.

I'd love to try out a HDS or Surefire, but either no AA compatibility, or mere double digit runtimes. SWM and Jetbeam cover 1xAA, and sub-lumen levels, but only in their infinitely variable lights which have really pathetic runtimes. For me, that leaves Zebralight, which I also have, but it has one of the worst warranties in the biz. w/ship back to China lead times...and the reliability polls in the headlamp section aren't all that encouraging.

Yeah some of my 4Seven lights have loose threads, gritty Ti threads, pre-flash, and greenish tints, and I even received one DOA (1 out of about 15-20 purchased). But I've never had one stop working yet between the ones I own, or have gifted. However, it's still early yet, I probably bought a dozen in the past month or so with all the re-branding sales going on.

I find these "issues" to be minor annoyances that I'm happy to live with in exchange for AAs and super long runtimes. My Zebralight has none of these little problems, but I'm already out of warranty and know the light is basically a throw-away, if it ever stops working. I will, howver, have my 4/7s repaired.....if they ever stop working.

I still stand by that the Quark series just doesn't feel very good for the price. On the other hand, the Preon 1 is now always in my pocket (kicking out LD01 SS) and Preon 2 has much more use at home (kicking out RRT-0 and others). I DO know that if the Preon's I have werent high CRI, they wouldn't be given a second thought.


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Posted from my phone.