Just got a Fenix PD32 and my Quark 123^2 Tac. seems brighter. Could it be?

Please forgive me if this has been asked and answered. I did a search and read some stuff and couldn't find an answer.

Hey folks,


I'm hoping I'm doing something wrong here. I just got a Fenix PD32 and I've read the instructions and cycled it through all the modes. I have a 4Sevens Quark 123^2 Tactical and it's brighter than the PD32 is. My Quark is rated at 205 Lumens and the PD32 is rated for 315. I think these are "OTF" ratings but I am not positive. The Quark I've had for at least a year. The PD32 I got today.


I used the batteries that came with it and even put new Surefire batts in it to see if that would change anything. Nope.


What gives? Anyone had this happen before? This is my first Fenix light.


Bought it brand new from FenixOutfitters.


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I do know that my Quark has an orange peel reflector and the new Fenix PD32 is smooth. I also think that the temperature of the Quark is a cooler white/blue than the Fenix. I wonder if the Quark is more focused? Maybe the depth of the reflector and the smooth vs orange peel makes a difference. I bet it does. I guess I expected a 300 lumen light to be noticeably brighter than a 200 lumen light. Am I wrong?


I gotta tell ya, regardless, I love the build quality and feel of the Fenix. Freakin' nice. It also gives me a boatload of respect for the Quark for the amount of output it has.

Thinking of sending the Fenix back and grabbing a newer Quark QT2L-X instead for 360 Lumens.

Not sure if they have changed, but I'm think Fenix is Emitter lumens while 4sevens is OTF lumens, plus it takes 4x the light for one light to seem 2x brighter then another (4x for 2x might not be accurate, but it takes more then 2x the light for one to seem 2x brighter)

Also tint and the brightness of the hotspot can also affect how bright a light seems to be.

Does the quark seem brighter at close and far distances. Say 1 foot and 20 foot distances?

Quark X HVH puts out 520 OTF lumens on turbo before the rampdown occurs.

PD32 can't even hit 400.

My first Fenix LD12 I got not too long ago (same UI with the side button to change modes) had a problem where all the modes were 1/2 as bright as they should be. At first I didn't notice it, however when I compared it with known output levels of other lights like my quarks I noticed that all modes were half the lumens they should've been. I sent it back to Fenix outfitters and they confirmed the problem and sent me out a new LD12 which has worked perfectly.

Not sure if this is a common problem with Fenix lights having 1/2 the brightness they're supposed to. I can say however that my PD32 has been 100% good to go from day 1.

OK, so I just went outside (it's dark now as I'm in EST) and shined them both on my garage about 30 feet from me. The Quark is still brighter. It seems to have more throw and more spill (I don't know if that is possible but it seems like it). Now, again the Quark that I have is rated at 205 lumens OTF. Either something is wrong with the PD32 or it is rated entirely different and it is getting about 200 OTF lumens or less. I also shined them at a piece of wood about 10 inches from the light. The Quark is brighter still. I also turned off all the lights in my office and shined one at a time at the ceiling and then I looked around the room to see what I could see. The dot on the ceiling was brighter and I could see more stuff from the ambient light around with the Quark.

ServerMechanic said:

OK, so I just went outside (it's dark now as I'm in EST) and shined them both on my garage about 30 feet from me. The Quark is still brighter. It seems to have more throw and more spill (I don't know if that is possible but it seems like it). Now, again the Quark that I have is rated at 205 lumens OTF. Either something is wrong with the PD32 or it is rated entirely different and it is getting about 200 OTF lumens or less. I also shined them at a piece of wood about 10 inches from the light. The Quark is brighter still. I also turned off all the lights in my office and shined one at a time at the ceiling and then I looked around the room to see what I could see. The dot on the ceiling was brighter and I could see more stuff from the ambient light around with the Quark.

Click to expand...

You have me stumped. I'm honestly surprised.

Is it possible that you have an older Quark with XPE LED? That LED would produce a tighter hotspot than the XPG in the PD32.

LightWalker, I don't know. Is there a way that I can tell?

If I look at both emitters they look identical to me. Also, the Quark head gets warm to the touch when on in high mode for just about 40 seconds. The PD32 doesn't get warm at all. Maybe it has a better heat-sync or something.

::EDIT::
After looking at the Commonly-Used-LED-Emitter-Index I can see, by using a 30X jewelers loupe, that it is an XP-G emitter in the Quark.

ServerMechanic said:

LightWalker, I don't know. Is there a way that I can tell?

If I look at both emitters they look identical to me. Also, the Quark head gets warm to the touch when on in high mode for just about 40 seconds. The PD32 doesn't get warm at all. Maybe it has a better heat-sync or something.

::EDIT::
After looking at the Commonly-Used-LED-Emitter-Index I can see, by using a 30X jewelers loupe, that it is an XP-G emitter in the Quark.

Click to expand...

The PD32 has more mass to absorb heat, so that maybe why it does not get as warm as the Quark. As for the brightness issue of the PD32, it sounds like you have a faulty light. Do you have another light you can compare to?

Fenix use ANSI lumens so it should be OTF.
The difference between 200 and 300 lumens isn't that big but the Fenix shouldn't be dimmer than a 200 lumens light.
It might however be the difference in beamprofile (Quark more throw) and tint (Quark cooler) that makes it look that way.
Ceiling bounce test is the best way to test if you don't have special equipment.
Shine the light in the ceiling in a small room like a bathroom and see how it lightens up the room and switch between the lights.

LightWalker said:

The PD32 has more mass to absorb heat, so that maybe why it does not get as warm as the Quark. As for the brightness issue of the PD32, it sounds like you have a faulty light. Do you have another light you can compare to?

Click to expand...

The only other Good light I have is a Surefire 6P that used to be incandescent and I have dropped a Surefire 6PLED dropin into it. It is supposed to be about 80 lumens if I have it right. I think the 6P was about 60 lumens with the incan.

GunnarGG said:

Fenix use ANSI lumens so it should be OTF.
The difference between 200 and 300 lumens isn't that big but the Fenix shouldn't be dimmer than a 200 lumens light.
It might however be the difference in beamprofile (Quark more throw) and tint (Quark cooler) that makes it look that way.
Ceiling bounce test is the best way to test if you don't have special equipment.
Shine the light in the ceiling in a small room like a bathroom and see how it lightens up the room and switch between the lights.

Click to expand...

Did that already and posted about it above.

Even if ceiling bounce test is a good way to see which light is brighter it can still be difficult if the brightness difference is small, especially if there is a significant tint difference as well. 300lm should anyway be perceived as brighter than 200lm. A lightmeter is not expensive and will give the definite answer.

A relatively easy way to check results of a ceilingbounce test would be a camera and a piece of printing paper. Ideally you would use a very small room, or even a white cardboard box, and a camera that has a manual mode. Just take two images and compare brightness, or put it on aperture priority and check the shutterspeed on both shots. A light meter easily costs twice as much as a flashlight, and just about every camera has some form of lightmeter built in.

TweakMDS said:

A relatively easy way to check results of a ceilingbounce test would be a camera .... put it on aperture priority and check the shutterspeed on both shots. A light meter easily costs twice as much as a flashlight, and just about every camera has some form of lightmeter built in.

Click to expand...

Now that's a frak'n great idea - why didn't I ever think of that.

Just compared my Quark AAX NW (107 lm) to my ZL H51w (172 lm), both on an Eneloop. Just as I had long suspected, they were the same brightness. Light ceiling bounced in a small bathroom, meter reading taken off the floor.

To the OP, first thing is that 4Sevens is known to be pretty conservative with its lumen and runtime ratings, second is that your perceived increase should only be ~ 24% which is barely perceptible - (315/205)^0.5.

Do each of the stepped modes on the Fenix seem correctly spaced? If so, then it sounds like the light is working properly.

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I think that I will send this PD32 back for a refund and just buy a newer Quark.

I have a PD32 and a Quark 123^2. Not sure what emitter is in the Quark. Its not a first run and not the latest.

Comparing indoors in my basement, on high (not max), the Fenix is brighter. Stepping both up to max, they look pretty similar. I think a vote could go either way with different samples. My Fenix is whiter and my Quark is greener, so my eyes like the Fenix much better, but they are close.