4sevens quark aa build quality (pic)

what happened to quark's "Build Quality"?

Did I get a defective unit?

Cree LED is not well centered, and there are some artifacts on it.

OMFGZ!

sorry to see that, really.
that s*cks.
maybe you could ask for a replacement. i wouldnt accept this build quality!!!

The dome itself looks to be pretty well centered, and the artifact won't be visible during use.

Turn it on, then tell us if you can still see any 'issues.'

Chicago X said:

The dome itself looks to be pretty well centered, and the artifact won't be visible during use.

Turn it on, then tell us if you can still see any 'issues.'

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+1.

I just bought several QAA2Xs for $32 on this latest round of rebranding sales for holiday gifts - half showed similar marks on the dome but I can't see anything significant in the beam (which is greenish in the lower modes btw). Doesn't bother me much, and the non-flashaholics I gift these to are nothing short of amazed of course.

I won't argue about Foursevens quality, but as long as they stand behind their products with a good warranty and customer service (US-based), I will continue to buy to them for myself and others.

My thought? If you have to use such extreme magnification to pick out such inconsequential "defects" then you're simply being unreasonable. Here's the easiest fix: point the flashlight away from you and turn it on. If it works as expected then don't worry about it.

Wow, I thought I was incredibly picky about centering. That is imperfect, but only just. To be honest you can't really expect better than that on a mass-produced light. It is relatively common with some brands to see LEDs so off-centre that one of the silver corners (or even both) are almost completely hidden under a reflector with an opening that size. At least 4sevens uses centering mechanisms, so you never see any more than a fraction off-centre.

A spec of dust or something of that size on the lense is also very common I'm afraid, and it wouldn't be too uncommon to find something 3 or 4 times that size on an LED dome. It certainly won't affect the output to any noticable degree. It seems to be near the top of the emission angle on the LED and so probably wouldn't be blocking light to the reflector but light that would go directly to the spill-beam. Try shining it on a white wall and see if you can see a dark spot anywhere in the spill-beam, I would guess it is too small to have any noticable effect though.

All in all, that sample doesn't look too bad. You could have done slightly better, but it could've been quite a lot worse, especially from some other well-known brands.

RedForest UK said:

but it could've been quite a lot worse, especially from

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while that's certainly true, i am still thinking that this quality is a slap in the consumer's face. so i am siding here with the op.

Alask, how much did you pay for it?
dont tell us that you paid 78US% for it!!

I don't really see the problem either. All in all, it looks pretty good. Not perfect, but about as good as you can expect from a mass produced light. If it was my light I wouldn't have blinked an eye.

yea thats not bad ive gotten much worse from nitecore lol

The pics actually make me want a Quark AA... for the price, that looks decent.

I see no problems. Go out and use your new tool

I do not see hardly a problem at all with the centering of the LED. If that mark on the dome is not causing a black spot on the beam, I would be OK with it. I have a Quark 2AA light at home and will see if mine has that mark on it this evening. The beam on mine is fine. If there is a mark on the LED dome, it is not affecting my light.

I bought one of their high CRI lights with the led a little off in a similar fashion as the OP light but like all have said it was not that bad. My main worries are from others who have mentioned having loose threads on their lights. I have one as well. However, I recently bought a new preon 1 and held a friends preon 1 and both to me seemed to have perfect threads. Perhaps foursevens had fixed this annoying issue. Forgot to mention a couple of my Foursevens leds had some sort of mark on them so I guess I noticed too. I don't really care though. I had to find them with a 10x lens. My guess is the OP did what I did. He got a high powered lens to look at the off centered led and noticed the rest.

Does it affect the beam in any way?

With some of the o/c emitters I've seen I would say that looks pretty good. As long as the beam doesn't display any irregularities I wouldn't give it a second thought. My AA Quark has a speck on the emitter(visible with a 10X loupe) no problem! I'm picky, but if it looks okay in use, I'm good!

shelm said:

i am still thinking that this quality is a slap in the consumer's face. so i am siding here with the op.

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I'm going to assume you're being sarcastic.

the.Mtn.Man said:

I'm going to assume you're being sarcastic.

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i was exaggerating a bit. the centricity isnt too bad. but the scratch on the dome .. unacceptable.

shelm said:

i was exaggerating a bit. the centricity isnt too bad. but the scratch on the dome .. unacceptable.

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Since when is FourSevens selling sculptures? I thought they were in the lighting business. I have several LED units with much worse "horrible defects" that have no measurable impact on the output or beam pattern. If you want a custom perfect light, buy one. They cost more than fifty bucks and do not come off production lines.

i am taking here the beating for Alask, that's okay.
but where is she/he?

shelm said:

i am taking here the beating for Alask, that's okay.
but where is she/he?

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Interesting question as Al4sk has only 1 post so far. Is this a troll trying to stir up trouble or trying to bring down FOURSEVENS' reputation.

Personally I find the defects pointed out are insignificant and wouldn't affect the performance of the light. I've seen much worse with absolutely no impact on performance.

"One should not spend time peering into lens looking for trouble unless want pain in eye from bright light."