chillinn
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thorfire TS07
DQG Mini AAA
I didn't see any mention of this elsewhere, so this just arrived today, I thought I'd share my inexperienced impressions (not a formal review, I can't compete with the awesome reviewers here and everywhere).
$20, XP-G2, 3 modes, comes in a Altoids-sized aluminum case with plastic window and removeable lid, includes a fat .25" split-ring with a tiny lobster clasp (for ants I presume) and has 3 extra o-rings, extra glass lens. Its about almost 78g wihtout the battery, and 2.75" long.
Its my first clicky, and my first stainless. I resisted the idea of clicky for purity; the simplicity of a flashlight is one of the interesting things about them, and a click switch is more complicated than a twist switch. I was curious about stainless because I'm finding aluminum to be too delicate. There are instances where the lower weight of aluminum is preferable, when your fingers are full and you need and only have available in your hand just a little pinch of force between two fingers to hang on to something small, stainless will indeed slip away before aluminum (and presumably titanium) will due to its weight. But in an empty hand, stainless is a nice heft for this size.
First impression: sort of stunned by the new shiney, not used to a light that opens 2 ways... I immediately, accidently, put the battery in backwards. Doesn't work that way. Panicked, turned the cell around, and it ... worked. Seemed to be a half-second delay in coming on, and I thought it was fried, but it was probably just electrons trying to find a path... because the delay is intermittant, not always there. idk, I may have really hurt this before I even turned it on. I hope it has polarity protection... a little late now, though.
This light needs button top batteries, flat top won't work without some slight mod to the battery due to the components being taller than the contact. I don't have any idea if 3.7v Li-ion will work or not, but since I intended to replace the pill anyway, I'll test with some button top 3.7v to see if it even makes light when I get them (tomorrow?).
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edit: I tried a Soshine button top 350mah 10440 in it, and it did not kill it. I checked the medium and high modes, and high is just a bit brighter than my Maratac Rev. 2 w/ 3.7v on high, but appears even brighter (due to tint I think). I left it on L and the light still lives, but it is clear to me this light sucks power fast, I did not get more than 15 minutes on L before checking that the M and H were now at the same brightness, so I figured that was it for that battery. This is my first experience with Li-ion rechargeable cells!
And my $5 analog multimeter blows bigtime, isn't going to cut it with an accuracy of about .5v. It reads ~4v. Well, I put what I thought would be depleted cell (that leaves the M and H at the same brightness in the Thorfire) into the Maratac Rev. 2, and the H is very BRIGHT, brighter than the reduced H in the Thorfire --cell is not depleted, turns out, just doesn't have the juice left to make the H brighter than M on Thorfire. I'm not certain what to make of this, precisely. I think it might help me to sacrifice 3 copper tops to see what the actual runtime is with the Thorfire on each mode to give me a better indication of how it compares to other lights.
<---
With a charged 1.2v NiMH, the light is very bright. All the modes are noticibly brighter than the corresponding modes on my Maratac AAA Rev. 3, but I can find no claims to how long each mode will last on a cell. The medium is about as bright as the high on my Maratac Rev. 2. The hotspot is larger than the Maratacs. On high, the light gets hot pretty fast, and the bezel is hotter than the body, heat not spreading out.
The knurling is ok, grippy but not bitey like on my Maratac copper when new. There was no lube on either set of threads, and I need something better than Vasoline... I think I have earned it by now. The threads probably need cleaned first, but I wanted to play a little with it before I got serious, because a cursory examination told me that it was going to be tricky getting the o-rings off without a pick, and without breaking them.
The light tailstands well. The included splitring is too fat to fit through both little holes in the lip around the click-switch, which would force use of only one hole and foul its ability to tailstand. I found a different thinner splitring to use so it will stand flat.
Turns on if switch fully pressed and released, mometary is available after its on, but worthless because it cycles the modes, and switches through modes by half-pressing the switch . It will always be in next mode that you turned it off from when you turn it on, as turning it on also cycles the mode forwards once (unless I broke it with my polarity flub). -- (Edit: there is some memory happening, if given a 4 or 5 seconds, then it will always start H M L)
The PWM is very noticeable on low, not as noticible on medium, and I can't detect it on high (if its there).
(Edit: read somewhere specs for DQG is 100%/50%/5%, and I doubt that's the spacing for the TS07, mode spacing is more like (guessing) 150lm/115lm/5lm)
Light is cold, harsh.
(Edit: this light throws!)
This light was probably overpriced by $5-10 (Edit: I retract the previous statement! Good deal). That said, I like it. I intended to get the DQG, but saw this lower priced, and since I wanted to mod anyway, no point in paying more for the DQG, which I have never seen in person, and can only assume its a much better light even if the external design is identical.
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I want to have this modded, at the least change the LED for a police blue color (not violet). I'd welcome recommendations, Cree preferred. Also, I don't want to insult a modder by asking them to work on something that isn't worth their time, so I was hoping for a modder recommendation to contact. Who might be qualified and happy to switch the led without feeling insulted nor more than doubleing (or 2.5x) the cost of this low cost light? If the modder says the pill is not good, then what should I replace it with? The idea behind the blue color is for mood lighting, not for playing cops, just for playing. I think I need to replace the reflector with something that eliminates the hotspot and makes a uniform flood... so I need direction there as well. Thanks.
DQG Mini AAA
I didn't see any mention of this elsewhere, so this just arrived today, I thought I'd share my inexperienced impressions (not a formal review, I can't compete with the awesome reviewers here and everywhere).
$20, XP-G2, 3 modes, comes in a Altoids-sized aluminum case with plastic window and removeable lid, includes a fat .25" split-ring with a tiny lobster clasp (for ants I presume) and has 3 extra o-rings, extra glass lens. Its about almost 78g wihtout the battery, and 2.75" long.
Its my first clicky, and my first stainless. I resisted the idea of clicky for purity; the simplicity of a flashlight is one of the interesting things about them, and a click switch is more complicated than a twist switch. I was curious about stainless because I'm finding aluminum to be too delicate. There are instances where the lower weight of aluminum is preferable, when your fingers are full and you need and only have available in your hand just a little pinch of force between two fingers to hang on to something small, stainless will indeed slip away before aluminum (and presumably titanium) will due to its weight. But in an empty hand, stainless is a nice heft for this size.
First impression: sort of stunned by the new shiney, not used to a light that opens 2 ways... I immediately, accidently, put the battery in backwards. Doesn't work that way. Panicked, turned the cell around, and it ... worked. Seemed to be a half-second delay in coming on, and I thought it was fried, but it was probably just electrons trying to find a path... because the delay is intermittant, not always there. idk, I may have really hurt this before I even turned it on. I hope it has polarity protection... a little late now, though.
This light needs button top batteries, flat top won't work without some slight mod to the battery due to the components being taller than the contact. I don't have any idea if 3.7v Li-ion will work or not, but since I intended to replace the pill anyway, I'll test with some button top 3.7v to see if it even makes light when I get them (tomorrow?).
-->
edit: I tried a Soshine button top 350mah 10440 in it, and it did not kill it. I checked the medium and high modes, and high is just a bit brighter than my Maratac Rev. 2 w/ 3.7v on high, but appears even brighter (due to tint I think). I left it on L and the light still lives, but it is clear to me this light sucks power fast, I did not get more than 15 minutes on L before checking that the M and H were now at the same brightness, so I figured that was it for that battery. This is my first experience with Li-ion rechargeable cells!
And my $5 analog multimeter blows bigtime, isn't going to cut it with an accuracy of about .5v. It reads ~4v. Well, I put what I thought would be depleted cell (that leaves the M and H at the same brightness in the Thorfire) into the Maratac Rev. 2, and the H is very BRIGHT, brighter than the reduced H in the Thorfire --cell is not depleted, turns out, just doesn't have the juice left to make the H brighter than M on Thorfire. I'm not certain what to make of this, precisely. I think it might help me to sacrifice 3 copper tops to see what the actual runtime is with the Thorfire on each mode to give me a better indication of how it compares to other lights.<---
With a charged 1.2v NiMH, the light is very bright. All the modes are noticibly brighter than the corresponding modes on my Maratac AAA Rev. 3, but I can find no claims to how long each mode will last on a cell. The medium is about as bright as the high on my Maratac Rev. 2. The hotspot is larger than the Maratacs. On high, the light gets hot pretty fast, and the bezel is hotter than the body, heat not spreading out.
The knurling is ok, grippy but not bitey like on my Maratac copper when new. There was no lube on either set of threads, and I need something better than Vasoline... I think I have earned it by now. The threads probably need cleaned first, but I wanted to play a little with it before I got serious, because a cursory examination told me that it was going to be tricky getting the o-rings off without a pick, and without breaking them.
The light tailstands well. The included splitring is too fat to fit through both little holes in the lip around the click-switch, which would force use of only one hole and foul its ability to tailstand. I found a different thinner splitring to use so it will stand flat.
Turns on if switch fully pressed and released, mometary is available after its on, but worthless because it cycles the modes, and switches through modes by half-pressing the switch . It will always be in next mode that you turned it off from when you turn it on, as turning it on also cycles the mode forwards once (unless I broke it with my polarity flub). -- (Edit: there is some memory happening, if given a 4 or 5 seconds, then it will always start H M L)
The PWM is very noticeable on low, not as noticible on medium, and I can't detect it on high (if its there).
(Edit: read somewhere specs for DQG is 100%/50%/5%, and I doubt that's the spacing for the TS07, mode spacing is more like (guessing) 150lm/115lm/5lm)
Light is cold, harsh.
(Edit: this light throws!)
This light was probably overpriced by $5-10 (Edit: I retract the previous statement! Good deal). That said, I like it. I intended to get the DQG, but saw this lower priced, and since I wanted to mod anyway, no point in paying more for the DQG, which I have never seen in person, and can only assume its a much better light even if the external design is identical.
-----------
I want to have this modded, at the least change the LED for a police blue color (not violet). I'd welcome recommendations, Cree preferred. Also, I don't want to insult a modder by asking them to work on something that isn't worth their time, so I was hoping for a modder recommendation to contact. Who might be qualified and happy to switch the led without feeling insulted nor more than doubleing (or 2.5x) the cost of this low cost light? If the modder says the pill is not good, then what should I replace it with? The idea behind the blue color is for mood lighting, not for playing cops, just for playing. I think I need to replace the reflector with something that eliminates the hotspot and makes a uniform flood... so I need direction there as well. Thanks.
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