Three 10180 lights I bought

Submitting for review.

I ain't no fancy flarshlight review guru. But apparently I have a soft head spot for tiny flashlights. So here's a quick comparison of three I recently nabbed.



Right to left:

• Fenix UC03SS
• DQG Fairy
• UltraTac K18 MINI

Fronts:



Tears:



Er, that was supposed to be "rears". Anyhow ...

Here they are taken apart.



Now, I have a 5yo boy, and though he's well-trained I didn't have the interest in doing a real unboxing or anything. But ...


• The Fenix comes in a grey box in a plastic frame. Warranty card. Instruction foldout. Came with a tiny zipper bag with four clear o-rings. Chintzy black lanyard about a foot long. 18" USB/microUSB charging cable.

Included a Fenix branded 10180, marked 3.6v @ 0.288Wh. Twist to turn on, twist more for turbo. Remove the base to remove battery, remove the head to reveal the built-in USB slot. Red LED indicates charging. Turns green when charged. Li-ion, obviously.

Throws a nice spot. It's rated for 10 lumens @ 3h50min or 130 lumens @ 25min. I didn't time them. Like I said, not a fancy flarshamalight reviewer dude. I could, but I'd rather spend the time playing farm games with my boy.

IP68 rating blah blah. Cree XP-G2 S2 hardware. Claims peak intensity is 50cd low and 570cd high. 14 meter low throw; 48m high.

Build is really nice. Fit and finish great. Really nice quality, polished. Best overall quality and feel of the lot.

• The DQG Fairy (brass) is the tiniest one. Honestly, I forget what kind of packaging it had. Extra o-rings I threw away. So cavalier!

Came with a white 10180 marked DQG Design. Li-ion, obviously. 3.7v, 70mAh. Www.duqingang.com also. Whatev.

This guy comes with no charger! Have to buy a screw-on microUSB charger. How dare they!? It hasn't arrived in the mail yet.

This guy is ostensibly brighter than the other two. 10 lumens on low for 4-5 hours. 200lm high @ 15min. I didn't time it. Lazy as charged. So it's the brightest of these three, big whoop. It is a flood though, so no spot. And in the pics it looks more dim due to this. Oh well.

IP-yer-face rating for DontGoSwimmingWithThis whatever. Has a Cree XP-G2 R5. If you believe everything you read. Which I do. Particularly if I read it on the internet.

I don't know how to read or write.

Anyway, this guy has two tritium vial slots in the base. Mine came with a green one. Love that.



Overall fit and finish is only acceptable. Fit is good but rough. The brass is not polished. This will ensure that it accrues a decent patina more quickly from use and handling. But also lends itself to a rough and not as professional feel. Take your pick.

This is the one I pocket. Why? Tritium vial (yes, I like flashy toys). Smallest. Brightest. BUT - I may switch to the UltraTac because it is a spot and not a flood. Who in the world designs a tiny keychain flashlight, then makes it throw a flood? Are you insane? No keychain light is legitimately going to light up an area for more than ten minutes adequately. You use these little guys for quick close work - find your keyhole, earring back, whatever. Not for large area general working illumination. Sheesh


• The UltraTac (brass) comes in a black jewelry box that slides out of a sleeve. Warranty card, no instructions. Tiny zipper bag with two black o-rings. USB/micro cable about 6" long. Nothing else.

Included a 10180 li-ion. Generic, no brand. Only stamped 3.7v and 80mAh. Blue. See the pic above.

To charge, you unscrew your face the base, keep the battery in it, and screw on a charging cap. The charging cap (see pic above) has the microUSB port. Red LED indicates charging. Turns green when done. I didn't time it. I'm lazy.

Throws a less-defined spot than the Fenix. Packaging says 10 lumens @ 3.8h, and 130 lumens @ 25min. Also has a 130lumen strobe that will run for 50min, although I've never needed a strobe on ANY flashlight, and wish manufacturers would quit padding their prices with useless MOAR FEATURES! Claims 48.5 meter high throw distance, and 590 peak candelas.

Same IPX-8 whatever rating you'd expect. Hecho en Cina. Lampo Optoelectronic Co.

This one uses a button on the side of the head. It has an operating ui that took me a minute of thinking it was broken to figure out.

Hold it to turn it on. Press to cycle between low and turbo. Hold it to turn off. Double-press and it will lock, giving one blink. Double-press again (blinks twice) to unlock. Double-press while the light is on, and it will strobe. I'm kinda dumb. Dim?

Fit and finish on this guy is quite nice. Polished. Shiny brass. Base has a slot for a tritium vial (need to buy one - who can recommend a glue appropriate?). Mode button feels nicely clicky. So does your nose.


NOW ...

Here are the three lit up in a bright room on low:



And their throws on low (with help from my awesome assistant):



Here are them on high:



And their throws on high:



You'll see that the fairy doesn't look as bright (it's the throw on the right, in the throw pics - sorry I changed their order). It's brighter on turbo, but, again, is a flood. Not a spot. So you can't tell. Okay? You CAN'T TELL! Got it!?

Misc pics:













• FIBAL W3RDS •

Fenix is really polished quality. Love that the charger is built-in. Wish it had a trit slot.

Love that the UltraTac has a side button. Nice quality. Need to buy a trit vial. Glad it came with a charger, but wish it was built-in. My son wants it.

DQG I'll be carrying. Smallest, already has a trit vial (might install a second). Wish it even came with a charger. Also wish it was a spot, not flood, so I might change what I carry. Stop yelling at me.

I didn't include prices because, as I've said, I'm lazy. Get over it.

Did you like my lame review? I hope so. Now I'm going to go eat some cookies, and maybe play wooden choo-choos with my boy. I usually use Stephen, because he's old and slow like me!

Sincerely,

tjb

P.S. Eat it, stinky!

I am a fan of the tiny little lights also, super small and perfect for keys. I have the cooyoo usb on mine , maybe 2yrs or so and still going.


I have a few different types, the no spot with the DQG as you describe is a mule(no reflector) for a small wall of light.


Works keys have the little hobi on, use to have a few AAA lights(not all at the same time!) and just prefer less weight.

Thanks for the reply, my erudite friend!

I don't know why but I do like them tiny lights!

Not that I want to break my Fairy, but could one conceivably add a reflector to it to make it a spot?

Also, totally jealous your Hobi came with a polar bear skin rug! My Fairy came with a tritium vial, but I'm starting to think I got gypped!

Can you say gypped?

Maybe that's rude.





Maybe that's not how it's spelt. Wheatever ...

:laughing:

DQG do the hobi that has a TIR optic, so it is a little more focused. Away from DQG, cooyoo, jetbeam and Fenix off the top of my head also have an optic.

The far far right in my pic is a stainless spy, this has a 219b 4000k in, others in pic are all quite warm. I like the mule type beam, little wall of light to flood up close.

tjb said:

Submitting for review.

I ain't no fancy flarshlight review guru. But apparently I have a soft head spot for tiny flashlights. So here's a quick comparison of three I recently nabbed.

Click to expand...

I enjoyed your review as much as any "guru's" review.

I must have the same taste in small lights as your 5 YO because I've been thinking about getting a mini-K18 for a while, it was good to see it up against some known standards such as the DGQ Fairy.

ven said:

:laughing:

DQG do the hobi that has a TIR optic, so it is a little more focused. Away from DQG, cooyoo, jetbeam and Fenix off the top of my head also have an optic.

The far far right in my pic is a stainless spy, this has a 219b 4000k in, others in pic are all quite warm. I like the mule type beam, little wall of light to flood up close.

Click to expand...

Hey ven

Where did you get the Nichia from?

Looking at the cooyoo on banggood right now.

Accidentally, I sabotaged myself by inadvertently changing my reading preferences on their site to Spanish. No quiero leerlo en español, grácias! Como puedo cambiarlo a inglés? Ah, that's it.

Is it the cooyoo quantum ss? Seems like all these 10180 flashlites do 10 lm for a few hours, or 100-something for twentyish minutes. Does that seem right?

Meow!

And here I though the Fenix had a trit slot on the rear..., charging port...

Nope. Charging port in the threads for the head. No trit slot. No catnip, either.

Speaking of catnip, I've also ordered the incomplete hole add-on for the Fairy. Hoping it's small enough not to add too much bulk, but big enough to carry a half dozen of my special painkillers. Currently I have a little metal screw-cap vial for painkillers (which I won't leave in my tool bag, or anywhere else but on my person), but it'd be great to eliminate that. MEOW! Catnip Fairy!

Nichia! said:

Hey ven

Where did you get the Nichia from?

Click to expand...

Its modded, can't buy it like that unfortunately .

Nice little comparative review, I really enjoyed reading it. Good job! Thanks.

I key chain carried a AAA DQG mini, until I was gifted a CooYoo from a friend across the pond.
IMO, the TIR optic is worth the little extra length.