Foursevens Mini MkIII arrived!

wosser

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The world is tiny. It made it's way from California to England in 4 days flat. Thanks Jason :)

Oh boy this thing gets hot in a hurry! There's some serious power for such a small light. Love that.

I've chosen mode 4 (low-med-high+burst) as my default setting. That seems like a natural balance to me.

I'm not at all convinced that I like the twisty UI. I cannot get it to turbo ("burst") when using one hand only due to friction in the o-ring and threads, with two hands yeah but even then it's hard to tell the difference between high and turbo. A minor complaint really, it's pretty damn bright either way, which is nice :)

It feels like the friction is very high in the twisting motion, any idea how to reduce the friction? Or is this a matter of running the light in for a few weeks? That said I do love the fact that a simple and flawless pocket carry lockout is available by simply unscrewing the head a 3/4 turn, that's a great plus point.

Right now my Olight S1 Mini Baton High CRI has nothing to worry about - the Olight wins in every respect apart from max output, throw and magnet strength. The Olight wins at: UI, 2-way pocket clip, supplied battery capacity.

That said, if the 47's friction issue can be solved, then these two lights can live in beautiful harmony - a dual force to be reckoned with :D
 
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badtziscool

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Oct 13, 2006
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1,722
The world is tiny. It made it's way from California to England in 4 days flat. Thanks Jason :)

Oh boy this thing gets hot in a hurry! There's some serious power for such a small light. Love that.

I've chosen mode 4 (low-med-high+burst) as my default setting. That seems like a natural balance to me.

I'm not at all convinced that I like the twisty UI. I cannot get it to turbo ("burst") when using one hand only, with two hands yeah but even then it's hard to tell the difference between high and turbo. A minor complaint really, it's pretty damn bright either way, which is nice :)

It feels like the friction is very high in the twisting motion, any idea how to reduce the friction? Or is this a matter of running the light in for a few weeks? That said I do love the fact that a simple and flawless pocket carry lockout is available by simply unscrewing the head a 3/4 turn, that's a great plus point.

Right now my Olight S1 Mini Baton High CRI has nothing to worry about - the Olight wins in every respect apart from max output and throw. That said, if the 47's friction issue can be solved, then these two lights can live in beautiful harmony - a dual force to be reckoned with :D

I'm not too familiar with the mode spacing and the circuitry on the MKIII, but if you're not seeing a huge difference between high and turbo, it could be that the cell is not capable of delivering enough power for turbo. What cell are you using?

As for the twisty UI, I agree that it's not the most convenient, but I think where it shines is the simplicity of the mechanism. You never have to worry if the switch can handle the current, there's no moving parts, essentially, it's pretty difficult to activate it inadvertently, and if you're going for the most compact design, you just can't beat it. It's unfortunate though that the twisting force required is a bit high for the MKIII. Maybe some additional lube or some break-in will help in that area?
 

wosser

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What cell are you using?

The Foursevens branded, RCR123A 550mAh (5C, 3.7V, 2.0Wh) protected cell that came with the light. A decent cell if the numbers are to be believed.

I think there is a difference between high and turbo but the UI is so hard to deal with that it makes it hard to compare them easily.

I'm wondering if replacing the standard grease with some PH light gun oil might make the friction problem go away. Don't really want to try that yet.

There is a huge amount of backlash in the threads too. It makes the modes jump around when I'm struggling to twist the barrel. Urgh.
 
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Mr. Shawn

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I think there is a difference between high and turbo but the UI is so hard to deal with that it makes it hard to compare them easily.

With my Mini MKII, I can easily tell the difference between medium and high by feeling the heat difference while shining the light on my face (with eyes closed, of course). :p
 

wosser

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With my Mini MKII, I can easily tell the difference between medium and high by feeling the heat difference while shining the light on my face (with eyes closed, of course). :p

Thank you for your input. I'm not sure that the way you use a flashlight is entirely normal, but each to his own.
 
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Mr. Shawn

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You're welcome, wosser. Kidding aside, I can visibly see the difference between medium and high. When comparing torch levels, I usually pick a reference point (e.g., the edge of a picture on a wall) to frame the edge of the corona, then toggle levels to see how much of the corona expands past the reference point. Totally not scientific, but it does allow me to see the change in brightness.
 

wosser

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You're welcome, wosser. Kidding aside, I can visibly see the difference between medium and high. When comparing torch levels, I usually pick a reference point (e.g., the edge of a picture on a wall) to frame the edge of the corona, then toggle levels to see how much of the corona expands past the reference point. Totally not scientific, but it does allow me to see the change in brightness.

Understood, but "toggling levels" is the hard bit because there is no tactile feedback from a twisty. I measured the backlash in this light's threads and well, it's a real problem.
 
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InvisibleFrodo

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Backlash? So you mean slop in the threads? Use the light a bit, and then clean the threads to get all the micro bits of metal that scrape off the threads out of there and then lubricate it again. Once you've cleaned and lubed it a few times with some use in between it should loosen up. Be especially sure you don't just lubricate the threads, the o ring needs lubrication too or else the dry rubber will make the light extremely difficult to twist.
Before you do anything I would check just to make sure the o ring isn't dry...
 

wosser

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Backlash? So you mean slop in the threads? Use the light a bit, and then clean the threads to get all the micro bits of metal that scrape off the threads out of there and then lubricate it again. Once you've cleaned and lubed it a few times with some use in between it should loosen up. Be especially sure you don't just lubricate the threads, the o ring needs lubrication too or else the dry rubber will make the light extremely difficult to twist.
Before you do anything I would check just to make sure the o ring isn't dry...

Is this normal procedure for a foursevens product?

What kind of lubricant? Silicone type?
 

defloyd77

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Is this normal procedure for a foursevens product?

What kind of lubricant? Silicone type?

The oring may be silicone, so I'd avoid silicone lube. It would help some if you were to remove the oring and put some lube in the oring groove and then put the oring back on, then lube the outside of it too.
 

wosser

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The oring may be silicone, so I'd avoid silicone lube. It would help some if you were to remove the oring and put some lube in the oring groove and then put the oring back on, then lube the outside of it too.

What kind of lubricant should it be then?
 

InvisibleFrodo

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I use the nano lube since I got a tube of that from darksucks...
Break in on threads will happen on anything with threads. But a dry o ring will cause lots of friction, because it's rubber and without a lubricant, the o ring can get stretched out from the friction. Also your o ring will last significantly longer if you keep it lubricated.
On twist lights, if you don't use it for several days, the o ring may stick a bit, but a little twist left and right will make it go right back to normal again.
I would not recommend changing the o ring size as you will not have as reliable of a seal.
 
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koziy

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Wosser, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. I bought both a regular Mini Mk III and the Turbo and after going back and forth several times, ended up selling the Turbo and keeping the regular Mini. It's a pretty cool light and it puts out a ton of light when needed. I agree that accessing the max/turbo level could really have been better thought out. It seems like a good UI for a button interface that was ported directly to the twisty interface and wasn't beta tested on enough people. Everybody seems to have the same complaints.

I have not done any lubrication to the threads myself, but Nyogel 760G is what I use on flashlight threads. It's synthetic so will not degrade o-rings and it's electrically conductive so you don't have to worry about where it spreads onto. You can find it on Amazon in the US. I assume there's a way to get it in the UK.
 

wosser

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Wosser, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. I bought both a regular Mini Mk III and the Turbo and after going back and forth several times, ended up selling the Turbo and keeping the regular Mini. It's a pretty cool light and it puts out a ton of light when needed. I agree that accessing the max/turbo level could really have been better thought out. It seems like a good UI for a button interface that was ported directly to the twisty interface and wasn't beta tested on enough people. Everybody seems to have the same complaints.

I have not done any lubrication to the threads myself, but Nyogel 760G is what I use on flashlight threads. It's synthetic so will not degrade o-rings and it's electrically conductive so you don't have to worry about where it spreads onto. You can find it on Amazon in the US. I assume there's a way to get it in the UK.

Yes, your remark about a clicky UI being ported to a twisty does hit the nail on the head. I do like this light, but I don't love it... at least not yet.

How do I sum-up this light? It's a tiny badass thrower with a shockingly terrible UI. Not remotely an EDC.

Would I buy it again? No. But now I've got one, ehh... it's alright in an emergency.

Would I consider buying a different FourSevens?...








... probably not.





I'm just glad I didn't buy a Prometheus Alpha :) :D hehe
 
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koziy

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I'm getting used to the hybrid mode memory, but I mostly don't like it. Basically, whatever mode I turn it off in, I know that I can always twist the light on and then twist one more time to get to low. However, that doesn't mean that you can just get into the habit of twisting twice to turn it on in low. If you turned it off in low, then one more twist gets you into medium. I really would prefer the ability to get to low without the possibility of a bright flash. It also doesn't help that when I'm untwisting the light to turn it off sometimes, for whatever reason I'll get it past the disconnect point and then it will flash again, maybe due to my bad technique, I don't know (I don't think the anodizing is damaged), but it changes the mode from what I tried to turn it off in so it loses even that amount of predictability.

It's not a bad flashlight. It's actually amazing how bright it is for being so small, and the configurability of the interface is actually fantastic. If you want to run it in high only, or if you want it to be a two mode light, med/high, or three modes low/med/high, then you can do it all. The pocket clip is good quality and if you like magnets, this thing has you covered too. The TIR gives plenty of throw although at the cost of being a little spotty. It probably does a better job keeping a lot of light on the subject than a shallow OP reflector would, but can give you a bit of "tunnel vision" at close distances. Even though it uses a small battery, the runtime is far from unusable. 9 hours on medium makes me want to try the headlamp attachment actually.
 
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Tixx

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I just hope they do something new and catch up with a large leap in their product line. I remember waiting for the next release to amaze us all back in the day. I want that again!
 
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