4Sevens Quark 123² Turbo (S2 Version)

I'm a big fan of 4Sevens' lights, and just 4Sevens as a company. They're small, American owned, use honest lumens ratings (OTF, and more recently ANSI, instead of the industry standard emitter lumen ratings that inflate the capabilities of the lights), and they have fantastic customer service and after-sale service. They've revolutionized what a flashlight is, putting such revolutionary ideas as a moonlight mode (usually around 0.2 lumen and lasting anywhere from 15-33 days on constantly, depending on the light and number of cells). They've also pushed the envelope with their programming, making LEDs work harder and smarter.

The light this review is concerned with is the 4Sevens Quark 123² Turbo (S2 Version). The S2 version of this light is estimated (by 4Sevens) to be 7% brighter than the comparable R5 version. The limited run S3 versions (of which there are only two, both with brushed titanium bodies: a Mini 123 and this model, the Quark 123² Turbo) is a further 7% brighter than this model. The LED is a Cree XP-G.



The body is anodized aluminum (type III), and features a deeper head than the regular Quark models. It has a smooth aluminum reflector in lieu of 4Sevens' traditional (and fantastic) orange peel. The LED is perfectly centered and the lens is high quality glass with anti-reflective coating.



Here is the smooth reflector next to a Quark 123² Tactical (warm white).



Overall, the light feels solid as a rock. The squared threads (more reliable, more expensive) are smooth, but came gritty in the box. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; every light I've ever bought has come with gritty threads. Stripping new lights of their grease and applying a bit of Hoppe's gun oil to them is standard practice for me now.

The light features a forward clicky (momentary on, full click for constant light), that is fairly stiff compared to my Olight T20. This isn't a surprise though, considering that this light was build with tactical situations in mind. Wouldn't want to accidentally actuate that switch with Nazi zombies bearing down on you, would you?



The UI is of 4Sevens' tactical variety (exactly the same as their Tactical models). There are two settings that you can save at any given time, and you assign the mode to those two settings: head tightened and head loosened.

To program the light you need to turn it on (full click or hold at half-click) and twist the head from tight to loose (or loose to tight, it doesn't matter; this isn't rocket science) and stop on the position you wish to program (tightened or loosened head). The light will flash several times, then go directly to the moonlight mode. To cycle through the modes you need to turn the light off and then back on.

The order of the modes is:

Moonlight > Low > Medium > High > Turbo > S.O.S. > Strobe > Beacon

Stop on the one you want (if you overshoot it you can go back through them) and wait ten seconds. The light will flash again and your mode will be set.

I keep mine set at moonlight (head loosened) and turbo (head tightened).

There's been a lot of talk in the flashlight community about the S2's green tint. It's still a very white light, but as you might have seen in my tint comparison post.



Here it is as compared to several other differently tinted lights.





As you can see, it's green. Oddly enough this doesn't detract from it being usable in everyday tasks (much like cheap LEDs' blue tint doesn't keep them from being useful). It's merely a matter of what's pleasing to the eyes.

When my Turbo arrived I was taken aback by how darned small it is.



The pictures of the light by itself make it look very big.



There are plenty of run time data out there for this light and I'm not rich enough to put it through its paces on every mode. Suffice it to say that this light is incredibly efficient, owing to both the software and the hardware. My year and a half year old Olight T20 has a high mode of 220 emitter lumens (around 170 OTF). This light features an ANSI rating of 200 lumens. Considering that the R5 version featured 230 OTF lumens, and that the S2 is 7% brighter than the R5, we can guesstimate that this light is putting out around 246 OTF lumens. So, 170 for the Olight and 246 for the Turbo. The Olight burns on high for about an hour and a half. The Turbo's run time on high? Two and a half hours. Coupled with its ability to run for 33 days on moonlight mode...

Yeah, this light's efficient.

You can get it for around $80, less if you're willing to look.

I purchased mine from GoingGear.com. I highly recommend them.

If you're looking for a bright, reliable, efficient, stylish, tough light that's as versatile as can be, then this just might be your light.

Some different LEDs and their tints

Time to talk about LEDs and their varying tints. FYI, I'm no expert on the matter, but I know enough to talk about it.

Early power LEDs put into various flashlights had a definite blue tinge to them. The beams were ugly, cold, sterile, and had horrible color rendition (some still do).

But things have gotten worlds better. CREE has, for several years now, been releasing neutral and warm tint versions of their flagship LEDs. These boast higher CRI numbers and are a lot easier on the eyes.

I don't have any lights with a neutral LED, but I have a warm one. Even with the so called "cool white" versions (which come out before the neutral and warm versions), tints can vary. Why? No idea, ask CREE.

How do you make an LED warmer? Short, simplistic answer: pile more phosphor onto the LED die. Essentially "white" LEDs are just blue (or sometimes ultraviolet) LEDs with phosphor on top which fluoresces white light (somewhat similar—in theory of creating white light, not operation—to a fluorescent light). The more phosphor is on the LED die, the warmer the tint.

The drawback? The more phosphor no the die, the less light gets out—28% less for warm white and 7% less for neutral, according to 4Sevens.

That difference, at least with my warm white 4Sevens Quark, is barely noticeable.

Now, on the Candle Power Forums lately there has been a big stink raised over CREE's new XP-G S2 and S3 LEDs, their tint in particular. People immediately began complaining (and rightfully so) about the LEDs' green tint. After a month or so, I ordered a Quark with the S2 LED. When I turned it on I was struck by the... green tint. And yeah, it's green.

Let's get to the pictures.




FYI: The warm white Quark has an XP-G, Q5 bin. The Turbo also has an XP-G (S2 bin, obviously). The Olight has an older (and now quite ubiquitous) XR-E (Q5)

Super Bright 7-1

This is one of those Chinese wonder-lights you hear about.



And by that I mean it's for sale on DealExtreme.com (SKU# 44705), has a severely inflated lumens count, uses a "Cree" LED, and only costs $3.30 shipped.



Advertised as having 30 lumens, I've eyeballed that it probably puts 8-12 OTF. It features an anodized aluminum body (type II), a plastic reflector and lens, a plastic rear reverse clicky switch, and is powered by a single AAA battery (not compatible with 10440 rechargeables, but NiMH are okay).

It's very small when taken alone, but if sitting next to other AAA flashlights, such as the Fenix E01 and Maglite Solitaire, you realize quite quickly that it's on the big side for a single AAA light, both in terms of width and length.



The rear clicky actuates quite nicely for how cheap it is. It's never failed to come on (and like the E01 it can fire up from a nearly dead cell), but once every ten on/off cycles or so it exhibits its strange quirk: sometimes it doesn't want to turn off. Call it eagerness to work I guess. When it happens all you need to do is click the switch back to the "on" position and then turn it off again. My record for getting it to turn off is three on/off cycles.



The beam is a cool (has a blue hue) and most definitely a floody one. There are artifacts caused by the cheap plastic reflector and the LED's particular construction (see below). Because of this the hotspot is slightly elongated, though not to the extent of the Fenix E01's.

Output is similar to the E01, which is rated at 10 lumens, but this light's hotspot is much more spread out. And unlike the E01 this light uses an LED and reflector to create the beam, not a prefocused LED.

If you'll look back to the E01's review you'll see the section on its unique LED. It's unique because the prefocused LED actually has two dies sitting side by side, which creates a rectangular pattern in the beam. Well this LED (advertised as a Cree, but I'm not buying it...) has a similar setup.



As you can see in the above picture, the LED has what looks to be three dies lined up in a row. Interestingly enough, this setup creates less of a shape aberration in the beam pattern than the E01's two-die setup. I suspect this is because the E01's LED is prefocused and this one is not.

All in all I would recommend this light.

I know, I know. It's cheaply made, cheaply sold, and probably won't withstand the day to day needs of being on a keychain, but for $3.30 you get a semi-solid light that you can stick a lithium battery in and keep it in a drawer for 10 years until you need it.

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A note about DealExtreme.

It is a Chinese-based business selling cheap products. Don't expect to be wowed by performance and don't be wooed by performance promises. And if something goes wrong with your purchase don't expect returns to be easy.

You just have to buy from them hoping that the product you receive is in good working order.

Review: Fenix E01

Coming from the time when one AAA getting you around two lumens for around two hours, this light is incredible.

The Fenix E01 is a tiny, bright, and budget-minded AAA light. It's throw-against-the-wall durable, has one mode, and is cheap (around $10).

It features a prefocused Nichia LED—prefocused meaning that it doesn't have a traditional reflector, but rather a resin lens that the LED's built into that focuses light. As such, there is no polished reflector, just a rough aluminum one that does next to nothing. It has no lens, so if you keep it in your pocket lint will get into the head. No big deal, just something to know.

It throws a 10 lumen beam that's asymmetrical and of a purple hue. Runtime is listed as 10 hours at full strength, at which point the light drops output for a quasi-second level that is supposed to last an additional 10 hours.



While not evident in the picture above, the E01's beam is a rounded-off rectangular shape with a distinct purple tingle in the middle. The shape is due to the LED having two dies right next to each other instead of the normal one die.



It's hard to see, but you can make out the two separate dies in the above picture.

The E01 is a flashlight that you can put on your keychain and not worry about it being knocked around. Both the external anodized aluminum body and the internal components were built right, being robust enough to survives the rigors of harsh day-to-day treatment.

One amazing thing about this light is its ability to seemingly resurrect dead batteries from the grave. Today I put a near-dead alkaline battery in my Maglite Solitaire (which I'll review in a later post) and ran it down to nothing. I gave it five minutes and stuck it in the Fenix (interesting coincidence of words...)

The E01 lit up, albeit in the reduced power mode, and ran long enough that I got bored of watching it die. It won the battle and I stuck its fully charged NiMH battery back in.

Speaking of rechargeable batteries, I wouldn't recommend the lithium-ion 10440 cells for use in this. I haven't tried it, but I doubt that the E01 would handle the increased voltage with flying colors; more like a tiny wisp of smoke...



The E01 is small. Very small. Pictured above is the light next to a Federal .357 Magnum round.

When it comes down to it, this light's purpose is to be a tough, decently bright flashlight that'll be as happy sitting in a desk as it will be in a purse or on a key ring. Mine's never failed to light and has been extremely efficient.

I look forward to this year's SHOT Show to see what 4Sevens has in store. Rumor has it that they've developed a so-called "E01 Killer". It is a tall order to create a budget light that outshines this one (in more categories than one), but if anyone can do it 4Sevens can.

We shall wait and see...

OK Gear Review

Over the past few years I've accrued several different hobbies, ranging from guns to flashlights, knitting to writing. Well, I already have blogs for knitting and writing, so I think the guns, flashlights, knives, and other such gear deserve one too.

Now, like most blogs that are started, this one will eventually fall into, well, disrepair is the wrong word. Perhaps abandonment. But that's okay. The purpose of this blog is to explore gear one at a time and give you my honest opinion, and have those opinions be here so everyone can see them.

Whenever I am researching a new purchase I check every available source for information: blogs, forums, professional reviewers, manufacturers' websites.

I'm trying to decide what to review first. It'll be a light, I can tell you that.

So here goes...