4Sevens Quark 123² Tactical (Warm White Q5 Version)

Ah, the wonders of LEDs. When they first made their way to flashlights we were amazed at how bright and efficient they were, and how smooth the beam could be. We loved them, though a distinction quickly grew between the newer hotshot LED lights and the older incandescents: the color of the light produced. We realized that, perhaps through years of incandescent conditioning or even eons of seeing color by the light of the sun, LEDs looked like crap.

Cold, sterile crap.

But here we are in 2011, and partners, it's a new day.

This is the 4Sevens Quark 123² Tactical with a warm white Cree XP-G (Q5).



It features an anodized aluminum (type III) body, sapphire and anti-reflective coated glass lens, forward clicky tail switch, and a wonderfully warm tint.





It's compact, light, and easy to carry as an EDC light.

Max output is rated at around 160 lumens (out the front ratings, not emitter—4Sevens doesn't roll that way), and the lowest low (called the "moonlight" mode) is a smooth 0.15 lumen.

There were two different bins of warm LEDs used in this run of these lights. One was a rosy, reddish-tinged yellow and the other was an orangish yellow. This light is the former.

First, a little bit about LED color.

Most white LEDs are actually blue LEDs with a phosphor coating on top that converts a portion of the blue wavelength light into different colors. The converted wavelengths of light and the portion of the blue light that remains blue comes out and our eyes see white light. The more phosphor you apply to the blue LED, the "warmer" the light appears to our eyes. The drawback: the more phosphor on the LED, the less output it will have.

I can demonstrate the phosphor deposited on the LED by exposing it to UV light.

Under normal sunlight:



Exposed to UV light:



Regular "cool white" LEDs also fluoresce when exposed to UV light, but they usually just turn a sort of light pink color. The warm white LED turns a vibrant dark pink.

XP-G S2 cool white on the right (the light pink of the regular LED doesn't show up in the picture):



Back to the light.

It's a 4Sevens, so it oozes quality. The anodizing is perfect and everything is tight. It features squared threads that will be smoother and last longer. The LED is perfectly centered within the reflector. Regulation is great, and the light is very thrifty with batteries. It uses CR123s (see my SureFire 6P review for instructions on getting them on the cheap).

The light features a forward clicky (momentary on, full click for constant light).

The UI is of 4Sevens' tactical variety. 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).

The beam quality is superb. This light is not a dedicated thrower, but it can still reach out there. The reflector features an orange peel texture.





The tint compared to the XP-G S2:



Some more tint shots:







This light has become my EDC light, replacing my Olight T20-M.

Critiques:

As with all Quark lights, it's supposed to be current regulated in all modes. This means that it should exhibit any PWM (a cheaper, less efficient way to regulate lower levels) flickering at lower levels.

Well, mine does flicker on several modes. In fact, every one of my 4Sevens lights do on at least one level: this light on levels 2 and 3, my Quark 123² Turbo on level 2, and my Quark RGB on moonlight. It's not really detrimental, but it still irks me since they're all supposed to be fully current regulated, and I suppose they technically are. 4Sevens has explained the flickering as "regulation dithering". I've learned to live with it, but I'd still much prefer all the levels be constant (after all, aside form efficiency gains isn't the point of using current regulation over PWM getting away from that damned high-frequency blinking?)

Other than the dithering I have no other critiques. I highly recommend this light. Unfortunately for consumers who are tint and CRI savvy, 4Sevens only ever releases the neutral and warm white tints as limited editions. The community has suggested that they make them regular players in their otherwise perfect line of lights, but so far it hasn't worked. If you can find one of these awesome lights, snatch it up. They're tough, reliable, bright, efficient, stylish, easy to carry, and have a great warranty and a great company backing it.

SureFire 6P

Incandescent flashlights came a long way over the 100+ years they were used. They took over the job of open flame and have been mostly superseded by newer LED lights.

Ask most people who know about lights what the two main brands of incandescent flashlights were back when they were commonplace and you'll likely get the same two brands: SureFire for the tactical folks and Maglite for the LEO and civilian folks.

I plan on reviewing some old Maglites just for nostalgia's sake later, but today I'll focus on one of the most popular SureFire models ever produced: the 6P.

Nowadays we have the 6PL, an LED variant of the 6P with the same body and inner workings. I have my own opinions on that model (which are mainly negative; nothing against the SureFire hardware but the LED is under-driven and runtimes aren't that great). But this model has a good old fashioned incandescent bulb, straight from the time when men were men and light was made by heating up a filament surrounded by inert gas.



SureFires have always had great beams and this one is no exception. Its orange peel reflector does a great job of both concentrating the beam and smoothing out ugly artifacts. This light makes the absolute best beam of any incandescent light I've ever seen.

The beam is a very, very pleasant yellow, but not the sickly yellow that you can get with, say, a Maglite that's batteries are running low. The lithium batteries that this light eats do a great job of supplying a near steady source of power until they're out. This means that it won't dim very much when the cells are getting low, but it also means that you won't get much warning when they're about to die. Personally, I'll deal with the disadvantage of the suddenly dead batteries if it means no ridiculous dimming when the batteries lose 10% of their power.



The hotspot is slightly oval. This is caused by the nature of incandescent filaments.



Runtime is fairly short at only 60 minutes, and, being an incandescent, it only has one brightness level. As stated above, the light uses two lithium CR123 batteries. They're sometimes hard to come by, and when you do find them they are quite expensive. Go to Bass Pro and you'll pay around $8 for two SureFire branded cells, and go to Walgreens and you'll pay around $5-6 for one Energizer cell.

Luckily there are solutions.

If you want to go the alternative route and use rechargeables, there are RCR123s, but be sure to get a reputable brand, as using lithium ion rechargeables is different that using the ubiquitous NiMH batteries.

If you want to go the primaries route (which I do), there is a wonderful company called Titanium Innovations. They make several models of flashlights, including several great HIDs, but they also produce quality lithium batteries. Both their CR123 and CR2 cells are reliable and cheap. The only thing you sacrifice is a little capacity (they're 1400mah as compared to the SureFire brand's ~1550mah). Best part is that they're currently $1 a piece at Battery Junction and a little under $12 for a dozen.

The light is a SureFire, which means it's one step away from being indestructible. Thousands of LEOs and military men and women have trusted their lives to this brand, and they're right to do so. Although I don't think the bump up in quality from such recent brands as 4Sevens, Fenix, and Olight justify the entire premium you would pay for this, but it's just sturdier than those other brands.

And it is expensive. You'll currently pay around $90 for this light, whereas you could spend the same amount for a light that gives you six times as much light.

One gripe I do have about the light is its tail switch.



The switch allows for momentary on—some people hate forward clickies (where you can half-press to turn on, then click all the way for constant) because they turn on and waste batteries. I've never had this problem and I've worn a forward clicky light for years.

This switch allows for momentary on, yes, but the switch can't turn the light to constant on, i.e. there is only momentary on as far as the tail switch is concerned. To turn the light on completely you need to fully tighten the tail. To turn is off you loosen the tail slightly. This method is straight up annoying to me, but to each his own. I'm sure there are tons of people who love it.

Overall this is a fantastic light. It's expensive to buy, expensive to feed, and requires changing out the bulb assembly relatively often. It's bright, especially considering how small it is, but the runtime isn't that great. The UI takes some getting used to if you're coming from a click-switch setup, but honestly this SureFire probably has the most reliable setup (meaning there are no clicky switches to break).

If you want a great incandescent light and you're willing to pay the premium, you can't go wrong with this SureFire. It's something that you (and probably your kids) will have for a very long time.