This light is billed as the smallest 18650 light on the market, and indeed it is small for an 18650 light…. Many other reviews have covered the light in technical detail, the output, UI and other features including what makes it so small. I have had this light since mid May and figured I would review how it is to live with this light as an EDC. Here it is with a SK68 and a Streamlight Microstream.
Firstly, I purchased this light myself after extensive reading here at BLF and other places about this light and other DQG products. Nothing was provided to me for this review, either the light or other compensation. I want to give an impression on how it is to use this light daily for a couple of months as I feel it will be my companion for a long time. I have carried it daily, on me or in my bag at work.
When carrying stuff all day, size matters. If you are out for a walk, a bigger light can be carried. Going for a run toward nightfall, you can carry a smaller one on a keychain or necklace to have “just in case”. I carry more than just a flashlight in my pockets every day, most of us do… The fact of life is that a wallet, phone and keys are more than likely the minimal triad for most of us to carry. Personally, I also make room for a pen, a knife and a light as well as a tube of lip balm. Change and business cards or receipts also accumulate during the day, so some spare room is welcome. Size counts to me for stuff I am going to carry daily. My wallet is a model called Big Skinny (It is thin) and I carry everything in the front two pockets of my pants or shorts. I try hard to minimize the clutter.
This light with an 18650 battery of moderate capacity gives me more than enough run time for anything I may encounter over a day or two. It is nice having that long a run time in your pocket. Enough to run as a night light for a couple of nights on low, and still plenty left for any tasks or things that may come up. Size here is small, usage is huge, no worries like when I was carrying only a AAA Microstream that I would run out of juice.Then you start to think on how to carry spare AAA’s in your pockets. Once you are freed from the “run out of light” worries, you end up using your light a lot more too…
The size of the DQG Tiny III is only minimally larger than its 18650 sized battery, less than an inch longer, and a hair narrower than one inch wide, it is around the largest size I would carry daily. Its size did have some drawbacks for me. When clipped in the pocket with the original clip, it is fat enough that I could not get my hands out of my pocket without pulling the Tiny III out…. This was not good. I tried another clip I had that fit, same thing…. I let the light linger in the bottom of my pocket to alleviate this, no good, now the switch would come on (1 click to low) and I was worried about scratching the optics…. The side switch did make it easy to use, but the carry comfort was low with the stock clip for me.
After some trial and error, I came up with an easy to carry option. I use an O-ring on the groove just before the tail cap and have a clip with a split ring attached to this. This allows the light to hang far enough down in the pocket that it is not pulled up when I fish around for other pocket items, but it is also not rolling around on the bottom of the pocket with everything else. I found the clip here on BLF and ordered it from the ’Bay, here , this is a non affiliated link. It is still easy to access and the clip makes it hang nice Outside of the pocket or from a shirt collar when you need to use it. Win, Win… Below is a picture of the current set up.
This is how it sits when you clip it to your collar. You cannot clip it to a hat very well anymore, but this works well and can be clipped to the outside of your pocket if you want the light lower too.
I had problems with it when I was using the stock clip and the second clip I had that fit it. Head down, it would occasionally turn on in my pocket. Low is one click from off and that is where I would find the light on occasion. Not a big deal, but aggravating, the lights tail-cap will lockout the switch with a quarter turn, so that was my solution. I also put an O-ring in the groove behind the switch, and this negated the turn on problem for me without tail cap lockout… The stock clip would not reverse for me to carry it head up, my initial fix. The head was too big and the clip would not seat fully in the forward clip groove. The other clip I had was from an AA light and broke a couple of weeks later (cracked and broke where it grabbed the body). The second clip was not a deep carry clip and the head rode too high out of the pocket head up, so that was nixed too. The current set up works great with the clip on the O-ring, and has cut the accidental turn-on’s to a very infrequent occasion compared to what they were doing on the original clip. Maybe three of them in the last five weeks, all on low. Lockout still works if this bothers you, but for me it is acceptable.
The anodizing has held up well, if I was not directly carrying the light (like at work) I had it thrown in my lunch bag. It has a couple of nicks and dings, but those would have happened to any finish and were the result of my mistreatment. Normal wear is non-existent on the finish at this point. The micro switch has been activated well over 2000 times. There for the first few weeks I had a goal of 60 presses a day and I exceeded this for over twenty days. My first E-switch light and I wanted to test it. Some people do not like the difference in colors of the anodizing between the body tube and the head or tail cap. I think it looks fine and goes well with the whole light as it is. Some things like this will kill a purchase for some people, that is their choice, but I think they are missing a fine light if they are worried only about the colors.
There was a lot of debate about the UI on this light. I like the UI, it works for me.
From Off- 1 click to low, 2 clicks to Med and 3 clicks to High. A long press from off does nothing.
From On- 1 click on Low, Med or High turns the light off. One long press (~1 sec) to go to Turbo from any level when the light is on. 2 clicks takes you up one level from where you are (except to Turbo). One click from Turbo back to the level you were on previously, or when the timer steps it down.
Some want Turbo from off, but three quick clicks gets you to high from off (300 lumen), and while turbo is rated at 800 lumen, I think it is only about 600 or so. If anyone has one of these and a light meter, please let us know more accurate numbers. 600 Lumen is still a lot in my book though. The UI works, and the software between your ears can adapt to most everything if you let it. Currently I just double click it to Med, then two more to high. If I want low from high, click once, wait half a sec and click it again for low. Works for me. Turbo is there if you need it, when the light is on.
The mode spacing is great, low is perfect for a bright night-light level, more than enough in a dark adjusted area to do what you need to. Medium is my most used mode and is generally bright enough for your immediate needs, works in a well lit room to look behind stuff, etc. High is bright enough, and throwy enough to check out the entire backyard on 1/2 an acre or so sized property, keeping an eye on a loose dog, etc. Indoors high is bright enough that it starts throwing too much light back at you up close… Turbo had enough throw and brightness for when you need it, but this thing is not a C8 by any means. The stepdown timer for Turbo is about spot on, and the thing will get warm with a couple of cycles.
I am currently running a 3.2V LiFePO4 18650 in this light with great results (for me). It runs cooler on Turbo and does not significantly heat up on high. Regular 3.7V ICR LiIon batteries do very well, but the Turbo gets pretty hot after a couple of cycles, and on high the warmth is enough that you would not want to drop it down the front of your pants, unless you were in a Kilt, but then again, those are not pants…. The output on Turbo is lower on the LiFePO4, maybe 15% less, but only on Turbo. The other modes seem unaffected and the driver is regulated anyway, so I imagine Turbo is a direct drive and the 3.2V would not be as bright in that mode….
Beamshots of the two types of batteries below, reload the page if they are out of sync, there is not much difference even on turbo and both sets of pics were at the same settings and distance.
LiIon 3.7V_LiFePO4 3.2V
I had an extra O-ring on the tail cap to prevent the clip from rubbing the anodizing too much (Steel vs Aluminum, Steel wins… every time), but I have been thinking about PlastiDipping my tail cap so I can hold it in my teeth more comfortably. Go to the forum button up top on the link if you want to see some fun with cars and how durable the PlastiDip is. You can buy black in most Lowes or Home Depots spray can aisle for about $5, get the spray can version, it is easier to apply.
Conclusion:
Size is great for EDC with my space requirements.
The battery is the largest I will get in this size light (how long would my NCR18650B last?), so plenty of capacity, no fears of using it all in one day.
The carry method has been found that I will use for the foreseeable future and it is comfortable while out of the way.
The UI works for me, and I am familiar with it, the side-switch is very ergonomic on this light.
Waterproof enough in the rain and a couple of shower trips for testing, no worries there.
While some mods have been done to this light, it fits as it is in stock form so well to what I want, I have no desire to mod it. Got to love Firelight2’s triple mod though. I like his finish washer switch protector, but my epoxy skills are not that good, so I held off on this ONE mod I would do.
This is a comfortable small light for me, plenty of capacity and a common battery size make it an easy choice for my daily carry. An improved stock clip (more like an O-Light one) that fits both heads up and heads down would be a welcome improvement, but not a deal breaker as I found a method of carry that works without the stock clip. A more protected switch would be good too, but not a deal breaker either for me.
If anything in this review resonates with you, get a DQG Tiny III in 18650 for your daily carry, I do not think you will be disappointed if you have similar needs and wants to what I outlined here. Good luck!