“REVIEW”: DQG Slim Ti (1/2 AA and other batteries) ***[DISCOUNT CODE ADDED - 05/22/2018]***

EDIT 05/22/2018 - 20% OFF DISCOUNT CODE (non-affiliate) https://goo.gl/KLwsTU = code: ECFKL.

Hi BLF,

I recently bought the DQG Slim Titanium from Banggood. I’ll make a short review of it, as I didn’t find other online reviews for this, only some information given by users.

Threads on BLF about this are here:

Of course, the ‘magician’ CRX picked up some DQG Slim Ti tubes and had some fun :smiley: DQG Slim Extension Tube Light Builds

These are the links for (non-affiliate):
FLASHLIGHT: https://www.banggood.com/DQG-Slim-XP-G2-230LM-3Modes-NW-Multimaterial-LED-Mini-LED-Flashlight-p-1195841.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
EXTENSION TUBE: Schlanke DQG-Taschenlampe aus Titanlegierung/Edelstahl/Messing mit Verlängerungsrohr Sale - Banggood Deutschland sold out-arrival notice-arrival notice
POCKET CLIP: DQG / Klein / Schlank / AA / 14500 Taschenlampe aus Edelstahl mit Mini-Clip Sale - Banggood Deutschland-arrival notice-arrival notice

I contacted M4DM4X for a code and picked one from his page: https://m4dm4x.com/

I have to say that I ordered this light to try to mod it (different driver and LED) but I don’t know if it will happen, as I’ll explain later :person_facepalming:

So…

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS
Body Colour / Material: Titanium alloy
Emitter: XP-G2 (NW)
Lens: TIR optic
Batteries: 1 x 14250 Li-ion (1/2AA) /// 1 or 2 x AA batteries (Ni-MH, Zinc-carbon, Alkaline; NiCd) /// 1 x 14500 LiFePO4 3.2V /// 14500 x Li-Ion 3.7V //
Reverse Polarity Protection: Not specified
Waterproofness: Not specified
Impact resistance: Not specified
Low Voltage Indication: “if the light begin breath twinkle, that means battery is under low voltage, should be replace a new one later” :smiley:
Warranty: 12 months

NOTE: on the user manual the information about using 2 x 14250 is contradictory !! On a line says it can be used, and on the other says it can’t! Maybe there is a mistake there. If I would guess, 2 x 14250 is probably not allowed due to overall Voltage.

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USER INTERFACE
Well, nothing more than:

- from OFF, full click on the tail switch for ON

- from ON, half press the switch to change modes through Low > Medium > High

  • from ON, full click to turn it OFF

The flashlight seems to have a next mode memory if you click for ON > click for OFF > fast click for ON again! The time “gap” for this next mode memory seems to be around 3 seconds.

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LUMENS & RUNTIME

I would say that the next information I write below needs confirmation because there are some things missing, namely the specification of highest output for 14500 (and eventually 14250) vs AA batteries.
So, I will write this based on the User Manual specs (and some deduction…) and mix it with the Banggood information. :person_facepalming: :smiley:

On 1/2 AA (14250) (UM specs by deduction)
Low: 2.5 lumens >>>>> 17 hours
Medium: 40 lumens >>>>> 4 hours
High: 160 lumens (???) >>>>> 45m

On single AAs (UM specs)
Low: 2.5 lumens >>>>> 35 hours
Medium: 40 lumens >>>>> 8 hours
High: 160 lumens >>>>> 1.5 hour

On 2 x AAs (UM specs by deduction)
Low: 2.5 lumens >>>>> 70 hours
Medium: 40 lumens >>>>> 16 hours
High: 160 lumens >>>>> 3 hours

On 14500 batteries (Banggood specs)
Low: 2.5 lumens >>>>> 60 hours
Medium: 40 lumens >>>>> 6 hours
High: 230 lumens >>>>> 1 hour

NOTE: the specs from the Banggood site are different from those presented in the “User Manual”.

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PACKAGE AND FLASHLIGHT
Well, about the package…it is as small as the flashlight. :smiley:
I thought that I would get a bigger package but…I didn’t! So, let’s take a look at it :wink:

Inside the flashlight box there was the flashlight, 2 white o-rings and the User Manual!
Inside the extension tube bag, there were 3 other o-rings :smiley:

Outside the box, there was some information about the flashlight namely the material, tint and the type of flashlight. My guess is that DQG uses the same boxes for all their small flashlights :wink: Smart!!!

Let’s take a look at the FLASHLIGHT!
It is composed by: bezel; TIR; o-ring; maybe a detachable/unscrewable pill that I didn’t manage to take out; LED (XP-G2, Neutral White with rosy tint) sitting directly on the driver; the “head tube” and the tailcap.

As you’ll see below, the tail cap is composed by: the main “cap”, a “double sided threaded tube”, a plastic stuff (don’t know how you call it), a spring, the reverse clicky switch and the button with an o-ring! The tailcalp had a small ring for keychain attachment, but that hole can also be used to put a lanyard.

Some initial dismantling…

And some later dismantling! Why? Because I decided that I wanted to be curious and see how the tailswitch was… and I ended up jamming the tail switch. It stopped working and I tried to dismantle it…

Conclusion: I ended up FU&%#§G everything on the tail, because I didn’t realize that inside the tailcap there was a double side threaded tube that fits in the tail and in upper parts (extension tube or “head” tube). So I destroyed the plastic stuff and I didn’t manage to put it back in again.

I had to use a regular reverse switch from Convoy, filled the PCB and made it fit the tailcap, between the button and the double side threaded tube. It works fine, but…it had to be my first mod in this flashlight :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming:

The TIR Lens it uses! I replaced it later but a “pebbled” TIR lens for a more uniform and floody beam. Inside the lens, the shape of the hole is conical, not cylindrical, so there are no major artifacts on the beam due to the led centring issues. (I tried some cylindrical lens I have and those artifacts quickly emerged, unlike on the original one).
Below the TIR, there was a thin layer of Glow-In-The-Dark tape… Well, I put a larger piece of it :smiley:

A closer look to the o-rings and the extension tube! LOL
The tube has some knurling. The top part of the tube has the threads outside while the lower part has them inside.


And a (not so closer) look to the User Manual! The Manual is common to the other flashlights of this brand! I shrinked it a bit to (try to) show the “specific specifications” of the DQG Slim! (click for larger images)

As I mentioned, I also ordered a pocket clip. The pocket clip is similar to the one of the Lumintop Tool AA, but it is a little bit longer. It has no anodizing and is made of Stainless Steel. It fits well on the DQG Slim Ti :wink:
BTW, the clip arrived before of the DQG and the tube as it was from a different BG warehouse.

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BEAMSHOTS & OTHERS

Well, some tint comparison first. From Left to Right:
Manker E11 (XPL CW) >>> Olight S1R Baton (XML2 U2-1A) >>> Sofirn SF14 (XP-G2 NW) >>> DQG Slim Ti (XP-G2 NW) >>> Sofirn SF10 (Luxeon V 4000K)

The beam pattern ! I couldn’t do much better than this. The light has a floody beam with a hotspot in the middle. These photos are all with the same mode ON, but with different focus on the beam. The shift is mostly due to the camera, as in naked eye observation the beam doesn’t produce major shifts. As mentioned, this LED provokes a more rosy than yellow tint that I like :wink:

With AA Ni-MH battery, 1.5 m from the painting

With 14500 Li-Ion battery, 1.5 m from the painting

This light has no PWM in any mode. However, on the HIGH, there is some whining, mainly on 14500 batteries.
(L > M > H)

Size comparison with other lights and batteries:

Left to Right:
Olight S1R Baton > DQG Slim Ti (with extension tube) > Convoy S2+ (18350) > Manker E11 > Sofirn SP10B > Lumintop Tool AA > Sofirn SF14 > Sofirn SF10

Left to Right:
hc-lights.fi (AAA / 10440) > DQG Slim Ti (with extension tube) > Amutorch S3

Left to Right
DQG Slim Ti (with extension tube) > Panasonic Evolta AA Ni-MH > Sanyo UR14500P > Efest IMR14500 > Sofirn 14500

I must say that the DQG Slim can take button and flat top unprotected 14500 batteries. I don’t know if it takes protected cells as I don’t have any :stuck_out_tongue:

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HUM…CONCLUSIONS???

Well, this is a well built flashlight. Despite it’s small size, it will handle some falls :smiley:

The major concern with this, for me, may be the tailcap and the switch, as there have been reports on it, and also because a change in the alignment on the tail (between the metallic sheet of the switch and the button) may cause malfunctions.

Other than this…well, the only issue is the possibility to lose this flashlight in your pocket if you’re not using it on the keychain or with the pocket clip :smiley: (“use it or lose it” alike xD )

However…I’ve become somewhat disappointed with one thing: I wanted to mod this light like I’ve done in others, replacing the driver and LED…but due to it’s architecture, I won’t probably be able to do that, as I might incur in severe damage to the light! :person_facepalming:
(Yeah, I’m not CRX :stuck_out_tongue: )

So I’ll use it as it is and…I’ll enjoy it :smiley: :sunglasses:

Regards to all!! Feel free to ask questions or make remarks! :+1:
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NOTE: Being a flashlight that takes different batteries, I opted to put on this subforum as it seemed to me the most adequate, as many people may use this in the 1 x AA / 14500 format :beer:

Well done for having a go at disassembling the light, you might be a bit annoyed with it just now but you’ll come back to it later :wink:

That dual threaded piece at the tail might have caught me out too for a bit, it’s happened to me before.
It will be the same concept for the head with a screwed aluminium piece?, looks almost identical to the DQG AA.

The driver looks like it is the same idea too being an integrated unit, not much space for adding your own stuff there.
A couple of solutions for installing a different driver & MCPCB would be making the light a mule or making a custom pill for the driver and using a shorter cell, which would leave room for a charging unit too :slight_smile:
There will be a shelf with a hole through it to expose the positive contact that the existing driver sits on with the threaded piece screwing down on top. Very difficult to mod these lights.
What I did with my DQG AA was have noctigon sitting on top of that donut shelf and the driver below it but it’s not easy to do.

Thanks for the review :+1:

- Merlin - :smiley:

MascaratumB, great review and thanks for sharing your results. There is truly no better way for others to learn and benefit than from the experience of others. Having said that I feel bad that I neglected to mention the tail switch construction in the other thread because we were only discussing the driver.

FWIW, I’m not sure there would have been a safe way to extract the tail switch without some destruction. On mine, it was thread-locked like crazy and required enough heat to possibly deform the plastic. I say possibly because I too didn’t realize it was a double thread piece and I punched mine out, cracking the plastic. That’s when I realized it was double threaded. But once out (and after repair) I went ahead and soldered the spring to the switch to help with any wiggle.

Regarding the modes, they’re funky. It’s next-mode-memory except for Low. Which means after a couple of seconds Off - L (@Off)=L (@next On) but M (@Off)=H (@next On) and H (@Off)=L (@next On). That alone might be enough to drive me to attempt an upgrade.

As CRX mentioned it looks like the head might be of the same double-thread construction, so I’ll bear that in mind. FOR NOW I’m living with mine as is because the tint is great and the output is plenty. Plus, DQG’s are already built small (running 14250) , tight and relatively bright.

Hello Merlin :smiley:
Eheh, thanks for your comments above and for the tips for the mods!
I am a bit bored with this, but I guess I will back to it again, as you said! Damaging the tailswitch was also a minus , but I “reinvented” it and made it simple and easy now, so I’m ok with it!

But the driver/LED… I also thought about that: put a filled down MCPCB above the shelf’s hole, or use a 14mm aluminium PCB with XPL-HI or XP-G2 above a sheet of copper or brass, drill some holes for the wires and put the driver below the pill.

First I have to take it out (didn’t manage to do that so far, that is tightly screwed in), then check the space for the driver (has to be single sided). I guess that if I can take the pill out, the rest will be less troublesome :smiley:

I forgot to mention: tube’s inner diameter is around 14.7mm . So a 15mm driver will need some filling as well :person_facepalming:

These are indeed tiny lights, very dense and compact! But it’s a matter of perseverance! But they could be easier to mod :weary:
Eheh

Thanks again for the tips CRX :+1:

(I will be looking for your mod of this :smiling_imp: )

Thanks pc_light :slight_smile:

Indeed, the tail construction caused some destruction on the attempt to reach the switch, but it was so compact that I never noticed that there was that double thread tube :person_facepalming:

Applying some rotating force to it might have helped to unscrew it and remove the plastic safely…but it didn’t happen.
I too soldered a thinner spring on the bottom of the switch, but with the plastic that damaged, I had no means to make it stay in place again, hence my solution with a Convoy switch. Fortunately it worked, otherwise I would have a +30€ flashlight damaged :smiley: :person_facepalming:

I tried to count the seconds and on the 3rd, I guess that the effect disappeared. But yup, on fast ON > OFF situations it may be annoying! So I will give it some time and will probably get back to this light later to check what can be done concerning the driver and LED!

If or when I get to unscrew the pill, I will post some photos of that and let you know how it went! I will try not to be a destroyer on that as well :smiley:

As you, I’ll stick to mine like this for a while ! BTW the “pebbled” TIR lens gives it a nice beam, maybe not so “throwy” , but a nice floody beam! :+1:

Thanks for your comments and word on this :wink: Enjoy the light!!!

AH!!! One question: how do you charge the 14250 cells ? :expressionless:

Here’s the driver unit from the DQG AA to give you an idea what this might be like.

To get the aluminium threaded section out without damaging the threads I ended up cutting in two slots for leverage of a small bar as it was well glued, heated it first.

I mostly use the Opus on 200mA for charging my 300mAh 14250 cells but have a couple low current modded TP boards too.

Hum, my guess is that they will be exactly the same.
Below the driver there is a sort of “protective” black foam, but the driver seems to have those kind of chips in the bottom. And the top seems to be exactly the same thing!

Hum, thats is very “magic” :nerd_face: With those grooves it becomes easier to rotate it! Nice!! I may pick that tip to try the same on mine!

I won’t provably use 14250s (despite the “small” version is cute), but I was curious. I don’t know if my BT-C3100 is capable of doing that. I’ll check the distance!!

Thanks CRX, again :sunglasses:

Great review. As we had discussed awhile ago, I bought the same light which arrived DOA. It was all involving the tailswitch. With very little help from DQG or the vendor, I got it to come on but it was very erratic and would only come on about half the time. I thought it had good potential but got so frustrated with the light, vendor and DQG that I sold it off for parts.
Anyway, thanks for the review and hopefully you can enjoy yours.

Hi Venice!!!
Thanks for stepping in :wink: Yup, indeed you were the first person that told me about the switch issues! Well… I thought it would be easier to solve them back then… Clearly they are not! :person_facepalming:
But I guess that has to do with the position of the spring, a slight rotation on that might stop the flashlight to work normally! If I had mine back then I would have been a better help for you…

I remember seing your sale thread ! I couldn’t buy it by that time so I ended up ordering this one!

I hope you found a light that works without issues and I hope that DQG can improve these lights :wink:

:+1:

Moved on to the Vollsion SP11 but have issues with it also.
The best (most fun) new light now is the AceBeam UC15. Love it, built like a tank and it works as advertised!!!
Not sure about claimed output but looks very close to my 18650s and 18350s.
I really wanted the DQG to work out but it was not to be.

I use a spring spacer to help charger contacts reach.

Thanks for all the info on this light, I’ve looked at it from time to time and just couldn’t figure out the stock battery configuration.
The listing says “1 x AA/14500/14250/ 2x AA battery (not included)” and the size and shape of the light just didn’t support the 1xAA part.
If the little “1/2” was a snake it would’ve bit me.
If ordered it comes with 14250 support, anything else requires an additional extension… I think.
The 14250 is a little off the beaten path so it seems like this would be a great candidate for a built-in charger.
Thanks for the review and all of the comments!

Bansuri, correct it comes ready to run a single 14250 cell. And the extension tube (in a similar variety of metals as body) must be purchased separately.

Each extension adds 25.0mm, the equivalent length of 1/2 of an AA. Thus 1x extension permits the use of a full 14500 cell or even a single AA. Presumably the addition of 3x extensions would allow the use of 2xAA, since the driver is capable of 4.2V.

Nice light that one (Vollsion)! Small and pretty :wink: I guess I’m not a twisty fan, but that seems nice, despite the issues you faced :frowning:
I hope the Acebeam gives you a nice option for EDC, small and bright again :wink:

Oh, ok! Nice way to make it work :wink: I went through other way, but it’s nice to know that you managed to make it work well!!

Thanks bansuri!! :wink:

I don’t know if you’ve seen it but CRX turned his DQG Tiny AA to use a built-in charger :wink:
I will only use this as AA or 14500 light probably! If I really need it to be longer or have longer runtimes, I’ll pick 2 more tubes :wink:

Like you say, 3 tubes give the possibility to use 2 AA batteries (not 14500s) ! :wink:
Giving the small size of the flashlight, even with 3 tubes it will probably still be small :smiley:

Hey folks!
Swi from Banggood provided a 20% OFF discount code for those interested in these lights :wink: Time to grab some :money_mouth_face:

20% OFF DISCOUNT CODE (non-affiliate) - https://goo.gl/KLwsTU = code: ECFKL.

Thanks MascaratumB, ordered a brassy one!

Nothing to thank to me friend :wink: Let us know what you think when you got it!!
I’ll probably get one of those later! But I still wanna mod mine first to see what expects me :wink:

That was quick! My last 2 orders from the East arrived in about a week, wonder what has changed?
Anyway, what a cute little light. It was hard for me to get a feel for the size because the pictures really look like a CR123-sized light but I knew the size was about the same as a AA battery.

PKCell ICR14250s on the way, I’ve got some 1/2AA at work pulled for annual maintenance but still usable. We can’t use them anymore but I’m too frugal to throw them away. Can’t wait to try it out!

Here are some size reference pics.

That was a really fast shipping! Nice!!
And the brass is sweet as well! :blush:
Hum, how will you charge the batteries? I didn’t bought any 14250 because I have not way to charge those :person_facepalming:
Did you bough the extension tube as well for AA/14500 version? :wink:

I ordered the AA extension a few days later, hopefully it arrives as quickly.
My Nitecore D4 has a 300mA charge rate available so that should be OK with the 14250s I ordered.
We’ll have to see what niche this little beauty fills. The Sanyo UR14500P claims 840mAh so it may be hard to pass up nearly 3x runtime for smaller size.

Looks like there’s more to come for DQG:
(from the website)

Slim AA (1425014500) is on doing.

A Key ring quick-release UV light kit with Tritium location function (still on designing).

A head light use CR123A/16340/17335/AA/14500 with L SHAPE, also it will be smallest one in the world. (after sampled several years ago, still on designing)

A thrower flashlight with as small as possible in size up to 3000+ lumens output in high. (on planning)