Shining Beam Spark 2AA/1CR123 quick and dirty review with some crappy pics

LED Flashlights – General Info Multiple AA / 14500 Flashlights
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My new shiny came in the mail yesterday, and I got it out to play with today. Shiningbeam.com's house brand of light, more specifically the Spark.

Here's what came out of the shipping envelope:

And here's what you get out of the box and bag:

It comes with two spare o-rings, spare switch boot, belt holster, CR123 tube, lanyard, and an owner's manual. The battery was a freebie from Bryan at Shiningbeam, which just confirms his awesomeness.

Fit and finish are great. Definitely a HAIII anodizing, with no scratches, dings or uneven bits. Nice square cut threads with no burrs or chips. The threading was cut smooth, and well greased, so no grittiness or funny twists to it. The knurling is around 20 lpi, but is not very aggressive. It won't tear up a pocket, but it won't provide a positive grip in wet or muddy conditions. I prefer it not tearing my pocket, as I don't plan on crawling through any submerged trenches in the near future.

The LED is an XP-G R5 emitter, well centered on an OP reflector. The beam doesn't have any rings or artifacts, with a big hotspot and a good flood ring around it. Don't have any beam shots right now, as it's still light outside and I need to do pics out in the garage.

Some specs:

Dimensions in 2 x AA format : 15.3 CM x 2.3 CM x 2.2 CM
Weight: 2.6 oz

Dimensions in 1 x CR123A format : 8.6 CM x 2.3 CM x 2.2 CM
Weight: 1.5 oz

Working voltage range: 0.9 - 4.2V

Output: low 7 lm (23 mA), medium 95 lm (225mA), high 280 lm (740mA), strobe (550mA)

Powered by 2 AA Alkaline/NiMH batteries or 1 CR123

Runtimes: 40 min on high/ 6 hrs on medium/ 80 hrs on low

Reverse polarity protection

Forward click operating switch with momentary on

Mil-spec MIL-STD-810F

IPX-8 waterproofing


I don't have any 14500's on hand right now to do fit testing, so y'all are out of luck on that. Now for some more crappy pics:

A comparison to a JetBeam BA20

And with the short tube installed, compared to an iTP A4 (top), and a JetBeam BA10 (bottom):

This has the familiar tube feel of a 2 AA EDC flashlight. The clip is removable and reversible for bezel up or down carry, and hangs deep in the pocket. The clip is also anodized and very solid. I had a bit of trouble pulling it off the body to check the fit on the short tube, so no losing it because it decides to go SPROING at some random interval. When rigged up for the short tube, the light just about disappears into my meat hook. Very compact and very bright.

For those that care about such things, the light as shipped will not tail stand. The light does come with an alternate reverse click switch that, when installed, allows the light to tail stand. As I find that I'm not trusting enough to just leave my spiffy flashlights lying about for any mook to grab, this is a non-issue for me.

The UI is a combination type, with a rear switch for on/off activation, and a twist head for switching between modes. As mentioned before, it has a momentary click switch for on/off activation, with the option for a reverse click. Simply loosen then tighten the head to switch between modes. I found I had a bit of a problem with mode jumping when first fiddling the light. Modes would skip or I'd get two jumps with each twist of the light. I found that if I give the head a full quarter twist to loosen and tighten, this eliminated the mode jump, and presented no problems.

For $41 and change shipped, this is a great light for the money. The modes are well spaced, and once I got the hang of the change, very positive in the change. It's low is a good low, the medium provides a good working level, and the high is bright. Not eyeball melting, "Oh my god it's the Sun" bright, but bright. It's got a bit of heft to it, but not so much that it will drag your pants down. The body does lack any anti-roll flats, but installing the clip eliminates this problem.

Guessing by the construction, packaging and printing on the owner's manual, I'd say that this light was produced by Olight for Shiningbeam, but that's a guess on my part. For all I know, magical flashlight faeries leave these under a lumen tree for people to find.

I like this light a bunch. The option to switch back and forth between battery types is great, and Shiningbeam has an optional single AA tube for sale that means you could go to a common battery type for a bit of loss in brightness and run-time. This has now taken over as my EDC light, and I'll post up any problems or concerns after I carry it a bit.

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Just as a secondary note, the website only rates the light for alkies or NiMH batteries. The owner/operator at Shiningbeam is very responsive to communications, so you could email him with questions as to whether or not it will handle the load. The pill lacks a spring, so I don't see flat top li-ion cells working in it.

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Thanks for the review. This light is on my short list, so I really appreciate it.

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Nice looking light Gorbag, glad you're happy with it. Quick and dirty it may be, but you covered pretty much everything that I need from a review. Thanks for posting.

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olight did also some manufacturing for the 4sevens brand and itp. the spark reminds me of quark. 4sevens has, to me, more of a real flashlight company feel to it, a higher value brand. premium feeling so to speak. any 1-man show vendor can set up his own flashlight "brand" simply by contracting a manufacturing site, in Germany it's the well-known dealer "Taschenlampenpapst" (transl. the flashlight pope). He is a seller/dealer!, but has his own branded lights too ("Talapa" brand):

http://www.taschenlampen-papst.de/Taschenlampen-Papst_1

awesome lights. but for this money i could get the real quark at the many 4sevens discounts available (newsletter spam by 4sevens). Quark X AA² sold recently at ~40US$. nice price

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what config. would one need to run it on a 14500? A spacer cell? If u used the (1) AA body why, as u say, would that account for a loss in brightness. Just wondering here....

thanks

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I have the same light and I purchased the single AA tube as well , anybody have any idea why I could not use a single 14500 Li Ion in it instead of the CR123?

Might try tonight .

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Thanks for the review! That's a nice looking light, especially in shorty mode. It sounds like it can only use 123 primaries though instead of a 16340. Shame if that's the case.

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Great review Gorbag! Thanks for taking the time to do that.

Just wonder, and its off topic (I really love AA lights), can you please comment about the clip on Jetbeam BA20? Can it go lens up or lens down? I recall reading that the BA20 clip can only go lens up so I never bought that light, now I see you have the clip on the tail end...many thanks.

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Spec sheet doesn't specify that you can use Li-ions in it, and as I just got it yesterday, I really don't want to fry it out tonight. The light does have a regulated driver on it, but there's not a whole hunk of metal acting as a heat sink, so I'd suspect it probably will run li-ions, but heat build up would be considerable. Again, I'd say contact Shiningbeam for particulars. My 14500s are still in shipping right now, so I was unable to check sizing.

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Nice, very nice. If I wasn't planning on a Balder BD-1P, I'd look seriously at getting this ShineBeam Spark.

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Completely agree with you. I owned one a month ago and really love it :X

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Sorry, I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes.

Yeah, the clip on the BA20 is reversible for bezel up or down. It's just a quick slip fit off or on, with two flats (one on each end) for the clip to sit on.

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curious here if u tried the 14500, thanks...

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I just got the skinny from the proprietor of Shiningbeam, and the Spark can take a 14500 in the SINGLE AA format, not the 2 AA format (due to voltages). There's an optional body tube available to convert it over to this.

It can also use RCR123A or 16340 li-ions with the CR123A tube, but there will be some spacing issues if you use the cheaper cells that are significantly longer than the CR123A primaries.

No heating issues with the single 14500 or 16340 cells.