As I suspected, the 30Q's did marginally better, so about the same as maukka's testing of the MM18JR.
I dunno - I don't think I've seen such a blatant disregard for published numbers with a somewhat higher quality brand name. The throw and dimensions seem to be a copy/paste error from one of their big throwers (correct dims, still bad throw #'s in the manual), and the mentioning of 15,000 lumens is in the manual and website, seems to be purely made up. I don't get it...
Yeah the sheer amount of confusing/totally incorrect information printed on their manuals and website is just baffling. I get translation problems and spelling/grammar being totally incorrect.
But numbers are numbers. How they managed to mess that up so badly…. On top of that, why would they produce an identical light to one they already have???
lol we underwent a bunch of new R&D expenses, marketing and listing expenses all to bring you!! … The same thing as we had 2 years ago :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming:
Well I see the UI as an improvement - it's almost totally different. Weird though. The light itself has no model name/# on it. Just has "MiniMax 72" on the tailcap -- no idea what that means though...
Wellp, I can’t speak to the Niwalker, but as far as Q8 class lights, you have
BLF Q8
Sofirn Q8
Airpro DC7
I got a few BLF Q8s. Pretty good build quality, nice floody beam, great CT/tint right out of the box.
No Sofirn Q8s, because a) they’re throwier, and I find the BLF’s floody beam lots more useful, b) it’s more CW than NW, again, a negative to me, but Sofirn’s quality in general is spot-on.
The Airpros are quite nice, excellent build quality that I’ve seen, everything nicely lubed, threads glide like they’re made of glass, everything fits like a Swiss watch, plus, it has onboard usb-c charging so you never even have to open it up.
In contrast, my grexes about the BLF Q8s are that the threads on all of mine tend to bind in a few spots and feel a bit grittier, and the O-ring is a bit loose and needs constant unwavering attention when rescrewing it to keep a “tongue” from forming and sticking out and then being lopped off when you fully tighten the head onto the tube, that you constantly have to watch while turning and poking it back in. Unscrewing then rescrewing has gotten to be a laborious chore on the rescrewing part because of this.
So… my particular summary would be that the BLF Q8 has the best and most useful beam profile, hands-down, but mine have minor issues; the Sofirn Q8 would be throwier and cooler but I can’t speak to their quality simply because I don’t have any although it’s likely quite good; and the Airpro DC7 likely has a beam similar to the Sofirn but has built-in charging.
Solution? Get one of each.
Oh, the BLF Q8 has been on sale for around 50bux, the Airpro also was on sale for about 50bux (my first was 43), and the Sofirn will likely have various sales whenever the holidays come up.