Both of mine arrived today; they were ordered within minutes of each other the first day they went on sale.
One is perfect so far. The other has a couple issues we've seen, and (I believe) a bran-fresh one (lucky me ;) ).
First issue is asymmetrical LEDs in the switch. Here's a pic of both, and while it's not a great picture it shows a smaller bright spot on the right side of the right light's switch:
The second issue can be seen in this picture. There's an obvious flaw in the tube/anodizing. This came out of an absolutely unscathed box, so I don't believe it occurred in shipping:
Here's a close up; not sure what caused it tbh but it's not a simple dent.
Interestingly, the light with the flaws pictured above also has a battery tube that's not correctly aligned with the head when fully tight.
Frustration is understandable given the anticipation of this exciting light. Maybe I’m a persimist, but I recognize the monumental task of getting a complicated piece of electronics manufactured half-way around the world. The barriers are enormous. It seems to me that off the shelf, stock flashlights have a higher than average failure rate compared to other commodities.
In fact, I buy most of my lights from modders like Vinh Nguyen, not just because they are bright, but any problems have been fixed in the upgrade process. Not to mention, I’m dealing with someone I consider a friend and warranty work is a fast, state-side turnaround.
So, why go for this given my pessimism? Because this is a great flashlight design, backed by a hard-working team who did their best. And let’s be honest, where pray tell can you find a better bang for the buck in a flashlight. Wasn’t it worth taking a chance? And the outcome seemingly has only one insignificant glitch, which has nothing to do with the reason we bought it.
This post is to say thanks to the team!!!
Thanks for mentioning tube alignment ‘feralcomprehension’. :+1:
I gotta go back & check that. Nothing jumped right out at me…. but never can tell, I was paying attention to other stuff.
Instead of shaking your fist at the empty sky demanding to know when it will rain again, this might be a good time to do something else. Go for a walk, talk to a friend, laugh at cat videos, rock out to loud music, argue with trolls on 4chan, do some cleaning, whatever works for you. A delayed flashlight isn’t worth raising one’s blood pressure.
I’m anxious too, with a project or two waiting on a Q8 hardware, but there are plenty of other things to do in the meantime.
I’m not sure why people are expecting the tubes to be aligned ? Do you expect them to be individually indexed, or selectively fitted, or so precisely machined that every one is perfect, and interchangeable ? Do you know of any SRK type design which does so (certainly not the classic SRKs.)
It is a feature of the design. Even if somehow all the above was done, after a bit of use and wear, the indexing would shift anyway.
The alternative is I suppose a bland cylindrical tube.
There are reasons why people around here laugh at data sheets.
Not an option. With the MCU doing PWM, it would be about 0.1mA for the indicator LED and about 5mA for the MCU. It can’t do PWM while it’s asleep, so it would drop the efficiency and standby time to about 1/40th of what it is now. It would be pretty much the same as leaving the light on in moon mode all the time.
Edit: I did find a potentially-relevant trick on my old Ferrero Rocher light though. I was able to get three brightness levels (high, low, off) from an indicator LED in sleep mode by messing with the pin mode. High and off were fully within spec, but for “low” mode I had to go off the data sheet and do things the MCU didn’t really support. I suspect it might not work on a Q8 though, because it probably relied on the voltage divider resistors which newer drivers don’t have any more.
Better they stop production and figure out the issue and change whatever needs changing than them continue putting out hit or miss products. As for a definite time that is impossible to guess at until the solution is decided upon, parts if necessary ontained, etc.etc.
Received mine yesterday. Real fine light. Looks and feels great. My wife digs it too. I immediately bypassed the springs and drilled the driver mounting holes to clear the mounting screw holes. Neither were necessary, just my preference. The light is the real deal. I measured 6K lumens in partially depleted 30Q's. The light get hot fast like it should. Beam pattern is a great mix of flood and throw.
This is my first time using Narsil. Love the ramping and natural feel of it. I got lost a couple times in the UI, but that is probably just operator error. The indicator light is very bright for my taste (Think I will swap in a less harsh red or amber emitter). The indicator emitters turns off when the light it on. Is that by design?
Very happy with the light and I totally understand the frustration of those awaiting to receive theirs. Big congrats to The Miller and team. First light I don't feel the need to do any major mods on. Hang in there guys.
No, Joey, I’ve said all along — I want the manufacturer to test samples from the first run properly (that’s QC) and check during production for problems being built in (that’s QA). And I’m well aware of the “quality fade” issue that we’re all hoping to avoid with this production.
I’ve accepted that the first run of any batch is going to have undetected problems because we’re the QC/QA people for most of these manufacturers. That is, we’re the “Charlie test” group. There’s the alpha test (first round); there’s the beta test (did the first round get fixed?); and there’s ship it and “Sorry, Charlie” test group.
If the first round were proving to be good enough, they wouldn’t have stopped pushing them out. Four percent failure in the first 24 hours is one thing. But if that’s an early indicator of a problem that will emerge, that’s something else.
If they are concerned that the asymmetrical brightness is an early indicator that a light may develop the flicker-failure problem, they have good reason to pause.
Trust me on this. I own a Cometa. I’ve avoided a number of the other disaster-batch flashlights that have been popular here.
Talk to anyone who bought one of the bad ones. Ya think they feel different — happier — because they got them early?
Don’t think so.
Oh, did you find out about the secret “purr” setting on the interface? Mmmmmmmmm.
My cat’s jealous.
But the fact that these four lights are showing very similar problems leads me to believe that it’s much more than a coincidence and it bears looking into.
Posted this as an edit to my original post…but wanted to put it here in case it was helpful or relevant to anyone.
It appears after playing some more, that my switch just MAY work like it’s supposed to in regards to disabling the switch LED when the light is off (after reading TomE’s suggestion of how to hit it). It does appear you don’t have as long to click the switch a second time when the light is in the lower voltage outputs…and that timing is a little more finicky…for me at least…than when the light is in brighter modes. SO….mine may NOT be an issue…JUST FYI. ALSO, I just left the switch LED on for the past 3 hours or so and after coming back to the light, it did NOT appear to be flickering or anything.
THANKS AGAIN Q8 team!
And thanks TomE for encouraging me to play with the switch thing some more. :+1:
