Well, well. My Q8 showed up today. No issues, small nick on the ano. Clean and mean. 30Q’s from Illumn are charging rite now. Nightfall is here, and I got the flashaholic shakes!
Just tried out my Q8 (came yesterday but didn’t get a chance to check the mail till about an hour ago). What stands out the most to me is that, in addition to the fantastic output, ramping, etc., this thing is gorgeous. I’d seen all the pictures of course, but there’s something that just doesn’t translate until you’re holding it in your hand. Thanks for all the hard work and patience!
Has anyone DC-Fixed their Q8 yet? Interested in trying myself? Dumb question, but how do I remove the lens?
I think it just sticks on, doesn’t it? Do you have to take the lens out? I wish there was more info on this stuff, like how much output you lose, before and after shots, etc…
Doesn’t the stainless bezel just thread off?
Mine came in today and looks good. The inside of the barrel for the batteries had a few spots I smoothed down and the threads are a touch gritty, but that’s easily fixable. Not dark yet, but still fun to play with. I like the ramping UI more than I thought I would as I’m used to being conservative with battery life (backpacking), but I realized I really don’t care about efficiency for this light and the ramping is just so much fun. Double-click from off is fun too 
For the config UI, I’m not a fan of it advancing automatically through the options as a new user. With the blinks being the only feedback you get and not knowing what you’re looking for, I’d far prefer that it just blinked the number of the current setting (or maybe even the value of the current setting?) every 3.5 seconds rather than advancing. I’m sure I’ll get used to it and I probably won’t spend much time in config. Not being able to see the current value of a setting (if there is a way, I haven’t found it yet) makes it tougher to know if you have the config set the way you want. This is just some feedback and in no way diminishes the function or value of the light. Heck, might even get me into the firmware side of things
I wanted to check out that bike mode strobe and after awhile, I finally got myself into Strobe 1, but from there, a click just turned off the light and a click/hold caused it to ramp. I tried explicitly setting the strobe mode to 3 in case it was just set for 1 strobe rather than all and I think I did it right, but not sure. It was probably set that way by default, but again, can’t tell. I’m sure I’m doing something silly and I’ll get it figured out eventually. I don’t think I’ll ever mount this light to my bike, but a preview for the FW3A will be cool!
LEDs are centered, switch LEDs look great, screws I can see are panhead and look fine (didn’t take head apart), and children are terrified. All in all, I’m happy
Thanks all for the hard work that went into this!!!
My only previous application of D-C-Fix was on the inside of the lens (on a P60 drop in I wanted to make floodier). Light loss is minimal (<5%). I’m assuming the bezel unscrews but my feeble attempts have so far been unsuccessful.
Have you seen my videos? This one https://youtu.be/rdwah7HJAJA shows me going into the blinkies. It’s dbl click, short pause, dbl click, then single clicks to go up through the 5 different ones. Your timing might just be a bit off. Once in blinkies you have to advance through them before 1.2 seconds each click. If you stay on a blinky mode longer than 1.2 seconds it locks in.
I also have a video showing the config menu. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. The cheat sheet shows the default settings, so just try changing one thing at a time and verifying it worked.
Still waiting to get mine to find out if there are issues or not. :weary:
A while back, I took some beamshots of an EagleEye X6 and a Convoy S2+ triple comparing d-c-fix and a holographic diffusion film from Luminit.
In that same thread, ‘saabluster’ mentioned the layers of diffusion material used inside newer TVs. I haven’t tried any on a flashlight but I’ve had several TVs apart for repair and the material looks promising. It’s also cheap if you keep an eye out for TVs on trash day. 
I think what I had in my head was a very light blending of the beam. The 40° diffusion film probably cuts your beam distance to less than half. That’s not what I was wanting. The 10° looks promising.
Is the DC FIX stuff available in different amounts of diffusion? That looks closer to what I wanted.
Where do you buy it?
Beam shots before/after DC-Fix? I have some for the BLF-A6… not the greatest shots, but it might at least give some idea what to expect.
It’s worth noting that it does not change the tint. It just blends the various parts of the beam together for a more consistent tint. Usually the hotspot is one color and the spill is another color, but a diffuser reduces that by blending them. In case anyone was wondering why the light on the right looks warmer… it’s not; it’s just more consistent.
Yeah. That looks pretty good. The last time I googled DC fix I got all kinds of colored films and such and no decent places to buy it from.
Sureeeee…… Now it works exactly as expected. My timing on the single clicks might have been too slow. The bike mode is nifty
I think the stuff in my beamshots is the ‘sand’ variant. A listing on Amazon seems to call it ‘milky/sand’ and d-c-fix’s site calls it just ‘milky.’
Have you tried the ‘Scotch tape method?’
Here is the manufacturer’s page with their diffuse self-adhesive variants.
Another trick, go backwards in strope:
Strobe Modes:
The normal way (RAMPING: 2x, 2x, Y clicks [Y= 1…4] ) is time sensitive because of the lock in modes. And I got PMs people are not quick enough for the Y clicks, because the Y have to be done right after the second double click.
If navigation is hard, try:
RAMPING from off/on: Double click, double click, 4 clicks in a row. Now you are in the 5th strobe = 10 sec beacon.
MODES from off/on: Longhold (over 1,2sec), 4 clicks in a row. Now you are in the 5th strobe
Now you can go back via click&hold. You can go back 4 times, then comes OFF.
If you go backwards you have time to do this.
I’m glad you got it sorted. :+1:
Moin moin
I got two Q8 yesterday and work so far both perfectly.
Thanks to all those who have made this project possible.
greeting
Jens
To remove bezel, place on tyre inner tube(free from tyre repair shops).
Hold head, press down hard and turn anticlockwise.
Here are a few detailed pics of my near perfect Q8. I've found nothing to complain about with the workmanship or performance. Comparing this by eye to the performance of a few other lights with similar specs, my sample somewhat exceeds the factory specs given, without any modifications. I'm using Sony VTC6. I plan to bypass the springs.
I disabled the strobe and all functions of the indicator light. I do miss the double-click from turbo to get back to the previous setting, like the D4.
Thanks again to Miller and the team for the best bang for the buck I'll ever get in a flashlight!
