They look "ok" to me, slightly off. What I'd do would be pop out the bezel/lens/o-ring, pop out the driver, loosen up the 3 screws (assuming you got a rev 2), and re-tighten. I usually go with tightening the center one first, then the outer ones. Might help a little with the LED centering. At least by doing this, you can see it happening, so might help how to re-tighten and get the best centering.
I'd only be concerned if the LED centering rings don't appear to be fitting in the reflector holes properly - that's usually easily fixed by loosening and re-tightening.
For what you got, sometimes the LED's aren't perfectly centered from soldering, and if so, that can be corrected, but requires further dismantling - taking out the MCPCB, cleaning it up, and using a torch applying the heat underneath carefully, and reset the LED's positioning by melting the solder and either letting them seat on their own, or give them a little nudge.
Generally I've found rev 2's better centered than rev 1's.
No FUD, and no, I didn’t recall seeing Tom’s baked flashlight, which now that you mention it, I agree proves it’s anodizing.
I’m not paying that close attention given the volume of comments. Glad someone is.
I wondered because I often can’t tell the difference between type 2 anodizing and paint, on flashlights generally; both coatings seem fairly easily chipped.
It seems much faster and easier to just carry a spare set of cells. Less bulk to carry, and you can’t use the light while charging the cells in the field. Are there any advantages at all?
The idea is from the MF02 thread, will the Neodymium Magnets be ok to use for contact in the Q8 using non-button batteries instead of soldering the blob?
I gave my Dad a Q8 for his 89th birthday, you should have seen him “beaming” when he fired it up in Turbo outside.
He and Mom both want to punch,punch,punch the switch button, they may end up with it in configuration mode or things changed, but hopefully he’ll get the hang of it. He’ll be taking it tomorrow to their weekly game day and showing it off.
Edit: Probably worthy to note, Dad grew up poor in the mountains of Virginia. He remembers the only light they had at night was a carbide lantern. (other than a candle or torch, of course) The little carbide pellets reacted with water and gave a gas that would power the light, and they wore this on their head! Yikes!
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