DQG 18650 EDC--World's Smallest 18650 Flashlight

I couldn't resist to have a peak at the driver.

It appears that the alu ring inside the head (that is the contact plate for the minus when the light is twisted on) is fujiked onto the electronics of the driver/led board, so I broke that up while screwing the ring out (oops), also scraped the electronics a bit with the tweezer points (the alu ring is not very thick so the tweezer points sticked out at the other side)(=oops2). But after I carefully screwed the ring back in tight, it all still worked (pfwew ). I do not advice to try this at home, but in the meantime I did take the picture :

It left me with a question though: the threading on the inside of the head is anodised too, so the alu ring officially has no electrical contact with the head, right?. So how does the minus reach the driver? Is it the direct contact with the top of electronics? I guess not, a strange way to do it, and they should not have used the (non-conducting) Fujik then. My guess is that the anodising inside is uneven enough that the ring makes contact to the inside of the head anyway.

Did you try ohming the negative contact on the driver PCB to somewhere on the body while you had this opened up? That would have shown you whether or not there’s a ground path without a battery in the light.

Great light, but because the O-Ring was placed on the wrong side of the tir, when screwed on at the factory, the TIR tightened all the way down to scraped against the LED pad which caised the Optic to get scrtched creating plastic burs, and also scraped up the LED pad. Luckily it didnt touch the LED itself. Also, it was missing both the O-rings on the threads, and the threads were dry as desert bone. I’ll need a new TIR optic, but I’m sure RIC will get me sorted.

I have the same problem. The bottom of my TIR is chipped badly and left plastic fragments in the lens. Emailed RIC for replacement, no reply yet.

Just noticed I got an email from Ric where he offers the DQG buyers 1x Panasonic 3100 unprotection 18650 at 6usd including shipping.
That is a really good price but not sure how you order it, regular price is 9USD.

Hi,

I sent him email, twice, but haven’t seen a response yet. Also I’m wondering if we bought 2 lights, can we get 2 batteries, and asked that also.

just got an email from him…. he’ll send you his paypal directly…

I too received a response from Ric. Was very pleased with Ric’s willingness to resolve the issues with my light as well as how quickly he responded to my email. Hopefully I will have the issues resolved quickly.

Hi,

Has anyone found out how to do the battery purchase? I got his email, twice, and asked “How?” twice, but no response yet.

Thanks,
Jim

I just got his paypal address… i’d assume pay him directly and put what you’re getting in the payment description…?

That’s what I did, plus I followed up with an email to the cnq email address to RIC.

Received it today, the Ti version, lens is roughed up in the center hole with plastic bits that needed cleaned out and it’s also chipped on the sealing edge, I flipped the o-ring position and after adding super lube grease to the threads I like it better. I’m going to ask Rick to send me a new lens and the $6 battery.

Except for the tint I like my Olight S-20 better, for about the same price it’s only about 15mm longer, slightly thinner, side switch, a nice UI, fits a protected battery, and magnet in tail. I do prefer the head down clip position of the DQG.

Not to change the original topic but I’m with you on the S20 Baton. I got it and an S10 but I prefer the S20 due to the better interface. It’s a hell of a great little light and my only gripe is the green tint it puts on everything.

Agreed, and my apologies as well for the hijacking here but anyone looking at the DQG should also look at the S20 because the S20 is pretty close to the perfect 18650 EDC light, it’s the one I’m currently EDCing and the one I reach for most, I really haven’t had time to check back into anyone’s success on doing an emitter swap, there are a few threads about it, I was following this thread: Has anyone torn down an Olight S20?

Some of the latest posts included: “placing a piece of very light amber camera filter lens over the S20 lens made the tint near perfect” and “I just reflowed a nw XM-L onto the original star, and they do have a copper star” and “I ended up going with the XML2 5000k neutral. The neutral tint is pleasing enough. There’s a very noticeable brightness increase going from XML to XML2 but the yellowish tint is the same with both emitters.”

I was thinking someday I may take a shot at just swapping the emitter for an off-the-shelf XML NW on PCB, but I’m not sure about the yellowish result, and also I’ve never even soldered anything yet in a flashlight.

EDIT: Had a few minutes to compare the lights outside tonight. Comparing the DQG tiny NW side by side with the Olight S20 really shows just what a sick horrid green tint the S20 has. On high the DQG has a much more defined hot spot than the S20 and slightly better throw. I can see better farther with the DQG. The S20 has wider spill. The DQG gets quite hot rather quickly on high, compared to the S20 which was barely warm at the point when the DQG was getting uncomfortably hot to hold. I love all of those things I said about the S20 but it’s a love-hate relationship because of the tint.

The DQG has a lot going for it: It’s small, the NW tint is great, it’s really bright and has good throw and spill, it can be operated fairly easy while wearing gloves such as “mechanix” style gloves, but they should have put more knurling on the head, I don’t like how the stainless bezel is slightly thicker than the knurling that is right up against it, the knurling should be thicker instead.

RIC replied to my email about the lens within an hour of emailing him today, he said no problem he will send a new lens along with the $6.00 battery, great service there.

… anyone still not yet received theirs? Ric was saying that shipping company had troubles with customs for my package… Ric said he would take care of it (and no doubt he will ;))… I’m just getting antsy is all…

I got mine today. Flickering problem and Oring in wrong place. Fixed both. Flickering was tail spring not making good contact. I fixed with a cleaning and copper braid on the spring while in there.
I also had to add some solder to my flat top cells to get positive side contact.
Anyone else have a black model with a green tint on the head? Almost a dark olive green. Looks like the ano isn’t quite finished. Body looks OK.

I might wait until a second batch of these has been made and original problems are rectified, as I’m pretty hopeless at troubleshooting and fixing stuff.

Finally received mine today. :smiley:
Was able to track it for the last week or so, once it got through customs apparently.

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Like the light on the whole.
Couple relatively minor complaints echo others…

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Ano color on my titanium doesn’t match between the head and body. Couple shades off. I am really picky about this kind of thing, so kind of disappointing for me. :frowning: Some people might not be too bothered by it. For the price it’s acceptable I guess.

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Had to do the o-ring swap, but no big deal. I appreciate the heads up from Ric on it. No flickering with mine, thankfully. Totally understand, this being the first run and pre-order and all that.

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Mine works well with my flat top/nub top (not button top, but not totally flat) NCR18650A’s from fasttech. Modes change fine, but the threads feel a little gritty. Arrived bone dry. I am using some nyogel.

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Mode spacing seems well done for typical EDC applications:

Low could be lower… but I am one of those guys that always says that… :slight_smile: Its still a good, perfectly useable low for close-up work in low light. By no means anything approaching firefly or moonmode. Probably not the best bedside light.

Medium is very useable. Probably the 75%-of-the-time mode. Bright enough to use in partial sun. Bright enough to shower to. :stuck_out_tongue: Bright enough for most tasks at night (if not right in your lap). Gets warm with time, but manageable.

High is good n bright. Maybe not as bright as 2.8A 18650 lights, but I totally understand the max high setting how it is. This light is damn tiny!! It doesn’t have material to move the heat. High is for short bursts. Cools pretty quick once turned off, FWIW.

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Tint is good for a 3C. Pretty much neutral white. Mine is not green. Mine is ever the slightest bit cooler compared to my 3C XinTD, and other XML 4Cs. My XinTD is a tiny bit more yellow than the DQG… My 4Cs are even more yellow and warm than that. On the other hand, the nichia 219s are very similar warmth to the DQG, but slightly rosier and maybe slightly tan in comparison. Relatively speaking. These are all subtle differences amoung different neutrals. The 219s and 4Cs definitely have better CRI than the DQG, but that is no surprise.

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Don’t mean to sound overly critical. All in all I am satisfied with the light and the purchase. I understand the circumstances and the risk involved with pre-order and first batches. For the price paid - quality is on par, acceptable FnF, performance is good, tint is acceptable… so OK by me.
:smiley:
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I will probably keep an eye out for later versions and refinements. With a little more tweaking this could really be a winner: Better ano. Better threads. XML2 4C & 7C, XPG2 4C & 7C options. Optic options… etc.

No sign of mine either. Ric had said it was normal when I asked and that it would arrive, but no sign of it.