DQG 18650 EDC--World's Smallest 18650 Flashlight

whoops. pics are broken for me. weird.

edit: think they are blocked by my work. lame.
sorry to get of topic guys.

pics in post #668 work for me…

Well my black one just arrived today, it wasn’t a pre-order light, so I had to pay the full $35 + shipping. It’s all black like it should be, had the clear o-ring wrong on the lens, had to change that, only had 1 o-ring on the light’s body but there was 3 spares in the box so I put one of those on the body so now I have 2 black o-rings on it. I cleaned the little brass contact as it looked really black & dirty. Lubed-up the threads and put a battery in it, nothing, so I tried a few and I found that while they all seemed to fit just fine, keeppower 3400 (68.68mm), Panasonic 3100 unprotected, orbtronic 3400, nitecore 3100.

What worked just fine for me was a EagleTac 3400 (68.04mm x 18.48mm) no fitment issues what-so-ever with the EagleTac 3400, I don’t know why the Panasonic 3100 didn’t work since it’s “advertised” to work with the light, probably has something to do with the spring that is just dropped into the bottom of the light, the center of the spring is completely off; but for me I couldn’t get the light to turn on at all with the the panny.

I’m not complaining though because I really like the EagleTac 3400’s anyway and I have several of them on hand anyway. It’s a shame I had to take the lens apart and fix the o-ring and then clean the light up, but I’ve been following this thread and so it wasn’t a surprise, but for the money I spent I don’t think I really should have had to do that especially since my light wasn’t a pre-oder light, AND to add insult to injury I now see on cnqg’s website, the price price has dropped to $30 now.

Maybe you should PM or email RIC about the price. I don’t know if he’d do anything about it, but I guess that if it was me, I’d at least try to ask, esp. since you had the same problems as with the pre-order lights and all…

Yea I might do that, I ’m going to wait until dark so that I can fully test the light out better, it’s way too sunny here even with the drapes closed to get a good look at the beam; then we’ll see.

I started out using Panasonic unprotected 3100 flat top cells that I mistakenly ordered from FastTech and they worked but I still experienced the erratic mode skipping and flickering while trying to single hand operate it. After reading your post I tried my button top unprotected 3100 Panasonic cells and they work much better. If I deliberately and slowly change modes with one hand it works flawlessly. If I try quick easy one handed changes it still messed up about 3 times in 20 but that is better than 10-15 out of 20 with the flat tops. Weird that they won’t work in yours. I guess no 2 DQG Tiny’s are alike.

I had flickering and mode-skipping too, then I backed out the alu ring in the head using needle-nose pliers. The Fujik underneath was not holding well. The ring was rather loose, I think it was making intermittent contact with the driver. So when I cleaned it up and put it back in extra tight, the flickering and mode-skipping went away.
So after cleaning, sanding, spring-fixing, and ring-tightening, the light now works as it should.

I just recieved a couple of brand new panny 3400’s unprotected, neither of them will operate the light what-so-ever; looking closely at the brass postive contact I don’t think the panny are making contact with it, because of the pannys postive tip being almost flat/level with the cell itself. Still so far, I’ve had the very best results using the EagleTac 3400’s.

FYI It’s $35 shipped on their retail site: http://www.fancyflashlights.com/goods.php?id=632 (prices on this site include “free” shipping) also listed is the Panasonic 3100mAh 18650 [Plus $5.00]

Yes exactly he lowered the price after some of us paid the full retail + shipping as I stated above, I paid $38.43
I’m fully aware cnqg charges shipping & FF prices include shipping; still doesn’t change what I stated and has occurred, the facts remain the same.

So I guess it used to be more than $35 on FF. I figured it was $35 on both sites and CNQG charges shipping but FF does not, that’s why I said about it being $35 from FF and shipped free (since you paid $35 plus shipping on CNQG) but I see now the prices on FF are higher than CNQG so the shipping isn’t really free, I guess he lowered the price on FF too.

If buying only one light does it cost less to buy on FF or CNQG? or does it work out the same? I thought CNQG was only for wholesale if you were buying several lights, I guess I don’t really understand why the two sites.

Anyway I agree it doesn’t seem right to lower the price so soon after the pre sale promotion, not that you’d need or want to buy anything else from him but I would complain to Ric about it and ask if he could give you a shop credit for the difference. Or if you used paypal maybe he could just credit you the difference on paypal. Nothing to lose to ask.

I don’t understand the real purpose of both sites ethier, the prices come out the same with shipping from ethier site, and Yes I did complain about the price drop which happened before I even recieved the light; but he did nothing about it. J)

Somehow I’m not totally blown away by this flashlight, I like the NW tint and yes its small and bright, but…

This is my first twisty I don’t think I like twisty lights, except for maybe a keychain light.

Also the pocket clip moves around on it, its not super loose but its not solid either, it moves easier that I like. Maybe I could super glue it?

Also I think I need to find the right protected battery (shorter than the Xtar I have in it) so the twist action is easier. I tried a much shorter unprotected battery and now I think the spring has been compressed, because it acted flakey and would change modes if you tap on the tail.

Even though its longer and has a greenish tint, for 18650 EDC I often select my Olight S20 over the DQG, I think because of its side switch and it’s slightly thinner at the head and tube.

The reason I got this was I thought the battery would last a lot longer than a 14500 light, and it probably will, but now I think I may go back to a 14500 for EDC.

The DQG is only slightly larger than most 14500 lights but I now see that little bit makes a big difference (IMO) for EDC. I’m waiting for the ZL sc52w reviews when it comes out, I want to see how warm its NW tint is to decide on NW or CW.

I’m going to keep an eye out for other side switch equipped compact size lights. I think a side switch is where its at for me.

I’m still waiting for a replacement board and LED for mine. I haven’t updated my review as I thought it fair to wait and see what happened, however once the bits arrive I’ll do a proper update.

Summary:

Despite solving the initial flickering problems with mine (due to the badly finished edge on the body tube). I since found that selecting High was almost impossible and somewhat of a lottery. Selecting Low and Med work everytime, but it takes maybe 9 to 15 attempts to get it to select High and never consistently.

I’ve used different cells and even used the 18650 Tiny head on my EagleTac body as it fits, but still get the same result, so it is 100% an issue with the head/board/LED causing this an not the body tube like my earlier issues.

Such a shame as apart from operation it really is a nice light, but in it’s current state it’s too much of a PITA and annoyance to use, so it’s sitting on the shelf collecting dust. :frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

Ric has shipped out a new driver/LED along with one of the $6 unprotected Panasonics he recommends. I didn’t really want the battery, but thought it was a good way to eliminate any further issues being due to the battery. These bits have been in transit for a few weeks now, so hoping they might turn up soon.

That said, I do find it surprising and slightly concerning that any torch should have an unprotected ICR as the “recommended” battery.

I’m looking forward to getting the light working and hoping Ric will come good on all of this. Although I can’t help feeling it is slightly sloppy design that a torch is designed not to fit the common batteries it’s suppose to use.

Surely an extra 1mm in diameter and 2mm in length would have done nothing to harm sales or real world pocket size of this light, but would have allowed any protected 18650 to work with it?

Update: I emailed Ric about the ‘greenhead’ issue. He responded quickly saying he would send out a new head piece (in addition to a coated BTU lens).
Once I have both, I’ll probably attempt to disassemble and mod one of them for a different emitter. Just to see how difficult it will be.

I have mostly unprotected 18650s, but the few protected ones I have, including an EagTac 3100 and several different UltraFires, work fine in the ones that I got. Just an FYI…

4 layers of Teflon tape to threads made the difference, no more head play

So.. why hasnt nobody put a 3up in this one?

If you purchase one of these now are all the teething problems now fixed?

I am sure the bad heatsinking of the led is not fixed because that requires a complete different design of the way the led is mounted (not on the non-metal core driver board) and that might not be possible within the limited length of the body, which was one of the most attractive features of this light.