DQG 26650 EDC Triple XPG2

Each XPG driven at 1.4A.

That's respectable, and is good enough for an EDC. If there was a slimmer 18650 version I'd get it, I need the smaller size!

Looks really interesting!

My wish list for changes, in priority order:

1. Quoting leaftye: "The low mode should be lower.", about 2% should be fine

2. Add lowlow mode of 0.1 .. 0.2% (not a moonlight, but 1-2lm)

3. 3D tint instead of 3B

4. Tailcap design with longitudinal lines breaks the harmony of this light. Please consider similar knurling than in head. Something like this, but thinner:

Here's some rough calculations for "perfect" mode spacing:

Basic data
Emitter count 3 pcs
Drive current / emitter 1400 mA
Total current 4200 mA x3
Mode spacing
High 100 %
Med 30 %
Low 2 %
Lowlow 0.2 %
Cell used 4200 mAh King kong or similar
Approximate runtimes
High 1 h
Med 3 h
Low 50 h = 2 days
Lowlow 500 h = 21 days
Approximate output
XP-G at 1400mA 441 lm From CREE charts
Total 1323 lm x3
Efficiency (approximated) 80 % Optical & electrical efficiency combined
Approximate OTF lumens
High 1,058 lm
Med 318 lm
Low 21 lm
Lowlow 2 lm

Just keep in mind that most drivers are very inefficient at low currents and you could assume under 50%.

i would love this in warm white… will take neutral though

Thanks for correcting me. The table is just a very rough estimate for starting a discussion..

Yes, lets keep the discussion on this light. I am keen to find out more.
It looks interesting.

I forsee me being roughly $42 less well off in the very near future. I too wish it was 3d tint or one of the hi cri bins but i guess that just means I’ll have something to do.

The qlite mode spacing on star four would suit me, but otherwise, 26650, nw xp-g2, its ticking boxes for me that’s for sure.

I bought the DQG 18650 XM-L2 and ended up selling it. The only cells I could fit in it were Trustfire flame 18650’s and I don’t have enough trust in those cells to keep them that near my twig and 2 berries. It wasn’t a bad light, but it just felt cheap to me. I imagine this will suffer the same fate. CNQG has shown they can make a great light with the BTU Shocker, but sadly, I think my desire for cheaply constructed lights has shrunk as my interest in this hobby has grown.

harsh words. very sincere.

thanks for sharing.

ric won't be happy ...

i want try a triple XP-G2!…where can i buy this flashlight?

http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1976

but it’s not available yet.

I like the look of this, but the 18650 Tiny hasn’t inspired me tbh. I still fail to understand how someone can design and build a flashlight that is too small for it’s intended batteries

A mm wider and 3mm longer would not have affected it’s physical size but would have solved these issues.

With regard to my own experience, I did pre order a Titanium 18650 Tiny.

It looks great, but needed a fair bit of work to it to make it work at all, I had to sand the end of the body tube flat and finish it off, fit O-rings, reassemble the optic and it still didn’t work as it should with High being very difficult to activate, would take about 10 attempts to get it to select this mode.

Rick did offer a new LED/driver module and I also paid for one of his recommended non protected 18650’s. Sadly these bits never turned up.

After a bit of chasing Ric did offer to send me a brand new 18650 Tiny flashlight free of charge. I salute Ric for this and this kind of customer service is the only reason I’d purchase from them again.

The replacement 18650 Tiny was black not a titanium though. It worked much better out of the box, but also seems less bright on high than the first one. And I’m sad to report, despite EDC’ing it, this one now flickers and is a bit of a PITA to use. One handed operation is not really possible and when using high after about 30 secs on time it’ll flicker and often change modes, this means you have to tighten the head even further with two hands to stop this, but this then makes it very tight to then turn off.

Visually the light looks brilliant, but when I compare the overall quality to my EagleTac D25LC2, I’m sad to say the DQG is a looong way behind :frowning:

Hoping this 26650 one is a superior product as I’ll likely take a punt on it

Counter-point: I ordered, and received two of the original 18650s (one black and one TI/gold, and one NW and one CW). The only thing that I had to do with them was move the O-ring, per the info that RIC provided early-on, and they worked fine, once I figured out where to put the O-ring :).

Even though I didn’t have major problems, I did take advantage of RIC’s post-sale offer for the 18650s and got 2 of them. If you didn’t receive the batteries, you should probably email or PM him (they don’t come with tracking if I recall).

I didn’t enounter any problems with battery sizes, though most of the batteries I have are unprotected batteries, including some 17670s from laptop pulls.

Did you not have to fit 2 small black O-rings to the body too? I had to do this even on the replacement one, which was many months later.

Hence why I got a 2nd flashlight for free. Although it still bugs me that I have the better looking titanium one collecting dust on the shelf :frowning:

No offense, but isn’t that kind of missing the point. The light by it’s very name is “18650” Tiny.

And it fails to accept most 18650’s. And recommending to use unprotected ones with a driver that doesn’t cut off until 2.5v is I think a bit of a copout. If this was a UK based company they’d get legally linched for selling a product like this.

As for the batteries, I have:

Solarforce branded protected 18650’s (unknown origin) - these do not fit the battery tubes on either light.

Int’l Outdoor branded Sanyo protected 18650’s - again these do not fit the battery tube.

FastTech Sanyo 18650 protected - way too fat to fit the battery tube

FastTech 2900 Panasonic protected 18650s - these fit the tube on the black light, but not the titanium one, however despite being a button top, the light won’t turn on.

EagleTac branded 3100 Protected Panasonic - this is the only 18650 I have that fits the battery tube and turns the light on

I do plan on buying an IMR 18650 in the hope it’ll fit. But I don’t see why I should be forced to use non protected cells.

I don’t have any 17650’s, I do have a Sanyo 16650 though, but for some reason the lights won’t work with them either. And my 2x16340 to 18650 EagleTac insert won’t fit the 18650 Tiny battery tube either.

Re. the O-rings: It’s been awhile, but I think that I did have to put one addl O-ring on (but it came in the box) on one of the lights (I think I posted about that on the original thread).

Re. you last comments: I guess that what I was trying to say is that I didn’t have trouble with any of the batteries that I had, and I didn’t go looking for batteries that I didn’t have that wouldn’t work (I think I posted about what I had that worked on the original thread also). I know that others had problems…

EDIT: BTW, I’m (also) not trying to get into a debate/argument. I was just trying to mention that, at least for me, the lights I got were ok. Again, that’s not to say that others didn’t have problems.

No worries I know what you are meaning :slight_smile:

BTW - how are your 18650 Tiny’s holding out? I’m quite disappointed that my replacement one is so flickery now. I love the size and beam profile. But the physical act of using it and the frustration it brings when it acts up, means I never EDC for more than a day to two before it gets put back on the shelf.

Since this one has an electric side switch, and there are wish lists being made… Ide really like to see a UI where if l-m-h you hold the button from off and get it to start on high or maybe have that as a hidden moon light. Also maybe an option for xml2?

L-m-h hold for moonlight and double click for strobe

Off>low>med>high>>strobe>— moon light
Off>— High>low>med>high>>strobe >— moonlight

Although I like the light very much, the main dissappointment with the DQG 18650 tiny in my opinion is the extreme bad heatsinking of the led, causing 30% lumen drop in a few seconds that could have been perhaps only 5% if the heatsinking had been done well, what a waste! I hope they mount the leds in this new light on metal core PCB's (direct bonding to copper please!) instead of onto the driver board.

On the design side I liked the DQG18650 more, this one does not appeal to me much..

That is the only way to get the light as short as possible, it 2 boards are used then the light becomes longer.