They’re amazing lights!
I’m just wishing that DQG Fairy has more knurling on its body.
As always UPz, fabulous review and you are one of the best.
My brass Fairy arrived yesterday.The first thing I saw when I opened the package was the extra 10180 cell I had ordered and never seeing one before, I couldn’t believe how tiny the cell was. The light itself is also incredibly tiny. Pictures don’t do this thing justice as it’s so teeny, tiny you have to see it in person to appreciate just how small it is.
Of course like so many DQG lights, this Fairy light is no different than other DQG lights as it’s an O-ring eater! The O-ring installed on the light was ripped to shreds. I tried cleaning and smoothing out all the threads and installed a 2nd O-ring and with just a couple of activation’s, the 2nd O-ring was ripped to shreds. What’s up with that DQG?
I finally wrapped some Teflon tape around the threads because without the O-ring the head is too loose and the tape is working okay. You would think by now DQG could make lights that don’t rip up O-rings. I have 3 other DQG lights and all of them except one are O-rings eaters and have no O-rings in them.
On the positive side, this thing is more like a piece of jewelry than a light. The finish is beautiful with a nice semi-gloss brass finish. The Tritium vial in the tail is plenty bright and is a nice touch.
Of course this is a mule meaning there’s no beam to speak of because it doesn’t have a reflector but it puts out a nice swath of light. The high mode is pretty impressive for such a tiny thing. I like flood lights and this is a good one.
Except for the usual DQG lights hate O-rings thing, it’s a wonderful little light and well worth owning if not just for the “WOW, that’s so tiny!” factor and along with the Spy, it’s probably one of the best key chain lights out there.
Oh yeah, I also wanted wanted to say that at $20.00 less than the Spy, I think this is the real bargain of the two.
for what it’s worth, I haven’t had any issues with the o-ring in my dqg spy, so far.
Great review, thanks UPz, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Amazing how small these things are now. 130lm OTF from something this tiny is remarkable. And then when you stop showing off and need the runtime, there’s 4hrs of it on low. Excellent design! I might really get this someday.
What are you guys using for chargers for the 10180?
For charger the 10180, I use these two :
- USB charger veleno Design (12$ plus shipping) http://www.velenodesigns.com/?page_id=15
- Cottonpickers Charger. There is a guy on the CPF, he can customize it, I asked a 60mA charge. 17$
That’s good advice Trevi_Lux especially with Cottonpicker. He’s one of the best. I’ve been using his standard 100mA charger and it works great with the 10180 cell.
> machined brass
Can you identify the alloy used? The supplier should be able to tell you.
This (first few hits) will explain why it’s important to know the alloy:
https://www.google.com/search?q=brass+alloy+lead+surface
(briefly — because not everyone is as informed or as careful as possible, people should know this: in machining, the lead globules smear into a film on the surface of the metal, so the same issues as handling lead metal are a concern for machinists and customers)
How much lead are we talking about? Like lead paint exposure levels? Is there a test without going full chemical analysis? edit: looks like there are a few DIY methods.
Does anyone know what size o-rings the DQG Spy takes? I’m not sure how to measure them. Mine is eating o-rings right now, so would like to get a bunch more.
Thanks a bunch for the run times. Very impressive that it can still push out 60 lumens after 20 minutes on high.
Also awesome pics, love the comparisons with other lights!
I’d like to know also as mine is eating them too. As I stated above, all my DQG lights are O-ring eaters.
Just spotted there is a DQG charger for it now and it looks very cool
Just received the Spy/Fairy charger. It has a red LED in it and the LED goes out once the 10180 cell is charged. Right after the red LED went out I took a measurement and it charged the cell to 4.15 Volts.
I received three of the PSK mini containers. Two of the PSK-M and one of the smaller PSK-S. Unlike UPz’ review, neither of them came with O-rings. I had some O-rings of the correct size for the PSK’s but like all DQG items in my experience, the containers just chewed them up. 
The tiny PSK-S is pretty much useless, (unless you’re going to use it as a battery spacer), as it’s so small I doubt if it would even hold two aspirin tablets.
A 10180 cell fits into the larger PSK-M nicely but as UPz stated, the cell will rattle a little but a small piece of foam solved that problem.
An interesting fact is the tops of both capsules are interchangeable. I used the top from the small PSK-S on the larger PSK-M capsule and now with a 10180 cell in it, it’s 1/8” shorter and there’s no battery rattle. Also, the small PSK-S with the PSK-M top is now 1/8” larger and a little more useful.
cnqualitygoods web site leaves a lot to be desired. I cannot make a purchase without providing some personal information that isn’t collected over https. I thought I would create an account and that doesn’t seem to be https: either for collecting passwords :-/
I found them at CNQUALITYGOODS. Ten for $1.10 under the category of “Waterproof O-rings”.
I also wired brushed, (brass), all the threads on the Fairy and Spy and then coated the threads and O-rings with fluorinated grease. Now they both work like they should and aren’t eating up the O-rings.
I would just like to say thank you to everyone who commented about this light, and to UPz for the review. This, combined with the titanium necklace I wear it on, is one of my most treasured belongings that I’ve been wearing for about 2 months now.
The chain I have it on is a 24”, 4mm thick titanium wheat chain, from TitaniumKay I bought on Amazon. I have it attached to the necklace with an old surgical steel earring. I absolutely love this light.
I took a few pictures of it’s awesomeness.
Very nice Lotus! I wear mine on a necklace too.