Veleno Designs Quantum D2 (Polished SS)

LED Flashlights – General Info Other Battery Type Flashlights
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Veleno Designs Quantum D2 in Polished Stainless Steel

Reviewer’s Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

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Summary:

Battery:

10180

Switch:

Twisty

Modes:

Infinite (QTC)

LED Type:

Cree XP-G2 Cool White

Lens:

TIR?

Tailstands:

Yes

Price Paid:

$59.99

From:

Illumination Supply

Date Ordered:

6/3/2013

Pros:

  • Small

  • Simple

  • Clean design

  • Bright

  • Rechargeable battery

  • USB charger included

  • Infinitely variable output via QTC

Cons:

  • Not much grip

  • Twisting action is a little tight

  • Had a small issue with the included battery/QTC contact point

Features / Value: ★★★★☆

Well, it doesn’t have very many features. It twists to turn on and twists some more to get brighter. Has two pre-drilled holes for insertion of tritium tubes, which is nice. It does come with a rechargeable 10180 battery, a USB charger, some rings to attach it to a keychain, and a spare o-ring, so even though it is not a very good value on the lumens-per-dollar scale, it seems like a good value to me for the overall quality of the package. The USB charger is nice, it holds the battery securely and includes an LED to let you know when the battery is charging (LED on) and when it is done charging (LED off).

I also bought a spare battery and the Veleno Designs battery holder (Quantum Capsule) at the same time, and while those costs are separate, the overall package is nicely improved and the consistent visual style is apprecaited.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★☆☆

The design is pretty great as far as I am concerned, and really that is most of what you are paying for in this package. You can get other lights of similar size and brightness, but the sleek lines are a lot of where the value is for me. Build quality is fairly good, but I might not be the best person to ask. I have a background in machining, and so I see every little imperfection and inconsistency and wish it had been a little better, but I also haven’t handled many other flashlights to see what kind of quality you can get these days (or if the little things that bother me bother anyone else as well). I can gladly go into more detail on the build quality an fit issues if anyone actually cares to know.

One issue I did have was with the battery contact with the QTC pad. The wrapper on my light was not perfectly aligned at the positive end, and the button top didn’t protrude above the top of the battery either, and this is one of the issues. The other issue is to do with where the QTC pad is on the driver pill. The QTC pad sits on a small magnet which is stuck inside a little cylindrical well. The surface of the battery lies just below the surface of this little well, though so the QTC pad can never be fully compressed. This little offset combined with my less than perfect battery resulted in me not being able to make any contact at all! Fortunately, I had ordered a spare battery, and that one was able to light up but not to full output. After poking around I was able to put another magnet in the well so now the QTC pad sits proud of the surface, and not both batteries work well. This is something of a minor issue because of how easily I was able to fix it, but for a light this expensive not to work as shipped was a little frustrating*.

The USB battery charger did look very nice, but my actual USB plug on it was a little bit wobbly. Not a big deal (unless it falls off, and if it does I’ll let you know), but again, just something little.

*I did e-mail Veleno Designs and according to them variations in the QTC and batteries make this an inevitable problem, so they recommended using a little foil as a spacer between the QTC pad and the magnet, accomplishing essentially the same thing.

Battery Life: ★★★☆☆

I have not had the light long, so I will come back and update this later as needed. As of right now, though, I know you can’t expect to run this thing at full brightness for very long (~8 min is what they say for ~150 lumens), but that is not really its intended purpose. For a keychain light that gets used every know and then for a few seconds at a time, I think the battery life should be sufficient.

Light Output: ★★★★☆

Is ~150 lumens a lot? No. Is is a pretty good amount for a light this small? I think so. There might be brighter lights this size, but with a nice beam (floody), a cool tint, and a rechargeable battery I am impressed.

Summary: ★★★★☆

As I said, there are lots reasons to pick another light over this one (cost, brightness, battery life, beam throw, etc), but I think in terms of an overall package this light is very nice. The UI is dead simple, the light is very keychain friendly, and it looks very sturdy to boot. I was a little disappointed with a few little quality issues, but overall I am very impressed with this light.

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2

Many will be aware of this already, but if you don’t live in the USA you can purchase directly from Steve at Veleno Designs and shipping from Taiwan is possibly free or very cheap. He is a well known seller at CPF for the tritium vials.

3

Thanks for the review, tempted by one of these.

4

After noticing there was not much for comments here, I just realized that I’m guilty of not expressing thanks for the review. I’ve noticed that often a member may take the time to publish some helpful information and although I read it, forget to simply express my gratitude for taking the time to do the work. It’s probably more for items that do not have a mainstream interest to begin with. I didn’t even know this light existed until I saw the review, so thanks for taking the time to do this.

5

Good review and pictures, love the look of this little light.

How is the QTC holding up, still smooth ramping?

Thanks

6

Can replacement QTC’s be purchased?

7

It's a nice little keychain. With trit inserts it's great.

My only real concern about it is the fact that you can very easily kill the batteries. The low on this light is extremely low... such that backlit you will not notice that it's even on.

Would love to see the next version with a protection circuit built in.

8

I have the older vaersion (not polished ) and the QTC in the base of the light.

9

Is it easy to crush the cell, or is it avoidable with care?
Just trying to weigh up if its worth buying one.

Cheers
Matt

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all of the batteries i have are flat topped…

11

Well, I am glad somebody was interested in this little thing! Since it was my first review I was pretty sure I just did a crap job! Glad to answer these questions and any others!

Glad to do it, I know it is a bit out of the norm here on the budget forum, but as my first proper light I figured I’d share here for anyone interested.

In my usage (which has been light) the QTC is holding up fine. I don’t use the light more than a few times a week for just a few seconds, so not very heavy usage. The ramping is as smooth as it was (which is still a little jumpy), which is nice.

You can find them, although if memory serves me correctly it was only UK vendors, so even though each pill was only a few dollars shipping was a bit expensive. For that reason I think there were occasionally people here and on the other forum who would buy a bunch and sell them to others.

I will try to take some pictures of mine with the trit inserts this week, but regarding the battery drain I have just found that I can go a full turn past what looks like off and then I feel confident that I am not drawing any current.

I never did ask, but it could be that the QTC in mine was meant to be in the base of the light but got bumped in shipping (since it is magnetic, it sticks to the magnet at the head).

I have found that since the light does get quite bright for its size I don’t often need to turn it up to full brightness, but as I get brighter I do definitely feel like the pressure is getting higher and so I try to avoid tightening it too much (to keep from crushing the battery).

Both of mine are as well, and when I posted this review I was a bit new to lights and batteries and I wasn’t aware that flat topped cells are so common (my first venture out of classic alkaline and NIMH cells), but I did find the contact issue to be a bit difficult without the extra magnet spacer.

Cheers!

12

Thanks FocalX100, so not much usage to really put the QTC through it’s paces. :stuck_out_tongue:
Still good news that its held up fine with intermittent use.

Btw, there is QTC sold here:
http://www.shaotech.com/products.html

3 pc for $3.50
10 pc for $10

13

Thanks :slight_smile:

14

Just ordered a Quantum D2 in the dark gray finish.

Shaotech were out of QTC pills, but I ordered some from the uk.
I had to spend a minimum £9.99, so ordered 25.
If anybody needs a spare let me know.

Cheers
Matt

15

MattSPL, thanks for the update on Shaotech, I was able to add the QTC to cart so assumed they were in stock.

Glad you quickly found an alternative source!

16

No problem :slight_smile:
I also managed to add them to the cart and got as far as the PayPal payment page, then it said item cannot be purchased as there was no stock.

Cheers
Matt

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My Quantum D2 arrived today :bigsmile:

This light is tiny. Even smaller than I thought it would be.
The build quality and machining is first class. I’m very impressed with the light and it’s output.

I also ordered a spare, blank pill so I can choose another emitter at some point and swap between the 2.

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Congrats on your purchase MattSPL, hopefully you’ll like yours as much as I like mine!

Also, I know I said I was going to post some pictures with trits installed, but it looks like I lost mine! I had ordered a package of two with some adhesive to use, and I left them in the mailer to keep the adhesive from being exposed to UV light, but I think I might have thrown it out by accident!

If they turn up I’ll install them and let you guys know, otherwise I’ll try to forget that I paid for them!

19

Thanks :slight_smile:

I hope you find the trits, they aren’t cheap.
I’m trying to decide what colour to get for mine. I prefer Blue, but I see that the green ones are much brighter.
I think I’ll go for Ice Blue though.

EDIT: My spare QTC’s arrived from the UK earlier in the week too :slight_smile:
I tried the D2 with 1 and 2 QTC’s installed as suggested by other Quantum owners. I found it works best with just 1 QTC installed.

Cheers
Matt

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Green or White tritium inserts will appear to be much brighter... we are far more sensitive to green light than any other.

Personally I stuck with green trits, and love the fact that my keys are easy to find in the dark. So much so that I want to get more items with trit insets, they are just too damn pricey though.