DQG III AAA
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Summary:
| Battery: | 1 x AAA |
| Switch: | Twisty |
| Modes: | 2 (Low, High - No memory) |
| LED Type: | Cree XP-G R5 |
| Lens: | TIR, plastic |
| Tailstands: | Yes, perfectly! |
| Price Payed: | $30 + shipping |
| From: | CNQG |
| Date Ordered: | April 2012 |
Pros:
- Very small, perfect for key chain
- Stainless steel, durable material for key chain use
- Good grip
- Tailstands, perfectly
- Good beam pattern
- No PWM
- Constant brightness
- Long (enough) runtime
- Well spaced modes
- Good UI (mode order, no memory)
- Magnet in tail (or glow dot, the choice is yours!)
- No battery rattle
- Doesn't eat O-rings any more
- Claw + 2 extra O-rings included
- Comes in a nice tin box, suitable for gifting!
Cons:
- A bit pricey (but I paid the difference with joy - this thing is so good!)
Features / Value: ★★★★★
The light comes in a tin box:
..which contains the light itself, two extra O-rings, split ring, and claw.
Features are quite simple: Main "feature" is that the light is so small that you can hook it to your key ring and forget it - until you need light. The light has two well spaced modes, about 5 lumens and 60 lumens.
UI is very good, or actually the best for this kind of light: Tighten head to turn on (= low). Loosen to turn off. Turn off and on again for High. No memory means no unpleasant surprises and makes sure you won't lose your night vision by accident!
Value for money: Good! Even though the light is a bit pricey, the small size, low weight and good features are worth the price difference.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★1/2
Design is just prefect. The size is great for key chain use, and so is the material. Stainless steel can take some extra abuse, which is needed when the light repeatedly hits your keys during the next few years.
Knurling is nice, not as aggressive than Sunwayman R01A, but well suitable for a pocket light.
Here's a comparison to "old" DQG Tiny II (III above, II below). Please note how the knurling position is changed a bit, making it even easier to turn on/off with one hand. Note also the damaged O-ring peeking from the old version..
A look to inside. III on left, II on right. Nothing there, not even a tail spring.
The threads were smooth and well lubed, even better than in the old version. The slot for O-ring is now clearly separated from the threads, helping to keep the O-ring in place and prevent damage. A small, but very important enhancement!
Another important new feature can be found on top of the driver board: A foam insert, which eliminates the battery rattle, also when turned off!
The TIR lens is flawless and emitter perfectly centered.
Some measurements:
Length: 57.4mm
Head diameter: 12.6mm
Body diameter: 11.9mm
Weight: 26g with lithium primary cell, split ring & claw (= ready to use), 13g without
And the bottom line in the quality: Machining is a bit rough at the tail (-1/2 stars), but nothing else to complain! And the included claw is the best I have seen so far!
Battery Life: ★★★★☆
Good!
I measured the current draw to be 620mA on high and 20mA on low -> theoretical runtime would be way up to 2h on high and up to 50h on low (with a good lithium AAA primary).
Current draw on high is actually a bit more than in the older brother, which took about 540mA.
Light Output: ★★★★★
Just what I want from a EDC pocket / key chain light! About 5 lumens on low -> enough for small tasks and doesn't ruin your night vision. On high the promised 60 lumens seems to be a quite accurate figure and is certainly enough for walking on a small path or similar. The TIR lens provides a really nice beam pattern, which makes the beam look even brighter than 60 lumens!
The tint is perfect and the hotspot is smooth and small enough. This can be seen in the following white wall beamshots (WB: Daylight)
Low mode (Left II R4/NW, right III R5/CW)
High mode with same exposure (Left II R4/NW, right III R5/CW)
High mode, larger view, increased exposure to show the spill (Left II R4/NW, right III R5/CW)
Beam angle (Left II R4/NW, right III R5/CW)
..and then there is the GITD-feature. The head glows nicely after use:
Summary: ★★★★★
The DQG Tiny II has been my favorite key chain light since the famous BLF group buy. The only things I ever complained about it were the battery rattle and the fact that it eats O-rings. So I had really high hopes for the new version and it lived up to expectations. The best just got better!
Highly Recommended!
The End (pun intended).
Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!
=the=
Thank you for reviewing this light _the_ .
Later in the year I'll buy 2. 1 for me & 1 for the missus.
It seems it has all I ever wanted in a keychain EDC.
~ Ledsmoke ~
Dutch humor:
[quote=djozz]
I do not think that the BLF-community ben
Excellent job, _the_!
The good just got better!
Thanks _the_ , nice review. How well does the light actually stand up to being knocked about on a keychain? Did/does the split ring anchor point show any sign of weakening?
Very well. I have had the old II-version hooked to my key chain since last August with no problems.
And, now when you took that up, the new version has even thicker split ring anchor (0.9mm vs. 0.6mm), so it should be even better!
=the=
Awesome, I will have to get at least 2 of these. Nice review. Personally I love my II's and these improvements are nice.
I have never had any trouble with the anchor points on my II's and these look identical. I have 2 II's in full time keychain use.
Thanks
Awesome, I will have to get at least 2 of these. Nice review. Personally I love my II's and these improvements are nice.
I have never had any trouble with the anchor points on my II's and these look identical. I have 2 II's in full time keychain use.
Nice light, great review again, thanks!
Odd thing: my old version has not eaten a single O-ring yet, what the...
This just rocks over the AA one.
Me either CheapThrills.
Thanks for the review, I have the aa version and I ordered the tiny lll on Apr 5 so hopefully they ship soon.
The stainless certainly can take more abuse without showing it...thx..kelly
perfection... I like it
BTW, if the old one I measured was 60-62 lumens and this draws a bit more, it should stay above the stated 60lm with ease.
(just don't get some other light because of +10 or +20 lumens, you are better off with this one in every other aspect)
Can you describe the color balance/tint? The II was warm, III is neutral? Or neutral/cool?
R4 neutral/R5 cool
Awesome review!
Can't wait for my DQG III to arrive.
Appears to be an excellent keychain light .
Thanks for your efforts , _the_ .
What I do
Woo! Good to see the UI and Beam are all maintained, because those were the things I loved most about the DQG II.
60 lumens is a far more practical level of light, because an extra 10-20-30 lumens won't yield much more interms of perceived brightness, but gives you excellent runtime, and most importantly to me, far less thermal issues.
"like everyone else - I’m looking for my next “last” flashlight" - ohnonothimagain
+1. Those were my thoughts, exactly!
I think I have to order a couple more. In NW, of course.
=the=
Awesome review and pics there _the_!
I like blingy torches but just a bit too expensive for me.
Don wrote:
"But as I said long ago, you are more likely to be killed by a dead fish dropped by a seagull in the Sahara Desert than by a lithium ion
I have bought 6 of these and gifted a couple. I think I will get a few more.
How do you all feel about the magnet VS glow-dot choice? Is one generally more popular than the other?
I don't like magnets on anything that comes into the magnetic near field of my wallet. The magnet seems to be sturdier, though.
It's really about what you need/want.
I prefer magnets, but IIRC it was quite fifty-fifty between magnets and GITD tails in the DQG Tiny II group buy last year.
FWIW, I haven't had any problems with magnets vs. keys and I don't have credit cards in the same pocket than keys either.
=the=
My only experience is with the AA version. I am a big fan of the magnet now that there is a glow thingy in the head. I keep mine next to my cell phone but not wallet and I haven't had any problems. It's not that strong unless it's really close anyway, and I keep mine clipped up high in the pocket edge while the phone is down low. It's nice to have the option to stick it to something in case you need to.
I'll be in on some AAA ones once there's a group buy I think.
Thank you for the thorough review!
I really like the output level spacing. At $30 though, what advantages/features does this light have over the Thrunite Ti AAA light which only costs $16? I was ready to buy a few of the Thrunites because of the love the price and they also have the output levels well spaced out and I like the UI with twist on for low, twist a bit more for high (and appreciate the head is completely tight in off mode).
So any reasons to spend almost double for the DQ besides size?
I've got (well, had) both. My Ti stopped functioning properly after a week, the metal tab which enables mode changes got too compressed and ceased to go into firefly mode (although I got mine from the first batch sent out, not sure if they've made improvements since then). The DQG, in the 3 months that I had it, worked flawlessly every time I tried to use it, until I lost the head a few weeks ago.
I'm leary of a carrying a magnet with me everywhere because I'm concerned with magnetizing something that shouldn't be. I've had a small magnet mess up the timing of one of my automatic watches before...I was able to take the watch to my watch guy to have it fixed (demagnetized), but I prefer to keep my magnets at home and away from everything
I can't tell about Thrunite but I have 2 DQG II AAA and 1 DQG I SS. I would say they are excellent key chain light but building quality is poor. Not sure if they are worth the price. Hope DQG III made better.
I think I'll have to buy one. I really like my recently acquired Brynite PD03B but I'm beginning to think that it won't survive for very long on my keychain; seems a torch has to be enormously robust to withstand that degree of abuse. This little DQG is perhaps the first light I've seen that actually looks as though it was designed for life on a keychain, rather than just being small enough to use that way if you don't mind a shortened working life.
So far revolver's is the only worrying post:
"The DQG, in the 3 months that I had it, worked flawlessly every time I tried to use it, until I lost the head a few weeks ago".
Did it just come unscrewed when you weren't looking? Sounds horribly like my Maglite Solitaire of a few years back.. :\
It was user error, I had the DQG head riding on a 4sevens P0 body, and the threading is looser on the P0. My original DQG body only had one o-ring and that thing got chewed up after the first opening, so I was using the P0 body instead of my ugly plumber's tape quick-fix for the DQG body.
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