4Sevens Quark X AA Tactical *Custom* 1x 14500
kreisler's Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Summary:
| Battery: | 1x 14500 (or 1x Eneloop AA) |
| Switch: | Forward clicky w/ momentary on |
| Modes: | 5 brightness modes + 3 blinkies |
| LED Type: | XM-L (CoolWhite/NeutralWhite/WarmWhite/High CRI) |
| Lens: | Glass |
| Tailstands: | Yes |
| Price Payed: | 78.00US$ |
| From: | Foursevens.com |
| Date Ordered: | June 2012 |
Pros:
- many modes (Lo - Med - Hi - Max - Moonlight - SOS - Strobe - Beacon)
- market's best: highly efficient driver, current regulated constant brightness, long runtimes
- customization thru "lego-ability"
- professional sturdy 1.00mm-thick clip, reversible and removable
Cons:
- Whatever
First up, 4Sevens Quarks AA² cost MSRP 78.00US$ (formerly 69.00US$, on the old website 4Sevens.com). The fact that this price is hugely overpriced can be seen from the many special sales which were going on when the company underwent a rebranding in early 2012 and had to get rid of the old branded stock. Back then all authorized dealers were allowed to lower their advertised retail prices, for example:
Quark 123^2 would cost 41.30US$, instead of 69.00US$ (now 75.00US$ or 85.00€ lol).
Note: A special case is the Quark X AA² at 32.35US$ from Goinggear several months later who bought 4Sevens stock at their own special price for the expressed purpose of selling them off as clearance items on the GG website.
So what do these numbers mean?
It means that dealers who sell a stocked (old) flashlight at 41.30$ still earn a profit. This is possible because when they stocked the lights they bought it at an even lower price from the manufacturer, at the so-called cost price. Only authorized dealers (or sellers who order wholesale quantities e.g. 100 pcs/order) can arrange an agreement on the lowest cost price possible. Logically, every dealer has a different agreement (contract) with 4Sevens. Dealers who frequently order lots of lights from 4Sevens can achieve a lower cost price. Small authorized dealers who order only few lights from 4Sevens, because they can sell only few units to their retail customers, must pay a slightly higher cost price. So here we have it. Whenever we see a "premium light" on super sale, we get a glimpse of what the dealer's cost price must have been. Speaking numbers, a seller who is able to sell an old stocked Quark at 41.30$ probably paid a cost price of ~30-35$, let's say 32.30$. He will make a profit of 9.00US$. At the same time the 4Sevens company must be gaining a profit by selling at 32.30$. Here we need to guess what the production cost of a Quark must be .. maybe 15$. So 4Sevens earns 17.30$ per piece, the dealer earns his 9$, and the buyer is happy about having paid only 41.30$.
And how is it possible that a Shiningbeam "Quark" cost 33.75US$ only? It is confirmed info that Shiningbeam flashlights are produced by Olight factory as are 4Sevens Quarks.
This is possible because the owner of Shiningbeam is virtually a 1-man show ("Bryan Chen") and sells factory-fresh ware without the intermediate steps of distributors or authorized dealers. A Shiningbeam Quark doesnt have as sophisticated electronics as a 4Sevens Quark and lacks the fancy packaging and packaged accessories, therefore its production cost will be lower, maybe 12$ per packaged unit. Bryan will earn a profit of 21.75US$. That's a lot already. No need to raise the price. 33.75$ is a fair price, not overpriced. And 41.30$ for a 4Sevens Quark is a fair price too: Don't forget, you get 10 yrs warranty, great packaging and accessories, and stellar customer service.
These rough numbers also explain why equivalent budget lights (XXXFire, ..) cost around 15$ for the 2xAA form factor: Production cost is maybe 7$, XXXFire earns 4$ by selling it to wholesale buyers (incl DX, DD, Alibaba, Aliexpress), and DX earns 4$ by selling it to end customers. Since DX has to pay for shipping twice, the actual profit will be less than 4$, of course.
Comparing production costs, the budget 2xAA costs 7$, the Shiningbeam Quark costs 12$, and the 4Sevens Quark costs 15$. In the end, the budget 2xAA retails at 15$, the Shiningbeam Quark retails at 33.75$, and the 4Sevens Quark retails at 78.00$.
Since some numbers were estimates or guesses, i cannot guarantee full accuracy. But using the starting number 41.30$ alone it is easy to realize how huge the margin of 4Sevens Quarks is. If an authorized dealer is able to sell at 78.00$, his profit will be enormous (45.70$). Now you also understand how small dealers are able to offer super sales during clearance. Lights/Models which dont sell well need to be cleared and taken out of the seller's sales program. All of a sudden you see incredible price reductions and discounts, e.g. 30% OFF on Lumintop or Balder. The dealer is willing to offer such clearance prices because the margin is still greater zero. And selling a Lumintop with 30% OFF list price wont hurt him. So why accept now the lower profit, why not before? Is it the seller's greed or are list prices super strictly dictated by the manufacturers?
Keep your eyes open .. you will see that many authorized dealers (ebay, China, Hongkong, CPFMP, ..) are willing to cut on the margins and give you a personal discount because they too opine by themselves that a net profit of 45.70$ on a 15$ production cost light is exorbitant and irresponsible towards the customer's satisfaction.
Cutting the numbers story short, if you pay 78.00$ for a Quark X AA², then i will laugh at you hard. Keep in mind that the dealer's cost price is 32.30$ and the entire margin of (78.00 - 32.30 =) 45.70$ goes into the pocket of the retailer, your preferred dealer. If you think that he deserves this kind of profit or if you think that the product deserves this kind of overpricing, then please go ahead and support their business. I dont mind. I will just laugh at you. Hard. That's all. I mean, who cares about whom kreisler is laughing at right? ;)
Similar reasoning about price structure can be encountered in other overpriced lights, let's take Zebralight as example. 64-69$ MSRP lights got cleared on amazon at 45$ by amazon participating dealer High Mountain Outfitters (HMO). Selling a ZL for 45$ the dealer still earns a profit. Why? Because his cost price was even lower than that. ZL's are original designs and seemingly produced in a smaller factory. Packaging is super cheap, accessories absent. It is safe to assume that the dealer's cost price is about the same, namely 32.30$. Yes!, the dealer pays 32.30$ for it, and sells it for 64$ (usually, see goinggear.com and other US retailers) to you! Most of your money goes into goinggear's pockets, nice. ZL's marketing policy is strict too .. so it remains unclear how HMO dares to advertise them for 45$ in public. Maybe they got a temporary permission by ZL, or maybe they are clearing ZL products from the HMO sales program for good. In the latter case, the dealer is not bound to the original agreed pricing anymore because the mutual business cooperation is dissolved anyway. ZL already earned their money (by selling the lights at 32.30$ to HMO) so they couldnt care less what HMO does .. as long as the other ZL dealers (goinggear, ..) dont complain about HMO's pricing.
From reading the above you should learn that so-called "premium brands" are only that expensive because up to 50% of the item's advertised price (MSRP) goes into the pocket of the dealer. If you want to support this, then go ahead and buy 4Sevens, Sunwayman, Klarus, Zebralight, etc. The dealer will welcome it, and you will be glad not to read any XXXFire crap logo/writing on your light. In fact, i myself dont like to see the word "..FIRE.." on any of my flashlight-related stuffz. Sometimes i cant avoid it (UltraFIRE 10440's, TrustFIRE 14500's, cheap chargers), sometimes i can (flashlights). Personally i feel cheap and dirty when i look at or use stuffz whose logo contains the word "..FIRE..". I feel better and superior when i use the identical product but the logo is an expensive brand logo. Btw I feel the same (cheap'n dirty vs. better'n superior) with regard to food from the supermarket manufactured by the identical food factory. If that's the definition of a snob, then i am a snob.
Now let's focus on the light:
I am neither ambitious about this nor is it a semi-professional type of review. Many reviews with detailed measurements and beamshots of the Quark 'X' AA² exist already, see for example HKJ, selfbuilt and mev. And there are to a ridiculous degree countless of youtube "reviews", videos where users present their Quarks (often starting with the unboxing of the nice packaging), the user interface and read off the specs into the video cam, and i am getting the feeling that no other Machined-In-China High-Performance Cree LED flashlight has been captured or mentioned on youtube more frequently than 4Sevens lights .. except for maybe lights by Fenix.
What's so special about a Quark in comparison to other competitive popular 1x Eneloop/14500 or 2x Eneloop flashlights with a similar shape and form factor, e.g. the Fenix LD10/LD20, JetBeam PA10/PA20, JetBeam BA10/BA20, Klarus P1A/P2A, EagleTac P100A2/P20A2, iTP SA1/SA2, Olight T15/T20, ThruNite Neutron 1A/2A, Sunawayman M10A/M20A?
The makers of the Quark openly communicate the eight 4Sevens Design Philosophies, and in my view the most outstanding pro's are:
- the brilliant user-interface with 5 brightness levels plus 3 blinky modes,
- the top of class highly efficient driver (Realworld runtime tests have been compiled on CPFMP),
- the customization thru its lego-ability (For a first-hand compilation of beautiful close-ups please enjoy CPF: Calling all Quarks, Quark Lego Review (updated with Beamshots and OTF numbers) / ti-force)
- the professional clip .. an aspect which should not be understated at all and cant be overrated enough!
The official Quark specs are published everywhere on the inet, and a company-made video clip of the operation of the user interface is posted on the product page. For a quick feature comparison see the Romisen RC-29 comparison table.
While the performance of the Quark 'X' AA² Tactical (2x Eneloop) was already reviewed and measured by several flashaholics, our review here treats the Quark 'X' AA Tactical (1x 14500), i.e. exchanging the default AA²-body of the Tactical offering with the separately purchased AA¹-body, and then finally run a single Protected 14500's 3.7V Li-Ion rechargeable cell in this setup. In an effort to create a near-to-perfect EDC flashlight we've preferred the Tactical offering to the Regular Quark because we really want the forward clicky with its forward momentary activation ("momentary on"). Furthermore, the torch should be able to tailstand: too many of our so-called 1x AAA-keychain lights, backup EDC's such as Fenix E01, iTP A3, Preon Revo, Klarus MiX6, Thrunite Ti, Nitecore T0, .. can barely do de tailstand, so at least our main EDC light should be able to do so. Both the Quark Regular Tail and the Quark Turbo Flat Tail provide such a secure tailstand -- If you combine the Regular Tailcap with the Tactical head, you lose the forward momentary on and activation is reversed: you get a "reverse momentary on", which means that you could still send in morse code, without fully pressing the click switch. Yes, on the paper (see below table) the Turbo Flat Tail is 2.00mm bulkier in diameter and ~3.5mm longer and thus, also heavier. In practice, however, you dont notice the difference in dimensions; it becomes marginal and unnoticeable -- believe me. This or that tail, in front of you, the Quark X AA looks and feels surprisingly small and thinnish.. probably because of the 3 nice-feeling grooves on the 19.0mm AA-body diameter. This Quark has a lot in common with the deservedly popular Xeno E03 XML, and you will only need one or the other. For a budgeteer, neither the Xeno E03 could be called a budget light; and it definitely isnt! So may this quick review give the budgeteer some idea what he/she's missing by choosing the Xeno E03 (or any other <30$ 1x AA-light) over this intriguing Quark setup.
Dimensions and weight. Here are my own exact measurements (numbers in italics are calculated sums and represent better the mean average. numbers in brackets are readings from a digital 5000g/1g-kitchen scale):
| weight w/o pocket clip and w/o rubber boot (grams) | total length or height (mm) | diameter (mm) | thickness (mm) | |
| Quark standard pocket clip | 6.130g /2, 3.063g, 3.068g [3g] | 51.05 | 1.04 (cp. Fenix LD20 0.81) |
|
| Quark Deep Carry pocket clip | 5.496g [5-6g] | 73.83 | 1.03 (cp. iTP A3 EOS 0.60) |
|
| Quark X low voltage head | 17.038g [17g] |
38.41 | bezel 22.00 (max. 22.10) | |
| Quark AA body | 14.672g [15g] | 51.61 | min. 19.00 | wall@threads: 1.30 | 1.335 |
| Quark AA² body | 29.373g [29g] | 101.72 | min. 19.00 | wall@threads: 1.365 | 1.37 |
| Quark Regular Tail |
9.890g [10g] | 24.43 | 22.15 | |
| Quark Tactical Tail |
10.009g [10g] | 28.00 (=24.40+3.60) | 21.99 | |
| Quark Turbo Flat Tail | 16.276g [16g] | 27.96 | 23.99 | |
| Quark X AA w/ Regular Tail | 42.012g (42.010g) [42g] |
95.45 | ||
| Quark X AA w/ Tactical Tail | 42.389g (42.371g) [42g] | 99.10 | ||
| Quark X AA w/ Turbo Flat Tail | 48.633g (48.638g) [49g] |
99.08 | ||
| Quark X AA² w/ Regular Tail | 56.711g [57g] | 145.60 | ||
| Quark X AA² w/ Tactical Tail | 57.072g [57g] | 149.00 | ||
| Quark X AA² w/ Turbo Flat Tail | 63.339g [63g] |
149.15 | ||
| rubber o-ring, small | (0.210g /2 =) 0.105g | 14.0 x 17.0 x 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| rubber o-ring, large | (0.254g /2 =) 0.127g | 16.0 x 19.0 x 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| rubber tail cover boot | (1.229g /3 =) 0.410g (Reg.) (2.609g /4 =) 0.652g (Tact.) |
5.1 (Reg.) 9.3 (Tact.) |
protruding Ø13.18 | 1.2 |
Example: If you have bought a Quark X AA² Tactical, then it comes with an installed standard pocket clip and a black rubber boot. The weight is calculated as
57.072 + 0.652 + 3.063 = 60.787 grams
Another example, my EDC light is the Quark XX AA with Tactical Tail, standard pocket clip, and GITD rubber boot, so the weight is calculated as
17.038 + 14.672 + 10.009 + 3.063 + 0.737 = 45.519 grams
The precision scale tells me 45.523g, and the kitchen scale jumps between 45g and 46g (which is pretty cool i thought).
Configuration. When you setup your AA-Quark with the XML low voltage head (0.9V~4.2V total), you have three options:
- pocket clip: Standard Clip | Deep Carry Clip | Gone Clip
- carry how: toothed ring Right | toothed ring Left
So we have 3x3x2 = 20 possibilities to make our Quark look good 
01,02
03,04
05,06
07,08
09,10
11,12
13,14
15,16
17,18
19,20
The Tailcaps. The three different tailcaps have different size, but no big deal. Let's note that the forward clickies require a good amount of pressure for the activation (half-press) or the click in (full-press)... which is good i guess. At least it doesnt feel cheap or unprofessional like the pressing of the Xeno E03 reverse clicky. The problem comes with the Turbo Flat Tailcap which comes with a recessed forward clicky for momentary on and which can tailstand very securely but which is extremely difficult to operate when you hold the torch in the fist-grip position: your thumb cant get around (even more!) the round aluminum tail edge to perform the full-press (or even the half-press). In cigar-grip hold, the awkward and unnatural thumb position/movement problem is gone and operating the Turbo Flat tailcap (TFtc) is all comfortable. Since the TFtc isnt U-shaped, my recommendation goes like this: If you need frequent and quick access to illumination from your Quark (or even need to wear gloves argh), then use the Tactical tailcap (Ttc) because its switch is so easily accessed and comfortable to operate no matter in which position you hold the torch. <-> If tailstand is essential part of your EDC flashlight usage (e.g. in candle mode with the tens of different Fenix LD20 diffuser tips), then use the TFtc. Interestingly, the switch of the Regular tailcap (Rtc) doesnt suffer as much from "inaccessibility" as the TFtc: it is easier to press and lies within much better reach for the thumb. Even with a Tactical head, i would not want to miss the Rtc: very compact in size, and you could still send in morse code with its reverse momentary activation. Also perfect tailstand. Sweet!
The rubber tail cover boot can be exchanged with the Quark Spare boot kit which provides the switch boots in black and blue rubber colors for your esthetic preference. The reason why the rubber boots are different in size (total height) is simple: the actual clickies inside the Regular Tailcap and the Tactical Tailcap differ in construction. A forward clicky is built mechanically and electronically different from a reverse clicky: a forward clicky is longer!
The pocket clip. It is known that the iTP A3 EOS Upgraded removable pocket clip is a flimsy piece of **** 
, material thickness 0.60mm. It is also known that the Fenix LD20 R5 removable pocket clip is very sturdy and of excellent quality, material thickness 0.80mm. The Quark clip is even sturdier, material thickness 1.00mm+!!
Well, at least the standard clip (Spc) is. The Deep Carry pocket clip (DCpc) doesnt behave as sturdy .. because of it's length: the lengthier something gets, the easier it gets to bend, oh well! This makes it easy to clip it half way through and attach it to a jeans trouser pocket. The upper part of the DCpc is, however, *very* tight/narrow and some would call it a pita to clip it all the way through (as originally devised -- that's the whole purpose of the clip you ****er!! 
) and fully attach it to a pocket: deep carry. It surely isnt a trivial thing to do, in practice. It's much easier and faster to clip a Quark with the Spc than with the DCpc. Much easier and faster. Other than that, the DCpc is lovely beautiful creation. Once clipped, it does its job perfectly (deep carry), looks good/professional, feels good/doesnt bother in the hand grip, clips very securely to your pocket, and can be mounted in any configuration (bezel up/bezel down, Rtc/Ttc/TFtc) as shown in the above pictures.
Baseball cap. And what about clipping the Quark to a baseball cap?
Hmm. For this dicussion, please re-examine pictures #15-#18. With the DCpc (#16, #18) you have the same problem as with the pockets: First, it is very difficult to get the baseball cap clipped fully through. And second, once you managed to do so, the torch does not wtf sit as tight as expected but tilts/rotates/swivels/pivots rather easily about the DCpc's extreme point, hmm. To solve this problem, simply try another baseball cap with a thinner (or softer, e.g. plastic) front cap. And with the Spc (#15, #17) -- now the torch sits tight on the front cap! -- a problem may arise from the cruising radius of the headlamp system. With the Quark head sticking out that long, it is vulnerable to getting bumped .. typically by doors or door frames when you swivel your head and dont pay attention. For casual application i dont mind clipped the Quark to a baseball cap either with the Spc (preferred!) or the DCpc (it hardly works!) but some of my other 1x AA-sized torches clip much better to a baseball cap. An alternative way and even really recommendable way of clipping the Quark to a baseball cap is using the DCpc to clip the torch to the side brim of the cap. The torch does indeed shine in front of you in the correct direction and tilting/rotating/twisting the cap is not necessary:
This setup works surprisingly well and saves you the cost of a headlamp or the US$ 20.00 Quark prism:
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