Foursevens Quark Tactical heads!

[Dan B]

After a while of careful watching and waiting I finally scored a pair of Foursevens Quark Tactical heads. In particular these are the Gen 2 QT2L-X, the last and best ones made before all the legal shenanigans went down.

Here they are with the old QT2L head that they are replacing.

I'm curious, does anyone else have any lights that they love which for one reason or another are no longer available?

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[Poncho65]

OK, school me I am not very light savvy and I don't know the difference between these and regular heads and what legal shenanigans

They look nice   what are the benefits of these Sorry of you posted this somewhere else and I missed it

[AimlessWanderer]

OK, school me I am not very light savvy and I don't know the difference between these and regular heads and what legal shenanigans

They look nice   what are the benefits of these Sorry of you posted this somewhere else and I missed it

I know none of this either. All I know, is they look quite different to mine.

[Dan B]

I'll work on getting a big explanation posted this afternoon when I get home from work, but the things that I love the most about these are that they have the highest output of the Quark Tacticals and the don't have something called pre-flash when going into low mode.

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[Don Pablo]

I don't think that any of my lights have anything resembling a 'bright flash' when going into low mode.

[Dan B]

I don't think that any of my lights have anything resembling a 'bright flash' when going into low mode.

It was a problem that was unique to the older generation Quark lights.

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[ezdog]

Essentially what happened was that SureFire sued 4/7 claiming a breach of their Intellectual Property regarding the User Interface designed into the operation of the Quark lights.
SF won a Judgement and 4/7 was forced to redesign and rethink the way the User Interface of the Quark line worked.

This is what led eventually to David Chow the founder of 4/7 to sell the company which is now owned by the owner of Prometheus Lights.

That is the short version.

I have a few Streamlights with terrible Pre Flash as well.
Ironic to me is that the worst is the so called EMS light which is supposed to be useful for EMS responders to administer Eye Exams as needed?
I guess it is not a problem as long as your Low Level Eye Exam isn't started with a Blinding Flash somehow?

[Dan B]

Essentially what happened was that SureFire sued 4/7 claiming a breach of their Intellectual Property regarding the User Interface designed into the operation of the Quark lights.
SF won a Judgement and 4/7 was forced to redesign and rethink the way the User Interface of the Quark line worked.

This is what led eventually to David Chow the founder of 4/7 to sell the company which is now owned by the owner of Prometheus Lights.

That is the short version.

I have a few Streamlights with terrible Pre Flash as well.
Ironic to me is that the worst is the so called EMS light which is supposed to be useful for EMS responders to administer Eye Exams as needed?
I guess it is not a problem as long as your Low Level Eye Exam isn't started with a Blinding Flash somehow?

That's pretty much what happened. My own opinion is that the patent should have never been granted for a number of reasons, but we won't go down that particular rabbit hole today.

Suffice it to say that this is the reason why rotating the head as a means of changing a flashlight's mode suddenly disappeared and everyone went to side buttons.

It's interesting to hear that Streamlight was having some of the same pre-flash issues. I had never heard of it in another light.

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[Don Pablo]

That's pretty much what happened. My own opinion is that the patent should have never been granted for a number of reasons, but we won't go down that particular rabbit hole today.

Suffice it to say that this is the reason why rotating the head as a means of changing a flashlight's mode suddenly disappeared and everyone went to side buttons.

It's interesting to hear that Streamlight was having some of the same pre-flash issues. I had never heard of it in another light.

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First, I'm probably mistaken here, mixing together different things.
That said....
Isn't the above bolded text basically a "twisty" light, like you see on many AAA lights? Or is it a different thing entirely?

[styx]

Essentially what happened was that SureFire sued 4/7 claiming a breach of their Intellectual Property regarding the User Interface designed into the operation of the Quark lights.
SF won a Judgement and 4/7 was forced to redesign and rethink the way the User Interface of the Quark line worked.

This is what led eventually to David Chow the founder of 4/7 to sell the company which is now owned by the owner of Prometheus Lights.

That is the short version.

I have a few Streamlights with terrible Pre Flash as well.
Ironic to me is that the worst is the so called EMS light which is supposed to be useful for EMS responders to administer Eye Exams as needed?
I guess it is not a problem as long as your Low Level Eye Exam isn't started with a Blinding Flash somehow?

By the end 4/7 also had some QC issues. I remember some of their models exploding or bursting into flames

[gustophersmob]

-snip-

I'm curious, does anyone else have any lights that they love which for one reason or another are no longer available?

The fenix LD01 is a favorite of mine that is no longer made. I've been carrying this one for 6-7 years I think now. I also have two NIB ones in reserve

[Dan B]

First, I'm probably mistaken here, mixing together different things.
That said....
Isn't the above bolded text basically a "twisty" light, like you see on many AAA lights? Or is it a different thing entirely?

Not exactly. That's just using twisting the head. If you read the Surefire patent it says "the portable lighting system may be operated using a push-button switch, a rotatable potentiometer, or other appropriate types of user control interfaces."

If you want to read the patent for yourself I believe this is the applicable one, but that's just me looking at the various patents that Surefire has and finding the one that sounds like it would apply.

https://patents.justia.com/patent/9144130#history



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[Dan B]

By the end 4/7 also had some QC issues. I remember some of their models exploding or bursting into flames

I've heard of issues with their Quark Smart lights. They got too cute with that one anyway and I didn't understand why until a couple of years later when I found out about the patent issues.

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[Dan B]

The fenix LD01 is a favorite of mine that is no longer made. I've been carrying this one for 6-7 years I think now. I also have two NIB ones in reserve

It's always good to have a few in reserve, isn't it?

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[Poncho65]

Thanks for the explanations guys

I have never really heard of these lights and didn't really know anything about them 

[Don Pablo]

Thanks for the explanations guys

I have never really heard of these lights and didn't really know anything about them 

Ditto. 
4/7 are completely new to me.

[AimlessWanderer]

My 4sevens Quark (pictured above) has been a very solid performer for several years now, and is my most carried light. I think most if not all of my lights are discontinued or superceded now.

[Dan B]

Sorry, y'all. I was going to do a video tonight all about these lights but being daddy got in the way. It might be the weekend before I can get it done.  I did get it all set up though so I'll give y'all a teaser shot of that!

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[Don Pablo]

Looking good! 

[styx]

I've heard of issues with their Quark Smart lights. They got too cute with that one anyway and I didn't understand why until a couple of years later when I found out about the patent issues.

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yea, shame they went down. to be fair they were the only proper competition Fenix had before Zebras and Olights came into their own. not to say they weren't good but they weren't known by as many people.

all I'm glad to see them back. and being a daddy comes first. I think everyone here would agree that the yungins take precedence over a bunch of guys and gals drooling over gadges, gizmos and other fun things

[Dan B]

Alright! I got the video done. 


https://youtu.be/mYffJyM9kQk


I'm not entirely satisfied with it but oh well, you'll get the important stuff.  Also, you'll notice not only how the packaging changes over time, but also the different markings that are on some of the lights.


Enjoy!

[Poncho65]

Been busy the last few days and just now getting back to this Thanks for the pics, Dan and thanks for the shout out in the video Great stuff and thanks for that

[AimlessWanderer]

Great video, Dan 

I've not noticed any pre-flash on mine, but then again, I don't have it programmed at the lower levels. I might see how low I can set it without getting that.

Could you confirm if mine (shown in reply #2) is the original version, please? I have both the single and double AA tubes for it, but gave the CR123 tube away. Would I be right in assuming from your video that I can run one of those 14500s on the single AA tube?

[Dan B]

Great video, Dan 

I've not noticed any pre-flash on mine, but then again, I don't have it programmed at the lower levels. I might see how low I can set it without getting that.

Could you confirm if mine (shown in reply #2) is the original version, please? I have both the single and double AA tubes for it, but gave the CR123 tube away. Would I be right in assuming from your video that I can run one of those 14500s on the single AA tube?

Thank you for the kind words.  I made another video for you to answer your question, but the short answer is yes.


https://youtu.be/dItAp2kQfBI

[AimlessWanderer]

Thank you for the kind words.  I made another video for you to answer your question, but the short answer is yes.


https://youtu.be/dItAp2kQfBI

Excellent! Many thanks, Dan.  I've owned that light for so long, and any paperwork that came with it is long since discarded, that it was safer me to ask someone with the facts, than risk causing damage 

[Dan B]

Could you confirm if mine (shown in reply #2) is the original version, please?

It's definitely an older one.  The ones towards the end were called "Quark X Tactical."  However they had several generations along the way which were mostly LED changes.  At some point they changed to a larger LED and had to make the hole in the reflector larger.  If you look on the older ones you will see a small flange on the back of the reflector whereas the later ones suddenly end.  I think that this happened before the switch in nomenclature, but right now my daughter is reading herself to sleep with the one light that I have from that period so I'll have to check later.


If you want to know more about what LED's they were using and when, I'd look at their website through archive.org's "Wayback Machine."

[Dan B]

Excellent! Many thanks, Dan.  I've owned that light for so long, and any paperwork that came with it is long since discarded, that it was safer me to ask someone with the facts, than risk causing damage 

No problem!  I'm glad I could help you!

[AimlessWanderer]

It's definitely an older one.  The ones towards the end were called "Quark X Tactical."  However they had several generations along the way which were mostly LED changes.  At some point they changed to a larger LED and had to make the hole in the reflector larger.  If you look on the older ones you will see a small flange on the back of the reflector whereas the later ones suddenly end.  I think that this happened before the switch in nomenclature, but right now my daughter is reading herself to sleep with the one light that I have from that period so I'll have to check later.


If you want to know more about what LED's they were using and when, I'd look at their website through archive.org's "Wayback Machine."

You've told me everything I need to know, Dan  The type of emitter would be meaningless to me I know it's a warm white, but that's it. I've been using it with 2xAA for many years, and it's been a great light, and has tolerated a lot of hard use, in very unforgiving environments. It's a shame they got caught up in all the shenanigans.