Warranty service for neutral white quark x aa2

esprout

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Jun 17, 2012
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Since foursevens no longer makes quark lights or neutral tint lights, how would my quark x aa2 in neutral tint be serviced? Would I get the same neutral tint light back repaired? Or just be offered a replacement light with cool white tint?

Thank you in advance for the clarification.
 

AB8XL

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Mar 10, 2011
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They usually just replace with what ever the new model is, at least that's what they have done for both occasions I have RMA'd lights back to them.
 

Hondo

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First, has the circuit really cashed in? Have you done the run-down of cleaning all contacts, and tried shorting the batteries to the end of the battery tube? A bad switch would show up that way, and would ensure you could keep your neutral head as-is.

I do doubt they held back any neutral lights for the purpose of warranty replacement, it has been years now since they were made.
 

esprout

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The circuit is intermittent, I need to wack the head against something to get it turn on. Then when I try to switch to turbo mode, it usually turns off, although sometimes it continues to work. Then from there it's won't get into strobe mode most of the time, either turning off again, or just go back to turbo mode with another quick power cycle via tail switch. Maybe once out of 50 or so times it'll actually go into strobe, and I can go back and forth from turbo to strobe only a few times until light just turns off again. Only thing I can think of is there's a detached solder join in the head that is intermittently bridging the circuit when I wack it. Maybe too much current on turbo opens that circuit back up. It may actually be repairable, but I rather not try to take the head apart and void the warranty.

If I don't go into turbo, and the light is in a good mood, I can usually use it in non-turbo modes for quite a while. But then it'll randomly go glitchy again and I have to wack it multiple times until I bruise my leg to CPR it back to life.

I don't want to trade the light for any of the current ones, so I guess I'll limp along until hopefully foursevens will have a limited run of neutrals sometime in the next few years.
 

AB8XL

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I wouldn't count on them ever doing another run of neutral lights. In emails to them and from other forum members posts they have no desire to appease us neutral snobs because the volume isn't there for their profit margins.
 

Hondo

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esprout, yoyo is right, the trend is for the long haul - but don't count it out yet!

You are right, it sounds like a bad contact, and it *could* be inside the head, but it could still be coming from something you can easily fix. Try this:

Take off the head and switch cap, and wipe off all of the lube from the tube. Then put a piece of fine sandpaper (320 to 600 grit silicon carbide wet/dry is ideal) on a flat surface. Press each end of the tube down on the paper and twist and translate to cut a fresh surface on the aluminum.

Now clean out inside the head and tail, especially on the flats up inside that the end of the tube you just sanded contact. Apply a light lube, vaseline is fine for 4-sevens lights, on the threads and O-ring. Put it together and give it a try.

If that is not making a difference, take the tail cap back off and get a piece of wire, paper clip is good, and bend it so you can hold it firmly between the back of the batteries and the end of the battery tube, keeping the light on. Now try your modes at the head. If that makes it work, the connection issue is in the switch. If so, with a pair of small needle nose pliers, you can grab the two holes in the aluminum ring holding the switch in and turn it. Sometimes, it is just loose. If it's tight, loosen and remove it, and dump the switch out. Then you can clean the mating surfaces between them. If that does not fix it, at least all you need is a new switch or whole tail cap from them, and your neutral head is still going.
 

esprout

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Joined
Jun 17, 2012
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I wouldn't count on them ever doing another run of neutral lights. In emails to them and from other forum members posts they have no desire to appease us neutral snobs because the volume isn't there for their profit margins.

Hmm, maybe massdrop could convince them with enough of an order, never say never :)

Regardless, I don't see any lights in the lineup that I'd want as replacement at the moment. The 1st gen quark smart seems too glitchy still, and they haven't gotten android app yet. Hopefully future quark smart series will become more polished as the glitches are eventually worked out.
 

Got Lumens?

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Mar 12, 2011
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I wouldn't count on them ever doing another run of neutral lights. In emails to them and from other forum members posts they have no desire to appease us neutral snobs because the volume isn't there for their profit margins.
You are incorrect Sir. David did make the NW's/WW's/HCRI's at CPF member's requests. Minimum order of 500+ units each. At the time many Dealers had a hard time selling them also. More than half the NW/WW/HCRI special run lights sat on warehouse shelves for over the course of a two year period tying up much needed resources to invest in other products. Snobs was not the problem, not having enough snobs was. At the time Profit margins had nothing to due with it. David's dealers were not reordering wholesale a product that sits and does not sell. The biggest trouble with these lights back at that that time was there was little effort explaining the benefits, and not educating public consumers on the benefits of these special emitters. The fact the light had a lesser lumen figure drove most lay flashlight person's to go with the higher lumens of CW, and skip NW/WW/HCRI all together thinking more is better, leaving invested capitol in these lights unavailable to the retailer's.

Fast forward to 2019.
Now Foursevens will be designing and making lights that have better CRI and color temperature. The shape of the hex die'd Nichia LEDs adds better beam shape and color temperature than the Cree LEDs. esprout You might consider RMA'ing your light towards a MKIII Quark QK2A once they become available. Your existing Quark might be able to be repaired by a modder that can open the glued head. The existing driver would then be repaired or replaced by the modder.
 
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