4Sevens Quark Mini AA2

Often I have mentioned, in reviewing flashlights, my fondness for (or rather, my fond memories of) the Mini Maglite.  I owned a handful of those little AA incandescent torches because they were the ones my father always used.  (He still owns several and called me once because he couldn’t remember where the spare bulb was stored — but after leaving a message, he found it in the plastic holder under the tailcap spring.)  When I was a young man, those lights were the standard by which I gauged all other pocket torches.

Today, things are very different, and one of the biggest problems I encounter in choosing a pocket light is choosing one that isn’t TOO bright.  (The Mini Maglite never had that problem.  It was handy but very weak.)

You can imagine my delight when I discovered a light that was roughly the same size as those lights (it is a bit more compact) that uses two AA batteries but offers much more versatility.  That utility torch is the Mini AA2 by 4Sevens.  It ships with a lanyard and two batteries, has excellent fit and finish, and is nicely packaged (as are all 4Sevens lights).

The light is 5 inches long and 0.7 inches in diameter.  Weighing in at just an ounce, the light bears a knurling pattern very reminiscent of the old Mini Maglite.  It has a lanyard mount in the tail cap, but more significantly, it has a pocket clip mounted at the very end of the shaft.  This produces a nice, low ride in the pocket (be it in your pants or in your shirt or coat).  Be advised, however, that the clip is indistinguishable from that of a knife.  I once got grief at a security checkpoint at the State Fair because one of the idiots screening fairgoers mistook my flashlight clip for a folding knife clip.

The LED lamp  has multiple modes of operation, all accessed by turning the body quickly on and off.  Low is 3 lumens, medium is 36 lumens, and high is an impressive 180 lumens, with total burn times of 3.4 days, 8.8 hours, and 1.7 hours respectively.  After you cycle through low-medium-high twice, you get to switch through the special output modes.  These are a very quickly blinking, nausea-inducing strobe, an SOS blink pattern, a high-power blinking beacon, and a low-power beacon.  In theory, the low beacon could run for 88 hours on a good set of batteries.

Given its length, the Mini AA2 would not be terribly comfortable just lying in the bottom of a pocket.  It will, however, make a convenient daily carry when using the pocket clip.  It’s long enough to be used as a pocket stick and versatile enough for any utility chore you ask of it.  This is a good compromise across multiple areas of need, which is what carrying a utility torch is all about.