Here is my initial review of the Peak LED Solutions "Logan 123 QTC" which was purchased from Overready.com. Their Peak lights come with aluminum bodies, SS momentary switches (if ordered) and SS heads. These lights are made in America which is rare these days.
Flashlights and knives are strange hobbies, you start off intrigued and before you know it the obsession has hit levels of eccentric you never imagined :p . This light is what I would probably consider my ideal "EDC" light even over the 4Sevens Quark or Zebralight SC51 in the $60-100 range at least.
The Logan is available in an almost limitless combination of battery options, operation/carry styles, output, materials, and optic ranges (wide to narrow). It also has an option for "High CRI" which I recall are in the 85-87 percent range.
Sidenote: The acronym CRI stands for "Color Rendering Index" or also known as "Color Accuracy", as it is a descriptor of how well the light bring out proper colors in the dark. Incandescent lights are considered 100. These lights tend to be more warm/orange/yellow and will produce less lumens than a cool white equivalent powered LED (as low as half as much). However while brighter Cool White LED's muddy colors and tend to disorient people for this reason. Different light for different uses and preferences.
Logan left (2700-3000k? High CRI) Vs Zebralight SC51w (4200k neutral led). Cool White is 6,000-6,500 typicically. Perspective is off, hotspot is similar in size
Recently the flashlight world has been experimenting with QTC (Quantum Tunneling Composite). This sandwich-able material conducts more electricity as it's compressed which has allowed lights a very primitive version of infinite variable output. The Peak use I believe a QTC within a Delrin pill allowing for less fussiness and more durability. On the note of fussiness, there is some flicker and the ramping isn't porcelain smooth but this non-electronic approach has its own flair for someone who has torch empathy
.According to Overready, the Logan running on an IMR16350 (same size as a CR123) will push about 300 on a cool white led. The high CRI is supposedly half that but it keeps up with my Zebralight SC51w rated at 172lumens OTF on a AA, if not beats it. With the IMR on high it also gets hot quick. Using a lithium primary I'm sure the numbers would make more sense and keep heat under control at full brightness.
QTC Operation is very simple. Twisting slowly clockwise ramps the XPG from almost a glowing match head to max brightness. With the momentary button a squeeze does the same thing. You can also go from moonlight brightness twisted to max brightness with the button squeeze, releasing returns it back to low brightness (or approximately).
Logan left, Zebralight right (at a blistering .18 lumens :p )
Ordering these lights you can get extra bodies for various battery options, different heads for led brightness/type/beam profile, and different tail caps (keychain, button, and flat/short). I hear all Overready versions come at level 8 (max bright) and narrow optic so without QTC you have a very simple tactical single-mode light. If ordered elsewhere a similar configuration can be assembled with a level 1-8 brightness which comes obviously different runtime as well. A level 6 is about half as bright as an 8 I hear. Please either confirm this or assume a 50% drop per 2 levels.
For AAA lovers the equivalent to the Logan is the Eiger and optioned similar. The beam per optic type will be a little more floody and the capacity/brightness will be less as we know in the AAA/AA and lithium equivalent race.
Clips for the Logan are made by Overready but currently unavailable.
My initial experience with this light has few cons. The QTC is obviously less accurate than an electronic mode (but also easier to replace or disable). It flutters a bit at the beginning and can "dance" at low levels a few lumens. The o-ring is a tad chubby so putting the head back on is more time consuming than the 4sevens, ZL, Nitecore, Surefire (and so on) lights. Lastly while water resistant I wouldn't push my luck past operating in the rain.
This wasn't intended as a FAQ for Peak lights, QTC or other terms mentioned. I don't claim to be an expert in lights or even remotely intelligent :p . It's not a promise that your experience with any product above won't range fron disaster to bliss (always a chance for a dud in manufacturing). It was written to perhaps *peak* your interest in the technologies and give one more option to those who want a different product and try to buy only American made goods.
Comparison in size: Dereelight C2H/Javelin Hybrid (p60), Nitecore Extreme, Zebralight SC51w, Peak Logan 123 with momentary switch
Whether its a #6 Eiger 1-mode for your Dad in brass for a Father's Day or a quirky QTC for the nerds out there ( :) ) I think Peak has some pretty overlooked products to say the least.
Thanks for reading!
Edit: removed "OTF" from the lumen notes. While the manufacturer notes on Overready's site are probably true lumens, I don't want to get into a rating war :) . The way these are driven though is according to voltage.
