Pack Essentials: Mini ML
A FOURSEVENS light of some kind has been with me for four years and has well and truly earned its place on my essential gear list.
FOURSEVENS is a brand that, in my eyes, finds the perfect balance between quality and affordability. I was in search of a solid dependable light that was both bright and had a good runtime. To achieve these goals in their fullest sense requires more and often bigger batteries, leaving you potentially trying to get something as big as a police truncheon in your pocket. The balance of weight to power is the next thing to find. This is where the other balance has to be found in searching for the right flashlight for you.
I first saw the Quark Mini on the wildly popular blog EverydayCarry.com back in 2011 while the blog was still in its early days. A good friend and colleague of mine gifted me one of these on the birthday I begun my EDC journey. The Quark Mini CR2 was really my first non-Maglite and the beams brightness was simply intoxicating. I’d always been underwhelmed by Maglite’s incandescent bulb, and while they have now updated all their ranges with LED’s, I’ve well and truly got the FOURSEVENS bug.
In the beginning of 2014 I won a competition put on by RealWorld EDC and part of the prize was a brand new Mini ML. I used it to replace my 3-year-old Mini, relucantly retiring it to a desk job. With 3 brightness levels and three special outputs strobe, SOS and beacon, the Mini is very versatile; FOURSEVENS have even released a Headlamp Kit that works with most of the Mini range. The responsive twist-on operation is easy to use, even when wearing gloves or operating with one hand. I also found that if it’s only lightly twisted off, an even quicker operation is achieveable by squeezing the head of the light down against the body.
There’s a Mini model for whatever battery you’d prefer to use. The specs vary a little depending on your choice, but the FOURSEVENS goal of “making performance flashlights more affordable” is perfectly achieved with each one. With prices ranging from $40-$50, it is truly the perfect main, or even backup light for your pack or pockets. I especially think it’s a solid choice for a gift, demonstrated by the fact that I purchased one for my friend in return!
Anything I post up will have spent time in my pack; either joining me for specific trips or being carried with me every day.
The product(s) being tested and reviewed here were won in a competition that was not created by FOURSEVENS.
Editor: All of our contributors write without the pressure to review favourably, regardless of how they’ve been obtained. Most often we like to write about products or brands we already love but I always make every effort to make sure our reviews are honest. If you would like to read more about our review process please see our About page.