Big difference between the VTC5 and VTC5A - two different cells. VTC5A is way better.
SONY's here: https://liionwholesale.com/collections/batteries/Sony
Ohh - fyi. The VTC5A is the cell Mitko uses for quoting all his high numbers. Though a 3000 mAh is more useful for the full drain, the VTC5A does great for the first 30 secs 
Shoot - measured 26A on proto #1 with the XPL2 V5 4000K LED's, but that was on 30Q's @4.19V. Noticed I didn't try VTC5A's in it yet 
Ah! I posted an edit directly above your answer. Thanks for explaining that difference. Pretty sure I haven’t seen any VTC5A’s. Need to look into that…
I mentioned a lot of times how good VTC5A is but i guess i hadn’t the influence Tom has 
No prob. There's so much variations in cells in general, and they do seem to vary either charge by charge, or light to light, dunno. So far though, the VTC5A's have been consistently better than the VTC6's or 30Q's, and I've found them to do the best for the most part. My HE2's and HE4's do ok, but haven't been able to get consistent good results from them. I even tried the supposed super 2100 mAh cells, but didn't get any better results from them.
The old Sam 20R's were pretty good. I always hoped a 30R would be coming, but never did.
But Giorgo, everything you say is Greek to me! I need an interpreter… 
I probably forget everytime I hear it, so the next time I hear it it’s news to me all over again. And so it goes…
I’m sure you all know what 350 kcd looks like but I think this one is neat enough to post, it is quite like how it looks in reality 
The farthest reflecting bicyle is at 90 meter.
Like a frickin stage light!
Nice djozz.
Seems reasonable Dale
Hot wild Soup came
Bad:
only the pill
Good:
original Kan 28 switch
very good anodizing
very good reflector
Even stock glass is not bad either
About pill? It is not machined well, it has retaining ring for driver(so you can’t solder driver directly) and front flat side seems unbalanced(punctured) with nasty middle hole in middle? Terrible :confounded: It can’t be fittted with 20mm mcpcb without dremmeling cause it has les than 19mm id diameter.
T20 brass pill from fasttech does not fit cause it has shorter threads for 1mm. And I would really like that Mitko reply with direct link on what T20 pill will fit to it?
Yes I tried to modd it with old G2 S3 2B on 16mm noctigon and fet driver and all bypassed as it should be.
So I flattened the wires with the iron and that looks ugly but it usable with reflector. If you don’t do the same no freaking chance you’ll get usable beam with 16mm mcpcb and de domed emitter.
Now about temporary results:
I obviously have bad heat transfer because of bad pill but results are higher than 260 kcd for first 5 seconds than of course drastically drop occurs(even to 150kcd or lower) cause I don’t have proper heat transfer or pill now.
I did centering by eye method without centering ring.
But all mentioned is good. Why? There is still room for better centering the pill with Mitko method and larger 26mm mcpcb.
So if you want best performance:
- Arm yourself with nerves cause this ain’t that simple as it looks(especially if you want to go 16or20mm mcpcb route)
- Forget about 16 or 20mm mcpcb when it comes to this light (of course if you can )
- Listen to Mitko’s advice and get yourself 26mm mcpcb (that will save you a lot of trouble)
- Kapton tape is must for this light and yet if you don’t firmly press reflector in a place (i used super glue for reflector) when you will be tightening the bezel it will catch reflector and it will rotate it over solder joints and kapton tape you previously glued on the bottom of reflector and everything else on flashlight go by bye
Did I say that you must get 26mm mcpcb? Yes i did…
Good old school light. I like it!
And for now I dare to say that Djozz got spectacular results.
My prediction for my setup is around 300+kcd with proper modding(better centering and better pill of course) & + 15% more with old xp-g2 s4 2b.
No reply from Mitko. Anyone still need them?
I will know if i personally want copper pills or not after i receive my light . still waiting….
Got mine, put an XPL-Hi and Bistro in it. Impressive but had trouble getting ther reflector down to the emitter while preventing shorts, has a donut hole. I plan on trying to file it down to see if that will work. A better pill will be ideal
I received mine today . Good anodization , and reflector is great . Mine also came with a decent centering ring , a regular (convoy c8 style) black one .
26mm mcpcb is the way to go … sanded the pill and added a piece of copper in the old mcpcb place .
I will upload more info once i finish the mod .
tip: thin the base of the reflector as much as possible and do the same for the led centering piece.
Hmm , i was thinking not modding the reflector and have a centering ring as thin as it can be .
I’ll have to test it …
Maybe mod the MCPCB?
Cut grooves on the under side of the MCPCB (with diamond coated disc for example), bend the contacts down, file the bottom flat?
Sanded the centering ring , now it is paper thin . Used the stock LED , dedomed .
With a VTC5A running at 4.75A , i got 203kcd and 1420 lumens .
I think i can gain some more mA with a lower resistance fet and some shorter wires , i might give it a try . Also , i don’t like the glass , on the next one i will be using an AR coated .
With the 26mm mcpcb , there is no issue with led wires…
Everything is possible and I wanted to try similar but I change my mind. I don’t want to fiddle and destoroy everything because of 5$ 26mm mcbcb.
Btw even with 16mm mcpcb soldered very flat(as flat as possible to ± contacts) will bring 260kcd with old type xp-g2
Giorgoskok,
Nice results indeed. That will be easy 300+ kcd with old dd xpg2.
My 26mcpcb’s are on its way.
Edit: About glass… Good and proper glass cleaning can help a lot, and imho with ar glass there will not be any gain(at least ime with old jacob A60 modding… Beautiful? It is but is it worth? Not to me.)