Mini 18350 Pocket Zoomie

So I’ve fallen in love… with the Emisar D4 18350 Quad XP-L Hi :heart_eyes: Having such a compact little light with 4 super bright LED’s is so much fun. I find myself never leaving home without it now. But it has it’s limits; it has very little throw. So I was thinking, “why don’t they make a 18350 zoomie. Maybe even with a XP-L Hi?”

So I start looking, and came up empty handed. There are TONS of 18650 zoomies I found with every xxxFire under the sun branded on them. But no big manufacturers like Jaxman, Convoy, Nitecore etc have anything like this. So, I decided to try it out myself. I had a leftover Meco zoomie flashlight that we were doing testing on while debunking the LumiTact G700 a few years back. So I decided to cut it down to a shorter size.

Disclaimer: This is what I’d call a “proof of concept.” So go easy guys :beer:


Next to the Emisar D4 18350:

Fully extended:

I had no way to re-thread the end of the body, so I took a cheap-o flaslight’s tailcap and pressed it on (pretty permanently) to the end. I drilled 2 notches in the pill at the front to take everything apart again. The LED and driver are stock so it has very little output. But I plan on putting a FET and a XPL in it next.

Overall, I really like it. I think if we could convince a manufacturer to build a BLF designed one, it might catch on. The pill itself has almost 3/4in of empty space in it that could be used to shorten it even further. Along with shorter springs and a narrower head maybe.

What do you guys think? How many would be interested in buying something like this?

Ugly but cool :smiley: :+1:

Thanks! Yea the blue tailcap doesn’t help and I think the head needs to be slimmed a little bit. :+1:

Edit: And thanks for the name correction. Not sure why I had Manker in my head

What about that extra space, room for more cell?

I suppose you could cut the pill down and use a 18500 maybe?

I was thinking the other way. Cut down the pill so it backs up to the bottom of the LED shelf, cut the body down the same amount and keep the 18350. Might be able to shorten it an extra 1/2 inch.

I think the body of those is made extra wide for a 3X AAA cell holder. So, it could be MUCH thinner. But, the concept is definitely cool! Maybe find a slim 18650 zoomie and start with that. If you wanted to make it even more unique, make a collapsible zoom slider. So, it would be two or more pieces that extend out of each other to zoom and collapse down for flood mode. That would make it possible for the overall length of the flashlight to be even shorter when in flood mode. That would probably work best with twist zoom action, rather than push/pull.

Do what Flashy Mike did to his Q8:

But with a D4 on one end and a D1 on the other. It will probably still be shorter than your frankenzoomie.

David, you’re right. It was originally a 3 AAA battery light. It has a sleeve I had to cut down to keep the battery centered. That’s a great idea on the twist zoom over the push pull. I’m going to look for some cheap-o xxxFire lights that fit the bill and try it again with something smaller. I really love the Jaxman Z1 design. I wonder if they want to make it a baby brother :laughing:

I think we should put D4’s on either end, turn them on turbo and then toss it around like a “hot potato” :smiley: New party game. Everyone has to sign a wavier saying you won’t suit.

Frankenzoomie is a great name for it! I wish I had a lathe and a tap & die set so I could properly cut and thread the tube. Unfortunately I’m a small time, home DIY’er that is lathe-less :weary: