Is an emitter swap simple and straight forward? Mine came as Cree instead of Nichia. I haven’t opened it yet.
If the emitter is an easy swap I’ll keep it. If not, I’d rather gift it without opening it.
Go for it and let us know 
I have not tried, but Ive had several modded for me by others
here is an sw45k in a Maratac head, on the eSwitch Tool body
Thanks! This looks interesting. I will add the link to OP for reference.
Its pretty easy if you can reflow another 3535 emitter on. No glue used, just unscrew the pill, pull the led protector out and unsolder the positive and negative wire to the mcpcb. Pull the mcpcb out, unsolder the led off the mcpcb, reflow emitter of your choosing back on. Place it back it the pill with a little thermal compound sandwiched in between and solder the wires back, add the led protector back. Screw the pill back in and your done. Its one of the easiest lights I have done.
I think I remember one model using a aluminum mcpcb maybe one had a copper mcpcb (not sure). Copper is really not needed in such a low current light.
Awesome. Thanks! 
Seems simple enough—I’ll give it a go.
still waiting for my CuTool
took 6 days to reach USA
spent 10 days in Illinois
and is now in Texas, just one state away from me
so far it has taken 17 days in shipping, and I dont have the light yet…
possibly the worst delay in a drop purchase I have experienced… thanks to them using DHL
but, soon enough it will come
Weird. The few times I’ve used DHL from China, it has taken about 2 or 3 days to get to me in Canada. But it’s costly.
normal for me
DHL received a package for me in Germany on Nov 19… tracking says it is still there… thats 18 days with no sign of the package reaching USA yet…
DHL Express, and DHL Ecommerce are two very different shipping methods. Not 100% that Ecommerce is correct name, but whatever it is called it is the economy side of DHL. And in all cases I’ve had it used for shipping it is way slower then Epacket. Seems to get in the US fairly quickly, then in my experience takes weeks bouncing around multiple states before it is finally delivered.
Slowest shipping I’ve experienced thus far.
It also seems like DHL Express has taken a big hit on speed lately. About six months ago they were 2-4 days to me from China, now they are barely faster then Epacket which typically is 7-10 days for my local. DHL Express starts at about $15.00 added to cost of item. The biggest benefit in DHL Express is accurate/quickly updated tracking so for more expensive packages worth it to me.
Both Ecommerce and Express DHL all the delays seem to be once it hits the US.
Following the trackin number I discovered the next message: "04.12.2019 10:16:01 [China Post]
[Guangzhou International] Return, Remarks: *Returned by security check*".
:O :FACEPALM:
I asked the Drop's customer service and they asked me if I want a replacement. I said "of course, but this time, send the correct (Cree) version."
I am waiting for an answer/sign from them.
mine took about 2 weeks
wle
The Drop's CS told me that they shipped it again.Will see if a tracking number pops up.
The Nextool Flagship 16-in-1 Pro Multi-Tool is $30 on Drop.com, and has been for a while.
If the $20 off promotion works on this item, the total will be $10.
https://drop.com/buy/nextool-flagship-16-in-1-pro-multi-tool
Thread on the Nextool:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/57193
I don't know if the Nextool on Drop.com has locking blades, however.
Just to update the resistor mod for changing low and med resistors. Changing them around on the Lumintop aaa tool, (not Drop aaa tool) does not work. You will end up with low,low, and high. This is for the Lumintop version that has med, low, high in that order. I think the reason is that in med the current runs just thru the med resistor (1 ohm) so changing it to a higher resistance (10 ohm or higher) gives you a low in the first mod. But when you click on off for the next mode which is original low mode, now the current switches to run thru original low resistor first which is in series with the med resistor to the led. Now the current is running thru both resistors and is low also. I havent probed around with the circuit actually running but in my lumen tube both modes (med and low) produce about the same lumens with the resistors switched around. I think this could probably be fixed by cutting the traces to the fet’s gate and rearranging them. I havent tested that yet but when the mode contoller or mcu (not sure which it is) says turn on med first instead it turns on low fet and when it cycles to next mode it says turn on low fet and it would turn on med fet. No resistors would have to be changed. Its just a matter of fouling the controller in which fet to turn on. If anyone happens to try this please post up your findings. This will probably not be easy to do since its so tiny, so try at your own risk.
.
Please note this is for the original Lumintop AAA tool not the Drop tool being discussed in this thread. They are the same except mode order. Changing the low resistor to a higher value still gives you a lower low in either version of the tool.
My Nichia order finally arrived yesterday and guess what… Cree XPG3. Too bad. Replied to the Drop CS email and they claim to have Nichia units available to swap mine with. I”ll ship it back (by pre-paid label) Monday and in another 4-6wks we will see if they were telling the truth!
I think the swapped nichia will be shipped from US, not from China.
I dropped mine off with UPS on Saturday, Just a couple hours later, I got an email from Brett saying that he sees the RMA package is on the way and he initiated the replacement process at Drop. I guess they have some kind of UPS receipt trigger service to the RMA originator. Seriously impressive customer service!
thanks, I deleted my post about that
this is your original post in case it helps others
Hey Folks,
I got the Cree version also. Sent a message to Drop and Got a refund, so cannot really complain.
Any reason why they have given you a refund instead of shipping the item back? I ordered the nichia and haven’t received it yet.