I had mod a J18 with a new 7x board from Kaidomain, 3 MNKE 26650 ($15 each). It is definitely brighter than a stock 9xT6 ak47. Since the ak47 yields probably near 3,400lm, I’d say 5,500lm is about right for the mod’d J18.
I bought 10 of 9xT6 to distribute among people I know. I did mod one of them with a 9x board from Kai. Ran tested it with a 7.5amp 12v Power supply and with the MNKE 26650. It runs very hot quickly, but yield brightness just a tad brighter, if any, to the mod J18. So considering its larger size, power drain, cost, yielded perceived brightness, the J18 is the more worthwhile flashlight to modify.
Also, 2 of 10 ak47 did not work. I traced it to the center LED of the 9x set, on both. That’s a bit of strange coincidence, I thought. And the interesting part was that in this 9xT6, the LED star was labeled “XML U2” ! On the J18 7xT6, they were labeled just “XML”. So if the U2 is marketed as 17% brighter than T6, your eyes can barely tell.
Anyway, the stock 12x or stock 15x on just the same 3 batts 26650 would just drain it faster but shouldn’t noticeably brighter than a modified (and smaller to carry) J18.
We spent a weekend at the beach in FL, the J18 is so impressive as did the ak47. They’d sweep the low tide beach from easily 100yrds away, revealed fishermen in the dark. That was illegal for them to run net on shallow water so they did it at night. While impressed with the flashlights, They requested me not to attract cops attention to the area. LOL
You’d be happy with any of these lights, I believe. I just pointed out trade-offs of efficiency, price, size and resulted light perception.
oh cool… and yes please post the the mod to this light.