I finished a mod of my HD2010 by replacing the XML T6 with a U3 -- looking good! Also just got in yesterday the King Kong's, and tried them -- wow, dangerous amp territory of 5.6A. Wish I had a basis of before/after comparison though - not setup for beam shots. The beam spot's size seems unchanged, though I'm seeing a good amount of rings. I got a mod'ed crelant 7G9 whcih has a much tighter spot, so this is stil the case before/after. Waiting til dark to see if I can tell by distance, though I don't have a good place to test this locally.
The mod was pretty simple - got a 16mm U3 1C from Intl Outdoor, same size as original. The old one came off pretty easily, then had to cleanup the pill surface. Used the Arctic Alumina Part A/B to secure it down, weighted it overnight actually. Hardest part was centering it, didn't fit snug, had some play. The driver is still pretty scary though - need to replace it with a regulated one, thinking a KD V2, adding 2 380mAh's, so result would be 3.8A - the 4.6A on a 18650 and 5.6A on a 26650 is scary.
This is difficult - just looked at the UF-V3 U2, EDC18650 U2, and the 7G9 to compare. In tint, it seems to match the 7G9. Unfortunately, I haven't been noticing tint, so hard to compare to the prior HD2010 - I bought another HD2010 but gave it to my client. The spot is very white, but has a yellowish type aura around it, just like the 7G9 - the 7G9 has a tighter, cleaner more well defined spot. Brightness is again difficult - wish I had a stock HD2010. It sure seems damn bright though, doing some 50-120 meter tests, and boy it lights things up! For those distances, it's better than the 7G9 because it appears to throw more total light, bigger spot, but of course the mod'ed 7G9 needs 300m+ to really stretch it's legs. I would say it's brighter than it was, but hard to quantify that.
Well Ledsmoke, for 5+ amps your name sure fits! actually last night, I did smoke my C8 U2 from LightMalls by tightening the head with the power on high. This light runs 4.5 to 5.1A on a pana unprotected, and by tightening the head, the emitter actually rotated, assuming the solder softened up, and ended up blowing out an IC on the driver. So, time for a U3 and KD V2 driver update for the C8 - regulated drivers do have their advantages. I would go for 3.8A though (adding 2 piggy-back 380 7135's) , that's what my thinking is now at least... This C8 seems to manage the heat pretty well (accept the LED or star??)and I got the good Arctic Alumina adhesive and grease.
, that's what my thinking is now at least... This C8 seems to manage the heat pretty well (accept the LED or star??)and I got the good Arctic Alumina adhesive and grease.