I've done a little reading but can't seem to find a consensus. My ITP A1 is pretty bright on high for such a small light but I'm wondering if there's anything brighter.
Thrunite Neutron 1C?
Buy an Ultrafire 501A body, put a Manafont 3-mode XM-L drop-in in it, and for $20 or less you will have the brightest light on your block. Be sure to get a dropin that will run on 3v, or you will have to use the rechargeable Cr123'as.
My custom A30B for $30bucks with a bestinone 16340 in it will put out 800 lumens before it burns your hands to shreds.
hrmm...ok, how about the brightest stock, unmodified single CR123 light? I'm not quite up to building my own just yet. Laziness more than anything... Well, more like laziness combined with the self awareness that I tend to have bad luck when working with electronics. Bad luck as in things catching fire or blowing out. So for now, I'll settle with stock stuff till I learn a bit more about how to build my own.
Is this the drop-in you mean or is there another one? I see a few T6 drop-ins on their site but only this one that is 3-mode.
That is the generic one, not sure how hard it is driven. The Ultrafire ones they sell for about $16 are a favorite of folks around here, they are quite bright. Then again, if you are using 1 Cr123, it might be better to have one not driven so hard so that you get a longer runtime. Also, watch your voltage, you need one that runs on 3.0v
Solarforce-sales.com has several that would work as well.
Any XM-L , that's driven hard ...
I have two XM-L A20's ... 16340
And I built a ITP for a guy in Queensland that's XM-L , and driven hard for a 16340 ...
Building a custom with a 1.2A or 1.4A driver would be the go - "next project" [ 16340 ]
The equal to the 501A with a manafont drop-in is the Solarforce L2m w/3 mode XM-L. No mods required, just insert your cr123 or 16430 battery and turn it on. All for the low price of $19.95.
http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=11189
I have 3 501A's myself , there nice !
Are you using CR123 primaries or rechargeables?
If its primaries, I don't think some drop-ins will work. You need a low voltage dropin or some other light.
If you want to use RCR/16340 then you're options open back up, but I'd recommend skipping it and either using 14500, or for even better power/capacity, 18350.
My quick recipe would be an Solarforce L2m with a Manafont Ultrafire 3 mode XM-L dropin and a couple IMR 18350s from bestinone.net.
this is the pre 2009 version and bored to 17MM it won’t run the 18350’s . but will have less rattle on 16340’s and cr123’s…i have this one and wish I had the newer version…I really don’t want to bore this one…i will because i have 18350’s i want to use in it … but wish i didn’t have to .