I am looking for the best value for money host weighing in at $4-5. If possible it will include a decent driver board for driving an LED as hard as possible off a single AA (however this is probably asking too much).
The reason I ask is that if I do order a few XT-Es and such off cutter to make a P60 host or two I might as well grab 2-3 XT-Es on 10mm boards for playing around with.
I might yet see if I can't make a 400 lumen light for under $10 using 18650s. :bigsmile:
where do you see $3 CREE leds on 10mm boards? me want!!! i've got a sipik sk68 clone with a busted led which need some love. Answering your question, the ubiquitous sk68 is a solid chunk of aluminum heatsink, and from my nooby point of view, would be the perfect $6 1AA host for any sub 14mm boosted driver and stars.
And if you were looking for a 2AA host, check out this pathetic LedLenserP6 clone which I got scammed for $8... it's got a 1 lumen light mounted on a huge pill, a total waste of resources looking for a good driver and led star.
I was waiting for someone to say the SK-68. I do have one already but they are almost too good to mod. I imagine with a XT-E (with lower forward voltage) they would be driving harder off a single rechargeable AA? If only they sold the body by itself for $4.
These are the LEDs I am thinking off: (not quite $3 but close enough and shipping will be mixed between the various other bits and pieces I am going to order.
Gonna be hard to do ..I was on the under 5$ cree hunt this last holiday season and closest was dino direct with the saik 105 . a saik 2AAA n207 and fake? romisen rv-115 all of them at about 6$after about 30% discounts of their already lowered prices .Now they are probably 10$ + , best of the 3 was the romisen...Decent hosts are hard to find .. in fact well built bodies on anything cheap is the exception not the rule ,China doesn't play by normal rules ... they rarely ever dump stock .So a old q2 AA light will be almost as much as an xpg AA... the usual sub 5$ stuff is usuallybad paint and sketchy threads ,I had a Small Sun so bad you wondered if the metal was even aluminum .The threads were torn up in days . I don't think the fake sipik is very good either ..Any time you see a tailcap just pressed in it's not a good sign .I'm not really fond of a tail clicky that is that hard to push either .. I've been on the same type hunt for cheap old lights with a great body forever too ...probably easier to wait for 2000$ ferraris to appear in my driveway .. Still Hopeful :)
autozone, side switch, single AA light (2 for $5).
geminideal AA/14500 driver (just got 10 for $15), draws 2A from utilitech AA and that's with the stock, super thing/cheap, 2" leads (~$1.7 for one) - reportedly efficient, but I didn't test that yet
