I wish the $20 one was the same - 55.87mm head versus 58mm, as well as fewer fins.
If anyone has an extra one they would like to sell or barter for, please let me know.
I'm starting to realize why you guys joke about the xxxfire lottery. There is one small imperfection in my reflector, but otherwise, no build quality issues with mine.
I ordered the sst-50 driver on Dec. 8th. They shipped it Jan 8th.
Anyway, it won't fit the pill, or at least it will require a serious mod. I will do it if I can't find one that fits. I want at least 4A but not more than 4.5. The light will just be used for 'wow' and brief long distance searching, otherwise I would consider that a big waste of battery capacity.
I've ordered this for testing. http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S009442
aqualab driver db says a user reported 3.3A but doesn't sound like it was heatsinked. KD says 5A.
So far I have resisted stripping the ano but if I like what I end up with I will strip it. I've done some informal experimenting w/ bare and anodized aluminum and a torch. I think ano holds in a lot of heat. Flaw in my experiment...measuring by touch - it might not make much difference w/ air as the sink.
Truthfully though, I just don't like it much. Give me silver, black, a color, and in shiny or matte, but this is just kind of weird...
Sorry Chicago-X, I'd been watching price on every version of this torch for awhile:) The manafont one looks pretty good.
If this ends up an (exceptional) performer I might buy this one.
HAIII and 4.3A
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1185
no group pricing but I bet he'd be happy to do some 
edit: but...i guess if you're thinking multi emitter mod, you'd want the cheapest option...
dthrckt, Ric said he only has 1 last piece for the On The Road X6. That piece is flawless.
I have the OTR X5, it definitely does not feel like it's a budget light. More of Solarforce M8 / Dereelight.
Thanks for the heads up.
That's unfortunate, since I've already spent about $300 in the last 3 weeks (on this stuff alone). I know...just average for you:)
I've been watching that page for quite awhile, hoping I'd snipe one (...it!) if the price dropped a little.
Actually it has dropped, from $65 and now to 59. But i don't dig SST-50s.
I did notice that last night - so tempted, but yeah, the price is really ~72 because I'd swap the emitter right off. I guess I could ebay the sst-50.
_____
the driver is as wide and tall as the pill
dx sku 13619 (59mm mentioned above) and 13569, 66mm
much more dome and much less edge on 66mm
it also has a shorter focal length than the other, and does make a good image of emitter, albeit w/ a substantial corona.
the focal length is so close to d1 emitter distance when placed on directly on reflector that I would have to rig some kind of holder (so as not to use reflector) to determine the exact best distance.
But, it is unfortunately significantly too wide. You would have to remove more of the dome than viffer did here https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/5182#comment-98081
I get 2x the lux w/ just the reflector than w/ both (visually and on meter), and although the beam would look better, I can't see how not using the reflector would increase reading (w/ only lens).
But, I will eventually find a host for this lens - it should be very impressive.
avoid the 59mm sku 13619, this is my second sample and both make multiple scattered emitter images at focal length. maybe Ok for just tightening a beam, but not full throw.
some notes:
don't force, tighten the pill too strong, because you could break the ceramic pad of the led, beside that, if you haven't lucky you could short circuit the driver
here is mine
you see the lower part of the emitter, nevertheless I don't want to replace, it works perfecly
I made a bigger hole for the led
incredible that it still works
Yeah, same characteristic as hs-802, but not so aggressive.
HS-802 reflector with xr-e isn't so good with unusable tight spot, but with xm-l much better. I like its beam profile, a very strong spill with a strong spot. Here are some comparison pics with difference shutter speed:
left: hs-802 +xm-l
right MRV clone xm-l (same as C8 xm-l)
But you lose throw with XM-L. The 802 deserves a XR-E R2 @1.5A to 2A IMO
Received manafont driver (linked above) from Chicago X today - thanks!. Excellent packaging and quick shipping, hooray!
The base can be trimmed to fit the pill. The vertical board can be very minimally trimmed to an interference fit.
The coil (transformer?) is an obstacle. The pill must be bored ~1/8" and still the coil has to be pushed down and toward the center. I'm taking a break from that to keep from getting hasty.
Height might be an issue. It is so close that I can't say for sure until I'm done boring.
I'll probably have to plastidip the board/coil to ensure it doesn't short to the pill.
Driver fits. The height is ok by about the thickness of a penny.
measured current to emitter - 4.3A, 1.8A, 0.4A
OUTSTANDING
Done for the day, I don't want to push my luck.
note: if you shave the contact board slightly more on the side opposite the coil, you'll have to bore just a little less...
Anyway - 4 < 4.3? not according to match's tests.
Also, his readings were taken 10seconds after power on, and brightness during those ten seconds is my primary goal.
This will be a fair weather search light in my boat and will rarely run even 10 seconds at a time. You're not supposed to use 'headlights'...they obscure the lights that indicate your boat's heading to other boats. I just do short bursts to make sure there isn't some obstacle in my path (floating log) and to search for a spot on a distant shore.
BUT, since I'm undoubtedly not heat sinked as well it might be true in practice w/ the D1, especially beyond 10 seconds.
In any case, I prefer to err slightly higher than lower. I'm not concerned about emitter longevity, I always have a backup and...I'm sure I'll be swapping the emitter to U2, and then whatever is available next :)
Awesome stuff.
I'm glad everything fit (barely) and worked out.
SST-50 Driver from DX will never fit, it's way too big and can't be modded. It just doesn't fit! :(
Please dthrckt post a pic of the pill with the new driver if you can.
it is within the realm of possibility to fit the DX sst-50 driver into this light. I figured out how just in case I had to 
-- but it ain't easy, and you'd have to be dirt poor to do all that work instead of spending $6 on one that can be fitted in 1/10 the time.
I will post detailed pics of copper collar shim and pill/driver mod, probably next saturday. I'm waiting for potting compound delivery.
Fun Geek Fact: the locations of gorann, fx-32 and dthrckt form a triangle whose sides total ~20,000 miles/32,000kms in length
I don't think you'll be able to screw the handle in if the pill gets more than about 2mm longer. Not sure how you'd make battery contact.
If you hacksaw the pill ~10mm below the threads, you could use a piece of 1" copper pipe connector that fits around what is left to replace the part cut off. There's a gap between the two of about 0.02" to be filled w/ copper sheet - they'd fit so tight you'd have to pound the fitting onto the pill/sheet with a hammer.
It would look like less material, but would actually be heavier. The dx sst-50 driver battery board would be almost an exact fit (to U.S. pipe size anyway). The height might be an issue (~1-2mm?) but I think the driver could be squashed enough to be fine.
The copper would cost ~2x the price of the manafont driver, but you'd have some left over...for the next hack job LOL
I did some new measurments on my modified driver, and now I used newer, better cells with lower internal resistance than earlier, and calibrated my DMM resistance to the tailcap resistance. Now I got "only" 1.69A with almost full cells. Earlier I measured 3.2A led current, and calculated from this, the efficiency of the modified driver is around 80%. Not too good, not too bad.
calculation:
voltage of the cells under load = 2x 3.95V = 7.9V
1.69A x 7.9V= 13.35W this is the input wattage
estimated output wattage on the led:
3.2A x 3.35V = 10.72W
efficiency: 10.72W/13.35W= 80.3%
Okay, I will try the driver with higher output current.
I'd say why bother, but I'd rather you go ahead and then maybe you'll discover some improvement to the manafont driver for us
I'd love a 5 mode driver with 4.2, 3, 2.5, 1, .25A and temp controlled step down 
whiskey taste - beer budget