I received my Q8 yesterday. I haven’t bought any high drain cells for it. I’m not even sure that I will. I had some Samsung laptop pulls charged up and they work well enough for me. I don’t have a light box, and it’s not a thrower, so absolute brightness just doesn’t matter to me. 
I gave the Q8 a quick glance over, but didn’t dig too much or take anything apart. My switch LEDs seem to be working fine. I’ll check again in a while and let you know if that changes. They are equal in brightness, and the green glow is very pretty. My reflector is well centered, and everything looks quite clean. I do have machining marks in all three grooves of the bezel. I may try to file and polish them out some time, but for now, I’m not worried. If all my attempts to grind/polish the grooves eventually fail, I’ll just grind the whole thing down to a FOY bezel. 
I do have an older SRK to test against. It was a modded 3-LED version with a Mountain Electronics AMC7135-based driver and always-on blue side switch LED. I won it from a CRX giveaway. He’s the one that made all the modifications. It has genuine XML emitters. The finish is glossier than the Q8. I like the look and feel of the Q8 anodizing better. The Q8 is a tiny bit shorter in length. The reflector of the modded 3X looks cloudy compared to the Q8 reflector, although it had always looked shiny enough to me before! The modded one has the battery tube with lanyard slots/holes on all four sides. I never noticed that being uncomfortable to me, until I held it in one hand with the Q8 in the other. My wife held them both as well, and she’s actually the one who mentioned that difference. She’s also the one who noticed the Q8 is a bit heavier. The rubber switch boot on the Q8 is a lot easier to find by feel and to use than the flush, smooth, hard button cap on the modded 3X. And, finally, the output of the Q8 completely blows away what this conservatively regulated SRK driver in the 3X can deliver.
Overall, I’m very happy with the Q8. I’m surprised at how much more I like it than the SRK. CRX is a master flashlight modder and builder. He made this SRK much, much better than it ever would have been. I appreciate all the work he put into it. But, the BLF Q8 is a huge upgrade, thanks to Thorfire and the Q8 Team. Thanks again guys!
P.S. Checking again just now: The switch LEDs are still looking good. I opened up the battery tube and the tail cap, and all the screws are pan head Phillips. I don’t see any flaws in the anodizing. It looks really good. The bottom of the tripod mount hole looks like it might have a tiny bit of swarf left in it, or the thread wasn’t cut clean at the very end/bottom. Whatever it is, it’s been anodized. It doesn’t look like it will ever be a problem, anyway. The battery tube doesn’t index with the head. But, I’d probably not have noticed that if it hadn’t already been brought up a couple times here. As far as I can tell, it’s a very well made light. :partying_face:
