tough old lights worth modding

i'm looking for an older light,built like a tank that people aren't talking much about lately.

Something tough as nails and worthy of a xml mod .

What's the beautifully built light that gets no respect ??

Something like an Ultrafire WF-606A might be worth a look, but you are going to have to rip out or replace the driver. An 8.4V driver and a pair of 14500s might be fun in that.

Incandescent lights are probably a poor choice for this - heatsinking being the issue.

Most every new LED first gets put into a modded Maglite.

Loads of room to work in and a huge supply of weird and wonderful parts,

I would suggest something that takes a 20mm pill with the reflector type you desire, which will make an upgrade an easy peasy operation.

I'm also going to take the opportunity to bitch about maglites in general. The problem with them is unless you already have all the parts setup for an led implant, they're going to be $$$ and very unfriendly inside. It's sort of a CPF fetish that they get much billing all. For example, almost all the parts are for the older non-led lights, not the new one with a pill already, which means to get a base for the emitter you need a large custom billet piece that somehow has to work around the switch designed for a bulb post. Then people go through all sorts of potentially dangerous solutions to fit lithiums in them. Maybe made sense back in the day when nothing else was available, but now just archaic and bizzare. IMO, it's for masochists.

I have a drop-in module for them, only because it's a drop-in replacement. The 50mm 5x cree drop-ins for the large Ultrafire 800L type lights are the exact right size, more or less, and even then you have to make some ghetto mods inside to get it to work. Ok for a hobby fun hack job, but not really robust by any measure.

You could get something like http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15946, but you also need the right driver, and from the reviews the kit may be missed a part or two (typical DIY shenanigans). The main issue with your proposal is that you essentially need a p7/mc-e light for an easy replacement, and those were never cheap to begin with.

personally my fav flashlight to mod is:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15687

when loaded with an 18650, this flashlight is the perfect carry on size, and has a nice weight to it

Also, ive yet to have a real problem with them, unless i caused it. (i have a tendency to bend the pills lol....)

HOWEVER, there is ONE downfall. unlike the one suggested by agent, it only has a 14mm spot for an led (no p7 will ever fit!, but really, mc-e has the same light)

it makes it hard to find higher output leds.

we will be expecting to see XM-L's on 14mm soon, and that will be the next big LED.

also the reflector is designed for an XR-E, however an MC-E and XM-L fit fine. i have a few modded with R5's but there is alot of light lost due to the reflector not being deep enough to catch the powerful spill on the XP-G

now that i know the C2 agent suggested has a 21mm slot for an led/board, i plan on getting a few just for the extra, way too large LEDs i have

Decided a long time ago that mag lites are worthless. My AAA tank 701 blows a 4 D cell mag away .Who likes buying D's anyway ? I wasn't going to go back that far back in time..

If I do anything crazy it will be a .... dukes of hazard lunch box with 3xml's

Here's a crazy one for you.

http://flashlightnews.net/forum/index.php?topic=2340.0

I love the fact that these new emitters are asking for more and more power that means the 12lb flashlight isn't going away any time soon and your girlfriends laptop battery isn't safe any more .

i don't have a dukes of hazard lunch box

.but i do....

have a mini curious george 6 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 just asking for an xml

and i keep looking at that thermos .. do I really want a plaid fat flashlight?