Remember that the batteries are only going to give what they can. The voltage will sag and the current will be less compared to 18650 cells. So output will be less. I would not worry too much about the cells getting “murdered”. Lol
30Q is a really good compromise between high discharge and high capacity. Most lights don’t need the extreme discharge capacity of a 25S. Another good thing about the 30Q is that it’s relatively easy to find and inexpensive.
I come from the drone flying hobby, where lipos can and will puff and burn if you pull more amps than they can handle. Even with voltage sag, you can easily pull over 100amps from a 1500mah 4s pack. But if you do that for more than a few seconds at a time, you murder the pack lol
That the Meteor M43 has retained its status as a classic for as long as it has is a testament to the quality and practicality of its design and fabrication. Even the D18 is only an incremental improvement, although a welcome one. I think we are seeing the birth of another benchmark classic - a practical one. Thank you.
I loved the M43 right off the bat, but the UI left a lot to be desired for me with my horrid memory. So ultimately I changed the driver and at the moment I have it running so hot it glitches Anduril in about 15 seconds on Turbo. 
I learned though from that, when I built Ham’r I used 5 drivers. lol (3 different emitters in 5 variations)
Is there a beamshot available for this light? Keen to see how those little TIR’s perform… they look similar to some I bought to fill in gaps but ended up not using. Should be pretty neat though… can’t wait to find out.
I’m still struggling with the vision of Newlumen powering 15,000 lights on 4 18650 cells…
Mateminco mt18 modded with xpl hi.
Looks like I can finally replace my meteor. What is the maximum fully regulated output?
I suppose it will use all 14 7135 chips at 0.350A each so that’s 4.9A.
Then 4.9 ÷ 18 is 0.27A each. I think the sst20 will do maybe 70 lumen at that output so that’s roughly 1260 lumen. We won’t know exactly until it’s measured, but that’s probably the right ballpark.
The cooler temp leds might be higher than this and the warmer temp leds might be lower.
Excellent. Even the highest regulated mode on the D4S puts out a substantial amount of light.
If the XPL-HI 3A fit and are available in the future I am in for 2 of these. 
I’m not interested in the shorty tube, but I will buy one with the 18650 tube.
Stubby lights like this make great lanterns, and when using them that way, they can be on for several hours at a time. I’m hoping that Hank might consider making a lantern attachment or a diffuser cone attachment too, in order to make that style of usage more feasible when there is no ceiling to bounce off.
I haven’t been able to properly measure it, and I don’t have optics, but the highest regulated level should be somewhere in the range of 1500 to 2600 lumens. I did a quick test and got 1948 lm, but I don’t have great equipment for this.
Wow, that would be quite a bit higher than I figured. All good news. :+1:
Ultra keen, even moreso for XPL HI 5000k if that ever comes to fruition (extra $25-$30 doesn’t worry me)
That’s not a flashlight. That’s a Lumen Grenade.
Very impressed with this light. I’ll be buying one, as well as a 18350 tube for it.
Only if you hold it at exactly (0,0,0)
Yes. I thought of this as well while writing the post, but as you said, without a diffuser I figure that wasn’t the primary design intent or average use case (as marketed). The 18x emitters and their resultant efficiency lends well to long runtime applications for sure, but I feel like Hanks primary focus was making a more pocketable, yet more powerful successor to the M43. Only way of achieving the former by any meaningful margin (and in general to differentiate from competitors) was to go to a 3cell config and between the FET driver and 50% more LEDs he got the latter. Thus my assumption behind this question/statement was in a use case where you are holding/carrying the light the entire duration of a discharge cycle.
A lantern mod kit would be awesome. Maybe including a new tailcap with tripod mount and a bezel-replacing screw-on diffuser that reflects light outwards (shielding the center ~20 degree half angle)