My vote goes to aluminum pill with retaining ring for MCPCB & Driver. That is pure perfection IMHO, and modding is the most friendly even for total beginner same as for pro(no soldering, easy repairable). Only problem is that just quite few flashlights have this kind of pill…
Zoom1 fits 21700 battery or 18650 batteries.
It uses a side-switch operation.
Uses Push-Pull for zooming (instead of rotating which is a bit common in some other zoomies)
Unfortunately, I’m not a modder so I don’t know if it can be converted to Anduril driver…
Beamshot demo of Lumintop Zoom1 from wide to focused
Not perfect, there’s still a donut in the intermediate beam but good enough. Thanks for the vid. 
MascaratumB
Did your OTR ever come in? Mine’s still in transit but I did find this, which worries me a bit:
My understanding is some of the more advanced modders occasionally solder things to the pill, in which case I think brass is preferred to aluminum.
My light is already in Portugal, but it wasn’t posted to me yet! Things are taking too long in customs or “international reception” departments :person_facepalming:
I am not sure why you are worried about that light! It is not the same as the one produced and sold by OTR.
Look at the host size and you’ll see that the one from KD is longer.
I hope mine arrives in the next week(s) :person_facepalming:
What’s the largest zoomie you can get nowadays for $20-30? I was looking at the UF1504 but I haven’t seen one available for under $40ish (host from mtn is a $$ pain to ship to Canada).
I’m mainly looking for a host to try seeing if I can project a Batman logo at a long distance.
I saw this thing with a head diameter of 54mm, probably a lens diameter of 45mm or so for $16 shipped to Canada. Any better options?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000276730652.html
I’d be willing to buy an old zoomie from someone here if the price is alright but I understand the shipping to Canada usually makes it impractical.
I don’t think even advanced modders like to do this because difference is negligible. It should be tested… But what can be easier than above mentioned setup? You have retaining ring for driver, retaining ring for MCPCB, aluminum pill is 5x lighter than brass pill…
This is truly modders heaven (when we talk about single emitter, 17mm drivers/MCPCB lights). Done in 5 minutes :+1:
Convoy has zoomie light!
It is called Convoy Z1 zoomable flashlight
Looks really nice, 21700 sisze and good blacking out inside the head.
Could probably get 250kcd with an LED swap, or 500+ with a collar…
I’m waiting for someone with a Jaxman Z1 to compare the lens and pill. It seems like a good value though. Especially when you can get 375-400kcd with white flat 1mm2 Jaxman Z1 (no collar)
If you want to send me the Convoy Z1, well… 
I’m joking, though I do have a spare CULNM1 to match my Jaxman Z1. I just Corona seem to find the funds for new lights right now…
FWIW though, the Jaxman measures 53mm at the head, and Simon claims a 52mm diameter on the Convoy. Not going to be much difference here. My Jaxman gets me 5500mAh with the 26650, and the Convoy should be good for 5000 with a 21700. shrug
Hopefully the lens is nice, and it will be a cheaper way to get that kind of quality in a zoomie for people.
Yeah, like Enderman said, White Flat should get you 350kcd+ without a collar. Although with the 6A driver stock, 2mm^2 may be the simpler swap. And Simon actually carries 3030 gaskets, would just need some Sharpie…
Simon follows, and Simon listens… I am sure he will make 4,5-5A driver with White flat 1mm (CSLNM1.TG)…
Flashlight looks nice, old school style but there is always but… I would really want/need freaking 25.4mm(1”) 1x18650 tube version of this light… 
Freaking hell 26650 and 21700 bats… I just wish they disappear…
For a light with a head this large, I don’t mind the larger battery size. I don’t find anything using 21700/26650 to be comfortably “pocketable” though.
I don’t object to either battery form factor on any sort of principle, and I definitely see the value in 21700 since the EV market seems to be focusing some innovation on that battery size. The discharge rates on 40T and 30T are pretty impressive!
Amutorch E3 - 21700, triple LED TIR optic, 95 mm long, 25.4 mm batt tube width. Head is a bit wide - worse spot at 29 mm, but it's not a standard round shape. It's about as compact you can get for a 21700. Quadrupel layed out a FET+1 driver for it - I uploaded it in OSHPark here: https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/4p0UsWYK. I got 3 of these boards ordered, wait'n.
If I ever have disposable income again, I really need to try a couple of Amutorch’s lights. In my eyes, they’ve really been trying to innovate, even if (last I checked anyway) they wouldn’t know a good UI if it bit them on the nose.
Larger form bat factor gives more juice… But why we should go in that direction?Larger bats and flashlights? We should strive to as smaller form/performance factor possible.
There will come day when we will have low current draw emitters(diodes) which will give give max performance at lets say 1A current draw with surface brightness cd/mm2 over 500…
That is already happening in 850 IR spectrum with technology called VCSEL laser (on Samsung INR 30 Q and linear 7135 driver I have around 3 hours of runtime with 1A draw, and more than 1 kilometer of IR throw with 20mm lens zoomie over night vision equipment).
And of course when that technology appears it will happen what I predicted years ago. Zoomie form lights will become no. 1 light. Cause we will have extreme thrower/flooder in right pocket of our T-shirt.
Agro original post here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/41081/501
Ok, there's a lot goin in this post, but, I ordered the first listed "Pocketman" zoomie for under $8 at the time and it finally arrived today! Only took ~7 weeks, but for under $8. Overall look is ok. As expected, classic cheapy/cheezy 5 modes, nice blue tint, but it puts out a lot of light. Finish and optics is decent, but the tailcap - major issues. The threading doesn't match up well - the tailcap is bigger, gotta play with it to get a good lock down, but it's do-able. Bought it more for mod potential so the driver and LED would go. Fully zoomed out I get a nive cross pattern for the cheap/clone XHP50, so I think the focus is ok, and it's got a pretty wide flood mode which is good.
Price went up from $7.nn to $10.nn. I find that happens a lot after I order one. I think it's something that's a common practice - first few order are dirt cheap, and if it sells, then bump up the profit.
Does the Skywolfeye B16 take only AAA or also 10440 or NiMH?
It works with all these chemistries.