Worth a try, I have an alu pill in mind as it happens, the press fit of the driver is bugging me but it still works.
Neat trick, thank you Match and Garry!
x2…. I’ll have to try it some day. I imagine it needs a REALLY hot iron too, one with a big heat reservoir that won’t go cold when it touches the Aluminum.
Got mine yesterday (at last).
Only had a quick look but I reckon a smoothed 2p piece will fit perfectly below the rim that the star is mounted on. Fit a smoothed 1p on top of it so that its level with the ledge. A combo of Fujik plus a strong epoxy around the inside outer edge to securely fix it in place not forgetting too drill holes for the led wires first. Voila the hollow pill is no more.
IGNORE THIS POST. Close examination of the light now reveals that my casual conclusions were wrong.
Just had a good chance to take a look at my light. These are my thoughts.
The star is mounted in a similar fashion to a Trustfire X9. That is to say the emitter is mounted on an aluminium star. It is not as thick as the X9’s and does not screw to the pill’s body but it is thicker than a star’s platform in a normal pill. The key therefore to improving heatsinking to a considerable degree, without building a slug, is simply to ensure that the edge of the alu star has the maximum possible thermal contact with the pill body where it sits.
There is thermal paste under the star but it has been put mainly in the middle above the void, where it does no good whatsoever, rather than being put than around the edge where it is needed. I presume it was fitted by people who usually fit stars in normal solid pills. If you have some Fujik or other TIM then put a decent thick bead around the edge of the star so that it makes maximum contact with the pill. If you don’t have any then you can use a matchstick to move what’s there to the outer edge. Once this is done I see no significant heat problems unless you are going to do a driver swap to 2.8A/3A. Certainly if the light will be used by non-flashaholics on 4xAAA’s (which in my light draws 1.82A) then heat is unlikely to ever cause problems.
Given the very low cost of this light then once one does the above I believe it great value for money.
Waiting for someone to convert it to XR-E …
BTW, what’s the bezel internal diameter?
Who’s thinking Aspheric then……… 
Because the lens is already glass.
Don’t have a Caliper so can’t help right now re size. Will try to tape measure it later.
Thanks for the details VFMaddict! Sounds perfect for a non-flashaholic buddy of mine. Any chance you could try 4AAA's (alkaline of course) and check runtime? And tailcap draw?
Thanks!
-Garry
No chance to do runtime tests yet. Draw on 4xAAA is 1.82A and on 4x(AAA) Eneloops draw is 2A. But WOW !!! It very noticeably outthrows my KD C8 XM-L with a TF3100 pulling 3A. More so than with a good 18650 in it. Strange. The bottom line is that I am both astonished and delighted by the AAA performance. I can’t think of any light at anywhere near this price which is capable of being non-lithium driven and which delivers this KD C8 beating performance. :bigsmile:
PS As I have a fair number of 1xAAA lights and other devices I always have a very good stock of AAA Alkalines usually three dozen or more… Its good to know that now if I’m ever in a situation where there is no possibility of using my chargers then I can still field a very capable thrower.
Thanks! Sounds great!
-Garry
I left it on last night using an unprotected Samsung 18650 and to me it does seem to have a low voltage cutoff since it reacts the same as my ITP C8 when the cell is getting close to low voltage…….my light blinks 3 times as a warning, has anyone here also notice that. The light was set to low and turned on about 10pm last night and when i got up around 830 my little one told me that the light was blinking.
Ordered! Couldn't take it anymore! 
Teetered on ordering 2, but decided on 1 for now.
So if the low PWM turns out to be a killer, what is a good driver to replace with that would work reasonable on the 4AAA's and keep output down to levels reasonable for the limited heatsinking? One could even be a driver which is direct-drive on high since I plan on 4AAA use only.
Thanks,
-Garry
Got mine yesterday. Looks good. I like it so far. Yes a few rings.in the beam but no worse than a maglite. PWM is barely noticeable to me, not bad by any means. Very happy for the price, think I will order a couple more for friends. Not tried it onAAA yet. Keygos 26650 fits nicely.
Sounds like it works ok with AAAs so a decent light for non flashie friends.
Don’t forget to put a bead of Fujik or other TIM (i.e. Arctic Silver, etc.) around the ledge that the star sits on. This improves heatsinking very significantly. I found this by checking tube heat (without the reflector head) before and after doing it. With a very good TF3100 in it (my best one) the light draws 2.7A. With 4xEneloops, 1.82A and with 4xAAA Alkalines, 1.65A. Runtime on AAA 90 minutes approx. Even at 1 hour it still throws on a par with a 3.0A P60 SMO XM-L, not bad for AA’s after an hour.
The reflector head also sucks heat away very effectively. Without the head the tube gets very warm Screw the head back on and it cools almost instantly. With the light pulling 2.7A on a very good 18650 there is no real need to switch drivers.
The only other problems with this light other than the extra TIM needed is that the driver spring may need centering and o-rings replacing.
This is an amazing light for the money and an ideal gift for non-lithium users once the above fixes are applied.
Runtime 90mins? Wow! That's much better than I expected! I guess that's with decreasing brightness?
-Garry
Yep, but still good throw. As I said earlier even after 1 hour of use the 4xAAA’s are still matching a P60 SMO 3A XM-L for throw and that P60 host had a TF3100 @ 3.99v. I have to say this lights ability with just AAA’s has surprised me.
IT’S ARRIVED!!! :bigsmile:
Initial impressions, I like it, it needs a set of o-rings, the threads lubing, I’ve wicked the thermal paste to the edge of the star, but I may see about machining an aluminium plug to build up the mass of the light engine.
As vfmaddict notes, its insanely bright on AAA’s, it has no right to be that impressive on such puny cells! 8)
My England (well Scotland to be totally accurate) sourced imr26650’s should arrive by Friday so I can play with it next week. The pwm is noticable, but I don’t find it overly irritating, although I’m thinking about an ld25 driver if I do make a plug for the heat sink. Over all though, now its arrived I’m very happy with it, nice heft, nice looking, jacket pocketable, would make a great gift for a none flashaholic who wants a bright light.
Good Call , VFMaddict 8) 8)
Not much to add to what’s already been said !
Fit & Finish is good
They are pretty darned impressive on AAA’s. :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
I didn’t notice PWM on them. 
I hate the strobe, J) , but that’s not unusual for me.
Better o-rings & fujik on the star are about all they really need.
Copper slugs may be in their future , but for now I’m going to leave them as is !!
Thanks Guy’s ! Well worth the money…
I like mine so much I ordered 3 more. This has to be one of the best value for money torches out there right now. Guess what my non flashy friends are getting for Christmas/birthdays?
Is there any seller who ships to germany?