PilotPTK was in the process of designing a 17mm buck driver which looked fantastic and was supposed to have only a 0.5V overhead - hopefully we’ll hear more after the holidays.
Looks like I’ll be getting some stars and XM-L2s to reflow onto them, can’t wait to try these out in a new bike light. T6 5000K 3C (hopefully) with the same output but better CRI as my current U2 CW equipped light.