I found one at my local store. They were still in the back but all I did was show the sku number to an employee and he went in the back and brought me one.
I took it apart in the parking lot and it looks like an Lflex driver will fit and work just fine. I’ll have to figure out the switch and battery connections but it all seems possible. I hate to tear into a perfectly good working light though!
What do you guys think of the mechanical switch? Think it's capable of handling upwards of 3.5 amps?
Hmm. . . well it's pulling 3+ at start now. The contacts seems like cheap aluminum, but I bet they could be modded to copper.
-Garry
Did you get a chance to evaluate how it throws in comparison with the HD2010 or Small Sun ZY-T08?
Not yet, no. I will try tonight. I should get just enough free time to check it against my Small Sun ZY-T08 and maybe get a couple beamshots. (My HD2010 is dead, so I can't compare to it.) I'll check it in the same locations that I tested the first Defiant 3C black Friday light.
-Garry
Your the only person i know who would test a cheap home depot light! :bigsmile:
Now it is starting to make sense.
I called a Home Depot about 15 miles from me yesterday to make sure they had them, Yep we have 36.
So I go there today, no one can find them. They show up on their little hand scanner things but no stock on floor.
Had an older nice gentleman check the whole store, evn climed up a big ladder to check some big boxes up above the racks near the flashlight section.
Thanks for the update.,
Keith
Same experience I had. I asked about 4 people and I scoured the entire store, yet nothing. They don't have a warehouse at all, so where the heck are they?!? ;)
Hey, this thing costs over $20. That’s not a cheap light. 
A Coast G20 is a cheap light (and for $3 it’s also inexpensive)
I was also going to test one of those cheap 9 LED lights from Harbor Freight, but the POS won’t turn on. Switch is good, it looks like the “driver” board is not making contact with the body.
Sorry guys, not going to get those beamshots tonight (been a rough night). I did get a chance to grab my ZY-T08 and shine both back to the woods line behind my house (200 to 250 feet). I tell you what, this Defiants got some serious throw! It was neck & neck with the ZY-T08! I think the ZY-T08 just barely beats it, but its close. (My ZY-T08 is unmodded.)
I'll see if I can get tailcap currents on NiMh's shortly.
-Garry
Ok, dropped in 3 new Turnigy LSD NiMh AA's in C adapters. These were charged months ago and have been sitting. Each measured 1.325v. I got 2.36A at first, then slowly declining from there. Declines much slower than alkalines.
So why only 2.36A from NiMh's but 3.10A from C alkalines? Does it have anything to do with the voltage difference between 3 alkalines (+/- 4.5v) vs. 3 NiMh's (+/- 3.6v)? I also tried some mostly depleted AA alkalines (in adapters) and the light still worked, but a little dimmer (didn't measure current). Is this driver optimized for alkaline usage perhaps?
-Garry
Yes! I took the head off of mine and connected it to a bench supply. It is running in my sphere right now. At 4.0V in it draws 2.4A After the run that I am doing, I’ll see what the current is at various voltages. I don’t think that this thing is current regulated. Maybe even direct drive?
I'm expecting the "driver" to just be a battery contact plate with a resistor behind it. I haven't taken mine out to look yet. Like said previously, I hate to take apart a perfectly good working light.
-Garry
This thing is basically direct drive. AT 4.0V in and cold it does 2.4A, warmed up it does 2.6A Note that at 3A to the XML you get less than 500 lumens. Those huge optics gobble a lot of light.
Here are the currents and lumens at various voltages. Note that the current and voltage numbers were read off the power supply meters that display to tenths:
3.0V 0.40A 140L
3.1V 0.55A 175L
3.2V 0.75A 185L
3.3V 0.90A 210L
3.4V 1.05A 260L
3.5V 1.40A 300L
3.6V 1.60A 335L
3.7V 1.90A 365L
3.8V 2.10A 410L
3.9V 2.30A 430L
4.0V 2.60A 445L
4.1V 2.70A 460L
4.2V 2.90A 470L
4.3V 3.20A 480L
4.4V 3.40A 490L
4.5V 3.50A 485L
All this talk about this light and not one single beamshot. Come on guys. Show us the photos.
I want to mod this! Maybe I'll try the store on the other side of town tomorrow.
They’re not doing this because Maglite is not about building the brightest or most advanced lights out there. Otherwise, they would be. Rather, Mag is about building relatively low-cost lights that run a long time on alkaline batteries which are reliable and have features lots of people like, such as the cammed focusing system. Building a light like this would require Mag to make compromises that they don’t want to make. For instance, an XM-L would require proper heatsinking, which would require ditching the cammed focusing system. This is NOT something Mag appears ready to give up. Also, although the Defiant is sold with alkalines, it runs REALLY poorly on them. It really NEEDS NiMH batteries to run right. And they give you only about two hours (with Tenergy Centura C cells). Mag seems to want 10+ hours from alkalines, probably because their customers expect it.
So yes, Mag could probably build a better light than this one. The fact that you can buy an XM-L2 drop-in from Malkoff for an incandescent Mag is proof of that. But it would appear that Mag doesn’t want to give up what you have to give up if you run, say, a Malkoff drop-in (ie ability to run long on alkaline batteries and mhave cammed focusing).
Can’t give you a beam shot, but it throws like a mofo. And should make a dandy head smasher.
This thing cries out for somebody handy with a lathe to make some 26650 tubes (Chicago-X are you listening?). Not sure that a new driver would bring much to the party, unless it was a buck-boost.
Well, I finally had some time and made a trip to my local HD but after asking around they didn’t have a clue where these flashlights were. They have them on hand but they didn’t know where.
I believe Maglite could do this type of flashlight but their price wouldn’t be close to compete against the chinese brands.