I have a couple of Fenix L1's from back in the day when they were the cat's meow, but they seem pretty outdated now (dim). Wondering if it is possible to EASILY put a brighter emitter and or better driver in them? Maybe a 3-mode? I have not done any modding before, but I did take an electronics class in 9th grade (of course, Edison had just invented the light bulb so it was a while ago!) and I am sure I have a soldering iron in the garage.
If anyone has any experience with these lights, your input is appreciated. Otherwise I will just let the kids use them for camp or I will keep them as good reliable backups.
AFAIR all you need is a soldering iron and the LED you want on a 20mm star. Unsolder the existing LED, toss in a SMALL amount of heatsink compound, solder in the new LED - paying attention to polarity. Simple, quick, a great first mod. Since the reflector is set up for a Luxeon LED you'd be best with an SSC LED since they radiate light the same way as Luxeon ones - Cree LEDs don't go all that well with Luxeon reflectors. On a 1W Nuwai device I got 3x the light for twice as long with a simple emitter swap.
This assuming the LED is mounted on a standard 20mm star and it is an original L1 using a Luxeon emitter. I don't own one so can't say for sure. If it says 1W on the body tube, it has a Luxeon LED in it - if it has CE in its name then it uses a Cree LED and this LED is the one you want to swap in.