Buy the xtars at that price. The only unprotected I use are from laptop battery salvage.The protection is more for use than for charging.
Might get (at some point this year) a multi-18650 XM-L, or multi XM-L.
2100; have you tested ever Zebralight SC51c, since that is my only reference to neutral/warm?
I was thinking just, if this tint is as warm as it shows in pic. Zebra sure is warm... Quite much too warm to my taste.
Cheap Thrill, nope...neutral white is not as warm as in the pic. Coz i compensated for the Cold White.
Yes, i'd believe SC51c would be about the same as the DRY NW (mine is probably about 4300k, slightly more 5A3). That SC51c is 4000k, same as your neutral white fluorescents.
I have the Xeno E03 NW, that is about 5000k. 3C tint. That has the problem of a bit pale and a bit green in low modes.
My Shadow has 4000k, 4C tint. No issue of pale performance in low modes.
Hmm.
At kitchen I have 2x 36W Osram Lumilux 940 tubes. They are way cooler and more neutral than SC51c. Maybe basic 3000K (830) max 4000K (840) CFL would give the same visual signal to my eye. Weird. Maybe it is just some exceptionally warmish tint, I don´t know.
Compared to 940, Zebra seems to be a tad much warmer... At night time, it seems like A LOT warmer.
Anyway, this clears things for me. Maybe I rather stick to CW. Thanks.
Those 940 CFL´s are great to my eye. Very clear white light :)
So does the cool white of the DRY has a nice color renditioning you would expect more from neutral white? Or is the NW really the best option if you want it 'realistic'. Because if the CW has nice coloring as well i don't see the point in paying extra 10$ and giving up 13% output :).
S_A, erm actually for NW you'd have to wait for the next batch, coz there is none left. NW LEDs are !W#@$!@$!@$# difficult to wait and become available. It took me about 10 weeks to wait for NW 3C for the Xeno E03. In fact they are also sold out now. Seems like some major light manufacturer orders from Cree in big lots for runs and either they have it or don't have it.
In fact the Shadow TC6 neutral white 4C is also gone. Tactical HID is also done with their NW run. Not sure about HKE, suppose they still have left. That is for bigger companies like Xeno. For OEMs like Dry, it depends. So you can keep your fingers crossed.
That is why any light has NW version, people just whack and talk/measure later.
I'd prefer neutral white for usage in the house as well as outside. The CW is the slightly higher colour temperature, ie the spill is bluish. I know, there are some CW tints which are slightly warmer, like my Ultrafire U80. I think some do push out lights of 1D tint.
Today i recieved my DRY 3-mode CW version, thanks to Ric for the fast shipment!!
But there is a problem with the batterycarrier
Between the second and third battery are missing the internal neg. spring and the pos. contact.
It is the bridge inside the carrier + to – side.
I already made one by myself with 1.5 mm² electric wire and glued it inside the carrier.
Now it works fine and pulls on high 5.46A for the first 10 sec, then it stabilize at 5.26 A with ExCell 3100 mAh 18650 !!!
Is this still safe 
Ask Ric for a replacement batterycarrier, waiting for his answer.
Once again I have my doubts about China QC, this light is never tested in the combination I recieved today, though this is not really a budget light.
WOW !!!
That is a lot of amps. Can you measure the internal resistance of those cells? I'm curious if that is a factor. I plan on doing this with current draw for 3 different types of batteries.
Sorry to hear about the battery carrier - it's terribly annoying to receive a new torch, and not have it be as expected. I recently had this happen with a XENO E03 - I purchased the last NW version in-stock, and it didn't work with AAs, only 14500s. I'm doing the exchange shuffle right now.
OTOH, I'm sure Ric will make it right. Welcome to the DRY club !!!!!!!
Thommy, 5 over amps is really high, your eX-cell is actually the NCR18650A with additional PCB. Pls discharge in low to 4.0V and perhaps try. Other cells i'd say just charge with a hobby charger to 4.1V or something (even for those low end ones you can choose Li-ion mode 4.1V, Li Po is 4.2V even though you can't choose lower voltage).
Anyway there is a LCD status readout and say you are charging at 1.5A as a set and you see the current drops that means it is nearing ending, you can manually pull it. A bit ineleglant as a solution but it works for me, i always get involved in my charging as this is a hobby as I'd like to be situation aware, voltage/current/temperature etc, which i see as a good thing for Li ion! :D Something like tweaking your mod turbo car....heh. (i'm putting it this way as probably some guys may want a nice Bugatti Veyron but this is probably more like a R35 Skyline 800bhp on slicks needing at least RON 100...still worth it! heh)
If you start at 4.0V it'd be down to 4amps. Again don't worry as there is very little capacity loss down to 4.0V as you are just lowering the voltage which directly influences amps/drive level, but not capacity by a lot (heck you are using high cap 3100 cells so relax). It is not difficult to bleed the cells somewhat to 4.0V as that initial drop from 4.2-4.0V is pretty fast, do it in medium or low mode or if you have a discharger it is auto to the preset voltage and set the buzzer on the hobby charger. Also be aware that for your use in Belgium esp outside in the cold, your Li-ion discharge characteristic would pull it down even more due to lower voltage. You can try it at 10-15 deg C http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-data/pdf2/ACA4000/ACA4000CE254.pdf
Ric will make it right with the battery carrier. It looks unpolished (not like the other extreme runtime one which looks like something from Sunwayman) but i'm quite sure it'd hold up to quite a number of battery reloads as the plastic is quite solid. The terminals and stuff looks to be brass?
Congrats on getting the 3-mode DD, i feel that once the initial discharge drop is gone, it tracks the discharge of most cells better as ot hovers at 3 amps plus and terminates at 2.5A. And you are able to make use of that in your cold environment out in the open. (seriously it is a bit too bright in the house, usable only for fun)
Thanks guys for the comment and warnings.
It's realy dark at the moment and I am gonna take this rocket with me to see it's capability.
@Chicago X, how do I measure the internal resitance with a multimeter (I don't have a hobby charger)
O yes, Ric has already answered me (as fast as light 
) and he's gonna send me a brand new battery carrier
Damn, don't have to sleep huh? Its 4+ am here and HK. I just ate 4 charcoal pills and waiting for it to feel better, tummy upset. Don't worry about internal cell resistance, your eX-cell is confirmed to be ultra low resistance. heh.... I have both the NCR18650 2900s and NCR18650A 3100s, but in pure OEM form. I'd say only use such cells for intermediate users.
SUMMARY
Ok just measured. On CW, 3 amps gets me 215 lux. Ambient 30 deg C.
For ref : Sky Ray SR3800 stock rev 0 (no drop-in at all) - 160 lux. Trustfire 3T6 - 130 lux. Ultrafire U80 - 65 lux. Fandyfire STL-V6 - 75 lux. Ultrafire UF-980L initial 80 lux but drops very fast to 65 lux due to heat/insufficient heat sinking.
So on a 3-mode DD with really fresh 4.2V cells over 4 amps i get stable usable results at 250-265 range. > 255 lux is definitely achievable for "flashlight meetups demo". This is in a hot tropics environment. Expect 290-305 lux for really cool weather and drive levels close to 5A with the best cells, eg Vancouver, Belgian hills/Tasmanian mountains, esp Beijing/Seoul/Calgary/Zurich etc. When i said usable, this means 2-3 mins usage which actually is pretty long already for blasting. After that you can pump the same current with a lab PSU and just increase the risk burning either the LEDs out in the long run or burning your hands out.
You decide if this is worth it. Cells are cheap esp with Rev Jim's stuff. Or CNQG sells $5.50 per Sanyo 2600, so you don't have to fork out for 4 cells.
2100 we don't have mountains in Belgium :) the highest hill is 650m 
In winter average temperatures are 5°C and 15°C in summer.
TYVM for the measurements!
I take it you're talking about the 4 mode driver. Does the 4 mode driver provide constant current to the leds?
Nope, not current regulated like the Sky Ray/SZBOM/Trustfire/HiMAX/Fandyfire, the amps are not constant. So perhaps 2.8-2.9A when the cells are fresh at 4.18V, but it'd drop rapidly to 3.9V and lower drive levels, and then follow the voltage discharge curve. Same for both drivers. Same as what you experience with other flashlights like C8, usual P60s, Xeno E03, 980L/U80, X9....
This is interesting: 215 lux with unprotected cells and 150 lux with protected cells, with the same 4-mode driver, and 250+ lux with the 3-mode driver. (is that correct 2100?)
I wonder what I'll get, using 3x AW 2900 mAh protected cells. My meter doesn't measure DC current higher than 1 A so I won't be able to measure it myself. (My analog meter is about 30 yrs old and is on only its 2nd battery! It doesn't need a battery for current and voltage measurements. I should get a modern Fluke DMM but they're expensive.)
Umm...it's not correct. 215 lux @ 3A for CW, i got this on the 3-mode Direct Drive driver (unloaded cell voltage was 3.7V). 3 amps measurement is 3 amps, nothing more to that. DMMs are not that accurate due to internal voltage drop and it differs from different models, but we'll take it as it is. (the higher voltage of this light compared to single cell lights somewhat helps)
At least 305 lux initial and 250+ lux stable for low 4 amps drive (290-300 for ice cubes cooling to the head, initial 325 lux). 150 was last time neutral white at about 2.0-2.1A with fully charged cells. There will always be some degree of inaccuracy, but there is no mistake between 200 lux and 250 lux.
If you have other 1-cell budget lights, do play around with your own measurements to get an idea of how it works so that it is clearer.
Just ordered my neutral white 4-mode at sbflashlight :), also ordering the kd C8, xtar 2600's and a tr00p43 charger with europlug converter. Can't wait to be the sunshine at home :p. Let's hope i don't get faulty ones!
Ty to anybody who helped me choosing these lights! I would have slapped myself if i was you guys for me hesitating so long
Sbflashlights still have neutral white? Its a shame, coz it's so much cheaper at CNQG and besides the support is good there as well. How much you paid for shipping over at Sbflashlights say USPS 1st class? (I tried by it is TBD).
Nevertheless, you will still find the NW tint and really decent lumens available and form format to be a joy to use.
110$ instead of 97$ with CNQ.
My bad that i waited so long ordering, but if the service from sbf is as good and friendly as from CNQ i won't mind having paid that extra. And as long as i don't recieve a faulty one or DOA... if there is something wrong with it i dont have the expertise like thommy who fixed it :)