First thought that popped in my head is, Cyclops. The other was Balor.
For those that don’t know, I copied this from Wiki:
Balor, figure from Irish mythology. Known for his evil eye, he could kill by looking at you. Prophesied that he would be killed by his grandson, so he attempted to have his grandchildren killed. One survived, Lugh, who killed him at the second battle of Magh Tuiredh.
I like that light. I am sure it is built like a tank!
I would be in for a group buy…. (almost) regardless of price.
I like the stubby robust build, but would have to push it farther than you’re willing to.
My single 18650 lights usually run over 6A, almost 7. I’ve got some in the 1800 lumens range or more when domed, 1500-1600 lumens de-domed. I’d love to see what kind of lux can be tweaked out of it.
I make a good guinea pig, with plenty of BLF17DD FET drivers on hand. 
Edit: Also have a 10A Tofty switch standing by, and some of the new XP-L emitters that seem to be able to handle over 8A reliably. 
I decided to keep this flashlight as I have designed and built it, using the regulation circuitry, max power 2.8A, multi-mode. It is extremely useful to have brightness modes. However, I am also designing a flashlight that will be powered from two 26650 batteries, and push the XM-L2 to as much as 8A, or whatever it will tolerate. I’m mounting the XM-L2 LED on a copper sinkpad. This will be single mode high power, unless I use my system in which spinning the head selects high/low power. I do have switches to handle 10A, but they are forward mounted click switches, mounted up towards the head end of the tube. This flashlight will have a little bit larger size head with cooling fins.
XP-L over 8A ??
Wayne
Djozz has tested both the XM-L2 and XP-L emitters to crash point. The XP-L tends to handle the high end a bit better, in his tests he took em up to 10.5A where the XM-L’s died easily just past 8A.
In case you haven’t heard, the XP-L is an XM-L2 die mounted on an XP-G2 substrate. Same die, smaller footprint.
Edit: This is preliminary testing on a limited number of emitters.
2.8A? Seriously? No way! I’ve got a 3” neck light running 3.2A for 873 lumens on a 10mm driver from a 10440 cell. Please! No offense Wayne, but you’re gonna have to up the ante if your’e selling a $200 light.
I don’t want to speak out of turn, but… yeah, what’s up with that? A $200 custom flashlight running on what appears to be a stock oldschool Nanjg 105c? I’m not a huge fan of DD, but it does seem that there are more flexible (and straight up better) options available than the 105c - both in terms of power and firmware. Even if all a person wanted was high/low, offtime would add a lot. A 20mm driver cavity would allow for many options.
20mm BLF20DD
20mm 12*7135 driver
LD-29 (with 2s)
I suspect that there have been some developments in recent years that elektrolumens is not aware of.
Not to mention the impressive proprietary things available through folks like DrJones and ttrev3. I suppose it’s worth pointing out that the forthcoming LD-1 from led4power is actually a 17mm driver rather than a 20mm driver, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see a 20mm variant become available.
It’s fine to make suggestions, I’m open to criticism too. Perhaps I am a bit ‘old school’ as well. However, to suggest I’m unaware and ignorant of latest developments, because I don’t choose to use them, well, maybe that’s going a bit too far?
In any event, thank you for your feedback.
Wayne
I like the light, it’s sheer size and volume and how you did indeed incorporate the massive head to the short body. If I decide to purchase one, it’ll be for your work on the light and optics and the driver is easy enough to change out.
I’m known for being reckless at the top end, you’re known for playing it safe, probably much better safe than….well, I think we all know how that one goes!
Thanks for the great design and build and the unique lens option.
Do you anodize the aluminum? I’m sure it’s just me, but even liking bare aluminum or polished, something about this one is calling me in a deep purple anodize…
So my suspicion was inaccurate? :~
EDIT: I certainly didn’t intend post #75 as criticism. More of an indirect suggestion and/or question. The suggestion was that if you don’t know about that stuff, go take a look at it. You’ll likely find it worthwhile as a builder of premium flashlights. If you already know about that stuff it might be worth mentioning why you don’t use it. That’s certainly your prerogative though!
I’ve done my share of pushing it to the limit. I’ve had my share of burnouts too. My favorite smiley was :poof:, which is not available on this forum. Reliability is important, run time is important, multiple levels of brightness is important, etc. If the goal is maximum as bright as can be, then it can be done. Not everyone wants it ‘pedal to the metal’, actually, only some people care for this. Low brightness setting makes this flashlight useful for mundane things like going for a walk, or looking around the property at close distance. Flashing mode is good for protection, making people nauseated, blinding them, etc.
I really like the multi-brightness function in this design, as a super narrow and super bright beam has only a few uses, like seeing far off in the distance, blinding people, and impressing people, and hunting white walls (great white wall hunter.)
Unanodized aluminum makes your hands turn black. Not a good choice for a flashlight. Polished aluminum looks great, but, not a good choice for a flashlight. I polish aluminum on some of the lap steel guitars I make, and for this purpose, it’s fine. I don’t put color into my anodizing as it never seems to come out consistent. Anodizing is a fine science, and the right ph of the acid water, right temperature, correct length of time in the tank, etching, all affect the outcome, and my set up is a garage set up and I’m not equipped correctly for anything other than anodizing clear and sealing.
Wayne
I’ve always wanted to own an EK light
Anodized and sealed in natural color is still a good thing.
You’ve really given me something to think about, for sure.
Do you have any of these for sale at the moment? I don’t mind the 18650 tube, I have 18650’s that perform as well or better than most any 26650, if not quite up to the capacity of the few big dogs. I would, however, prefer the 26650 tube for what the future may bring for the bigger cell. Do you know if your Moli fits it? The 26700? I got a couple of those from you a while back, would be able to switch around and use em in this light if needed.
Emitters and drivers get rapidly outdated and can be swapped out. Someone that buys an elektrolumens light knows he/she is getting a rugged, finely machined, hand built light that only a handful of other people in the world possess.
To me, his lights exude a tough, no nonsense manliness. Something, that I just don't feel from mass produced lights. It's sadly rare to come across a fine, hand-built product made in the USA these days.
I’m making these to order, 26650 or 18650, either way, doesn’t matter to me. If you are serious you can email me about it: waynej@elektrolumens.com . Probably I will not make that many of this flashlight, if I cannot find a reasonably priced source for this optics. Most of my customers like a balance of narrow beam and wide angle. This beam is mainly very narrow with little side spill. I find it fun to play with, but practical uses are limited.
I can make it to fit the 26650 if desired. AW 18650’s are basically Panasonic relabeled, according to my understanding. These 18650 match or best many 26650 on the market (not all, of course.) MNKE is making a pretty good IMR 26650. As far as I know nothing touches the 26700a as far as safe constant high amperage output, but the new IMR are coming closer. I usually make a flashlight that accepts the 26650 to also accept a 26700a (26700a is longer.) I like INR batteries, as they have more stable output, having some nickel added to the chemistry.
Wayne
Very clever optics. Looks like there is a cone to bend light away from the angles that would reflect more than once on the silvered part of the front window. It acts almost like a retro-reflector light with twice as deep a head, but the led is where is is easy to cool.
Post #18 has the following picture:
This shows how it works.
Wayne
That’s why DBCstm finds the BLF17DD (&related) drivers so practical. High can be DD brightness and then all the other modes are fractions of that dictated by PWM duty cycle.
Any 17mm circuit will work. I use what I use as it’s what I have in stock, and it works quite well. There are quite a number of good circuits, that one could use. I’ll take a photo of the heat sink, and it can be seen how easy it is to swap out.
W
Nothing wrong with using what you’ve got. You’ve been talking like a choice must be made between modes and DD, that’s the only reason I pointed that out so specifically. I trust your earlier statement that the lights are made to allow for modding. Pics are still welcome though, I’d love to see the guts of one of these since I may not end up with one.
Here’s a picture of the long version of the UltimateSearchLight, of which I call ’UltimateSearchLight-L. I have a regulation circuit powering it to 3A, 4 modes brightness. It also can have other forms of regulation, or if a 1 ohm resistor is used, power level is about 4.8 amps.
Wayne