I am searching for a host self assembly kit for non flashies so it would be necessary to accept primaries. Price around 15$.
Any hint?
I thought of the F13 with a 3xAAA holder. Sadly gearbest doesn’t ship them with a adapter anymore…
And of course I would have to dissassemble them first…
Have you considered these ? The Ultimate "Budget" EDC light, for LESS than 2 bucks. **UPDATE with MOD INFO**
No modes, but very usefull and damn cheap.
Edit: Don’t know but the Xint X3 carrier offered by Gearbest migth fit on some 26650 lights as the x3 only accepts unprotected cells, anybody checked yet?
Would be a way better primary option than AAA.
If it fits Supfire L6 comes to mind, has decent quality but is a few $/€ more.
I guess the old Solarforce L2i (3*AAA) or L2r (2*AA) would have been good choices, but both of those lights have been out of the picture for some time now. Maybe the either the L2 or L2m w/ extension tube is an OK idea?
L2m w/ extension is $15.49/ea (or save $0.25/ea by purchasing the extensions in pairs)
L2 w/ CR123A extension is $15.99/ea
w/ $2 total shipping (I assume you want to do a handful of these)
I’d go with the L2m, both because it looks classier w/ the smooth bezel and because it gives the most options. An L2m comes with a single CR123A extension, allowing it to run either a CR123A or an 18650. When you add the 18650 extension it can now run: 1, 2,3, or 4 CR123A (I think) / 1 or 2 18650 / 2xAA. I guess that a dropin which can run on 2xAA can probably run on 1xCR123A.
The L2 with extension just lets you run 2 or 3 CR123A / 1x 18650 / 2xAA.
Thanks for the reply.
I didn’t bet on an answer at all because it is a difficult case, a host kit in the 18650 formfactor would be easy but batts and charger are expensive and add other difficulties.
An upgrade of a light seems a good idea for teaching people the basics, so this is a good hint.
A p60 host would be super cool for building, especially because of different assembling difficulties because the dumber kids could only put the dropin and host together and the smarter ones could solder everything by them-self.
But cr123 are a special form factor and these batts are often expensive in local shops so I would like something more mainstream compatible. The solar force are a bit expensive if you consider that a dropin is also necessary.
I also thought of cheap ultrafire hosts in p60 style but 6V drivers seem to be also not so widely and cheap available.
Was it clear that I was suggesting P60 hosts specifically to house 2*AA? If not, sorry! The things I mentioned were just to point out how flexible that solution was in case any of your people wanted to “upgrade” later.
Ah I have overread that.
That would be cool but a extension and dropin will exceed the budget. Any hint on 3v compatible cheap dropin?
A empty dropin 2$
Xpg2 2$
Driver maybe 2$
——————————
Will make 6$
Unfortunately that’s the best I’ve got! If you are buying 10-20 you could contact Solarforce and see about a discount. Especially if you tell them what you are doing. I’m not that hopeful though. 
I think your suggestion of tearing down pre-built lights is the best budget option.
Could you bore out old M@g 2xAA light heads for P60 dropins?
There’s a topic here: Match's Mods: 15min mini mag mod
Really, you've been around all this time and you can't think of a host, driver, and emitter combo that runs on common primaries and is under a $15?
It’s funny how these things work! Another thread popped up around the same time as yours Werner:
In that thread this other thread was brought up: Building a 2x-AA P60 for a friend... - if you look in the OP he links to a product at KD (either HY-501DC or KIN-501C) which is apparently an extended Ultrafire 501C which is meant for 3*CR123A… (eg should fit 2*AA)
EDIT: There I go again, linking to the same thing twice. I fixed it.
He’s in Germany and it sounds like he needs at least a handful. As I understand it M@G is hard to get for a fair price anywhere outside the USA. I like your suggestion from the other thread! (Even though I strongly prefer the SolarForce hosts over the UltraFire)
Where’s that middle-finger smiley!
Thanks for all the suggestions.
—-
I can think of so much but I can’t materialize my dreams yet…
It’s a shame if you compare a 10$ convoy host to a cheapo Chinese AA host for the same amount….or a ready assembled F13 for 9.95$ Or a cheapo zoomie for 3$ That’s a real pain.
The 2AA p60 ultrafire might be worth a try. Sadly it’s sold out at BIC.
There is also a xml2 variant availabe http://www.banggood.com/Ultrafire-WF-501C-CREE-XM-L2-1800LM-LED-Flashlight-1x16340-p-91436.html?currency=USD
@tryps
I also don’t get is why there is no cheapo light which uses a 3xAA carrier? It don’t fits in most 26650 lights, it needs to be around 30-31mm wide to fit.
I have a light which came with a 4xAAA carrier but these small cells are really low capacity even weaker under some current.
The linked thread, in the OP of that thread you linked, oddly when clicking the fasttech links, firefox says the website is inspecting my browser before it loads. If I go to fasttech from my speeddials, nadda inspection… well thats disconcerting… I was there 20 minutes ago from my own speeddial link and had no such inspection.
Weird. Same thing for me. I also just dropped by Fasttech and reformatted a random item to the same format (including HTTPS) as the URLS used in that post. That seems to produce the same effect, at least without cookies. CloudFlare is a little weird, I know of at least one website who started using them and started having a lot of session-related problems, at least for me. (eg I get multiple, disassociated sessions between my different tabs - inconsistently)
Yeah too bad,
anyways the Cofly 2AA might fit the bill also, should be easy to dissamble, nice build quality and a great price. Upgrading the driver or LED is a good way to start with. I would do an emmiter swap to nichia219b or so. I just wait for Gearbest to restock, like to get a few and modify them for christmas. 
All the other 3/4 AA lights would be more than XintX3. So i don’t have an option in mind.