I just picked up a Jacob A60 from Aurabuy. Mine has thermal compound under the PCB but it also has a scratched lens. Around 1.8A at the tail cap. All in all a nice light for the money.
I wouldn’t mind warming up the tint a bit but there don’t seem to be many options in the XR-E flavor.
Any advantage to swapping to an XP-E2 Noctigon? I ask because I have a few kicking around from previous projects.
Does the XP-E2 respond well to de-doming? I’ve used the gasoline method with great success on several XM-L2s and XP-G2s.
This light has such a nice, tight beam I don’t think I’d be happy with anything less.
Changing to a warmer tint would take down the contrast and lessen the benefit of all that throw. You could do XP-E2 but I understand de-doming requires readjustments of the optics to get the beam right.
I've done a couple with XP-E2's domed, but want to do an XP-E2 de-domed. Others have done de-domed XP-E2's and had great results. I think the XP-E2 is the best match-up for this light.
I have but one use for a thrower, that’s night trips on a lake up north. I built a DST for use last summer, 4.5A DD XM-L2. It worked much better than the big 12V spotlight I was using. But what really woke it up was when I swapped the DD 1C for a DD 5C1. I know it’s less light but in the light fog/mist on the lake I found it much easier to use.
The first one got an XP-E2 on copper from Intl-Outddor with a Fasttech sku 1122301 driver supposedly 2100mA. I measure about 1.9A at the tailcap. I also replaced the stock wires with heavier silicone stuff from IO and did the copper braid inside the driver and tailcap springs.
It is a huge improvement over the stock XR-E model (which I kept one of for comparison).
The second one got a qlite 3A driver and XP-G2 on copper. (Plus emitter wire and spring mods) I measured 2.8A at the tailcap. People commented that the reflector wasn't suited to the XP-G but apart from ugly rings on white walls I reckon it puts out a fantastic amount of light. Perhaps not the ultimate throw of the XP-E2 but there isn't a lot in it. It retains punch while giving a much better spread.
The most difficult part of the job was fabricating an adapter to put the 17mm driver into a 19mm recess. Lots of copper wire solder and grinding.
Many hours of mucking about but very satisfying results. I have no desire to try dedome at this time.
There is a huge and extensive thread here somewhere detailing all sorts of modding options.