Yeah I have most of a sheet of DC Fix. Last time u-gnd I put glad press-n-seal on my assistants spotty headlamp smd that worked quite well.
-Garry
Update - spoke with another u-gnd crew member (the instrument operator). Turns out he REALLY liked my Convoy M1 (3.0A, XM-L2 T6 4C, guppydrv 2-mode, high-low, no memory), so much so that he’s interested in purchasing one personally. He also commented that he noticed the difference between the cool whites and the neutral white and definitely preferred the neutral white.
Also had a co-worker bring in his Fenix HL55 NW headlamp. They like it and the beam pattern & modes seems to fit what they want. It’s rated 10hrs on medium mode (rated 165 lumens) and feels nice and rugged.
So I’ll likely get (1) Convoy M1 NW (5C1 tint) 3.04A for the instrument setup, 2 mode at levels 100–15, no memory (guppydrv f/w does this already), and (3) Convoy S2’s with the low boosted a bit, maybe around 25% to 35%, with high being about 2.66A (1 AMC chip removed from the 3.04A driver).
-Garry
Sounds like a good plan. “No memory” can be really nice.
Sharpie, I understand your thinking that it’s a bit puzzling. I think it’s going around and around because Garry is in an awkward situation as he is a flashlight enthusiast who just happens to work I caves where flashlights are needed most yet ironically the importance of “which flashlight” to use is overlooked. If the situation is such he probably also has limited time to comment here.
That said, I have a few comments on Garry’s feedback.
As for using headlamps for checking roof quality I think that’s just a bad idea. Headlamps need to be more flood based and if you’re looking for cracks you need to hit that with something handheld with more power than would be ideal for a headlamp.
As for chargers, Wight was steering you towards Xtar which I wholeheartedly agree with.
Nobody new to high-powered lights cares about cool-white. They are simply dazzled by lumens. I was too. Given a bit of experience with each a neutral tint may prove more helpful as you are seeing a more accurate image (higher CRI).
The love of “zoomies” is impossible to avoid in people new to modern LED flashlights so the Zeusray love is not surprising. There are a few important things to note here. One is that stock Zeusray lights are not that reliable. They had a lot of promise but dropped the ball in QC. The other thing is that the value of “zoomie” lights is quite underrated particularly as work lights IMHO. I know several people that do inspection type work and the ability to go from flood to a pinpoint location beam with one light is very valuable to them. The “zoomie” market starts at $3 SK-68 clones and hits a wall at under $15 without any big improvement in quality then it seems to jump into the $50 and up range for a quality “zoomie”. A possible exception is the Coast HP1. If the budget is tight the Coast HP1 seems much more reliable than the SK-68 clones and is much brighter on standard AA alkalines. It has a wider flood too. The only downside is that due to its design it only works well at full flood or pinpoint. While zooming in the mid-range you will see a black hole in the center of the beam. Still, at around $10 it seems much better in build quality than anything in that price range.
At the power levels you mention you may want to look at the Convoy M2 over the M1. It still has good throw but it’s not as throwy as the M1, plus it has the stainless bezel to protect the head a bit more if it were dropped. The OP reflector gives it a more uniform beam pattern than the M1 yet it still throws respectably. I have a custom built M2 hitting around 5A in turbo, over 1500 lumens and it handles the heat very well. At more “reasonable” power levels (even stock 2.8A) it still performs very well and I find it a very nice balance between the nice smooth flood of an S2+ and the throw of a C8 type light.
I’ve said enough for now and I’m sure others will chime if they disagree or have better suggestions. I can’t offer any advice in headlamps as I do not yet own one. Several are in my future for sure. 
Thanks J-Dub for sticking up for me and for the suggestions. I’ll check out that Coast HP1. I know there were reasons I personally chose the M1 over the M2 and I think it was because the bezel on the M2 reflected light, so the M1 had the cleaner beam. (The M1 uses an OP reflector too.) I do have that Warsun 26650/3xAA zoom light coming. I’ll still mod it and have them try it out. I have to say, I really like the nice even beam from a zoom light on full flood.
I too thought they’d prefer floodier headlamps, but they said no. Of course I’m not going to force them to use what I want them to use (to some degree).
As far as Petzl’s go, I wrote them off earlier because of the models available and price. They had nothing that compared to the Fenix HL55 or Xtar Warboy H3. And I clearly stated how many lights of which type would be purchased. I also have to justify the cost to the supervisors (we’re not a big firm throwing money around, though this expense isn’t bad at all). I have to also justify the cost in light of the fact that they recently bought the “approved/certified cap lamps” (which you’d probably crap a brick if you knew how rediculously expensive they were).
I realize I pretty much came around to answering my own question in this thread. I was really fishing for ideas on lights or other things I might not have realized or confirmation I was on the right track. Originally I thought I’d post up asking about headlamp hosts that would be good to mod into what we wanted, but decided I didn’t have the time to invest in anything time consuming.
Thanks to all; I can update at a later time if we purchase.
-Garry
Please do.
Another suggestion…
Garry, you mentioned using guppydrv. That is a great option to experiment with different mode groups and such. But, once you know what works, you might be better off getting that specific set-up flashed, so that it can’t be changed accidentally (or on purpose).
I had the same thought last night! Though it does take 8 fast clicks to enter programming, right? I remember having a heck of a time purposely getting into the programming on mine!
I also had the thought that the “instrument tripod” light with a “medium” that yields +/-8rs will probably end up with “low” being awful close to that medium level, unless I back low down quite a bit.
EDIT - Now I see in posts #40 and #45 I contradicted myself on output levels for the instrument light. Since low & medium would end up awfully close to each other, I probably will go with post #45’s 3.04A high and 15% low - always starts on low. I can’t imagine they would leave the light on high at the tripod; that would be a lot of glaring light being reflected off close objects. I also see that at Mtn Elec guppydrv doesn’t have a “15–100 no memory” option, so that would be a custom flash anyway.
-Garry
So I finally got around to taking a look at the clips we have at work for holding our head lights to our hard hats. They’re Crochlamps clips. I didn’t realize how pricey they are, but they really do work very well.
Thanks Aurora. I’ll keep those in mind if needed.
-Garry
Subscribed. To read a bit later 
For a fairly small package and a great deal of useful light I recommend the following:
Shadow SL3, on sale at Fastech for $40
Shadow JM35, fastech $39. This light runs Cree XHP50 LED and it is REALLY bright.
Both take 26650 batteries which have a ridiculous amount of MaH reserve. I have found several batteries offering and tested to produce well over 5000 mah.
For compact power in pocket size and very good throw, its hard to beat the Thrunite TN11s V2 for $46 on Amazon though they are getting hard to find still in stock (makes me sad).
Another very good inexpensive option is the Convoy BD01. Side click 26650 compact light with just over 1000 lumen. I am anxiously awaiting receipt of 2 from Fastech….
Garry, I realize you already saw this but David has a point. I’ve witnessed people doing incredibly odd things when they aren’t even meaning to or even paying attention to what they are doing.
For example, people who like to click their pen while they’re thinking…
Unless you are willing and able to mod your light I wouldn’t recommend the BD01 all that highly. The built in charging feature is convenient but mine just sits in a drawer. The build quality is really nice but the mode spacing and beam pattern are not good at all IMHO. It is potentially awesome but stock it does nothing for me and I’m a huge Convoy fan. Probably the ringiest beam pattern of all my lights. I think Simon should rework that one with different modes and switch to an OP reflector. It really does have a lot of potential and long runtime but it’s begging to be modded.
Edit: I’ve been reflecting on my BD01 ever since I posted this. Maybe I was a little harsh in my judgment. It’s honestly been so long since I used it that I can’t entirely remember what I disliked about it aside from the rings. I remember being bummed that it wasn’t a dual switch but that was my fault for looking too quickly before ordering. Something about the modes bothered me. At the time I ordered it I had new lights arriving at my house every other day including some nice custom builds so it kinda got lost in the mix. When I get home tonight I’ll get it out and put a fresh cell in it and have another look. Cosmetically I think it’s great. Even the packaging was beautiful. It came in a nice dark blue heavy cardboard gift box.
You really need a lot of batteries so you do not have to charge them every day? like maybe one set for every working day of the week? Charge them the next day when you are at work? You can buy 1 amp chargers but most 4 port chargers do not charge at one amp each port once fully loaded (i think the opus might?) Easier way would be 2 times the 2 port chargers that charge at one amp each port? Sorry if i wrote that in a confusing way i am reading over it like WTF lol
Did your work give you a budget?
Work did not give me a budget, but I know “times are tough” and their not going to spend “a lot” especially if they think we they use is good enough already.
Thanks for all the other input. I’m still evaluating. BTW - I did receive the Warsun zoom light and I have to say it seems like a nicely built light, though too big and heavy for what these users want to carry.
-Garry
I fired up my BD01 a few minutes ago. In mine the emitter isn’t focused properly which explains a lot of the ringy beam issue. Centering is off by a hair and the centering ring looks like it’s made of clear plastic which would add to the rings. It might need a wee bit of shimming for proper focus. I didn’t dig in too deep but I will when I have more time. The modes I definitely do not like. Mine has 5 modes with mode memory, low-med-high-strobe-SOS and I see no way to change to simple 3 mode unless I’m missing something. The blinky modes should be hidden or removed. Throw is pretty respectable but would definitely be improved by properly focusing the emitter. If you can do your own mods I think it would be pretty awesome. Like a good C8 but with a side switch and much more runtime. It’s set to 2.8A stock and that could certainly use a bump. If I do anything with mine I’m thinking a different driver and tuning the emitter placement and maybe swapping with a domed XPL unless you’re looking for mega thrower in which case I’d opt for an XPL-HI.
Finally got the lights and batteries. Ended up with Panny 3400’s due to fitment issues with the LG MJ1’s. As you can see, we got 3 Convoy S2+’s and an M2. All 4 are 3B tint. Not my preference but I just don’t have the time for the custom builds (and RMM’s mod service is not active right now). Batteries were charged up upon arrival and lights taken underground the next day (today). I will custom flash the drivers in the future when the lights aren’t needed for awhile.
-Garry
Awesome! I’m interested in how this turns out after testing, re-flashing the drivers, and testing again. It’s always great when you have a tool that is perfect for its intended purpose. Here’s hoping these lights are impressive to everyone who uses them!