First off, dangit. What did you guys do to me? I came here to ask about one light and now I’m thinking about buying more. This place has some sort of voodoo magic. Anyways, I ran across a really interesting looking flashlight called the MECO XM-L T6 From the price point and the lack of mentioning Cree anywhere, I’m willing to bet it’s equipped with a LatticeBright. For $11 for a neat looking ‘host’ with a driver though, maybe I could throw a real Cree in it? Let me know what you think?
I don’t know. With the built in charging, side switch, and tail switch it might be a pain getting a new driver to fit and work. Then with that crazy bezel, getting that crazy lens out of it and fitting a proper reflector or TIR might be a challenge as well. 2000 lumen with a T6 of course isn’t going to happen. I betting the driver is some sort of 7135x4. It is interesting looking but you might be better off getting a nice Convoy host of your choosing. Opens up all kinds of great options. I want to try a S2+ triple when I get a chance. But hey, if you have your heart set on it, go for it. Won’t cost you a bunch to find out and if you succeed it will be a one of a kind i’m sure.
Welcome to the club. This thing your feeling is only going to get better by buying more flashlights. 
You’re right, I hadn’t considered the complication that might be added with the built in charging. That’s not a feature I feel that’s necessary. I figured that there was no way this thing is putting out 2000lm, especially coming from a LB emitter lol. OK, so what’s a good ‘host’ to start with that is physically larger than a C8? I don’t mind staying with 1x 18650. I really like the C8 and I only have medium sized hands but I think it’s slightly too small. Resting my index finger up on the heat sink instead of having a more natural full grip on the tube is slightly annoying.
I agree with todd to not start with that light. You can go save with a convoy L2. Bigger than the c8 and with a sleeve you can still use your 18650’s.
Another option but probably more work than a convoy is in the thread below. Bigger than a c8, cheap and with a lot of potential. Lots of information about possible mods in the thread also.
Keep in mind that this and the L2 will be throwy lights with a small hotspot.
If you like the looks of the host, there is no reason not to buy it and then spend $5 for a run of the mill CREE, or a nice Nichia emitter for it.
I don’t think it makes any sense to do more than that. Even if you punt on maintaining the charging feature, the trouble and expense of fitting a driver seems like a bad investment. As for the existing driver, I doubt it is anything more than PWMed ballasted with some inline resistors to limit the current.
If you go to the trouble of opening it up, and you find that it is indeed as I guessed, you could turn it into a crummy direct-drive driver by shorting pasts the resistors. There is a risk that this will fry a low Vf emitter, but I’d guess that the stock FET doesn’t have particularly low resistance, and will probably limit the current. Unfortunately, I doubt it has great heat dissipation either, so it may cook the FET.
Really though, there are so many better options for a modding host for, at most, a few bucks more.
I went totally rogue and got a Convoy S2+. It was on sale 25% off and it looks like a nice light. Unfortunately only the U2 1B bin was on sale for that price. According to Cree’s data sheet, that puts it between 6200K-6500K. That’s a little bluer than I’d like, but for the price I can’t complain. I also nabbed a questionable authenticity Ultrafire WF-502b just because I like the way it looks. I’m fully expecting a Lettuce Bright in that one, but it’s advertised as having a Cree in it. I guess we’ll see! I can always play the PayPal game if it’s a LB.