I Ordered my two lights on Feb 11th, received March 17th, to USA (Pennsylvania) So about 5 weeks.
Pretty sure mine made it out right before the Chinese holiday but it sounds like you ordered right after the holiday started.
I had ordered a SuperPower 3 up from CNQG on Feb 13th, it didn’t ship til Mar 9th. But tracking shows it hit San Francisco yesterday so it won’t be long now!
(This is a 3x26650 BTU Shocker clone) I figured $65 for a 3 up 26650 that’s a clone of the fabulous BTU Shocker at half the price just can’t go too wrong, ya know?
Kinda what I figured.
10x for your efforts again Nitro, goods came in great condition
Finally finished my X6 triple build with the XP-L V6 3D's - came out really nice, using the A17HYBRID-S driver (FET+1*7135) with the blf-a6 firmware. Interesting that I get almost dead on results with the X6 quad I built. I prefer the triple, now that I built both - I wanted to get rid of the lumens-stealing lens, so raised the MCPCB by reflowing a copper slug underneath it, 20mmx20mm square, so doesn't cover it all but still gives you nice contact. I secured the heat sink to the body by screwing it on the bottom to the pill top, then screwed down the MCPCB/copper square to the top of the heat sink with GC Extreme in-between.
I prefer the triple for several reasons:
- no lens required!
- bigger, much more chunkier MCPCB, more space between LED's so better heat sinking
- easier to wire with heavy gauge wires (I used 18 AWG, while on the quad used 20 AWG)
- can be secured to the heat sink with screws (drilled and tapped) - the quad has no available space
For my two units, the triple is (so far) within 20 lumens of the quad but at 1 full amp lower. Now this could be because of emitters, wires, no lens, etc., so not just the mechanical differences.
Great job nitro on these heat sinks! Only thing I would have preferred would be for the triple heat sink to be enlarged to eliminate the need for a lens, but I could work around that. I never could have machined ones myself, like Dale can.
Dale - the Shocker is 106mm head diam while this light is 94mm. The Feniz TK70 using D cells was also 106mm head diam. I think RIC is selling a re-branded LusteFire triple (or LusteFire is the re-brand 
), because it was measured at 93 mm here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/22740. WallBuys selss it for $74 here: http://wallbuys.com/Product/LusteFire-3XU2-X3-3-x-XM-L-U2-3000LM-5-Mode-White-LED-Flashlight-Black-3x26650--10997, but it's listed at 92mm there.
The distinctive body tube and tail marking match up about perfect. Still for $65, pretty good deal, but you can get a Shocker host for $65.
Nice work Tom, interesting to see the Triple stepping up to fill in like a Quad. I was also liking my Triple’s best until I used a CUTE-4 optic for a Quad. Now it’s my favorite. 
(I must confess, it was a LOT more difficult to build, taking individual 10mm SinkPAD’s as I couldn’t find a copper quad mcpcb to fit)
I also find it interesting that you prefer the non-lens build. I’ve been keeping the glass to protect the more fragile optic, or going with UCLp lenses for optimum clarity while maintaining that protection. Should I measure my CUTE-4 build in the box without a lens and see if there’s warrantable difference?
I took photo’s at a Tele-Communications Expo yesterday, showed the Quad to quite a few people in the Wireless and Fiber Optic industry (about 1000 in attendance) and most (read all) were astonished at the sheer output levels. A few found the moon level interesting, most wanted to exploit Turbo. lol
I hear you bout the protecting the optics, but my lights, unfortunately, don't get much abuse, and figure if only the optics get damaged, it's a lot cheaper than the LED's, driver, or even battery, to replace.
Cool bout the show!!
Edit: Hhmm - yes, definitely advantages with that CUTE-4 optic, even just because you did have to use separate MCPCB's - more copper where it's needed the most, more separation, better heat conduction.
Ohh - who is gonna be the first sucker, I mean tester/reviewer for this light: tmart.com/Tangspower-T88? This T88 looks just plain awesome, with modding of course. It's the 12X 6 cell light (from KD and others), but bigger head, more LEDs, added side switch. TMART has a great deal on this - $106 with XM-L2's. I'm think'n just buy the Noctigons and xfer the LED's to save a ton of $$$, then a FET based OSHPark driver, but you need the LDO part instead of the zener, maybe...
Changing topic again... btw, with the X6 triple using the FET + 1*7135 driver, I set up one mode with max output on the 7135, no FET, and measured 156 lumens. This means you should get 156 lumens for about 7.5 hours of continuous use on a 2500 mAh cell (350 mA draw) -- not bad.
@Dale, I am glad to hear you like the Cute-4 combination so much i haven’t build mine yet but when i hear you say that i get real itchy to start 
I haven’t found the led’s i want to use yet, i hoping some more 3D 
will show up on the market in a high flux bin.
I was a bit concerned about if the cute-4 was too shallow when i dry fitted it on 4 XP-L with the domes on. Did you find any issues when you built yours?
Well, personaly i was thinking we wont need X6 glass, last night i build one trippe, and was kinda suprised
Shouldn't be too surprised - I said I raised the MCPCB in post #353 (?). Should size things up before you commit to wire and mounting. Also I think early on, it was said the size of the triple heat sink was based on using the glass - maybe Dale, or nitro, not sure, but it could/should have been made clearer. I used the thickest 20x20 square I had and it fits perfect now with no glass. I bought an assortment of 20x20's off of eBay last year.
Well, wiring and mounting isnt something that cant be undone you know , thats that post #353 should be in the main page, cause i am sure most of us didnt watch every interesting topic post by post
Thanks exacly what i used too , 2.5mm thick from this Ebay member
On second thoughs, using it with a glass have an advantage - it wont scratch that easy, youll lose eventualy 2-3% of the emitted light using the glass, and for ppl like me that use X6 as EDC that tripple will scratch in no time…have to bring back the glass i think( from a regular X6 if possible)
Anyway, Nitro should annoyce this in first post i think
Ahh - found what I ordered: http://www.ebay.com/itm/45pcs-Laptop-GPU-CPU-Heatsink-Copper-Shim-20mmx20mm-/190543195234?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160. I must have used the 2.5 - think I measured it at 2.42 mm. I've used triple plastic optics for tube EDC's I've carried and never had a problem with scratch's, but I'm very careful and make sure I have nothing harmful in my pocket with the light.
Sorry guys for not announcing that, what iv done on a build since i lost the glass lens :( i used two 2mm thick O-rings and when u screw down the part hold down the optic so it does not spin ect............and if anyone does try this u have to keep you thumb going around both O-ring's so it stays in place, once done it looks awesome.
I also use double o rings so i don’t have to use the glass lens.
Those copper shims looks like a better deal than my plan i bought a bunch of extra noctigon xp32’s, that i had planned to use to raise the mcpcb for a better fit for the triple cute-3 without the glass, & the cute-4 that needed to be raised even further if i don’t remember things wrong.
I think one extra sanded xp32 should be right for the triple without the glass and i hope 2 should be good for the cute-4, but i haven’t built it yet
The o-rings will work for sure, but don't like lowering the optics from the bezel edge. Just another great feature of the X6 is it's super low profile bezel - very little loss's in theory. I believe pflexpro (or someone else) posted an awesomely thorough chart of light output vs. bezels/thermal wraps/lens/etc. for P60's, and it pretty much proved how bigger deeper bezels have more output loss.
Thats interesting i haven’t even considered that aspect at all before, but when you say it, it is so obvious
Nice thats another avenue to optimize if possible on a build then.
And in that line of thought, i wonder if it is possible to raise it so we don’t have to use an o ring at all or at least a thinner one……i will have to test some things……
When I first built the triple X6 I did so with the glass in the equation. I wanted it there for protection, the plastic or polycarbonate or whatever you want to call it scratches so easily and will turn yellow and haze just like your headlights when left exposed to UV radiation. So the UCLp acrylic lens affords some protection in multiple ways while losing the least possible amount of emissions. At 4578 lumens, I think I’ve got a few to spare.
All this was stated clearly in the beginning. I re-designed the heat sink for the quad to enable the o-ring to fit on a shelf on the sink, sealing against the glass and by design keeping a minimum clearance between the optic and lens to prevent the mosaic effect from the two surfaces in contact. The optic for the quad does have a molding tunnel that has to be cut clear in order for that optic to sit into the shelf provided and give proper spacing.
Simple enough to add a copper spacer if more height is needed/required as optics choices change. OnlineMetals sells a sample pack of copper sheet for $9.46 that has different thicknesses in a 4x4 sample sheet. The thickest one is about the same as our mcpcbs, the thinnest are very handy as well. I cut the thickest with metal sheers, scissors for the others. It took 2 of these to use the CUTE-4 as I recall and I re-flowed all the copper into one piece.
The CUTE-4 Quad X6 with it’s extra 4mm of copper has a solid hefty feel to it that I like a lot. Many people that I showed the light to at the Expo Wednesday really liked it as well. Multiple suggestions that I create a webpage and sell em were offered up…
Just a quick question incase I have done something wrong
I have the triple setup with XPL’s a BLF A17DD-S08 running a Samsung 25R battery
I braided the spring I added to the board as well as the switch spring.
However when I turn it on if a just touch the switch a little it goes through its modes on its own, sometimes does without being touched. I am guessing that there is a earth issue somewhere does anything else need to be done with this spec?
I have tried the switch from my second X6 which has a XML2 U3 de domed on noctigon with a LD1 driver with another Samsung 25R and that does the same thing and both seem to work ok in the second X6.
With the LD1 I had to build up a solder ring on the edge of the driver as it was a bit thinner but the A17 one seems to be the same size as the original driver and looks like it’s secure
I see some have bypassed the switch PCB trace could this be causing an issue or is more like driver seating?
Dunno, again for me/my own personal use, on these X6 triples, I see no need for a glass, or AR, or UCLp lens whatsoever. I will not leave the flashlight sitting anywhere exposed to a full day of daylight for months or years, like a car might be, and I tend to treat them with great care, so scratch's are highly unlikely. But even if it did scratch, replacing the optic is one of the cheapest, easiest part to replace on the light. Only lens worthwhile would be a UCLp, but replacing it I would think would cost more than the optic, and again, based on my use, it's spending a few bucks for not much of a reason.
fb 893 - could be the driver ground. Me and Dale scrape off the purple covering on the outer ground ring on some of these drivers, then in a X6, I folllow Dale's tip now (on my latest X6 mod) to use the brass retainer ring upside down because it had a slightly larger contact surface. We then drill the tool holes in the ring surface now facing up. Also be careful the body tube is not upside down - it only works reliably I've seen in one direction.