Thank you. With this power and the efficiency of the xp-l, it will be one hell of a flashlight.
If it’s not too late, can you add me to the list for one please.
Thanks
Of course
It may take a while before it ia getting too late to be put on the list.
Will update OP later!
This is kind of/sort of related. Just updated my Skilhunt H15 to the latest Narsil v1.12, bought via the discount bugsy36 was offering in his H15 group buy/review thread on the light. I modded this with a NW XM-L2, and a customized MTN17DDm v1.1 driver. I liked it before, but with the latest improvements, I gotta say myself -- Wow!
The improved Narsil in the H15 has:
- blinks now at max and min(moon) levels (blink is intentionally subtle)
- toggles the direction of ramping with every fast interval between rampings
- dbl-click no longer changes the last saved level, so you can dbl-click to max, click OFF, then click back ON to your last level
- plus I added a tail spring bypass, just to get it a bit more blindingly bright
I get a crazy 5.1A out of this little 14500 light (EFEST IMR of course), if a bumpy TIR optic on one XM-L2 LED can blind you, this just might be the first one, in NW tint no less.
goshdogit way back here, first asked about it doing a dbl-click and returning back to the previous set level. Well, I effectively implemented that, and I think it turned out as a remarkable upgrade in usability.
As ToyKeeper mentioned, the ramping is soooo smooth, plus the H15's beam through the bumpy TIR is soooo smooth. This H15, though it's a headlamp light technically, but with a nice tail magnet, decent thermal design for it's size, is now my favorite EDC 
.
Ok, enuf of this - back to our normally scheduled program...
Well little more: Thanks to goshdogit, ToyKeeper, and several others (un-named because I got no memory at the moment) who have been providing some great input/ideas and help!!
Awesome! Your modded H15 sounds like a really sweet angle light. Great to hear you’re finding the turbo shortcut useful in practice!
How much ‘customization’ did the MTN17DDm driver require?
I can’t wait to double click my Q8 for the first time! :laughing:
I have to say that I’m impressed at just how much this community can do. It’s no small task to set out to put something like this together, and I for one am very grateful for the opportunity to participate. I wish I had a skill I could contribute to these ventures, but for now you’ll have to settle for my gratitude!
Neat. Any idea what changed?
Actually, no, it doesn’t have a single-tap way to bump it back up. It still registers the current mode as unchanged after thermal regulation has kicked in, so a short tap would go to the next mode (probably moon) and a medium tap would go to the previous mode (probably the one just before maximum).
It gets a little awkward because there may be 7 explicit “levels” but there are 64 steps, and it tracks them separately. If the temperature cools down enough, it’ll step back up to its original level. Internally it tracks the user-friendly mode number (mode_idx, 1 to 7), the target brightness (output, 1 to 64), and the current brightness (actual_level 1 to 64). It could try to be fancy and change mode_idx if the actual_level falls below the next-lowest mode (1 to 7), but it doesn’t know what order the modes are in and it would be confusing trying to get it to step back up all the way later. So, I didn’t bother.
The quickest way to force it back to the current level is a medium tap followed by a short tap, to go back then forward one mode.
That’s pretty much what bistro does, except it uses the internal smooth ramp instead of the PWM level. Basically everything internally works according to ramp levels, not the user-selected mode preferences. The interface concept of “mode 3 of 7” basically just does a one-time lookup to see that mode 3 is actually ramp level 27, and then uses 27 from then on.
Oh wauw it is baffling how Narsil keeps on getting better and better at such tremendous speed Tom!
Have a great holiday! lOL you earned it just for all the hard work on Narsil 
You are like a magician and well Toykeeper when I read It still registers the current mode as unchanged after thermal regulation has kicked in once more I think you too are a genuine modern day magician/wizard.
[quote=ToyKeeper]
Neat. Any idea what changed?
I'd have to look it up - I can pm you, no time - gonna way tomorrow AM. It was just a small tweak to compensate quicker, I believe, and seemed to work better on lights that get hot real quick.
That’s… an interesting response.
<TK> “Sorry it has kind of a bug. Here’s why, but it boils down to me being lazy.”
<Miller> “You’re a genius!”
o_O
Ha hahahaha I really thought it was a feature, and smart one too.
I mean it goes back higher when temp allows it yet to get it on highest it needs more taps so highest is a very conscious decision of user.
Put me down for 2!
Welcome to BLF!
Cool another first post dedicated to the Q8!
yes will update OP later.
I’m planning to change 2 of the xpl with xpl hi. Do you think that this would make the Q8 more versatile or it wouldn’t lead to any significant changes?
XP-L HI might give you a bit more throw, but you will lose lumens.
Hi and welcome clange50. I had to read your post twice. I thought you wanted 21 lights. 
Well what if he uses cold white HIs?
CW has more lumens and HI a little more throw.
Would it mean nice tint up close and brighter throwing light further away?
Yes - the HI will definitely be more throw and less lumens. I think the improvement in throw will be more noticeable than the drop in lumens - I'm guessing about 65-75% bump in kcd, drop of ~12% in lumens. But of course doubling kcd does not double distance: x meters = SqrRoot(candela/0.25) (http://flashlightwiki.com/Light_Output_Measurements#Throw).
Great reference thread/test here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/34496, though I've never seen such a big bump in kcd/throw, ever, from a de-dome or HI LED.
The bins is also a big factor, and we won't know that info for a while, if it can even be provided.
Well, let me back up and clarify a little of what I was saying there. The HIs don’t come in as high bins as the HDs do. So, if Thorfire use the highest bin XP-L HD, then there is no way a HI could be as bright. But, we don’t know yet what bin they will use. And, the CW tints will have higher bins available than NW and especially WW. So, it is possible that the specific HI emitters that one might use to upgrade the Q8, could conceivably be as bright, or even brighter than the specific HD emitters that might come in the ‘stock’ Q8 light. But, if, like I did above, you assume the highest bin of each style, the HD will win, because there are higher bins available in that style.
However, another way to look at it is that the hotspot of the HI, being more intense, will look ‘brighter’ if you shine both emitters on a wall from a few meters away. If that is the effect you’re going for, then why stop at only ‘upgrading’ two of the emitters? Go ahead and do all four. The light will look better (while off) from the front if all the emitters are the same shape. The loss of a few hundred lumens won’t really make that much difference visually compared to the difference in intensity that the tighter beam will make. There should still be plenty of flood from four intense XP-L HI emitters running at full blast!
Then why not use the XM-L2 U4 1A and de-dome? Tint will take a hit but throw and power will be at peaks.
I think I prefer a domed XM-L2 U4 1C in this, for sheer output. Throw can be left to the throwers. That’s just my take, and what I’ll do.