I just dropped mine onto a sidewalk. The bezel and tailcap are scratched but no problems with the light. Oh well, it wasn't for display anyway.
Does anyone know what's expected from v3? it seems like the ideal late Christmas present for myself if it's improved somehow...
I have no idea but it will be better, i don't expect the DRY to dissapoint :d
Great to hear that. Lights (esp budget lights) are meant to be used. :)
DrJones, I see you've updated your original post with different numbers for the turbo driver. Why are the duty cycle numbers different now?
Also, are your first set of numbers, for the non-turbo driver, still correct? (5%, 20%, 50%)
The PWM duty cycles are the same (4.3%/20%/50%/90%); the percentages I added are measured light output relative to turbo(100%).
I haven't ever noticed PWM with my DRY, let's hope if i place my incoming turbodriver it will stay that way :). Ty for the figures!
Okay the turbo driver is installed in mine now. Here's a tip for any of you who still need to install it:
The driver comprises two circuit boards: a small one and a big one. Then the driver attaches to a third board, which some people are calling the "battery disc". This battery disc is bigger than the two driver boards. I'll just call them the small, medium, and big boards.
The medium board attaches to the big board with two wires. These wires are super short. One of them is at the edge of the boards, and you can see where it attaches to both boards. The other wire is tack-soldered to the centre of the middle board, and goes through a hole in the centre of the big board to the contact on the other side (the battery side). But the point where it's soldered to the contact on the other side is covered by a little puck-shaped piece of metal, which is soldered to the big board. The puck-shaped metal thing is the + battery contact.
Therefore, if you want to reuse the existing wires and holes, you'll have a hard time soldering that tiny wire and then soldering the puck back on top of it. I recommend you do what I did: drill another hole through the big board, still within the large area of the centre contact, but off to the side, so that it won't be covered up by the puck. Then solder the puck onto the big board. Then solder a chunk of wire to the centre contact of the medium board, and leave it long enough that you can thread it through the newly drilled hole later. Also make it long enough so that when you solder the end of it to the big board, the heat won't melt the solder attaching the wire to the medium board. I used a piece of 18AWG solid copper wire with the insulation removed, and left the end pointing straight up off the board. When it's time to reattach the big board to the medium board, you thread the two wires through the holes, solder, and trim off any excess from the wire you added.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures, so if that's not clear, I can try to describe it again.
As for output, well as others have already said, turbo is quite nice. :) It's not hugely brighter than High mode, but it's noticeable. And wow, the light gets warm really fast.
edit: I would say it's almost mandatory to have some device that will hold your driver while you solder. I use a small hobby vice. And you may need a fairly big soldering iron/gun to heat up the big contacts. I used a Weller soldering gun, the kind where you pull a trigger to turn it on. But use a smaller iron for the wires that go to the LEDs of course. Also, when you remove the old driver, if you don't plan to reuse the tiny wire that joins the centre of the big and medium boards, you can just pry those two boards apart, since the wire is just tack-soldered to the medium board. I did that by accident. :) Then you probably don't even need to desolder the centre wire from the big board--just trim it off. Then you won't have to desolder the metal puck either. I desoldered my puck, and it fell off the board, luckily not onto my skin or the carpet.
I received my driver today, hopefully my friend will be able to install it (soon).
I also received a prototype of a new battery carrier with 2 discs connected by 3 metal tubes. But the problem is that xtar 18700's just can't possibly fit so i was wondering if i can just cut a piece of the springs?
Petey, you already tried turbo outside? Let's hope it's a bit more than noticeable :d
update: i think 90% of the spring will have to be removed and even then...
You mean this? http://www.intl-outdoor.com/dry-metal-battery-carrier-p-257.html
That's been sold for a month now on the Chinese market by the DRY builder.
Oh k :) Ric told me it was new and not yet available.
Should i cut the springs almost for 95%? with only a little piece of metal left?
But i fear even then it is not enough :s
If you cut the springs shorter, will the battery holder still make good contact with shorter, more standard-sized 18650 batteries? A li-ion battery lasts about 5 yrs, so if you're still using your Dry in 5 yrs, and need new batteries...
I'm using AW batteries in my Dry and they are performing very well. Off the charger, they all read 4.22 V. After about 3 weeks of intermittent use, I measured them last night before charging them, and all three were 3.99 V. Then when they were fully charged, they were all 4.22 V again. Very consistent, even though one cell is about 8 months older than the other two.
By comparison, I have one pair of Xtar 2600s. They come off the charger at 4.23 and 4.18, or something like that, and it's quite consistent. I had bought those for a 2x18650 light, but because of the voltage difference, I use them in two 1x18650 lights, and I use my two older AW cells in the 2x18650 light.
Sorry, I got off-topic there, but my point was that you may not buy Xtar batteries next time, so maybe don't cut down those springs. Unless the old battery carrier is causing you problems, then you can cut down the springs now, and if necessary buy another new metal battery carrier in 5 yrs (if it's still available in 5 yrs).
I think I'll keep the carrier intact for now like you suggest and keep on using my plastic one which works fine for the moment!
I took my turbo Dry out to walk the dogs tonight, to a park with trails and an open field. I was comparing the Dry to my WF-500 5xXR-E. The 5xXR-E still throws a little bit farther, but in every other way, the turbo Dry is far superior. Better colour (NW vs CW), much less "bobbing", much less tunnel-vision, easier-to-operate switch, pocketable...
It was about 7 degrees C. I had the Dry on turbo mode for a total of probably 15 mins, spread over a walk of maybe 30-40 mins. The Dry got fairly warm, but not close to hot.
Bad news for me, my DRY 3-mode (med/turbo/strob) died this evening.
I think it is a faillure of the driver.
Output got very dim, still can use the 3 modes.
After a while, nothing at all, leds will no more illuminate.
I really think the driver is dead.
Damn, damn, my favorite flashlight that I use every day!!!
@petey output of turbo is less dissapointing outside?
@thommy, dam that sucks, i received my turbo this week but my friend hasn't had the time to install it yet :(
thommy, if you unscrew the head, do you smell burnt electronics?
scheven_architect, I wasn't actually disappointed with the turbo output indoors. I expected it to be brighter than High, but not a LOT brighter. Indoors, looking directly at the spot on a wall, there's not much difference because the eye compensates. But bounced off a ceiling, there is a noticeable difference. Outdoors, again I would describe the difference as "noticeable", but not a LOT. But this is exactly what I was expecting, so I wasn't disappointed.
There's not a huge difference between High and Turbo, but if you skip quickly from Medium to Turbo, the difference is more impressive than if you go from Medium to High. I've been waiting for my turbo driver to arrive before I show off this light to my friends. For best wow effect, I'll try to skip past High quickly on my way to Turbo.
Hehe the best might be just shut it off on turbo and when you put it on it's directly on turbo. I've experienced building up doesn't exactly add to the wow-effect :p.
Yep, unfortunately 
Tommy, take out the driver and see if it works with 3-cells (at 4.0V) directly. Anyway you can wait for the new driver, probably coming out any day now.
You probably cooked the driver when doing Turbo/High mode for pretty long periods?