Very nice review! It takes a lot of effort to write this up 
thank you the great review :party:
My current Mod: Driver LD-4B MT-G2 Q0 next mod: driver LD-2 6V/9A MT-G2 Q0 :evil:
(edited wrong driver :8) )
Can you use two 18650 in series with the LD-25? I thought the input voltage is only 3-4.2V?
Its output voltage (3V) also doesn’t seems to be able to power 6V emitter?
Hah, no worries man.
I’ve always wanted to look for a good buck driver for my 1405 but I have no luck so far. LD-4B is the one I use in my 1405, but it has stopped working since last month and I suspect that it is because it can’t handle high current (I stacked an R120 resistor on top of the stock one) and burned.
Richard is making some good 17mm buck drivers recently and these may be the hope for it. 
1405 is born for 2x18650 parallel alteration.
I find one example here (post 559) on BLF:
Something like this could be altered with stock plastic tube with some dremeling, wiring, and thinking.
And then FET drivers or DD modes in Cajampa style would have more sense to me.
Edit: another one in this thread post 344.
really ingenius! so with this battery mod, driver can be changed with one that use only 1x battery (2,8v to 4.2v range)
but….what if change driver plus led with an xhp-50 ( smaller than mt-g2) and a LITTLE internal reflector………that is BEFORE the aspherical lense? just to catch all the light and push if frontly toward the aspherical lense….what with this mode is FORCED to stay at max longer/distance from the led emitter ( no space to short it… because there’s the reflector internally)
what do u think of my idea?
Realista,
Reflector in aspherics light is not good idea. Reflector does not contribute to hotspot intensity at all. It just adds ugly spill around main hotspot. I tried that before :). I even have Wolf eyes night hunter(first edition) aspherical flashlight that uses small reflector and beam is very ugly and ringy.
I also don't think XHP-50 or MT-G2 is right choice for this flashlight. This flashlight is dedicated for throw so throwy emitters are must with this light( XP-G2, XM-L2, XPL)
Reflector under aspherical lenses looks like this:
Orange peel reflector:
Smooth reflector:
Only thing that can enhance the throw is RA (recycling collar). MEM from BLF is original inventor of RA.
Look at this thread post 457
recycling collar IMHO is a stupid thing. I can’t explain well because english is not my native language, but in my opinion it does only “CUT” the beam…. appearing more clean… more focused to infinity but it can’t be true. …beinc an “inversed” reflector… for example of you reflect inwards 30 or 40% of light power, this power does NOT return out through the central hole. expecially with DARK BASE PLATES like noctigun. yo should have a “mirror” surface ( where you mount the led) to make it return all light exterior….(light that inversed reflector put inwards)
No problem. Make your version of reflector aspherics and post picture or two here so we can all see. :)
RA is best and most expensive thing for aspherical flashlights which can boost candela performance for 100%
If you are "lumen hunter" you should forget about aspherical flashlights and build yourself something like BTU Shocker.
Thanks realista for another good review, did you, by case, measured the throw?
I think I’ve missed it on the review
As I said to realista I have that DMM too, since I work in a Hardware tool shop we haven’t fluke or such, but I’ve compared it to few meters we have here which cost few times more those are Milwaukee stuff, 2216 and 2237. Here they cost about 204 and 490 euros respectively, MRSP.
The best of the two milwaukees is 2216, 6000 counts, stable and accurate in my humble opinion
And the Mastech 8229 scores pretty decently for an all purpose meter, also comparing the luxmeter I got nearly the same results as manufacturers claim (nitecore, Jetbeam, thrunite etc…) and near a dedicated luxmeter.
It’s 4000 counts, Refresh is not fast this has to be said, If i estimate it now, based on my memory, i would say like 2 refresh per second.
These are my measurement with few differents cells with different Voltages
EFEST IMR26650,Panny NCR18650B, Efest IMR 10440, e ultrafire 10440 grey protected
Milw 2216 4.125V 3.668V 3.856V 3.986V
Milw 2237 4.12 V 3.67 V 3.85 V 3.98 V
Mast 8229 4.13 V 3.67 V 3.86 V 3.99 V
Now, i would not say this is precise in an absolute way, I mean all of those DMMs could be well uncalibrated and all could be wrong, but this will let you make your idea
Also here the CAT certifications is something you shouldn’t blindly rely on.
another good test would have been with cells below 3.6 volts comparing all the counts of 2216 to the 8229, but maybe another time.
A good inexpensive meter I will be buying soon or later is the UT61E with 22000 counts. If you don’t need , humidity, luxmeter, decibel, etc…but just plain testing low voltage, it should be a real bargain.
The 1200 Lumen version with the XM-L2
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_71429.html
The 1600 Lumen version with the XM-L T6
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/UniqueFire-UF-1405-Zoom-cree-XM-L-T6-led-flashlight-1600Lumen-5Mode-Self-Defense-Tactical-Flashlight/32229662740.html
The 1600 Lumen version with the XM-L U2
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/HOT-UniqueFire-UF-1405-1-CREE-XM-L-U2-1600Lumen-5-Mode-Lanterna-LED-Flashlight-Self/32298639727.html
Looking to use a pair of these 26650’s in it:
Rule #1 of budget flashlights: don’t trust chinese lumens numbers.
I say buy from gearbest because it is of known good quality and they take paypal
Fair enough.
Let me ask it a different way:
With all else being equal (v and ma), which of the 3 different emitters (in theory/ on paper) would produce the most light?
I know zip about emitters.
Thanks,
Dr_Dx
XML2 beats XML, but you usually can’t trust emitter claims either, because the sellers can rarely tell the difference themselves. They just report what the manufacturer told them, whether it’s right or not. If you can learn to spot the difference, sometimes you can tell what emitter is there by the pictures, but sometimes even the pictures lie
Edit: we know that the light from gearbest does indeed include the XM-L2, which replaced the older XM-L
Start reading
I’ve got a 490+kcd 1405 with a stainless steel reflecting aperture I made on my lathe that says differently. But believe what you want.
You can see the increased intensity and tint shift when the reflection is correctly aimed back at the die when doing the adjustments, even without a meter, if/when you ever decide to experiment yourself. I’ve met MEM, his RA-fu is far greater than mine, my SS collars only add about 20-25% to the candela output due to size and material, his are a minimum of 70%.
.
The lux does not increase because light is reflected outwards to the lens by the collar, it increases because the collar reflects the wasted side spill back onto the LED die therefore increasing the surface brightness of the die. ie, brighter die@ same current= higher lux values.
Guys you could really invent ra addons for uf flashlights. For example addon for XP-G2 S4 so we just glue this on top of the pill or something... So much talk about them and still not a single one in your offer for uf flashlights and blf members.
I am member on 4 world forums and 3 domestic ones. No one can harm you guys if you want to sell your diy product to forum members... Period.
I’ve just received one today and I’m disappointed.
The head wobbles around a lot when the light is adjusted for throw, a thicker section ‘o’ ring will help but it shouldn’t be like this in the first place.
The flood is poor compared to my Brintye B158 which is a much smaller light, the flood on the Brinyte is almost 50% wider. I expected a light of this size to built for a great flood of light as well as throw.
The holes through the bezel don’t go all the way through like you’ll see in many photo’s and that’s what I originally liked about the light.
The head and tailcap have a nice satin finish but the body is darker so there is a mismatch.