I do have to agree, I should not have to modify a brand new tube, it should just work out of the box. I d not have a large enough bit anyways. A large enought bit would cost as much as a new tube. LOL I have not heard back from Manafont about this yet, they might just send me another one anyway. If not then we may just use the tube for RVR123 cells or my Ultrafire red 3000 Mah cells. I just wanted to be able to use my new XTAR 18700s in it. I can still use the tuvbe with those red batteries that I have.
I do not know why I did not think of this earlier, but since the 504B tube was peeling back the sticker of the battery I said the heck with it and just removed the sticker and glue. Guess what, the XTAR 18700 will fit in the tube and works just fine. So remove the sticker and I am good to go. LOL Oh well live and learn and chalk it up to a newbie mistake. :)
I have the _exact_ same problem :S.. I ordered two WF-504B from Manafont with about a week between the orders(flashlights for friends). The first arrived with the head and neck glued together so I couldn't insert a drop-in. Manafont sent me a new one. The second arrived - no problems what so ever. Then the replacement for the first one came, and it's ID is too small for my XTAR batteries, but not for my trustfires. But in my case, it's not just the sticker that blocks the battery.
My 504 from manafont came beat up , and so did my 501 camo which is either a fake or just the biggest piece of garbage on the planet .I got them both thru manafont cheap on the last blf /ebay /manafont campaign.I didn't complain because they were cheap and i had a lot of drop ins I needed hosts for .generally I'd say the 504 is better than the 501 or 502 but in truth I think they all are pretty cheap..when they are beat up and chipped , they are worse .I heard people suggesting that simpleman buy this host and I think you can realisticly say ..You get what you pay for " with these . Percentage wise A solarforce might be 50% more but it's still only 5$ more for a much better host . .
Maybe i should gleen some amount of satisfaction from my disatisfaction of these hosts ....I need not,can not and do not respect them therefore I can abuse them in anyway I want and shrug it off when they suffer abusive treatment ....
I wish I had bought better hosts ... these cheap ones work.. but give no thrill .
Spend the extra money on the host .
I see now why people like the Solarforce L2P, it is a nice host. It is nicer than my UF 504B and all my batteries fit in it.