Ya I hear you. It was a little easier for me since I got the Kickstarter discount. I think after using the light for about a month now I would have paid $149 for it. I don’t like spending a lot of money on commodity stuff but a tool that should last me many years I feel is worth it. As you may have seen in the video, my Surefire T1A Titan still works and I still use it often (it is my bedside light due to its very low starting lumens). That thing cost me $250ish when I bought it. I only wish I had the skills to change out its emitter and I wish someone still sold an O-ring for it since the original one is looking a bit warn at this point.
As for the PD40R, this says it is Micro USB: Fenix PD40R V2.0 LED Flashlight - 3000 Lumens – Fenix Store …and I don’t see a rotary control. Maybe wrong model number? I had a Fenix L1P back in the day. I think I gave it away which I’m now regretting since I would have liked to compare it to my new Lumintop AA 2.0.
Yes the board with the emitter is only sitting on thermal paste. It could easily be de-soldered and a new one dropped in. I may do this in the future but I’d need to learn more about LED drivers before then.
I understand the price is a bit high but I see a lot of similar or higher priced lights discussed here and I think this is worth the cost. I wouldn’t mind picking up another rotary light of good quality. I’ve also been looking at the Emisar D4V2 since it has the programming pads exposed so I can start playing with driver firmware (I also like programming as a hobby).