Custom vs. OEM: Pros and Cons

Aside from the obvious, please advise the major differences between custom and OEM LED flashlights.

TIA!

I'm not sure what you consider to be "the obvious" but custom building a light permits me to design it more specifically to a certain task.. Then of couse is the satisfaction of building something yourself that outperforms the OEM offerings.

Well, for one, OEM flashlights can often be "behind the times"

There are very few Luxeon Star based OEM flashlights on the market. I believe the CMG Reactor is one, but it looks like a popsicle... There's the ARC LS, which is a nice light but quite expensive. There is also the SureFire KL1 LS-based head. Almost all other LED flashlights are using 5mm LEDs, a single 1 watt Luxeon can be as bright as 10-20 5MM units, and since it's a single point source, you have many more options as far as collimating optics.

All of the above are 1 watt units and with the exception of the Reactor, far more expensive than a MiniMag with a BadBoy retrofit. Many of them probably don't allow for the replacement of the collimator optics with a McFlood, even if the optics are NX05 collimators.

Last but not least: There are no 5 watt Luxeon based OEM flashlights that I know of. (Unless you count InReTech, but those are what I'd consider to be "professional grade"/OEM grade retrofits to Mag flashlights.)

Originally posted by Slick:
I'm not sure what you consider to be "the obvious" but custom building a light permits me to design it more specifically to a certain task.. Then of couse is the satisfaction of building something yourself that outperforms the OEM offerings.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The obvious (in general):

-less expensive/mass produced
-better packaging/quality of materials
-more stable
-better light pattern

Again, I'm just saying in general.

Originally posted by S4MadMan:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Slick:
I'm not sure what you consider to be "the obvious" but custom building a light permits me to design it more specifically to a certain task.. Then of couse is the satisfaction of building something yourself that outperforms the OEM offerings.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The obvious (in general):

-less expensive/mass produced
-better packaging/quality of materials
-more stable
-better light pattern

Again, I'm just saying in general.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">At least when dealing with a BadBoy pill in a MiniMag:

Less expensive than comparable LED flashlights. (One of the cheapest Luxeon Star solutions, and probably the cheapest current-regulated one)

The BadBoy is quite well built, and the MiniMag body is not compromised in any way.

As to light pattern. Even the "bad" NX05 optics are far nicer than a MiniMag or C/D Mag. The McFlood's pattern is wonderful. My BB400 in a MiniMag beats a 2C incandescent Mag in beam quality and beam color, and is a tie in brightness in flood mode.

And then there is the McLux, slated to begin a production run soon. It is looking to be one of the most well-built flashlights anyone on these boards has ever seen. (Although the McLux will probably come at a hefty price...)

One nice thing about a mod vs. an OEM flashlight, and I'm thinking specifically about the mods that go into a Minimag body, is that if/when the light gets beat-up and ugly or broken from heavy use or abuse you can drop the mod into a brand-new minimag (with holster) for a mere $7 and now you have the equivalent of a new flashlight again.