I currently have two dream lights with me, but one isn't entirely mine and the other I do not have the money to make it my true dream light. The first is actually two Luxeon K2 headlight clusters, composed of 18 emitters each; using the Fraen narrow optics. These are hella bright (they bring a tear to your eye), but they are paid for by a friend to use in his truck when I am completely finished with them. Unfortunately, I ran into a problem recently and I did not prepare the thermal epoxy right and I have to replace some of the emitters (aye-carumba!). When I am not busy with class work (and now finals and final projects this time of the year), I would love to finish them so they can be mounted and done with. I love them and hate them at the same time! I want them done and gone, but I wouldnt mind owning them, either.
Anyway, my second light is my big old 2D Maglite that uses the older PQS heatsink for quad emitters. Right now, I have four old but nicely binned TWOH emitters in there and I am using the IMS SO20XA reflectors. Someday, when I have the money, I would love to buy 4 U-binned Seoul Semiconductor P4s with SWO color and low Vf to go in there as replacements. I can mod the IMS reflectors to focus then. It would be freak'in awesome (to me atleast). To top this all off for this light, I have the Fatman set to dim with a potentiometer wired up. The thing is, I invented a way to hook this pot to the head of the Maglite so when you twist the head while it is on, it will effectively change the output current to the emitters from like 50mA to 1000mA. It will do this in a 315 degree turn (the same as the pot that I used). It has waterproof dimming, without the pre-set, step-like digital levels that most light have these days. Why mess with modes and menus when you could just "dial down" the brightness?
It just tickles me that I can have ~800lm in my hand; fully dimmable! Efficiency is awesome, too. Imagine 350lm at only 4.7W (350mA an emitter), and a usable 100lm at only 1W (80mA an emitter). I understand that there are significant losses, but can a man wish? The only thing holding me back is time and money. The cost of the SSC P4 is still pretty high for my tastes, and I am still unsure of color binning with some online stores, as the seller never seems to post this information. I have a dirt-cheap Tri-LuxI 2D Mag that my parents use that I would also like to "upgrade" cheaply, but I would have to beg them for money to do that for their light.
Sigh... I cannot wait untill the next release of some LED that is just a little more brighter so the XR-Es and SSC P4s have the same costs as the Lumileds K2 and other Luxeons. Again, I am dreaming!
-Tony