Gladius U/G

[bagman]

I was thinking of getting my Gladius upgraded so I can use it as a duty light again but the hassle of getting it over to the USA and then back again without paying loads of duties will be a right pain.

Should I wait as the Seoul P4 that gets installed is getting a bit long in the tooth now and se what else comes up?

 

[ErickThakrar]

Wait, so if you take a product, that you've already paid import taxes and VAT on, ship it back to the manufacturer for a "repair" and they send it back to you, you get to pay duty on it AGAIN?
Declare it as a camping tool, worth 20 dollars.

 

[bagman]

Wait, so if you take a product, that you've already paid import taxes and VAT on, ship it back to the manufacturer for a "repair" and they send it back to you, you get to pay duty on it AGAIN?
Declare it as a camping tool, worth 20 dollars.

Trouble is that the upgrade people charge $39.99 return international shipping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and if they dont put a low dollar value on the customs form (the cost of the upgrade is over the none duty payable limit) then it would end up costing a fortune.

 

[ErickThakrar]

Well... Time to break out the soldering iron...
Or how about this. Send it off for ye olde upgrade, but have it shipped to someone in the US, who can then ship it back to you for cheap and declared at a low cost.

 

[Samuel]

Does it matter if it's covered under warranty? I've modded a couple of my Gladii/Gladiuses with Cree Q5's and have been really happy with them so far - IMO, the Q5 blows the Seoul away. It's only been a week or two and I've been waiting to do some more testing before creating a thread (it's a relatively simple mod)...

 

[dougie]

Samuel

I'll keep an eye open for that thread you said you'd do on how to upgrade the Gladius to a cree.

Should be interesting and 'may' inspire me to do a similar upgrade on mine.

Piccies would be a bonus??

Doug

 

[Scourie]

I've upgraded my Gladius with a P4 emitter, but now I want a Q5 in it. Deal Extreme are sending me some Q5's on PCB's, so as soon as they get here I'll swap one in and see how it goes.

Rob

 

[CM]

I've upgraded my Gladius with a P4 emitter, but now I want a Q5 in it. Deal Extreme are sending me some Q5's on PCB's, so as soon as they get here I'll swap one in and see how it goes.

Rob

I've tried the Cree with various IMS reflectors (Gladius uses the 27mm version) You will not like the result unless you like a Krispy Kreme beam. This has been discussed numerous times and the best reflectors for the Cree are ones made for the Cree, not the Luxeon or Seoul. Cree reflectors tend to be deeper.

 

[Samuel]

re: reflectors, not to advertise for DX but:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394 (LED)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3257
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5955

I've used the smooth reflector. It will fit inside the Gladius head. In a nutshell, I ground off the threaded portion of the base until it was flush with the bottom of LED hole. Then I made insulating spacers by cutting donut shaped shims out of spare photo printer paper (you can draw a circle around the outer edge of the reflector base onto the photo paper for outside diameter).

After straight swapping out the old luxeon or seoul with the Q5, add two layers of the shim (to start) between the LED star and the reflector. You will have to remove the original IMS reflector and metal reflector holder (won't be using them). Don't forget the little BB during reassembly. When everything is snug, you will have an approximate 1mm gap between bezel and body. If you want to get rid of that gap, you will probably need to grind about the same thickness off the front of the reflector.

I haven't done that yet because I wasn't sure if the reflector finish would chip/flake or not (I don't have a grinder so I hand "grind" the threads off on my front door step cement - yuck, I know). Play with number of shims to adjust focus. Beam will not be as tight as MRV, Tiablo, DBS, etal but hotspot will be more defined than Seoul/IMS combo and will be brighter with more throw (IMO). As soon as my next set of parts comes, I will try to put some pictures together...

NOTE (!!) - work in progress - I have not done any water resistance testing or run time testing or reliability/long term testing! Do the mod at your own risk (think warranty)...

 

[Scourie]

Well, the Q5's arrived today, and so I dropped one into the Gladius. I then realised what the reference to KK was in a earlier post.:mecry:

Good job I have a small stock of d26 drop ins. Another 30 mins work and a reflector was suitably modified.

Output was measured in the region between a Tiablo A9 Q5 and a Fenix P3D Rebel, right where you would expect it to be (using the ceiling bounce method).

Rob

 

[Samuel]

Samuel

I'll keep an eye open for that thread you said you'd do on how to upgrade the Gladius to a cree.

Should be interesting and 'may' inspire me to do a similar upgrade on mine.

Piccies would be a bonus??

Doug

sorry it took so long...
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=190761

 

[dougie]

Brilliant tutorial! Thanks, it has inspired me! Now to get all the bits a pieces before I do the deed.

Doug