What are my options for an off-the-shelf 2AA High CRI? Tint can be anywhere between dead neutral and warm. I lego'd together a 2AA high CRI Quark with a 123 head and I love it; if no off the shelf options I'll repeat that trick.
What I would really like to find is a no-hotspot light, if possible, just a smooth even beam. However this may not be possible with all my other "wants."
From the list:
Mail order
Max $75
Flashlight
Floody no-hotspot preferred for mostly indoor use (20 yards max throw, less OK) but traditional spot/spill OK if this doesn't exist.
2AA "cigar" style
High CRI LED with tint between neutral and warm
Mass-produced off-the-shelf
Flexible on lumens, but should get >150.
Switch type - I'll adapt.
UI - I'll adapt. (Don't like flashy modes but can live with them.)
Finish - Anodized aluminum I suppose.
Hey B... probably your best bet is to just do another Quark Lego. I did the same thing and it works just fine for most of my needs. (I'd rather do without the disco modes too, but, whatever.)
However, I just got a new Nailbender P60 module, my first! :D It's a special one, with a neutral HCRI XP-G2 emitter, and a low voltage driver (0.8 - 3.0 volts) so it can run on 1xAA, 2xAA, or 1xCR123. I put it in my Solarforce L2R and it's a very nice little drop-in. I compared it to one of my other lights that I know and trust the specs for (my SC60w), and the specked max (350L OTF) seems spot-on. It has three modes; Max, medium, and low. The "low" isn't a true low, however, and doesn't look like the 5% power rating it's specked at. And, the difference between medium and max doesn't look like the 30% vs 100% power rating indicated by the specs either. It's also maximum first from off, with no mode memory. Normally, I don't care for mode memory, but since it's always max first, I'd prefer the memory.
The beam profile caught me off guard too; the hotspot isn't nearly as focused as I expected. In comparison to my warm tinted HCRI XPG module from LumensFactory, it's much floodier, even though the angle of the cone looks identical to me. Perhaps that's just because it's a low voltage model so it was assumed it'd be used for more short range duties, so the hotspot is very diffuse. But, I actually like it that way, because I specifically got it to go in my L2R, so I could use it more for things like camping and hiking, as I much prefer using lights that use AAs for that.
In comparison to my SC60w on max (about 240L) the brightness difference seems right. Also, there's only a slight tint difference between them; the SC60w looks to be about 4,500K, while the new Nailbender module looks about 4,200K. The actual difference might be less than that though. My understanding is that the SC60w is supposed to have a 5A tint emitter in it, and the new Nailbender is specked as being a 5B, which seems right based on a casual visual comparison. In terms of rendering, the difference between them was subtle, but I could notice it. I definitely saw what looked like better shadow detail with the Nailbender module, and better colors from objects on the warm end in comparison to my SC60w. I'll have to do a comparison with my Jet III Pro ST, which has a neutral 5A XRE in it. The output of the Jetbeam is comparable to the Nailbender module, but the beam angle is much closer than the SC60w, so it should make for a better tint comparison. (I should probably also do another quick visual comparison between the Zebra and the JB as part of the process as well.)
Overall, hardly perfect, but a very nice little light with a very nice tint and great output. It'll work very well for me for what I intended its primary mission to be, hiking and camping. It was only $38 shipped, and it works very nicely in my L2R on a pair of Duraloops. You might have some trouble finding an L2R host though, although you might be able to pick one up on the Marketplace if you look around enough.
