pt eos mod - need advice

[badrobot]

this is my first ever post here at cpf, been lurking for the past few weeks after searching for info on headlamps. the result of the last couple weeks of research has led me from looking to buy a pt apex or petzl myo rxp to instead buying a pt eos to mod, and picking up an eagletac p20a2 mk2.

here's my thought process: my reason for wanting a new light is for camping/nite hiking. for this, i wanted something i can use handsfree at camp with good flood without blinding ppl, and then a handheld lite for throw.

so, i'm really asking specifically about the pt eos mod, but if anyone has any advice about choosing the right light/lights for my application, it would be appreciated.

so anyway, i want to mod the pt eos with a xpg r5 emitter as seen here:

http://www.eevblog.com/2010/03/10/e...inceton-tec-eos-led-headlamp-with-a-cree-xpg/

but i'd like to have a better flood than what he got in his video, so i saw a post here that showed removing the lens from the eos and just having the bare emitter sitting on a stack of copper pennies:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=178735

i also saw a couple threads about an IM7 reflector, and a few products at the cutter website, the carclo optics 10mm vs 20mm. here's a link to the carclo optics:

http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut965&cat=74
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut837&cat=74

i figured i would stick the optic on top of the star.

so, i'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these optics, and if they would be better in the eos than just the bare emitter mod. or, if anyone has any other advice as far as modding the eos to give me a very floody, smooth beam good for hiking and doing close work inside and outside around camp.

also, i'm in ny. i was going to order from cutter, but 10 bucks to ship 15 bucks worth of stuff is annoying. any advice on a good place to buy quality emitters in the us? i found kaidomain, and that looked ok, are their emitters any good?

thanks in advance for the advice

 

[greenLED]

:welcome:

bare emitter is going to give you the widest beam of all.

 

[badrobot]

cool, thanks for the welcome, and the info.

i was just looking around and saw the new zebralight h51.

what will give me more light/efficiency, modding the pt eos with an xp-g running off 3 aaa, or the zebralight thats spec'd to 200 lumens at max output? i'm assuming the eos since it's more batteries?? :thinking:

 

[Cuso]

cool, thanks for the welcome, and the info.

i was just looking around and saw the new zebralight h51.

what will give me more light/efficiency, modding the pt eos with an xp-g running off 3 aaa, or the zebralight thats spec'd to 200 lumens at max output? i'm assuming the eos since it's more batteries?? :thinking:

Not necessarily, I think the EOS is regulated to 350ma if Im not mistaken. I don't know the current the emmiter sees in the Zebralight but my guess is more than that. I have an EOS modded with an XP-G and its not that impressive actually. Mine is the old school Lux so I don't know if the newer models may actually have better results...

 

[badrobot]

thanks for the heads up cuso, if that's the case with the eos mod, i may forego it completely and just go with the zebra. do you have any experience with the zebralights? any comparison with your modded eos?