Re: Where can I buy the Brightest 3C Mag LED Mod ?
The most expensive component of a Space Needle II (not to be confused with the original Space Needle) is a 5W HD Luxeon which costs 25 or 30 dollars in small quantity. There is no way around that, the 5W Luxeon is the brightest LED in existence and so if you want maximal throw from an LED light there's nothing else you can use.
The rest involves disassembling the Mag, attaching the LED to a metal heat sink slug, soldering some wires, sleeving the 123's, etc. I think you might have to drill a few holes but I don't remember any serious machining operations. Info is on Mr. Bulk's site, I haven't looked at it in a while.
If you don't want to use 123's, you could try ElektroLumens Blaster VI design which uses six AA's hosted in a 2D Mag, with ElektroLumens' own 30mm optics.
Both the SN2 and the Blaster VI are reasonably priced considering the parts and work involved in making them, so unless you want to do the mod work yourself out of enjoyment, just buying a ready-made light will probably save you a lot of time. At $25 for the LED and $20 for the Mag body, you're already up to $45, and I think I've seen complete SN2's on BST in the $75-80 range, so you don't really save that much by building your own.
Note that LED lights are nice in many ways, but high powered ones are much more expensive than comparable incandescents. Their advantages generally do not include cost effectiveness. There's a thread called "285 Lumen 2C Mag-light" which is a simple $10 mod that will be brighter than any LED (even 5W) that's been made so far.
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