A tiny mod to my XR19.

So the CPF (Certified Pre-Flashed ) XR19 that I bought a month ago had kind of a hazy reflector, and the vapor-coated front lip was a little corroded and the underlying copper was showing through, so I bought a new reflector from The Shoppe. Well wouldn't you know it, the new one had the same visible copper undercoating on the front lip that the old one had! That was no good, but the rest of the reflector was nice and shiny, so I decided to fix the problem -- by sanding off the front lip so the aluminum base metal was visible. Sounds risky, right? Maybe, but it came out really well. It looks like this:



The orange-peel is useful inside the cone of the reflector, but on the front lip it just looked lumpy. It looks much more precise this way, I think. Here's another pic, with no flash this time.



I also sanded down the front lip on the old reflector and aluminum-blacked it so it would match the O-ring, just to see what it looked like, but I haven't decided if I want to do the same to the new one yet. It does look interesting, though.

I'm really glad I did this, because I was holding off on EDCing my XR19 because of the condition of the old reflector. It's equal parts funny and stupid, I guess, but sometimes tiny details like the appearance of the reflector can just be complete deal-breakers for me. It comes with the turf I guess (the "turf" in question being the kind where you spend two car payments on a flashlight), kinda like how a movie star will go ballistic over coffee made the wrong way. Now the XR19 has taken its rightful place in my front-right pocket, and the Haiku is getting a well-deserved break.

Come on guys, I know you care, no need to be shy.