Help a noob upgrade his 5D (Need parts reccomendations)

Hey CDF! I wish I learned about this place sooner. I've had my beloved maglight 5D for quite a few years now and its once again time to do some maintnence, but this time around I thought Id go for some upgrades. This is my daily and I'm really looking for some conservative recommendations: I don't need the top of the line or bleeding edge technology.

I guess the main limitiation I'll set is I want to retain decent battery life. In "stock" form, I was more than happy with the battery life... so I guess that could be the benchmark? Ive read a little and it seems like everybody is using a Mag Charger system, so maybe I should look into one of those.

I want to upgrade my bulb, which may lead me to upgrade my cells, reflector, switch, and glass. I'm kinda asking a big favor of who ever will humor me, but because I'm so unfamiliar to this whole game, I think Ill need a helping hand to get all of the parts set up and working together nicely.

Maybe I'm over thinking this. I just want my Maglight 5D to be brighter and still retain reliable and respectable life. So, what should I do?

:welcome:

Moved to Homemade and Modified Flashlights Discussion - Norm

What batteries are you currently using, if you already have rechargeable D cells you may want to keep using them due to cost of Li-ONs and charger.

Do you know how to solder? Are you fairly handy that you can open up the mag and do some cutting and such?

How important is light quality? Do you have an incandecent or an LED maglite?

Does the maglite have a D as the first letter in the serial number?

How much do you expect to spend and how important is cost minimization?

Have you done a google search of CPF and looked up other maglite mods? (of 5D size and other sizes, it may give you an idea of what a maglite can be modified to do and the relative difficulty and costs)