Why do you mod your lights?

I can understand spending the money to build up a very nice, rugged, dependable light. But why would you spend money to mod a cheaper light? I see people spending $400+ on these $100 Chinese lights and I have to ask why?

To my mind it's like putting $5000 spinners on an AMC Gremlin.

Not everyone can afford SF or Elzetta, or order an overpriced custom light. I've seen modded cheaper lights on this and other forums that look great and IMO are worth every cent spent on them. Creativity and personal touch can't always be expressed through price tag.

Cheers

They've got too much high end lights, so it's rather a hobby to mod cheaper lights.

Brasso said:

I can understand spending the money to build up a very nice, rugged, dependable light. But why would you spend money to mod a cheaper light? I see people spending $400+ on these $100 Chinese lights and I have to ask why?

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Gotta have a hobby. It's one thing to find someone who just happens to make exactly the light you want (jump clockwise twice to activate moonlight mode and think of the taste of lemons for strobe). It's entirely another to know that you have made your light what it is. I do not own a machine shop. I don't even have a drill press. So if I have an idea for a light, I can get a driver, learn to program, add an LED and battery, and then I need a host. Well, hosts are sometimes expensive. But Solarforce will sell me almost the same chunk of aluminum that SureFire will, for about 1/5th the price. And so on. Suppose one of the cheap lights does almost what I want it to?

Maybe it has just the UI I want (Moonlight, low, med, high; reverse with a twisted bezel, mode memory saved until bezel is twisted, with a control ring to select alternate LEDs (White flood with same levels), and the battery selection I want. Well, maybe I don't want to take the whole thing apart and cruft it into a custom-machined host (Those cost about $600 if I get the CAD right first try). Maybe I just want to beef up the switch, upgrade the clip and window, add some glowy bits and tritium, and etch some stripes into the blue Type 2 anodize to put red enamel paint on? While I'm at it, I may as well clean up the thermal path, change the too-cold LED to one I like better, and perhaps replace or sputter the reflector to get the beam just so. If I get what I need, great! If not, I had fun. It's only wasted money (Or time!) if you didn't enjoy it.

Because it is fun to do.

Let me clarify. As I said, I can understand spending the money to BUILD a nice light. By this I mean taking a host and replacing the guts (the important pat of the light). I'm talking about spending hundreds of dollars to "decorate" a light that's barely worth $100.

I guess to each their own. But wouldn't it make a lot more sense to spend the $400 on a Haiku instead of fancying up a Sunwayman?

Brasso said:

Let me clarify. As I said, I can understand spending the money to BUILD a nice light. By this I mean taking a host and replacing the guts (the important pat of the light). I'm talking about spending hundreds of dollars to "decorate" a light that's barely worth $100.

I guess to each their own. But wouldn't it make a lot more sense to spend the $400 on a Haiku instead of fancying up a Sunwayman?

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If you prefer the other features of a Haiku to the features of a SWM, perhaps. But what if you like the output, output pattern, or interface of the cheap lights?

Everyone's taste is different.

You can spend $400 making a light that's infinitely variable, made out of titanium, has tritium slots of your choice, has a bezel of your choice, has as higher output, clicky of your choice, and LED of your choice.

Or you can have a titanium light that comes straight of a factory with attention to detail and made in the States.

Customized SWM vs Haiku. There's no wrong choice. When you get up to those high dollar amounts, most lights don't introduce anything "new" anyways. Most of what you are paying up is to get something that is made by a reputable person with certain unique characteristics. Customizing your own light allows you to be that person.

I would strongly disagree with that idea.

For example, a Haiku is hand made with the best materials available. Every piece is precision assembled with care and attention to detail. There is no reason to believe it will not still be working 100 years from now. Can't say that about an assembly line light. They may look similar on the outside, but they aren't the same on the inside.

You could say the same about a Mac's, Prometheus, etc.

Like souping up a Civic lol
It's something to do I suppose

I can't say i have seen many people who wanted to spend big dollars just to make their light look neat. I see a few people putting trits or fancy bezzels in but those have function too. Mostly I see (and do) functional mods. So I kinda wonder what you really mean, I've not seen more than one case where some one spent (what I assume was) a lot of money to decorate a light (gold plating). If it isn't some rules violation you could give examples and I might know more what you mean.

I haven't modded mine to any extreme, I have LEGOed a few Surefires which made them look better but was more for function. I mostly do emitter swaps and deep carry pocket clips. I will say that I really like the trit ring head (beyond that it's just too much IMO) they do on the SWM V-series but I'm not going to spend as much or more on that part as the light costs.

Because we can

OK. Didn't mean to step on anyone's toes. I totally get doing the leggo thing. Emitter swaps. Upgrade switches. Boring services. Etc.

My comments were mostly towards spending more on purely asthetic mods than the light is worth. That's all.

Some of those budget lights have decent built quality, but the LED might not be well heatsinked, driver might not be very efficient, crappy button, etc. They could make good hosts at a lower cost, and it would hurt too much to break them. At the very least, they are good practice before "upgrading" to more expensive lights.

Also, my first light was a budget one, and I just like getting more output and throw from it. Thinking about making a copper pill for it, soldering a XR-E R2 or Q4 neutral white, and driving the LED at 2A (currently at 1.4A to a XR-E R2 on a star). Already have a nice lens in it (30mm diameter, 15mm focal length). Makes a nice pocket rocket.

As for aesthetics, it is kinda like putting spinners and bling on a lower cost car (rice cars are always funny). It can be fun and could be an introduction to more in depth mods.

Within a week of buying a new car or motorcycle I start to mod it. It is a hobby and I enjoy it. Unfortunately my older son caught it from me and his Subaru STI is tying up my garage as he completely replaces all the parts in his engine with racing parts. The only original parts in my ducati are the engine and the frame, everything else is new. As you might expect I like Malkoff drop ins.

Must be OCD, but it is fun.

T

Hobby :thumbsup:

I am a minimalist in most things in my life. (Lights, tools, vehicles, etc.) I buy what I actually need. Aesthetics are way down on the list for me, and I would not install multiple tritium vials on a light. However, I do see the beauty in doing so. It is a type of artwork, where everyone can express their individuality, and creativity. The SWM lights look stunning with the tritium vials around the selector ring, and tail. The price of the SWM lights makes them an affordable canvas for this trit-art.

I suppose its about the ROI.

Everyone values different things, differently. Therefore, the return on the investment to get what THEY value will differ.

For example, just step back a moment, and say "why would some one spend $400 on a fancy flashlight that's made beautifully?" For a Flashaholic, its OBVIOUS why...but to, say a stamp collector,...it has NO value. IE: YOU CAN understand why someone would want what YOU want, but you CAN'T understand why someone would want something that doesn't appeal to YOU.

IE: Why just a fancy light? - Why not buy a rare stamp instead? What about investing in gold? A good mutual fund? Baseball cards? Is that the BEST use of your $400, on a FLASHLIGHT?!?!!?!

Why not have a trit encrusted wrench? A supremely well crafted and beautiful stapler?

What if you just wanted the stapler to be covered in trits, because you like the look? Does it HAVE to be a titanium stapler made by had in a mountain forge by specially trained virgin fairies, or is a Swingline, etc, ok to decorate?

Does it MATTER to you WHAT stapler you decorate?

What stapler do YOU USE? Is it a gorgeous hand crafted custom stapler that will last forever? Why NOT?

WHY would you waste money on a cheap stapler when you could have a custom titanium masterpiece instead?



See where this line of reasoning goes?

Simple question simple answer. To make it better. :naughty: I just can't help it. :help:
I seem to have some kind of disorder with this. I just can't seem to make myself any better though, always worse. :fail: