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Hello Dan,
Below is what Scott sent to me.
The MOAL is one of my favorite builds at the moment because it combines versatility, brightness, runtime, and power source flexibility into a surprisingly compact package. The head would contain my Acorn circuitry with latest firmware (or I could customize your firmware to your wishes, for $30 additional charge) and one of several optics chosen to meet your particular needs, along with custom-fabricated internal heatsinking in aluminum or copper. Maximum output would be in the 600-700 lumens range, and minimum output would go as low as 1/4 lumen or so. There would also be two levels perceptually-spaced between these two extremes (so four levels total). The firmware incorporates multiple user interfaces, allowing you to use whichever suits your needs and to change that at any given time as you wish... plus incorporates my "half-pint" capability, which recalibrates all the outputs to deliver roughly half the perceived brightness with nearly six times the standard runtimes... as with the other functionality, you can activate/deactivate this feature as you wish. All advanced features are hidden such that they won't get in your way until you're ready to use them... but at the same time, designed to be easy to remember so you won't need a manual or flowchart. (On this last point: I often don't ship written instructions at all, yet customers master most of the interface on their own within the first few minutes of using the light.) The firmware also supports my "eDaptible" feature, allowing the same head to adapt itself to use with both single-stage and dual-stage tailswitches, which means you could potentially move the head to any E-Series or compatible body. This opens tremendous flexibility.
With the E1B body, you'd typically run the light using an IMR16340 rechargeable cell, though you could also use 1x123 primary cell in an emergency to generate lower output but also longer runtimes at each level.
The 600-700 lumens uses an XM-L, which is available in neutral white. (I can get pretty much all the LEDs in neutral white.) Runtime at full power on an IMR16340 cell would be roughly 20 minutes... but the idea would be to run the light at lower output most of the time, such as low or medium. (The 1/4 lumen is what I call ultralow.) Medium would give you something around 150 lumens for roughly 90 minutes, and low would give you roughly 10 lumens for perhaps 15 hours. Ultralow would let you find gear in your pack, or read a map, or light a tent in the dead of night, or similar for 550+ hours.
The above runtimes are based on a single, freshly charged IMR16340 rechargeable cell... which incidentally, is a much safer cell than the standard RCR123 and can handle more extreme use, without being any more expensive. It uses the same chargers as a regular RCR123 though I always recommend a high quality charger such as the Pila IBC.
