Ok well this is quite embarrassing, but if you must know....
I received the light from Alex Friday... opened the box, turned on the light, then turned it off and put it back in the box since I was at work. Otherwise it never would have gone back in the box.
Well, a while later I opened up the box only to find the light burning up hot. Long story short... the tail switch must have made contact with the side of the box and turned itself on. I've tried everything imaginable to remove the batteries but they are fused together and/or to the body. One positive note is that after failing to remove the batteries, I screwed the tail cap back on and tried to turn on the light... it worked.
So Michael says he's going to rebuild it.
I mailed the Deft-edc-X Enthusiast earlier today.
Yes I know how stupid it was to have done what I did. And yes I know that I'll forever be known as the moron who destroyed an irreplaceable light the minute he got it.