OK, got the parts yesterday and did the mod. It was harder than the first one, as trimming down the 10mm aluminum board to 8mm diameter without damaging the emitter was a bit tricky, and the solder pads are smaller on the xp-g. I also had to file down the base of the stock optic a little to close the case.
Now the test- the light is far brighter than the originally pimped Apex with the P4, and I like the hotspot better too. The P4 was a lot brighter than the stock Luxeon 3, so this is 2 big steps beyond that.
I just did my mod yesterday too. I agree--it was tough to trim the board, and tough to do all the detail work. My eyes aren't so great, which made it worse. Even my soldering iron, which has a small tip, wasn't small enough, but I had to use it anyway. I accidentally touched the soldering iron tip to the emitter dome at one point, and it "stuck" there momentarily before I could shake it off. I have a little dark spot on there now unfortunately.
I didn't file down the optic to make it fit; instead, I scraped material off the solder joints to try to flatten them out, and then basically jammed the optic and housing together. I'd say I would have to file down the optic by just a tiny bit to get it to fit properly. I was hesitant to do so though, because I was afraid of wrecking the optical properties of it.
But now, having reassembled the Apex, I get a very ringy beam. I'm sure it was a lot smoother before. Offroad'Bent, do you think that the ringiness is due to the tiny bit that the optic is raised off the board by the solder joints (maybe a quarter of a millimetre)? How is your beam now after you filed the optic down?
I chose a warm white emitter, and it's actually warmer than I expected it to be. I still like it, but the contrast between the centre LED and the four side LEDs is stark.
