GAUI 500X

wOOd - Your regulator is actually very different than PP's.  Yours is a "constant voltage" source while his is a "constant current" source.  What John is going to need is the CC source and then put the LEDs in series.  If he decides to use the original flashlight, neither one of these regulators is going to work.  If he switches to a two cell flashlight it will probably have the CC source built in it and he won't have to use either.  Using the flashlight head will also solve the heat sinking problem that you mentioned.  That would be nice.  Looks like he's got some decisions to make.  Nothing is ever simple!

...Tiger

Tiger: I hadn't noticed the different numbers on the regulators. Not that it matters as Constant Voltage vs Constant Current was new info for me. Although my regulator will power the Cree LED as shown in the photo above, I have tried it. But as you say maybe not the ones in the flashlight but I thought we were talking about the Cree's, anyhow still no excuses my mistake

... and {hehe} thanks GC feels good to be appreciated

Hey Yoda there all great video's but how about some video of your bird flying. I wanna see it flying ...

... so Velcro that key-cam to your hat and lets see em ... {LOL}

N/M found one you posted ...

http://youtu.be/5sZQyJs7cEw

That is one of my favorites for watching. You can see the clouds passing over with the shadows.

Yup it's same video I found and I have to admit I do love that country ...
Certainly good looking scenery and so much so I would move there
Great country for AP, I guess around here AP would be pretty dull unless you like smog overlaid cityscape's

This may work:

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/752

You plug in into your Rx and if the signal is less than 1.5ms then it is off, if above 1.5 then it powers up an output pin, it can sink 20ma which is enough to close the contacts on a radio shack 1 amp reed relay which would be a $10 solution to turning things on or off up to 1 amp of draw, but no dimming.

Never mind the first one, here is what you want, it will do three amps and is setup with a diode for direct connection to the coil for the collapse of a large relay.....but by the looks of the schematic at the bottom I don't think you even need a relay at all......

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1210

And this one is huge, it will drive up to 15 amps!
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1211

So it looks like this stuff is more popular than I thought, a search brings up a lot of choices, here are more:

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/store_td-rc.html

I think I like this one the best so far, seems hacker friendly:
http://www.dimensionengineering.com/picoswitch.htm

Could go for a fully programmable LED controller with 8 channels to play with and all controlled through the Tx/Rx

Channels 1 to 4: Current controlled and rated for up to 250mA
Channels 5 and 6 are rated for 2A and programmable on and off
Channels 7 and 8 are also rated for 2A but are fixed on while the Rx is on

Dimension Engineering LED Controller

wOOd - Now that's a sweet little controller!

...Tiger

Wow!  Thank you all for the great suggestions and sources of cool RC switching devices.  This is a super useful resource for me and given me a lot to think about with all these possibilities.

I found a cool case. I want to put something together to carry everything for the GAUI 500X quad and eventually be part of the FPV base station.

http://www.ecscase.com/shipping/valise-cases/valise-supreme-53f-case

Good idea GPS, a good way protect your investment. 

I have a Pelican case for my boat electronics and it's very nice. You can get them with pull apart foam to make anything you have fit.
Here is one similar to what you are looking at.
http://www.amazon.com/Pelican-1610-Case-Camera-Black/dp/B000WAWSR6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1331054305&sr=8-2

Thank you for the link Bill. There are some great combinations available for the Pelican cases and possibly less expensive than the one I was looking at. Amazon has a cool lid mounted organizer available for some models that looks like it would be great for miscellaneous parts.

Here is one example:
http://www.amazon.com/Pelican-1609-Organizer-Ballistic-Nylon/dp/B00152TKDK/ref=pd_sim_p_3

If you look closely at the photo in the above link you can see a nice re-configurable divider system. I like that idea better than plucking out the foam in case I add or change components at a later date.

I installed the LED kit (Gaui G-222180) and the flash rate of the white LEDs is like a strobe light.  Quite disturbing when looking at it.  I emailed GAUI and they suggested connecting the channel to a three position switch and now I have three flash rates.  Very nice!  I will make some night video and post it here.

The video camera has a hard time with the fastest flash rate so it does not really represent it properly. It is quite disturbing to the eyes.

You shouldn't have any trouble following that quad now, even in the dark. 
The Gaui kit was all you needed then, and the controller was with it?

Yes, the kit is already assembled.  I just had to fish the LED leads down the booms.  The controller is in the center of the wiring.  The kit comes with the clear motor pod caps which really look good on the model.