2x18650 M3 or 2x18500 z32

hey all been lurking for a long time but i have a question. i am a police officer and need a new light trying to decide which way to go. a 2x18500 leefy body with a z32 (for work shock isolated needed) with a p91 or eo-9 lamp or a 2x18650 leefy body with an m3 bezel and a e0-m3 lamp. was leaning toward the m3 setup due to heat issues if used for anything close to or over 10mins. the output would be close to the naked eye. is there any possible problems i am missing? does anyone know if the leefy bodys fit in the surefire plastic holsters? is the size diff that great in the body lengths as i havent handled them before? anything i am missing??

thks all.

will be using aw cells.

I'm a police officer and just started using a stock body M3 with AW 17500s and a Lumens Factory HO-M3 bulb. The size is perfect and the output is amazing. I also have a SF M4 with the stock bulb, and my M3 blows it away. I'll be replacing the SF bulb with the Lumens Factory bulb soon.

A 2x18650 LeefBody should fit in a Surefire speed holster as long as it has a C-Tailcap. It's going to ride way up high though.

I used my M3 out on the freeway the other night on a really bad rollover accident with ejected driver. I was able to use my M3 as a searchlight to check for any other people possibly thrown out onto the service road or grass area. I was also able to punch through the limo tint of this suburban to check for anyone else trapped in the vehicle.

M3 head: You WILL NOT be disappointed, especially with LF bulb (regardless of which body you decide to go with...only difference would be runtime)

You've come to the right place! Welcome to CPF!

Sounds like you have things pretty narrowed down. Here's some things to think about:

As you increase the power of the lamp within a given reflector size, you will transition from throw to flood. For example, the P90, SR-9, HO-9 range of lamps have a pretty defined throw oriented beam. Moving up to a larger reflector with that same power bulbs (MN10/HO-M3) in a M3 bezel will tighten up that beam even a little more.

Moving up to an EO-9 in the Z32 bezel and you start to feel some transition to flood, but it's still a nice defined beam, just wider. Taking that same power level into a M3 bezel (EO-M3) and you will tighten it back down a beam probably similar to the P90 type beam profile. (estimated here)...

Moving up to the P91, and you're really using a floodlight now, the beam is still there, but it's very wide.... Moving up to the M3 bezel with a MN11 is about the same power level, but will pull some of that flood back into a tighter beam, but still wider than the MN10 etc....


Anyways.... what all this rambling really adds up to is the following:

Within a given reflector size, your maximum range for effective illumination doesn't change much when you change wattage, the beam just gets wider as you move up to more powerful bulbs. (there are some exceptions to this rule but you can follow it as a general guideline and it'll serve you well), so when you want to increase brightness while maintaining a similar beam profile, you must also increase reflector size.


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Personally, I think the 2x18650 C - M leefbody, with a Z46 (M3 bezel), and a tail-cap with your preferred type of operation would be a great setup. I think in the long run, it would be cool to try to acquire one of each of the available bulbs for it, the MN10, HO-M3, EO-M3, and MN11, so you could play around with them and see what works best. I'm betting you'll find that the HO-M3 will suit most if not all of your needs, while the MN11 will temp you on account of sheer power.

I run a 2 x 18500 leaf body with a standard SF head and a LF HO-9 as a late shift belt light. I have a EO-9 but dont carry it as standard as I may need the light on for longer periods.

If you are going with a 2 x 18650 tube then you are much better off with a KT4 head running the LF or SF lamps (cant remember numbers) I use this set up for my car bag light and it is superb.

The leaf bodies have no problem in the SF v70 holsters as long as you are using standard SF tailcaps as it is the tail cap that the holster grips not the body of the light.

2 x 18500 sits a bit hight but the 2 x 18650 will be too hight IMHO

thks.... im going to go with the 18500 due to the size and since its going to be on my belt...thks all for the info

rm3 said:

thks.... im going to go with the 18500 due to the size and since its going to be on my belt...thks all for the info

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You might also try this in one of the Blackhawk hard holsters for the Gladius. I have modified one so you can mount the holder horizontal on the mod-u-lock back so the torch sits along your belt line at the front. I always use a coiled pistol lanyard attached to my belt as it is easier for it to get pulled out of the holster when getting in and out of vehicles etc but it is very fast to draw and present the light with your week hand if you have the tail cap pointing towards your belt buckle.

bagman said:

You might also try this in one of the Blackhawk hard holsters for the Gladius. I have modified one so you can mount the holder horizontal on the mod-u-lock back so the torch sits along your belt line at the front. I always use a coiled pistol lanyard attached to my belt as it is easier for it to get pulled out of the holster when getting in and out of vehicles etc but it is very fast to draw and present the light with your week hand if you have the tail cap pointing towards your belt buckle.

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sounds interesting but i dont have enough room on my belt to mount it horizontally ... and i just found out im getting a tazer so i still have to figure out where im going to put that... have you used the modified gladius holster with the light vertical???

rm3 said:

have you used the modified gladius holster with the light vertical???

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Yes, it sits a bit high but quite useable, the 2 x 18500 body with a standard SF head is only very slightly longer than the gladius which is long for a 2 x 123 light.

Head down in the gladius holster is much better than head down in the V70 (sits far too high for my liking)