Flashaholics worst case: Incan needed to blow away a stock M@g 6D

Hi Folks. Short story before i ask my questions.

Starring:
Me, a self declared flashaholic with quite a lot of lights in every drawer,bag and pocket who plays surefire lego in his head at night instead of counting sheeps.

My brother in law, who never cared much about flashlights but recently stumbled upon a stock M@g 6D that was on sale.

We were out this night for a hunting trip, we didn't shoot anything and on our way home we waited on the outskirts of our hunting area for our fellow hunting party members. We were waiting near the car and suddenly we heard something in the woods. "Wait, i'll get my flashlight" i told my b.i.l and got my stock SF 6P incan. I had this light with me because we don't shoot after dark and i mainly use it for searching if some deer gets wounded. I love my 6P btw - i use it for most tasks because this little precious got the form factor that turns me on and, until now, all the power i needed.

Anyway as i scan the wood with my beloved little 6P, my brother in law starts laughing and reciting the famous Crocodile dundee Movie: "Wait - you call THIS a flashlight? THIS is a flashlight:!!" And out of his backpack he produces his Ugly betty, the M@G 6d. No wonder it had more throw and obviously more power. The bloody grin on his face was so big that the 6D seemed a like a toothpick....

There i was now, holding on to my precious with somewhat low batteries that had no chance against ugly betty. No chance by explaning him the otherwise far superior 6P can't be compared to his 6D - especially not with half drained batteries. but it didn' help - he just kept on laughing " u-hu jaja". At that moment i just wished i had a Solar-fusion-nuclear meltdown-supernova-ueber-flashlight that could burn the damn grin out of his face!!!!

Note to self: back to CPF and ask for help.

Now to my question:
I need an Incan that does precisely what i mentioned above. BUT as i am a practical guy and having read "The art of War" (actually didn't, but it sounds good) i know that winning the battle doesn't win the war: i don't need an over driven incan with 2 hours bulb life and max 10 min. bursts that's going to let me down on our next hunting trip ( just imagine his grin.....)

Options:
M@G 85: good power but not really practical, how long will the bulbs last? I just can't imagine this is made for longer bursts than some minutes.

R.O.P high: same as above, i read that bulb life is relatively short

M@G with WA1111: will this still be able to burn his grin out of his face compared to a 6D?

or the totally other way: WF-500 with a bulb from lumens factory.


What i try to ask you guys is wich incan-mod will give me the power to blow away his awful 6D and on the other side be a reliable partner in my backpack?
If i wasn't such an incan lover i would go with a M@G P7 - but LED is not an option because i hate their tint. BTW Resources limited to somewhat 150$ so HID is no option either

Please guys, help me to make this flashaholics-worst case scenario becoming the return of the M@G Jedi!!

Well blowing away a 6D mag shouldn't be too hard....

Working with what you've got, if you get an A19 extender and a KT2 turbo head you should be just about there. With 2x 17500s you can run an MN15, although you can't run the MN16 with those cells. Even an MN15 should pretty well deal to a 6D mag.

If you were to take that a step further you could bore out your 6P (plus extender if you get one) and run either 18500s, or even IMRs, then you could run the EO-M3T or MN16.

Another option would be to get a 2x 18650 body.

Or simply get an M6, this would be the easiest (althogh most expensive) option.

Since you already have a 6P, why not a lego-able companion? A FiveMega 6P-compatible 2x18650 tube and a Sunlite module holding a WA1111? Should be decent in runtime and still be small enough to carry (unlike that big honker of a Mag). One advantage is that every part of this new light would be interchangeable with your current 6P.

I'm no incan expert though, those will arrive shortly... :huh:

Edit: LOL, one already arrived. ;-)
I like the KT-2 turbohead idea of nzg, less carryable than my idea but will definitely out-throw a mag, rather than the narrow profile Sunline which will be far less focused.

Does Malkoff make an MC-E drop-in? That should come pretty close.

You could always go with a Nailbender neutral or warm white 6p drop in that should squash the 6d fairly easy. The 6D is only like 160 lumens or so, even with the Xenon upgrade it's still only 233.

So one MC-E NW drop in and you still have your tiny light with more power.

The Mag85 is actually decently practical (to me anyway) and looks like a plain jane 3D Mag. Sleeper lights ftw.

buickid said:

The Mag85 is actually decently practical (to me anyway) and looks like a plain jane 3D Mag. Sleeper lights ftw.

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+1, but after trying the Mag85 and the ROP, I liked the ROP in a smaller, lighter, and more convenient Mag 2C a lot more, especially since you retain the PR-base bulb configuration.

Mag85 vs ROP:
:touche:
LOL.

Kestrel said:

+1, but after trying the Mag85 and the ROP, I liked the ROP in a smaller, lighter, and more convenient Mag 2C a lot more, especially since you retain the PR-base bulb configuration.

Mag85 vs ROP:
:touche:
LOL.

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or a 3C Mag85

6D mag even with magnum bulb is nothing special and carrying one for hunting seems backwards.

imho ROP is not suitable for heavy/hunting use, it gets hot fast and i've seen numerous posts about heat problems, such as the bulb contact/plastic post melting.

When i had one, during use something would outgas a vapor and fog the reflector/lens.

it would suffer the same problem as an incan 6P with dimming and crappy battery life.

imo 6P is fine, just carry fresh batteries also.
you can try a P61 drop in or a warm tint MCE/P7 drop in, which could be regulated for constant brightness.

fyrstormer said:

Does Malkoff make an MC-E drop-in? That should come pretty close.

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Hello, this is the Incandescent Section and the title of this topic states: "Incan needed".

A m@g 85 lasts quite a long time depending on form factor and battery configuration. And I don't think most people turn on a flashlight until it burns out. They turn it on for maybe a few minutes at a time. at an average of 35 minutes runtime for a 9aa configuration I have never had one go dimmer than a 6d mag even after they begin to run down. The light is still usable just a bit yellower as it goes down in voltage.(I recommend eneloop because unless you like to charge alot they will hold 85% nicely even when sitting on a shelf for a few weeks).

And as I said 35 minutes doesn't sound like much on paper but it is a helluva lot in your hand imho. I personally use my mag85 nightly at work (situationally) and charge it once a week whether it needs it or not. It has never let me down when I picked it up and has always had a beam that would blow away a 6d.

As far as bulb life Pfft. I forget what it is supposed to be, 30 hours or something? once again that is a LONG time and this bulb isn't that expensive for what you get. Buy them several (3) at a time and you won't worry about them for a long time. I think 30 hours is a conservative estimate depending on usage. Personally I made my first mag 85 about two months ago and use it alot and the same bulb is still going strong.

If you really want to blow your b.i.l. away though get something based on a 623 or a 458 bulb. Expensive to do right, but you won't only be vindicated but the competition might actually melt. Mag85 will win but not be a WOW victory. Yea it's bright but unless your out in the woods you can't really get the full effect of how bright, alot of the lumens are in the spill for instance. I like to open up my beam in a semi dark area and shine my light onto the bottom of a large tree, this usually will cause passersby to pee their pants at how night turned into day under that tree. And I just look innicently around.

When shopping for wow lights imho don't shop for 2 hour runtimes, thats what your backup light is for.

Try a Lumens Factory EO-9, with a 9 volt body or extension. I sometimes run one in a Z3 and it is bright and throws well. Not a real super light, but maybe it's a cheap solution that works well enough.

I say Mag85. It's my next build as well after seeing one in action recently. I have always liked my 2d ROP's for most of the work I do, but I gotta try one of these 3D mag85's.

Well, if you're speaking of sun Tzu, lets discuss the theoretical point first. You might not do as well with any torch if it's 1/2 dead. That's like 'ironman beam shoots' stuff, where you want to win after using your torch full-out for 2 hours.

For bragging rights, I say if at all possible Keep the same torch, in this case your P60. You can't really claim victory on the field if you show up with a new army. Keep the SF P form factor. But do some work on it.

Some people speak highly of the P91. But FM sunlight can top it handily. You could pull it off with 2ximr16340's, but if you went 3 cells there's obviously more power.
Read EG's intro to incans,
for 2cells you're 1111 or 1274,
for 3 cells its 1331, 1185, 1166
I'd thought 1164 was good for 2 but its not on his guide.

Larry237 said:

Try a Lumens Factory EO-9, with a 9 volt body or extension.

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+1 to that. Also consider the 3ximr options for even more light (iirc 500lumens vs 380), same run-time.
The Lumens Factor High Output H0-9 is regarded as 'hard to distinguish' from the Extreme output EO-9 but with more run-time.
Beauty of this is its easy to keep spare cells and alternate assemblies to swap-in.
It'd totally recommend a multi-die led emitter for emergency circumstances that require high output and long run-time (but, that is my bias - incans as nice toys and leds as workhorse: i'm not debating it, just letting you know where I come from)

you can do all that, or just buy yourself solarforce L1200, i'm pretty sure it'll kill 6d mag

I would go for an all-Lumens Factory setup:

1. take a Seraph-setup for three cells and an 1.5 cell extender,
2. then take the D36 mini-turbo head,
3. finally add a 700 or 1,000 Lumens D36 EO-13 or IMR-13 lamp assembly.

Remember: for the IMR-13 you need IMR-batteries!!

You'll need three 18500 sized batteries. In the three-cell Seraph flashlight, you'll be able to put in two of them, with the 1.5 cell extender, you can add another, which is needed to power these awesome lamps properly.
In the Seraph-system, one cell is meant to be one 16340. So three of them equals TWO 18500s in total length.

Either of these setups should blow away the stock 6D.

According to what I read multiple times, the EO-13 seems to throw further than the IMR-13, which is more floody. I can't confirm this, but as I read it multiple times now, it might be true

The Sun-module by FiveMega is sold out at the moment. I grabbed one of the last ones he had. Check back often to see if he did another run, as these are really, really AWESOME modules!! I run mine in a C2 Centurion (same size as your 6P) with two IMR 16340 batteries and WA1111 lamp. It is nearly as bright as a stock Surefire M6 with the MN20 installed :devil:
Only drawback is the very short runtime of about 5 minutes only....
This one however, has an enorrrrrmous WOW-factor :green:
SOOO small, and SOOOO much light?! YESSS!!!


Timmo.

The main problem here is that most lay-people equate throw to more light.

Anything with a 6P reflector size is going to seem "dimmer" because theres just no way a reflector that size can out do 200+ lumens thru a mag reflector.

So you NEED that turbo head. After that,almost any high powered incan replacement will be able to help you win...

i WOULD suggest a Mag85 3C, but isnt the point in this to prove that mag "aint the best" flashlight?

Crenshaw

Linger said:

You can't really claim victory on the field if you show up with a new army.

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ok - now you got my spirits up. I'm going to get an EO-9 and a 3 cell extender and turbo-head. This should do. But whats the runtime gonna be?
BUT: as i learned my lesson, the M@G11 will be my "backup" as i already have a stock 2D at home.

The FM sun is not really an option for me as 5 minutes runtime with a wa1111 is not really usable for me. If we're out in the woods searching i need minimum 30 minutes total runtime


Thx for your suggestions guys, i understand that that was as bad a situation as i could get in with half drained batteries and an ignorant b.i.l.

The easy solution is to get a SF KT1 on your 6P. I've got one and it has a nicer beam than my SF M6 and reaches just as far.... the M6 just lights up the whole football field and the 6P+KT1 lights up just the tree on the otherside of the football field.
But with the 500lumens M6, you'll have 20min of runtime and on the 6P+KT1 you'll have 60min of runtime.
And what I like most of this combination is that it isn't a mod, it's just a "over the counter" product with spare lamps that are easy to get, it doesn't need some bizarre exotic Li-ion battery that I always forget to charge and unobtainable lamp assembly, it's just a basic surefire.
And if I've got half of the life of the batteries, I get them out and use them in my buck/boost-driven led-lights.
Serious, the 6P+KT1 is an underestimated lamp combination.
And it is noting larger than a 6P, just an inch orso wider at the bezel.

No go out, and get that b.i.l.