320 lumen G2-SolarForce hybrid project -lots of pics!

WebHobbit

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Yesterday I ordered a Malkoff 61 drop in and a fancy Triad McClicky tail-cap from Oveready for my P6. Today my FAR LESS expensive SolarForce parts finally made it here from Hong Kong. So today I'm gonna share some pics of the finished light as well as my first attempt at a couple of beam shots.

The host is my old "bang around the house" first generation incandescent G2 Nitrolon:

sfg2-05.jpg


A couple of weeks ago I ordered some stuff from Solarforce-sales.com. This stuff was DIRT CHEAP. Here is a screen shot of my cart:

cart.png


And here are the parts and packaging:

sfhc.jpg


Here it is all together along with a NOT SO cheap stainless pocket clip from Oveready:

sfg2-03.jpg


The clip wasn't planned for this project but I ended up with an "extra" one so I used it here. Worked pretty good with the addition of one O-Ring.

sfg2-04.jpg


sfg2-02.jpg



sfg2-01.jpg


Fit & finish of the SolarForce parts wasn't bad with the exception of two dings in the anodizing on the head:

nicks.jpg


For the beam-shots/spot comparisons I pitted the SolarForce claimed 320 lumen drop in against my new Surefire 6PX Pro with it's 200 Lumen High setting. Here they are together:

bros-02.jpg


bros-01.jpg


Here is the 6PX Pro on high aimed at my bedroom wall from about 10 feet:

200indoor.jpg


And here is the G2/SolarForce 320 aimed at the same wall & same 10 ft distance:

320indoor.jpg


Here is the 6PX lighting up my backyard. Distance is about 50 feet:

200outdoor.jpg


Here is the G2/SolarForce 320 at the same 50 ft distance:

320outdoor.jpg


What do you all think? The brightness difference looked MUCH more impressive in person than in the pictures. Not sure why.
 
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WebHobbit

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One Man Thread! What you all got more important things to do on a Friday night or something??


:huh: :)

I'm doing a run-time test right now. So far it's been on for about 21 minutes. The head is getting fairly hot and the Nitrolon body is a bit warm.
 

purelite

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Nah its a good post . It takes time on CPF for people to respond. Its not the most active site

I would say the Solarforce dropin is a bit briter.

Your gonna love the Malkoff dropin. They are like fine high end jewelry
 

WebHobbit

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How HOT should the head get anyway? What's "normal"? Can I expect the Malkoff to run cooler since it has the added brass covering?

Not that I plan to routinely run my lights on constant on for very long anyway....I'm just curious.
 

WebHobbit

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Runtime Update

At about the 1 hour, 30 minute mark I picked the light up and notice that it's no longer hot at all. It's barely warm now. The brightness level is still very good but it does seem slightly dimmer now. I'd say it's about 85-90% of the original output now. But the head is no longer hot to the touch in the slightest.
 

WebHobbit

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Final Run-Time Update

I gave up and went to bed before the batteries went dead. It's now almost 8:00am & they are STILL going. So I'm ready to give up and report my final numbers from my notes:

1) Full Brightness (SolarForce says 320 lumens) using 2 SureFire CR123a batteries seems to be about 1 hour and 15 minutes. At this point the head is HOT and the body is warm.

2) 1 hour & 30 minutes it's no longer hot at all. The brightness is starting to dim but still very good. I'd estimate still more than 200 lumens (based on my 6PX Pro).

3) 2 hours - light has dimmed slightly below the level of my 6PX Pro (200)

4) 2.5 hours - output has dropped considerable. Now it matches my 6PX Pro on LOW (15 lumens)

5) 3 hours -still going. Output looks the same but light is now cool to the touch. No warmth whatsoever.

6) 10 hours & 45 minutes - at this point I am giving up. The light is still cool to the touch but the brightness is very low. I'd say about half of my 6PX Pro on low -so it's probably kicking about 7-10 lumens max. This appears to be the lowest brightness level it will go to. It's looked the same for hours now. I'm going to turn it off at this point and toss the batteries.

Now I promise not to reply to this thread anymore unless someone else does first!

:wave:
 

srfreddy

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Re: Final Run-Time Update

I've never really heard much about the Solarforce XPG dropin-good to see that it pwns the G2X in output-both the spill and hotspot look brighter in the solarforce.
 

papageorgio

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My first post since the crash! Starting over again! Thanks for sharing! I would be very interested to see how the Malkoff compares once you drop it into the 6px. Im considering buliding a solarforce with a malkoff m61, but curious to see how it compares to the ones that solarforce offers. Post some pics once you get it! :naughty:
 

WebHobbit

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They don't?

Well am I gonna have any problem using a Solarforce head with a Malkoff and a Surefire P6 body? I ask because I was planning on using a Solarforce head with the other project too because my original P6 head is in such bad shape (LOTS of drops to asphalt & concrete over a 8-10 year carry period).
 

yazovyet

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on why both of the backyard pictures look to have a similar amount of light:

your camera changes the ISO depending on how much light there is, it is kinda like trading image quality for brightness.

so you can see both are similarly bright but there is a much greater image quality in the second one, the second one is less grainy. to really see the difference look at the drain spout off the roof of that white house and also look at the wire fencing near the middle of the image. the image detail is much better on the first picture.

to really show the flashlight's power in relative pictures you should see if you can set the ISO and possibly the shutter speed of your camera to the same value for each pic.
 

WebHobbit

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Thanks yazovyet -next time I do some beam-shots I'll fiddle with my cameras settings.

Anyone wanna weigh in with my Malkoff drop in question? I'm planning on using the same SolarForce bezel I'm using on this project with an M61 with a 6P body. Is it true I will need to wrap the drop in aluminum foil to make it fit snug?

Please advise Malkoff junkies!
 
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