Best Thrower: Surefire G2 Drop-in

[johnboy777]

I've been reading the drop-in stickies (wow, lots of info) and just ordered a Surefire G2 from Cabela's - the price was great at $38 and I added it to a bigger Christmas order, so the shipping was free.

What are some of the best drop-ins for throw, and will all drop-ins for the 6P fit the G2, as well? The Malkoff's seem to be mostly floods.

Thanks for the info.lovecpf

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[csshih]

the dereelight dropins seem to offer the most throw.

now, that G2 has a polymer bezel, right?
it's best to use one with a metal bezel for heat dissipation.

 

[SUREFIRED]

My Malkoff throws a beam just as far as my LX2, if that says anything to ya. My point being they throw pretty darn good, AND have good spill for your peripheral vision. And it doesnt hurt that they are the most reliable, most durable P60 dropin out there IMO. You wouldnt be disappointed.

 

[johnboy777]

Thanks for the input...I found this 1 @ Bug Out:

LINK: http://www.bugoutgearusa.com/crq5drmo.html

SPECS:
Approx. 240 Lumen
Cree R2 LED Driven at 950mAH
3+ Hours Total Runtime
Regulated
Input Voltage: 4.5V - 12V
Shock/Recoil Proof
10,000 Hour LED Life
Aluminum Reflector
Brass Heat Sink
Improved Beam Pattern
No Head Gap!(see picture above)

 

[PCC]

Seems a bit pricey to me. Pay a little bit more and get a Malkoff. I'm sure others will tell you the same here.

If throw is what you're after then look at the Lumensfactory D36 drop-ins with one of their bezels to fit it. It's bigger than the normal 26mm bezel but this extra size should give you a bit more throw as it collimates more of the light from the LED into the beam. That'll sort of solve the issue of running a hot LED drop-in in a plastic bodied flashlight (the heat has to go somewhere and plastic is not as good of a heat conductor as aluminum). If you get a D26 drop-in like the one you posted or a Malkoff then you'll need an aluminum bezel to try to dissipate some of the heat otherwise goes the LED.

 

[johnboy777]

Thanks PCC,

Can i run the 'Z32 Shock Isolated Bezel' in the G2 to get around this heat issue?

Or should i just get a 6P before i start moding.

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[bigchelis]

Thanks PCC,

Can i run the 'Z32 Shock Isolated Bezel' in the G2 to get around this heat issue?

Or should i just get a 6P before i start moding.

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Even with a metal bezel, the LED will sit in the nitrolon (plastic). I use my Nitrolon bezel with my P91 and it made 483 confirmed and tested Out the Front LUmens.

Get a 6P if you plan on running the LED drop-in for extended periods, but for short 5 min usage I used my G2 and Dereelight R2.

 

[tundratrader]

+1 for Malkoff or else contact Nailbender and tell him what you have and what you want. You cant go wrong with either.

Zach

 

[seale_navy]

yeah +1 for malkoff or nailbender.

personally I would prefer nailbender cause u get to customise what you really want.

 

[PCC]

Thanks PCC,

Can i run the 'Z32 Shock Isolated Bezel' in the G2 to get around this heat issue?

Or should i just get a 6P before i start moding.

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The shock isolated bezel cushions the drop-in and isolates it so there is no thermal path. If you plan on using this in a weapon then rest assured that the LED is quite shock proof and a shock isolated bezel is not needed.

The G3 that I'm building will be running 700mA to the emitter so heat will be less of an issue but it can be. Less mA means less heat, most of the time.

 

[Gunner12]

If you want throw in a stock drop-in, the smooth reflector Dereelight drop-ins should throw the most. You can get a metal head for the G2 if you want to run a high power drop-in for longer periods of time.

 

[MrGman]

Johnboy this has been covered before but apparantly you haven't seen it. The plastic G2 is the worst possible housing for any of the higher power LED modules. If you want one of those pills that puts 240 or more lumens out the front they are typically running 4.5 or more watts of power and inside that plastic housing they get hot fast since there is no thermal heat sinking and heat spreading out to the host of that plastic. Therefore you either have to run your light in short durations like 30 seconds or less or buy lower power modules or get a 3 mode and switch down to medium power. The full power Malkoffs and Dereelights and the new Thrunite will eventually be degraded or fail if you try to run them as you would a normal flashlight for as long as you wanted because the modules will overheat inside.

Dereelight mades a good 3 mode module that you could run on high for short durations and then change to medium or low modes if you needed to keep the light on for a long time. Otherwise you need an Aluminum host.

Since the module sits inside of the plastic host wall and the bezel goes around the outside of that, a metal bezel is not really much of a benefit over a plastic flashlight since the module isn't really in contact to that metal.

If you really want a good 240 lumen thrower you can run steady state and not have to worry about it you need an Aluminum host. Solarforce L2 is a very cost effective way to go.

 

[kramer5150]

Preface everything in this post with IMHO.

The G2 isa great light but as others have already stated. It has its limitations. Even with an aluminum bezel, it still can't conduct heat away from the LED. I have never seen any data or material spec sheet for "nitrolon", but my best guess is that its a thermal insulator. I can't think of any mass-produce-able, thermally formed plastic thats a half decent thermal conductor. With that limitation, you are not going to be able to run an XR-E any higher than ~800-900mah for long on cycles.

For short bursts +1A designs should be OK. But I wouldn't run them longer than 45-60 seconds per burst. FWIW, I have an older XRE DIY build running at 1.4A that has dimmed significantly over time because I did not pay much attention to thermal design when I was setting it up. This was my garage work light and I left it ON for hours at a time (about 70 minutes per 18650 cell). It got very hot in the summer months, in a poor cooling P60 host.

So you are not going to get much throw with a reflector this small and safe ~800 mah operating currents.

The G2 is better with incans than LEDs for these reasons. I use mine with a solar bezel and a DX:3218 Xenon LA.... happy with the result, although I really need IMR cells to get the most out of it.

 

[johnboy777]

Thanks ... seems I need to relegate the GR2 to the trunk as a back-up light, and get a proper Al host.

BTW, I just received my TK11 R2 in the mail today from Amazon (seems well-made) - $67.50 shipped, which I thought was a good price. I'll go out spotting deer later and see how it compares to the two Rebel 3-D Maglites, which I just bought at Lowe's. I am very happy with these Maglites.

Thanks again for the help - I'm leaning toward the Classic Surefire 6P as my first host.

John

 

[johnboy777]

If you really want a good 240 lumen thrower you can run steady state and not have to worry about it you need an Aluminum host. Solarforce L2 is a very cost effective way to go.

Thanks MrGman - I see that Lighthound has the Solarforce L2 for $25 ...I plan to buy one of these to start w/. LINK: http://www.lighthound.com/Solarforc...-Switch-all-Black-Type-2-Anodized_p_2629.html

EDIT:

One more question, here....I checked on the DereeLight site and they have a million drop-ins - which one(s) would you recommend to go w/ if you were after a thower for the Solarforce L2 . I want the option of two 123a primary or one 18650 li-ion.

LINK: http://www.dereelight.com/module-list.htm

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[gregman]

Hello. I'd just like to add my support for the Malkoff module. I have the M60W in a Surefire G3 and it has good throw, in my opinion. I just ran it for 25 minutes and couldn't find a place on it that registered over 86 degrees F. While the warm tint has less output (maybe 190 lumen?)
I don't think 230-240 lumens would be harmful. Just my opinion.

 

[OfficerCamp]

+1 for Nailbender. I just dropped my dough for a D36 and a D26 sized drop in (Neutral/Warm MCE and Neutral SST50, respectively). His customer support is TOP TOP TOP notch, and the quality of the product is stellar! Also, you can get his D26 drop in with a premium Cree LED for 30 bucks! He can also customize your driver options and mode settings. Great guy to deal with; he sends me pages of info in a PM if I have the smallest question about a product.

And no, I'm not being paid to write this

 

[MrGman]

Hello. I'd just like to add my support for the Malkoff module. I have the M60W in a Surefire G3 and it has good throw, in my opinion. I just ran it for 25 minutes and couldn't find a place on it that registered over 86 degrees F. While the warm tint has less output (maybe 190 lumen?)
I don't think 230-240 lumens would be harmful. Just my opinion.

If you measured 86 degrees on the outside of the plastic shell somewhere you are proving the point that the heat isn't transferring from the module inside to the host outside.

If you opened up the host and took temperature readings of the brass Malkoff Module after it ran for 25 minutes straight that would be very interesting.

If you using a non contact infrared thermometer "gun" then those things are notorious for errors based on the emissivity of the type of surface you are measuring and can vary widely. Especially if its a low budget one.

So the key here is where you measured and what with???

 

[lightinsky]

Just curious. I have a G2 with aluminum bezel and running a 17593 from DX that adjusts from like 5 lumens up to supposedly 200 lumens. I just added on the aluminum bezel a FM35 red night vision filter. Will that affect the heat dissipation when running led on highest setting?


C:\Documents and Settings\Alex\My Documents\Flashlight Stuff\DealExtreme 17593 $11_39 Cree R2-WC 3-Mode + 0~100% LED Drop-in Module for WF-502B and Flashlights Alike (3_6V~8_4V).mht

 

[johnboy777]

One thing I noticed is that the Surefire G2 LED runs an aluminum bezel, where as the ican model runs a plastic one.

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