Help me build a lego edc light

[blgentry]

After seeing the price and performance of P60 drop ins, I have the bug to build a legoable light with a P60 LED head. Here's essentially what I'm after:

Battery: 1 x 18650 or *maybe* the possibility of 2 x CR123
Output: I'll be honest here. I want to turn this light on, on high and have your basic surefire owners say "holy s***!". I'd like to keep up with, or outshine the surefire M6 with the normal lamp.
Modes: I'd love a 3 mode light with an actual low low. 10 lumens would be great, 1 lumen would be totally cool too.
Fit and finish: Good, as in, the finish won't peel off or be easily scraped off. I think this means HAIII.
Beam pattern: I think I want more flood than spot. More on this below.
Run time: At least an hour on high.
Size: "Pocketable". Let's say the basic 6P body would be fine, but something slimmer like the profile of the E2E would be really nice if that's possible.
switch: Tailstandable. Forward or reverse clicky. I've never had a reverse clicky and it strikes me that *maybe* it would be superior for mode switching. Maybe?

My frame of reference is the two lights I spend the most time with: Surefire (original) L2, and HDS U60. I've carried the U60 nearly every day since I bought it 5 or 6 years ago. I used to carry the L2, but the U60 is much easier in the pocket.

As far as their beams go, I think I mostly prefer the flood type beam of the L2, but the beam on the U60 is just fine. I just want more total light output than either one can make. If I have the math right, I really need roughly 3x the lumens output to easily see the difference and roughly 4x the lumens output to think it's "twice as bright". I don't want to start a big discussion of it, but to me that means I really want 400+ real lumens to be a nice big difference from my L2 and/or my U60. Seems like roughly 500 to 600 would be really impressive. I'm looking for validation on this point.

What I've found so far: WOW are there a lot of choices. I mean a LOT.

The two that attract me the most are the Solarforce L2P and the Lumens Factory Seraph. As for drop ins, I think I want a mid level drive XM-L (like 1.5 Amps) or *maybe* an XP-G R5 at essentially the same drive. I really need help with this part because I've never seen any of these emitters actually lit up and I don't have a feel for the difference in actual usable light output between them. This is complicated by seeing enormous differences in output listed for the same emitters in different manufacturer's heads. I know some of them must be exaggerating and/or listing emitter lumens as opposed to OTF lumens. Again, I need help with this. Real life experiences with specific heads would be nice to hear/read.

Finally, I'd like to buy all of these parts from a US distributor that can ship reasonably quickly. I've done business with Light Hound and was very happy with the experience. If they had the SolarForce L2P in stock and a Thrunite XML three mode emitter, I think I would have already ordered it from them. 🙂

As if I haven't asked enough questions already, here's a final one: I think I want to buy an dropin that's 3.7 - 4.2 V so it will get full brightness from a single Liion. But there's more flexibility if I buy a 3 - 9 V head instead, so I can use 2 x CR123 if I want to (which I'm not sure I'll ever do). If I go the route of the 3 - 9, how much output will I lose when using a single Li-ion? Will it be visually noticeable?

Thank you for any and all advice!

Brian.

 

[skyfire]

drop-in:
Malkoff M91- XM-L emitter
Nailbender XM-L drop-in - 6volts max- choice of tint, OP or smooth relfector, 1, 2, 3, or 5 modes. 2.8 or 3.1 amps.
nailbender might even be able to make a XM-L dropin being pushed at 1.4 amps. contact him, and see what he can do. he has plenty of options for different emitters, tint, mode, etc etc. workmanship is very good, as well as price.
Torchlab's triple XP-G drop-in. AKA Modoo. Available at oveready.com. 1 or 3 modes. very bright and floody. optimized for 2x cells.
Thrunite makes XM-L drop-ins being pushed at 1.5 amps. never owned one, so cant say much about it. but i imagine it has good runtimes, while still being very bright.

ive owned a number of Nailbender drop-ins including, XP-G, SST-50, SST-90, SSC P4, and XM-L. my favorite is the XM-L drop-in. very bright, smooth beam, that has a good mix of flood, and throw. and its 3000k tint. (my tint preference).
I would also recommend the "regulated" driver. much better runtimes.

bezels:
Cryos cooling bezel made by ronac. more surface area and fins, for better heat disapation of high powered drop-ins.
VME bezel - this bezel was designed to house a malkoff drop-in for E-series body. also available in titanium.

body:
i really like the combat grip body style of the C2, and Z2.
E-series is also very nice, but does not take 18650, and some dont even take 17670.
FiveMega makes E-series bodies which can use 18650.
oveready sells modoolar bodies, tailcap, and bezels. the bodies fit 18650, and are desently priced, if available. check out all the modoolar parts at oveready.com

tailcap:
all of my surefires have a McClicky installed in some way or another.
McTC tailcap is used for my E2DL.
Modoolar triad tailcap is very nice, using a McClicky switch. can tailstand.
fiveMega has made some nice tailcap as well.
you can use a delrin shroud on your tailcap for tailstanding.

thats all i can think of for now...

 

[blgentry]

Thanks for the ideas skyfire. 🙂

Anyone else have advice?

Brian.

 

[tre]

I think Skyfire pretty much covered all the good stuff that would fit what you are looking for. The only problem with the M91 and the triple and quad XPG droping is that they require two 18650 cells for full brightness. If you sarch the forums, you can find beam shots of the triples and quads on 1 or two 18650 cells. You could go two IMR rcr123 cells and get max voltage and current to the emitter but at the cost of much less run time.

 

[Chris_Himself]

I got a new bezel from Surefire just because I asked what to do about the AR coating coming off.

XPG R5 is the best compromise, but at 1.5a, only XM-L will run at acceptable temps if you're indoors. Also factor in that you're moving around at nighttime too.

Go to Illuminationgear. Buy the Solarforce L2 host that you like (I like the L2X because it's kind of funky and it's good for cooling), and get either the 1.5a 400lm OTF Thrunite XP-G R5, or the 500lm OTF Solarforce. I own the Thrunite XM-L as seen in the picture, the problem is that it's too floody and even at 460 lumens OTF, it still hardly registers as brighter than an XP-G at 1a and I'm getting much worse runtimes (1hr on primaries, 32 minutes on 16340's). Greg is a really nice guy, you'll want to call in and ask for the CPF discount. It's hetfy IIRC.

I COULD have gotten a Solarforce, but I prefer the Surefire name on my light and I was willing to pay a little extra having the Surefire no compromise warranty under my belt.

You know, the new Surefire 6PX is rated at 200 lumens... 200SF lumens is like 300 Jetbeam lumens. I sacrificed the 18650 capability though which is hurting me these days.