Re: Mods for Surefire M-6
As I already read your answers on other threads, I now know you already have 18650s and a Pila charger. So let's USE these!
The first question, LED or incan is not easy to answer from my side. It up to YOUR personal preference. Speaking personally, I would strongly advise to keep the incans in it, as there's really an
enormous choice out there. This fact is one of the reasons the M6 is still so popular here.
Run time isn't going to be a big issue when having plenty of 18650s at hand :thumbsup:
For me, to be practical, run time should be at least around one hour per battery charge. For you, as a LED-guy, this may seem ridiculously short. If this is the case, you may want to consider the Surefire MN15 lamp assembly, this one draws just 1.15 Amps and will bring around two hours of run time. But that's about it. More is hardly possible, without getting deeply into modding parts and hardly available lamps from Welch Allyn...
Three lamps I really have some experience with, they are all in their way excellent:
1. The Surefire MN15: this is an excellent "X-LOLA" (Xtra-Low Output Lamp Assembly): it runs for two hours on 2X 18650 and will still give a large output. You can do >90% of all jobs with this light, I am not kidding! It has the "kidney-shaped" hot spot we have come to expect from SF lamps.
2. The Surefire MN20: big chance, this one is in the pack of your light (or in the light itself). It is the original standard lamp assembly. It draws more than 2 Amps, so run time is around one hour. It has the same shape of output, with a larger kidney and more overall output. A great one to have in the M6.
3. The Lumens Factory HO-M3T: this one just draws 2 Amps and will throw further than all lamps above! If you love throw, just go for this one, period. The hot spot is nearly perfectly round, and the focus of this one is just superb! I didn't test the EO-M3T yet, but I am sure for 99%: this one will have the same throwing capabilities, but will be even brighter :thumbsup:
If this is all still unacceptable to you, I would buy the 3-mode Turbo head for the M-series from Lumens Factory. This one throws out 950 emitter-lumens from its P7 LED, which is driven at a maximum of 2.8 Amps. The good thing is: it has three modes, so can be dimmed for a long run time. It accepts 6 to 13V input for a constant, regulated output! Color temperature is between 5000 and 5500K if I remember correctly.
But, let's think about it... why not getting BOTH? These heads are swapped in seconds. In case of a black out, or just general "around-the-house" use, just mount the LED-head, in case you want to go into the woods or go camping (everything that involves "nature" so to say) just use the original head with some incan in it, and make sure to bring lots of 18650s
AND at least one spare lamp assembly... although both the original SF as well as the Lumens Factory lamp assemblies have proven to be very, very reliable indeed, they
can break... Murphy just
dictates this will happen on the first day of your trip, with no dealer in the neighborhood
I hope this helps. Did you already see DM51's excellent "M6 shootout"?
This is still THE "holy bible" for M6 users... he describes lots of different lamp assemblies, all with beam shots, and tells what exactly is needed to run the different lamps. This thread is one of my all-time favorites on CPF, I learned a LOT from it, and it was
this very thread that made me realize: "I GOT to have an M6!" :twothumbs
So, for further documentation about the various modding options, battery holders, bi-pin adapters, lamp compatibilities with certain battery-setups... go and see that thread!!
EDIT: I now see, you are complaining about "6X CR123A and 20 minutes run time".
This means, you have the MN21 lamp in it!
WARNING: do NOT USE this lamp assembly with 2X 18650!!!! It will be severely overdriven by these batteries! Buy another lamp assembly BEFORE using 18650s!!
Timmo.
