MTE P7-D (SSC P7) compared with MTE M3-2 (Cree MC-E)?

[peteybaby]

Does anyone have both of these lights? I'm curious to know:

- which throws better
- whether the one that throws better also floods better than a typical XRE Q5 light, like a Fenix L1D/LD10
- whether the lights come on in Medium every time you switch it on (I've read conflicting things about this)
- whether the 8 modes on the M3-2 becomes annoying

I can't decide between these two lights. I prefer fewer modes, so the P7-D. But I prefer more throw, as long as flood is still better than a typical XRE Q5's flood, so possibly the M3-2 (based on the beamshot pictures posted at DX).

And does anybody EDC their M3-2 or P7-D? I wonder if it's going to be too bulky to EDC.

Oh, and is 60 lumens too high for the low mode? (on the M3-2)

 

[LEDninja]

I have neither. Only the original 5 mode. I will try to answer your questions.

Does anyone have both of these lights? I'm curious to know:

Both have 40mm reflectors so throw should be similar. If you need throw get one with a 55mm reflector like a Aurora AK-P7.

- which throws better

MTE 5 mode P7 left, Ultrafire C3 Q5 running 3.7V 14500 Li-on right. The Ultrafire is a lot dimmer with AA.

Do not rely o DX photos. How much flood shown depends on how far the torch is from the wall.

- whether the one that throws better also floods better than a typical XRE Q5 light, like a Fenix L1D/LD10

The 5 modes have memory so will come on in last mode if you run the light on for long enough the last time (this can be 1 to 10 seconds due to lousy QA at the factory).
If you switch modes then want to switch back you have to cycle through all the modes. That means 2 or 5 blinking modes. With the 8 mode you can sit in the dark instead and wait for the circuit to reset.

- whether the lights come on in Medium every time you switch it on (I've read conflicting things about this)
- whether the 8 modes on the M3-2 becomes annoying

I can't decide between these two lights. I prefer fewer modes, so the P7-D. But I prefer more throw, as long as flood is still better than a typical XRE Q5's flood, so possibly the M3-2 (based on the beamshot pictures posted at DX).

I stick to AAA lights but WadeF carries a Dereelight DBS in his front pocket. Other CPF members carry a Surefire 6P.
For the lights you mentioned a belt holster is better. Note the Aurora AK-P7 I mentioned earlier probably will not fit either of these holsters.
Nite-ize mini poc-kets:

DX big holster:

And does anybody EDC their M3-2 or P7-D? I wonder if it's going to be too bulky to EDC.

Medium - good for outdoors.
High - should only be used in burst mode when you absolutely need the light. The small P7/MCE torches get too hot to hold otherwise.
Low - good for indoors.
The people who want a Low-low are either doing close in work, do not want to disturb others, or skinflints who do not like paying for batteries. The last one does not apply to you as you have to use rechargeables.

Oh, and is 60 lumens too high for the low mode? (on the M3-2)

 

[peteybaby]

Thanks for the detailed answers ledninja. They're very helpful.

I do want some throw, e.g. for seeing my dogs in an open field, but I've seen beamshots of pure thrower lights and those aren't what I want. I had a thrower once and I found that I had to do too much painting with the light, even to read signs. I have a PT Apex headlamp, which has a collimator optic, and I love the size and evenness of the beam. Now I just want more throw.

(aside: hey I see you have an Ultrafire C3 Q5. So does my fiancee, and I was curious to know if she could use a 14500 in it. Do you have the 1-mode, 2-mode, or 5-mode? My fiancee's is the 5-mode, and I'm not sure if it's compatible with a 14500, and/or if it would retain the lower modes or just be on high all the time. Can you run your 14500 on high for a few minutes without it getting too hot to hold?)

That beamshot comparison is great. I may want a big spot like that. If only someone had an MTE M3-2 to compare. Maybe it's too new for many people to have one yet.

Yeah I'd like a pretty low low mode, for the first 2 reasons you mentioned. I often temporarily blind myself with too-bright lights that come on in high mode first. That's why I'm very interested in finding out exactly how the mode switching and sequencing work.

Again, thanks a lot!

 

[LEDninja]

There are about a dozen Ultrafire C3 models on DX and they are all different. :shakehead

The Ultrafire C3 Q5 I got is sku.10727
Ultrafire C3 Cree Q5 5-Mode LED Flashlight with Extension (1.5V~4.2V)
- Voltage input: 1.5V ~ 4.2V
- Can be powered by 1 or 2 x AA batteries (with extension tube), or by 1 x 14500 3.6V lithium battery

I had actually ordered it as a 1 mode but got a 5 mode.

 

[George_Halas]

petebaby - which did you purchase? Did you find direct comparison info?

Thx. George

 

[Wiggle]

P7-D is actually not as floody as some say, compared to a floodier Q5 light like the L2D it's actually comparable but just about 3 times the output.

 

[peteybaby]

I ordered the MTE M3-2. I haven't received it yet though--2 more weeks probably.

I never really found any direct comparison info. George are you considering getting one of these two lights also? I actually emailed MTE directly and they told me that the P7-D had a bigger hotspot than the M3-2. I'm looking for a light that's maybe 60% throw and 40% flood, if that makes any sense, and since 4-chip LEDs in smallish reflectors are typically floody, I thought I'd try the MC-E-based M3-2 to see if that would give me enough throw.

I just hope it's not TOO throwy, because I hate lights that just produce a tiny spot that I have to paint with. I had one before and it was really a pain to use. One time I wanted to read a sign up high on a tree, at maybe 100 feet, and even at that distance I had to paint the sign. That light is now in a shed somewhere, long forgotten.

Other differences between the M3-2 and P7-D, according to specs and any other info I could find, are:

- M3-2 has a 60 lumen low, while the P7-D is 30.
- M3-2 is an 8-mode light while the P7-D is a 5-mode light.
- M3-2 always comes on in Medium output, while the P7-D has some kind of programmable mode memory but I haven't been able to find any info about that.

I'll post some pictures when I get the light, eventually.

 

[Wiggle]

P7-D remembers the last mode you used for more than a few seconds.

 

[peteybaby]

Wiggle, is it possible to make the P7-D turn on in one particular mode every time? I would have chosen to turn it on in Low mode every time if possible, but since I couldn't find the answer to that question (and for other reasons), I chose the M3-2, which will turn on in Medium mode every time, which is sort-of okay I guess. I just didn't want the light to turn on in High mode, ever.

I walk my dogs at night a lot, and when you want a low or medium mode, having the light come on first in High mode, especially with lights as bright as these, will blind you for a few seconds.

I wonder why the circuit designers think people want 8 modes, including 3 strobe modes? I think if they asked 100 flashlight owners, maybe 2 would say they want all those modes.

 

[peteybaby]

I chose to buy the MTE M3-2, and it arrived today. I'm at work today though, so I only had time to quickly turn the light on and do a quick comparison with my PT Apex headlamp (with SSC P4 mod--this was before the new Apex was introduced):

- hot spot is brighter than Apex's brightest area.​

- hot spot is medium-sized. Not "really big" like some people describe the hot spot from the SSC P7 version of this light. Smaller than the Apex's bright central area.​

- the switch feels decent. Time will tell of course, but the action is very positive--you know when you're clicking, and you know when you're half-pressing.
​

- it's true that when you switch the light off for 1-2 s, the light will come on in Medium mode every time.​

- Medium mode is very roughly comparable to the Apex's high mode, but that's very rough. I'll take beamshots later, and with fresh batteries.​

- Low mode is dimmer than the Apex's main LED's low mode, but brighter (and less floody) than the side LEDs' high mode.​

- it feels solid. the tailcap comes off and screws back on smoothly.​

- as someone said elsewhere, the light can tailstand but it wobbles a bit because the tailcap sticks out just a half-mm or so. It probably wouldn't tailstand on a tilted surface.​

More to come.

 

[sol-leks]

I ordered one of these a few days ago so I can't wait to hear more. Sounds good so far though.

 

[peteybaby]

Still don't have time to do a thorough review, but here are some more comments.

The light is bright, although not as bright as I was hoping. I was probably expecting too much. Maybe I'll be more wowed when I take it into an open field.

There's no visible pwm in low mode.

When the light is off, bumping/jostling the light can set it into weird modes like a super dim mode (you can look straight at the LED and see the four chips, without hurting your eyes), a random flickering mode, etc. Sometimes, the weird mode cannot be changed by half-pressing or fully clicking the switch, so you have to unscrew the tailcap to reset the light. This doesn't seem to happen when the light is switched on though.

A trick I learned: with 8 modes, this light's UI can be annoying when you're at Low mode and want to get back to Medium or High. That's 5 or 6 half-presses. Instead, what you can do is click the switch off, wait 1-2 seconds, and click it back on to return to Med. But if that also annoys you, a trick is to half-press, hold for 1-2 s, then release to return to Med. I do this all the time now.

On Medium mode, the M3-2 has slightly more brightness and spread than the Apex (with P4) on high, and I already thought the Apex on high was excellent. And then the M3-2's High mode is a big step brighter. I guess that's pretty good. I shouldn't be so demanding.

When you hold the light < 6" from the wall, you can see the dark spots at the centre of the hot spot, but > 7" from the wall, they're gone. The beam is very nice actually. I would say it has no rings. The textured reflector must be helping there. The hot spot is medium sized, and the hot spot transitions into the spill with no dark ring. The spill is very even from centre to edge. I might prefer a more gradual transition between hot spot and spill, but I'm not complaining about this light. It's quite a nice beam.

I only have an LD01 and the Apex to compare the M3-2 to, but the M3-2 throws comparably to the Apex in beam shape, and of course on High the M3-2 out-throws the Apex in distance. The LD01 is quite a bit more floody, due to its tiny reflector.

I walk my dogs in the forest usually, but the next time I take them to an open field I'll probably be impressed with the M3-2's throw. In my back yard I easily lit up the tops of some pretty tall hemlock trees.

While shining the light straight up at the sky, on a misty night, you see that spotlight cone of light. Neat.

In a dark bedroom, tailstanding the M3-2 on High lights up the whole room quite well. Not like the real room lighting, but not too shabby.

If you have any specific questions about the MTE M3-2, ask me and I'll try to answer.

I took some beamshots but they're terrible and I don't have time to do more yet.

 

[sol-leks]

Could you hazard a guestimate as to what the lumens are on each mode, or at least low and medium since you have lights you can compare it to for those modes?

Thats a bit concerning about the random weird modes when off but overall sounds like a good light.

 

[peteybaby]

I don't know what the lumen numbers are for any of my lights, so I wouldn't really be able to guess. My Apex is modded, and my LD01 has a 10440 in it, so they're non-standard.

Sol-leks, when you get your M3-2, can you try whacking your light a bit (on your hand, not on concrete ) to see if it also does weird things? If it's just my light that does that, I might try to get a replacement.

 

[sol-leks]

will do.

 

[peteybaby]

Update: I was going to check out the tailcap, and the spring pressures, to see what might be causing the accidental turn-ons. I removed the tailcap, pressed on the spring a bit, blew out a couple of tiny metal shavings, put the tailcap back on, and hey, I can no longer bump it to turn the light on. And I tried for a good minute, bumping and whacking it hard against my leg and hand.

So I don't know what was wrong before, and I don't know what I did to fix it, but for tonight at least, it's fixed.

 

[peteybaby]

I accidentally found another conversation about a completely different light, where the owner was seeing exactly the same weird behaviour that I was seeing with my MTE, and the seller of that guy's light recommended that he clean the head contacts, tailcap, and the lips of the battery tube.

When I blew out the metal shavings from my MTE's tailcap a few days ago, I think I also wiped the lip of the battery tube with a kleenex because it had dirtied my hand. So I guess I had inadvertently done exactly what was required to fix my light.

Coolness. I can now say that my MTE M3-2 is working perfectly then.

About lumens: it occurred to me that the latest Apex headlamp is rated at 130 lm I think. My Apex is an older model, but I've modded it, so my guess is that my Apex also puts out somewhere in the neighbourhood of 130 lm. Don't know if that's actual measured out-the-front lm or just LED/rated lm. Anyway, when I compare my Apex to my MTE, the MTE's low mode is much dimmer than the Apex's low (main LED only). It's also roughly comparable in brightness to my 2AA MagLED. I don't know how many lumens that Mag is though... maybe 30? The alkalines in the Mag aren't new though, and the MTE's spot is bigger than the Mag's, so I'd guess at 30-50 lm for the MTE's low mode. MTE claims 60.

The MTE's medium is approximately equal to the Apex's high, or maybe slightly brighter. Maybe the MTE's medium mode is around 120-150 then? It's hard to guess, because there's spill with the MTE and not really any spill with the Apex (collimating TIR optic). MTE claims 200 lm on medium.

The MTE's high is a good step brighter than the Apex's high. No idea how to guess at that lumen number though. Gotta be > 200 for sure, but anywhere between 250 and the claimed 700 is possible.

 

[Jackie78]

Hello,

I have received my M3-2 from DX yesterday, really impressively bright, but I have no good comparison, so I'd be really interested how well it is compared to a P7. I can post some photos later, you have to wait here in germany until after 10:30pm before it gets really dark outside.