P60, P60L or P90 for a Surefire, and jury rigging a Photon Freedom

[silenthunterstudios]

The bulb went out in my Surefire G3, Surefire said I could get a P90 or P60, or if I want to upgrade to LED, a P60L. I have been debating upgrading to an LED light. This is my replacement for my Maglite, and is my home light. I had an Outdoorsman and G2, just the G3 and G2 now. I need to get a new assembly for the G3, but can't decide if I need LED.

I also took apart my Photon Freedom micro light, after replacing the batteries. I'm probably just going to get another one, but are they worth sending in for repairs?

 

[bigchelis]

Hi,

There is a ton of info here on why the LED route on your G3 is not a good idea.

The P60L is highly discussed here too and you will find the Malkoff M60LL to be a similar, but better choice at Malkoff Devices.
The incandescent (lamp) is the best choice for you G3 hosts. If you have rechargeable batteries, you could get 2 17500 cells and get another P90 lamp. The Trustfire WF-139 works perfect for me and the AW 17500 cells with Surefire P90 lamp can be purchased in many places. I always use the Texas based company "lighthound.com" because of their 2 day delivery to California.

Good luck,
bigchelis

 

[bigchelis]

The bulb went out in my Surefire G3, Surefire said I could get a P90 or P60, or if I want to upgrade to LED, a P60L. I have been debating upgrading to an LED light. This is my replacement for my Maglite, and is my home light. I had an Outdoorsman and G2, just the G3 and G2 now. I need to get a new assembly for the G3, but can't decide if I need LED.

I also took apart my Photon Freedom micro light, after replacing the batteries. I'm probably just going to get another one, but are they worth sending in for repairs?

If you do get a Surefire 6P or 9P I woud get the incandescent version and then just purchase a LED drop-in from Dereelight or Malkoff Devices.

FYI: Malkoff and Dereelight have 400 plus lumen drop-ins for your Surefire 6P and 9P's. They are know as MC-E emitters and M60 MC-E or Dereelight MC-E. lovecpf If $60~$133 is a bit much for now, then go to Deal Extreme.com and you can get a similar Drop-in with less quality for $24 dellivered, but I urge you to stay within the Malkoff and Dereelight for reliability issues.

:welcome:

 

[Kestrel]

The short version of LED options in a G3: Due to the nitrolon (plastic) bezel, heat will be a problem. The best configuration (IMO) for the highest practical output is the Malkoff M60L in your G3, providing ~140 lumens for 6 hours or so - an excellent configuration. The SureFire P60L LED module is probably not the best solution - not the highest of outputs as well as being rather inefficient due to the thermal regulation of the module preventing it from overheating. There are other (cheaper) LED options but none of them have the excellent thermal management of the Malkoff LED drop-ins.

I have a G3, but it has the newer aluminum bezel, giving me a few more options with regard to heat issues. It is probably not cost-effective to purchase an aluminum bezel as an upgrade.

Two off-the-wall options:

• Keep your eye on CPF/Marketplace, I occasionally see near-new P90 lamp assemblies for ~$5-10. P91 lamp assemblies are much less common but cannot be used with many of the common rechargeable configurations due to the high current draw. Needless to say, a P91 will run you through a lot of CR123 lithium primaries.
• You could try a Malkoff M30 LED and two commonly-available (and inexpensive) AA's in your G3 for ~120 lumens for 1-2 hours. An unusual option but you already have a host of the correct length and might find using AA's in your SureFire appealing. I've used this configuration a lot and it works great.

As an aside, I have a difficult time imagining SureFire suggesting that a G3 can operate a P60?? There is pretty much no way to get the correct voltage without using a 1-cell spacer in the body tube. The P90 incan lamp assembly can run on either 3 CR123 lithium primaries of 2 17500 Lithium Ion rechageable cells, both have the correct voltage.

The SureFire 9P/G3/C3 are very practical lengths, permitting voltage configurations that enable both incan and LED configurations, and containing enough watt-hours for substantial runtimes. The OP can add the Malkoff M60L LED drop-in to his G3 and have a great light.:thumbsup:

 

[bigchelis]

I have a M60LLF in A Surefire G2 w/ 2 CR123 rechargeable li-ons, but if I had a Surefire G9 I would use it with 2 AW 17500 li-ons cells.

The M60L from Malkoff is also a good choice, but you will need 17500 cells for the most practical combos or you could go through primaries very frequent as I found out with my late G9 and P91 combo:sick2:

 

[Kestrel]

I have a M60LLF in A Surefire G2 w/ 2 CR123 rechargeable li-ons, but if I had a Surefire G9 [9P/G3/C3? K.] I would use it with 2 AW 17500 li-ons cells.

The M60L from Malkoff is also a good choice, but you will need 17500 cells for the most practical combos or you could go through primaries very frequent as I found out with my late G9 and P91 combo:sick2:

+1 on 2x17500 LiIon rechageables, that is what I'm powering my M60 with in my SureFire C3, a great setup. I currently have a P90 in my backup G3 with 3xCR123, as I am waiting for the next generation of Cree emitters before upgrading it with an M30 for 2xAA. I think there is nothing wrong with SHS picking up a used P90 incan lamp assembly for temporary duty in the interim, but I'd hate to pay new SF prices for consumable lamp assemblies.

Also, a P91 would probably melt the lexan window in an older C3. SHS, did SureFire actually say that you could put a P91 in your C3? At any rate, I sure wouldn't want to be purchasing that many CR123 primaries.

BC, your 'late' P91 combo? Did you retire it for some reason?

I just love the 3-cell SF body lengths (particularly for their flexibility - much more so than the two-cell SF's), paired with the great Malkoff LED modules.

 

[bigchelis]

+1 on 2x17500 LiIon rechageables, that is what I'm powering my M60 with in my SureFire C3, a great setup. I currently have a P90 in my backup G3 with 3xCR123, as I am waiting for the next generation of Cree emitters before upgrading it with an M30 for 2xAA. I think there is nothing wrong with SHS picking up a used P90 incan lamp assembly for temporary duty in the interim, but I'd hate to pay new SF prices for consumable lamp assemblies.

Also, a P91 would probably melt the lexan window in an older C3. SHS, did SureFire actually say that you could put a P91 in your C3? At any rate, I sure wouldn't want to be purchasing that many CR123 primaries.

BC, your 'late' P91 combo? Did you retire it for some reason?

I just love the 3-cell SF body lengths (particularly for their flexibility - much more so than the two-cell SF's), paired with the great Malkoff LED modules.

The P91 and G9 set-up was retired because it was going through primaries like it was going out of style..

The AW 17500's produce 2.63A at the tail with the P91 and I think it might be too much current for those cells. Even when I use 2 AW 17670's the current is about 2.63A plus and I still feel that is too much current at the tail for those cells. On the plus side it did 466 out the front lumens in MrGmans sphere. :rock:

My new favorate lamp is the P91, but I will be running it with AW's new 18650's with the 2600mAh capacity. AW sent me a PM stating they would be perfectly fine with high current applications.

bigchelis

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Thanks for the heads up about the possibility of overheating.

 

[MKLight]

If your Photon Freedom isn't working and it's not just battery expiration, definitely send it in for repair. They offer top notch customer service...and most likely will send you a brand new replacement.