mdocod,
Absolutely. I'm hoping those with better equipment than myself will indeed perform such tests. I don't think I'll be carrying out many more (possibly a couple more).
There is, however, a bit more weight to the results that I've been getting than is revealed in just those 3 tests.
As I say, I had been doing the same sort of thing with other flashlights, most particularly the G2.
As it happens, in all cases, either there wasn't a measurable difference between the Flash Amp Deltas of the batteries, or they showed the kind of pattern that I was looking for. Interestingly, they never showed the reverse pattern to tests (1) and (3) above. That is, the cell nearest to the bulb always showed the most depletion, whenever there was a noticeable difference.
Furthermore, I tried the idea of changing the order of batteries for one test. A 25 minute run in the G2 (P60) showed a noticeably greater depletion of the first cell. Then I changed the batteries around, and ran for another 25 minutes. The cells then seemed to have equalised.
These earlier results were too marginal to be worth publishing, but enough to encourage me to do further testing. However I mention them here just to add encouragement for anyone else that might want to do this sort of investigation, ideally with a flashlight that is quite aggressive at heating up the first battery.
Also, it may or may not be worth noting that in the published test (2), the brand of battery was different, and therefore the formula or physical design might have been different. It is not unreasonable to speculate that some cell formulas, or indeed physical designs, will be less susceptibe to temperature differences than others. I had thought that Panasonic and SureFire were one in the same, but some recent posts on CPF suggest otherwise. Either way, I gather even cells coming from the same factory could have different formulas/designs. I don't really think this is an issue, but it would be incomplete not to mention it.
NewBie,
Thanks for the link. I couldn't get it working at first, but it worked fine when I got the latest version of Acrobat Reader. The graphs in your link are nicer to look at!
Archangel,
Last I heard, Kevin @ BatteryStation has spoken to LM not too long ago. It seemed he was doing fine, but then I haven't heard anything since...