Surefire M6

[mdhammack]

Hey guys, new to the forum here. Flashlights have always been a big interest of mine and I was looking into modding a couple of mine. I own a couple mag lites, and a few surefires (M6, 6P, 9P, and 9AN commander). One in particular I would like to mod is my surefire M6 and or 9P...it's pretty darn bright as is, 250 lumens with the standard bulb. But, we know something good can always be made better. I am looking for some options for this build, any help is appreciated. I am very new to this whole modding thing and barely know where to look for any of this stuff. So with that said, thanks in advance for any comments and pointers you can offer.

David

 

[mdhammack]

I guess I forgot to mention what type of mod I wanted to do....ie brighter, rechargeable, etc...I want to make the light more powerful, if at all possible.

 

[LEDcandle]

Are you a die-hard incan only person?

If you don't mind LEDs, do a search for "Milkyspit" and look up his mods. He has done a couple of M6 mods (A M420 as he calls it, 420 lumens, 7 lux Is, 2-3hr runtime depending on batts used) and his own personal M539 (539 lumens, Cree XR-E P3 LEDs, 2-3hr runtime depending on batts). All using the M6 as a host.

I have an M6 on the way to him for a M631 It's basically the same as the above 2, except using Seoul P4 LEDs. 631 lumens for 2 hrs! HID territory! (except for matching throw of course)

For the 9P, you can consider dropping in a Cree module that Litemania is selling now (search threads by Litemania, you'll find it). It will replace the stock lamp assembly and you can run it with lithium ion rechargeables. 120+ lumens for 2-3 hrs depending on batts.

Edit : here are the links :-
Milky : http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=138987
Litemania : http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=149766

 

[mdhammack]

thanks a bunch for the tips....pardon my ignorance here, but you mentioned 7 lux Is above, what is Is? I have a light on order now, it's a magnalight 24 watt HID rated at 1194 lux at 25 meters, would you happen to know about how many lumens that equates to, that is something I am more familiar with. I searched for conversion tables but found none of much help.

BTW, not stuck on any particular type of lamps...incan, led, hid.

 

[LEDcandle]

Lux I as in Lumileds Luxeon 1-watt LED; 7 of them. Sorry about all the abbreviations as Lux is also a measurement of light intensity. We sometimes use Lux to refer to Luxeon LEDs too.

24w HIDs are rated around 1300-1800 lumens. I have a Brightstar 24w and its awesome for what it is, although I've read it loses to the AE Powerlight 24w. The popular 24w HIDs are now the smaller form factor (and also half the runtime) Wolf-Eyes Boxer and Microfire K2000R. My M6 comparison was more vs. 10w HIDs, which were usually around the same size and throwing out about 400-500 lumens. The 24watters are hard to beat at this point with LEDs.

If you are not stuck on light type, then those links I've provided you are what I personally recommend. Get longer runtime with same or more brightness with the new Cree mods. Of course, spending $ is involved

The above recommendations can run rechargeable lithium ions as well as primaries for longer runtime when the need calls for it.

 

[mdhammack]

Yikes, 1300-1800 lumens, I knew it was going to be bright, but wow that's about five times my M6 with the standard bulb....thanks for the help, heck I didn't think that all of these mods were available. I started out doing this sort of stuff as a young kid when I took an eveready 2d cell plastic bodied flashlight and replaced one of the cells with a 4 AA battery pack and stuck a maglite bulb upgrade in it!! Not bad for a 10 yr old!! Now I'm all grown up, excuse me, older, and make enough cash to do some of this other stuff that is so far more advanced.

 

[mdhammack]

Oh, and I saw somewhere on that thread you linked above that there was a x700 m6, is that the one you were referring to with the 7 led's?

 

[LEDcandle]

Once the modding bug bites, it never stops!

I've seen the beamshots of the X700 but I'm not sure exactly what that mod is about.

Both the M420 and M539 I've mentioned (basically Milkyspit names his mod's M + (avg lumen number) are using 7 LEDs stuffed into the KT4 head. Just that the different LEDs resulted in different lumen ratings.

I'll look around for more on the X700.... Maybe its using Luxeon 5 watts driven hard... ?

Edit : Ok found it, X700 is Luxeon III U-bin LEDs driven at 700ma. This halves the runtime as the previous 2 lights I've mentioned are run at 350ma. My upcoming light is 350ma too. In future I will upgrade it with a multiple brightness driver that may give me other levels. So 350ma for my primary, and maybe a 700ma or 1000ma 'burst mode', which should give me about 1000+ lumens based on the specs of the Seoul P4.

 

[Long John]

In future I will upgrade it with a multiple brightness driver that may give me other levels. So 350ma for my primary, and maybe a 700ma or 1000ma 'burst mode', which should give me about 1000+ lumens based on the specs of the Seoul P4.

That's the way to go :thumbsup:

Best regards

_____
Tom

 

[LED61]

One thing not to be overlooked is the beautiful beam obtained from the stock M6 either with MN20 or MN21 lamps. I have a 24W K2000R and it is beautiful when the beam is focused, but is more throw than anything else. The M6 has a wide and even useful beam that is hard to beat. I would mod an extra turbo head but would keep my original stock. Also, keep an eye in another thread in this forum, apparently another rechargeable solution for the M6 is in the works...

 

[mdhammack]

The M6 has a wide and even useful beam that is hard to beat. I would mod an extra turbo head but would keep my original stock.

Very true, that was what I was planning to do. Just in case for some reason I wanted to switch back I could.

Thanks