etc
Flashlight Enthusiast
New Surefire 9P.
P90 incan bulb goes out...
M60 Light-Emitting-Diode goes in:
Any Surefire lite is a great lite and doubly so with a LED mod such as Malkoff. The key problem with the Surefire is, they are expensive to feed. Recharg. 123 cells have a pretty low capacity, so you have to think about Li-Ion cells such as AW protected cells or Pila stuff. If you use the lite a lot and only have primary 123s, you will spend many times the cost of lite annually. Even the cheapest discount volume stuff is not all that cheap. For years, I wanted a Surefire but high cost of cells stopped me. Once I learned about Li-Ions, the decision was made.
After replacing the stock P90 module with Malkoff, I had some doubts if I should get a 2x18500 body or 2x18650 body. They both had their pros and cons. To complicate the situation, both FiveMega and Leef made these bodies. I read the FAQs, saw the specs, but still had doubts.
I resolved the matter by following the CPF creed:
Left to right:
Leef 2x18650, FiveMega 2x18650, Leef 2x18500, FiveMega 2x18500, stock Surefire 9P 3x123 body.
First, both FiveMega and Leef bodies are excellent quality stuff. The thread is good, knurling is pretty aggressive on both and considerably more so than stock Surefire 9P body, which is good. The finish is A1. FiveMega is slightly more shiny than Leef.
With the M60 installed, Leef had a slightly lesser bezel-to-body gap than FiveMega. I think it was roughly 1/2mm vs. 2mm. While this doesn't cause any performance issues, I filed the M60 module some more and now it's a perfect fit in 2x18500 Leef (and rattles in the original 9P body, but I don't plan to use it anyway, so no big deal).
It appears that between Malkoff being an excellent module but aftermarket non-OEM part anyway in combination with Leef/FiveMega you get this slight gap of a few MMs between bezel and body. Either FiveMega or Leef work with any OEM Surefire device, as promised, but keep in mind we are talking about two aftermarket parts and making them work together to perfect specs?
I think Malkoff, FiveMega and Leef should sit down at a conference call and resolve the issue making sure their parts play well with each other, not just with Surefire stuff - this would make their already outstanding products even better.Not "sure" the result would still remain a "SureFire" but an excellent product as always.
I will say that both FiveMega and Leef are a perfect fit with the OEM Surefire stuff as advertised. I only tried the P90 module and of course it fits well.
Anyway, my hat is off to these hard-working gentlemen for their fine products, I feel privileged to use them.
I continue to be amazed by guys that hack some aftermarket stuff in their garage, coming out with a better, more innovative product than multi-millon dollar corporations. (Must be the bureaucracy that consumes it all)
Now a few words about configuration, in my non-educated opinion. First, the 2x18500 body seems a lot more practical than anything. The size is identical to 9P. I didn't expect it to be so. The OAL, diameter and all. Unless you know what you are looking for, it's hard to tell them all apart. Surefire has the logo etched on the side of the body, neither FiveMega nor Leef do. Leef is completely round, FiveMega has Surefire-like flat sides but no logo on them.
I think I like Leef slightly better than the rest but it's a close call and only because I use M60.
The nicest one to hold is either one of the 2x18650 lites. With the aggressive knurling, it just bites into your hand, is pretty long, no way you can drop either one. The 2x18500 is not bad either. It's longer than 6P obviously but for me, just the right length, which is the reason why I didn't want a 6P. The cool thing about 2x18500 aside from compactness, is that you can take out Li-Ions and put in 3x123 cells. Just need to wrap them in something or they will rattle badly, they are rather loose in the 18mm body as was expected.
2x18500 is EDC material, but 2x18650 is not... unless we are talking about an external belt holster.
Note the supersized wonder known as the Z49 tailcap sitting on Leef 2x18650. that seemed a lot more logical than putting that tailcap-on-steroids on the 2x18500 body or stock 9P. It seems bigger than the 9P bezel itself. I think the engineering department needs to scrap it and design a new one (Otherwise aftermarket modders will keep eating their lunch, Duh). But to their credit, it does work and seems robust enough.
Now the decision process begins what modules to put in the rest of them, I definitely want something LED-wise...
Scanning the FAQ but nothing really stands out as superior to Malkoff, or at least more lumens.. Maybe Malkoff should come out with M60H, as in "High"?
(Joke)
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/173764
P90 incan bulb goes out...
M60 Light-Emitting-Diode goes in:
Any Surefire lite is a great lite and doubly so with a LED mod such as Malkoff. The key problem with the Surefire is, they are expensive to feed. Recharg. 123 cells have a pretty low capacity, so you have to think about Li-Ion cells such as AW protected cells or Pila stuff. If you use the lite a lot and only have primary 123s, you will spend many times the cost of lite annually. Even the cheapest discount volume stuff is not all that cheap. For years, I wanted a Surefire but high cost of cells stopped me. Once I learned about Li-Ions, the decision was made.
After replacing the stock P90 module with Malkoff, I had some doubts if I should get a 2x18500 body or 2x18650 body. They both had their pros and cons. To complicate the situation, both FiveMega and Leef made these bodies. I read the FAQs, saw the specs, but still had doubts.
I resolved the matter by following the CPF creed:
Left to right:
Leef 2x18650, FiveMega 2x18650, Leef 2x18500, FiveMega 2x18500, stock Surefire 9P 3x123 body.
First, both FiveMega and Leef bodies are excellent quality stuff. The thread is good, knurling is pretty aggressive on both and considerably more so than stock Surefire 9P body, which is good. The finish is A1. FiveMega is slightly more shiny than Leef.
With the M60 installed, Leef had a slightly lesser bezel-to-body gap than FiveMega. I think it was roughly 1/2mm vs. 2mm. While this doesn't cause any performance issues, I filed the M60 module some more and now it's a perfect fit in 2x18500 Leef (and rattles in the original 9P body, but I don't plan to use it anyway, so no big deal).
It appears that between Malkoff being an excellent module but aftermarket non-OEM part anyway in combination with Leef/FiveMega you get this slight gap of a few MMs between bezel and body. Either FiveMega or Leef work with any OEM Surefire device, as promised, but keep in mind we are talking about two aftermarket parts and making them work together to perfect specs?
I think Malkoff, FiveMega and Leef should sit down at a conference call and resolve the issue making sure their parts play well with each other, not just with Surefire stuff - this would make their already outstanding products even better.Not "sure" the result would still remain a "SureFire" but an excellent product as always.
I will say that both FiveMega and Leef are a perfect fit with the OEM Surefire stuff as advertised. I only tried the P90 module and of course it fits well.
Anyway, my hat is off to these hard-working gentlemen for their fine products, I feel privileged to use them.
I continue to be amazed by guys that hack some aftermarket stuff in their garage, coming out with a better, more innovative product than multi-millon dollar corporations. (Must be the bureaucracy that consumes it all)
Now a few words about configuration, in my non-educated opinion. First, the 2x18500 body seems a lot more practical than anything. The size is identical to 9P. I didn't expect it to be so. The OAL, diameter and all. Unless you know what you are looking for, it's hard to tell them all apart. Surefire has the logo etched on the side of the body, neither FiveMega nor Leef do. Leef is completely round, FiveMega has Surefire-like flat sides but no logo on them.
I think I like Leef slightly better than the rest but it's a close call and only because I use M60.
The nicest one to hold is either one of the 2x18650 lites. With the aggressive knurling, it just bites into your hand, is pretty long, no way you can drop either one. The 2x18500 is not bad either. It's longer than 6P obviously but for me, just the right length, which is the reason why I didn't want a 6P. The cool thing about 2x18500 aside from compactness, is that you can take out Li-Ions and put in 3x123 cells. Just need to wrap them in something or they will rattle badly, they are rather loose in the 18mm body as was expected.
2x18500 is EDC material, but 2x18650 is not... unless we are talking about an external belt holster.
Note the supersized wonder known as the Z49 tailcap sitting on Leef 2x18650. that seemed a lot more logical than putting that tailcap-on-steroids on the 2x18500 body or stock 9P. It seems bigger than the 9P bezel itself. I think the engineering department needs to scrap it and design a new one (Otherwise aftermarket modders will keep eating their lunch, Duh). But to their credit, it does work and seems robust enough.
Now the decision process begins what modules to put in the rest of them, I definitely want something LED-wise...
Scanning the FAQ but nothing really stands out as superior to Malkoff, or at least more lumens.. Maybe Malkoff should come out with M60H, as in "High"?
(Joke)
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/173764
Last edited:
