Opinion for which pill for Dereelight CL1H V4

I am in law enforcement and I am about to get a Dereelight CL1H V4. I want the brightest possible flood I can get so I was wondering which pill I should get with the light. I was thinking the 3SM MC-E, but will another pill get me a mega-bright flood?

Also, do the Dereelights have the momentary on function like the maglites?

Also, if anyone else has any better suggestions than the Deree... please let me know!

You're an LEO, and you've mentioned a need for a momentary function with the switch.

When I purchased my CL1H V4, I made the mistake of getting the 3SM R2 pill. Nothing wrong with the pill, but that 3 indicates the number of modes the light has. Problem is, while the forward clickie switch can indeed be used as a momentary, you don't want a multi-mode light that switches modes using a forward clickie switch alone.

Here's why..... You hit the tailcap switch for momentary-on. The light comes on in the brightest setting. However, as you hold your thumb in place, you might accidentally ease off the switch just a tiny bit. As soon as the light goes out, you instinctively press the switch again. But now it turns on at a lower level. To get it back up to the high level you need, you have to tap the switch a couple of more times so it goes to low-mode, and then back to high-mode.

In your line of work, that's not good. For a multi-mode light with a tailcap switch, a reverse-clickie is needed. That, or a selector ring on the light when used with a forward clickie. (Such as the Surefire U2).

Thankfully, I was able to exchange my 3SM for a 1SM.

If you decide to buy a Dereelight CL1H V4, look for FlashCrazy's sales thread over at the CPF MarketPlace. (He's an Authorized Dealer, and he can get you the model you want faster since he's based here in America).

You could try PMing him. But I strongly recommend sticking with a single-stage version.

If you want a lot of flood in a small package, there's the Surefire L4 model or the 2008 Inova T1. (Just be sure it's a 2008 version. You can get one from BatteryJunction.com).

Also, the CL1H V4 that I own has the smooth reflector in it. I have mine set up for throw, rather than flood. The reason being, the textured reflector leaves dark rings in the beam. There's a hot-spot, followed by a large dark ring, followed by sidespill. The problem exists with the smooth reflector too. But it's less surprising with the smooth reflector since it's geared for throw instead of flood.

Hope this helped.

That is some really great advice... I had not considered that before with the 3sm v. the 1sm. I'm definitely going to go with the single stage. Do you know much about the mc-e pill v. the other ones?

irmorrison said:

Do you know much about the mc-e pill v. the other ones?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no.

I only have the one R2 version of that light. FlashCrazy would likely know the difference. He was very helpful when I found out the hard way that a 3-mode Dereelight just wasn't right for my needs. He's a good guy, with an excellent reputation on CPF.

Here's a link to his sales thread over at the MarketPlace. (It's a seperate forum from CPF, so you'll need to register there as well). Jay is a great guy who is happy to help by answering questions.

LINK ~
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=186833

Monocrom said:

Also, the CL1H V4 that I own has the smooth reflector in it. I have mine set up for throw, rather than flood. The reason being, the textured reflector leaves dark rings in the beam. There's a hot-spot, followed by a large dark ring, followed by sidespill. The problem exists with the smooth reflector too. But it's less surprising with the smooth reflector since it's geared for throw instead of flood.

Click to expand...

I had the same problem with rings in a CL1H V4 OP reflector (and P60 drop-ins) and was able to completely eliminate them by backing the pill out until the rings disappeared. I then placed a small GITD O-ring around the LED and screwed it back into the reflector. By adjusting the tension of the pill against the reflector I'm able to get a bright hotspot and no rings.

I don't know anything specific about the MC-E pill, but my general familiarity with P7's and MC-E's is that they are heavily biased toward floody beamshapes, and only just now are beginning to see reflectors specifically designed for these emitters that can provide the common beamshapes with a hotspot for throw. Even these reflectors provide lots of spill for flood. Any specific emitter / reflector combination will be a mattter of your taste preference. But the P7's and MC-E's do output a huge amount of light. I have an MC-E warm tint light that I like quite a bit.

I think the Malkoff drop ins should work in the CL1H v4 (they worked in my v 3), and they offer an M60 or M30 flood (depending on whether you will run 2 or 1 batteries) and they also offer the flood in a W version (for warm tint). Warm led's output a little less light: the Q5 based M60 / M30 outputs c. 225 lumens, the warm outputs c. 180 lumens. This is about max for a Q5, whereas the P7's & MC-E's will output 400 - 800 lumens dependidng on heat sinking.

Hope this helps.