Gatsby
Enlightened
I picked up a Surefire 6PL this weekend, inspired by a few things. I'd wanted to try another Surefire after enjoying an E2e but not using it very often and selling it. I was also interested in getting into some of the SF lego options and the 6P is the classic host (and I'm not crazy about the C2 form factor). And I happened to be in Lowe's... they had one left. The fit and finish is, well, very nice as I expected. I wish it were HAIII but perhaps I can sink my teeth into the E series as well, but the HAII is uniform, machining is top notch and everything was well lubricated and functioning perfectly out of the box. I didn't expect anything less but I can see the different between it and my CL1H - and I think the CL1H is a lot of light for the buck and overall well designed - but the Surefire does feel a bit more, well, solid.
I have a few Dereelight drop ins around the house so I thought figured I'd swap out the P60L and either save it as a backup or perhaps sell it. I open the package and after all the underwhelming reviews of the P60L I expected to be very "meh" about it - and was rather pleasantly surprised. The tint is cool when compared to my Novatac 120P which is rather creamy, but definitely not purple or bluish as many have complained. And the output on two primaries at least was very respectable - I compared it to my 120P on max and it is a bit difficult to compare output given the different beam shapes, but it certainly wasn't overwhelmed so it looked to be in the same ballpark at least. And it completely drowned out my LF3XT on maximum. And a rather nice beam - well balanced with decent throw and a very usable sidespill. I wanted to check out the Dereelights so I did move it but ... I don't think it will be going anywhere too soon...
I have three Dereelight drop ins - a Q5 2SM which due to the reverse polarity and mechanical two stage operation really needs to be run in my CL1H host; and two that I've used in the 6PL - a Q2 5A 3SD (3-8.4v input) and a Q5 3SD (2.7-4.2v input). I had been running the Q2 in my CL1H on an 18500 and the difference in output between it and the Q5 made it difficult to use it consistently. In the 6P with two primaries output definitely seemed increased - I'm not sure if this is intentional or not or it if is just my imagination and it was quite a nice beam. The Q5 was equally fine on a 17670 (which fits easily) in the 6PL. The P60L also ran just fine (runtime unknown however) on a 17670. Obviously the host doesn't have a whole ton to do with the out put from a drop in - using the same batteries there was no difference in terms of output. I did want to see how the stock z43(?) tailcap worked and it does better with a digital pill than I expected in terms of usability. It is more difficult to go from momentary to constant but not overly burdensome and most of the time I know when I hit the button whether I'm intending on momentary or constant use - but I can imagine a z49 (I believe that is the SF forward clickie for the C series lights) would be a nice addition.
One interesting note, however, is that with the Dereelight pills the 6P head does not screw all the way down to the anti roll section, there is a tiny gap. In use this doesn't bother me at all but I was a bit surprised that the Dereelight drop in was visibily longer than the P60L, due mostly to the deeper reflector (both OP and SMO).
So overall the 6PL is, for me at least, a bit more than expected and pleasantly so. I was expecting a solid Surefire host, but the P60L was a good bit better than I was anticipating.
I have a few Dereelight drop ins around the house so I thought figured I'd swap out the P60L and either save it as a backup or perhaps sell it. I open the package and after all the underwhelming reviews of the P60L I expected to be very "meh" about it - and was rather pleasantly surprised. The tint is cool when compared to my Novatac 120P which is rather creamy, but definitely not purple or bluish as many have complained. And the output on two primaries at least was very respectable - I compared it to my 120P on max and it is a bit difficult to compare output given the different beam shapes, but it certainly wasn't overwhelmed so it looked to be in the same ballpark at least. And it completely drowned out my LF3XT on maximum. And a rather nice beam - well balanced with decent throw and a very usable sidespill. I wanted to check out the Dereelights so I did move it but ... I don't think it will be going anywhere too soon...
I have three Dereelight drop ins - a Q5 2SM which due to the reverse polarity and mechanical two stage operation really needs to be run in my CL1H host; and two that I've used in the 6PL - a Q2 5A 3SD (3-8.4v input) and a Q5 3SD (2.7-4.2v input). I had been running the Q2 in my CL1H on an 18500 and the difference in output between it and the Q5 made it difficult to use it consistently. In the 6P with two primaries output definitely seemed increased - I'm not sure if this is intentional or not or it if is just my imagination and it was quite a nice beam. The Q5 was equally fine on a 17670 (which fits easily) in the 6PL. The P60L also ran just fine (runtime unknown however) on a 17670. Obviously the host doesn't have a whole ton to do with the out put from a drop in - using the same batteries there was no difference in terms of output. I did want to see how the stock z43(?) tailcap worked and it does better with a digital pill than I expected in terms of usability. It is more difficult to go from momentary to constant but not overly burdensome and most of the time I know when I hit the button whether I'm intending on momentary or constant use - but I can imagine a z49 (I believe that is the SF forward clickie for the C series lights) would be a nice addition.
One interesting note, however, is that with the Dereelight pills the 6P head does not screw all the way down to the anti roll section, there is a tiny gap. In use this doesn't bother me at all but I was a bit surprised that the Dereelight drop in was visibily longer than the P60L, due mostly to the deeper reflector (both OP and SMO).
So overall the 6PL is, for me at least, a bit more than expected and pleasantly so. I was expecting a solid Surefire host, but the P60L was a good bit better than I was anticipating.
