Did Malkoff go down a design hole with the MD2 and VME heads?

First off, I'm a huge Malkoff fan. I count 7 of them in my house right now, not counting others that have come and gone.

However, when the MD2 came out, I saw that Malkoff went with the smaller window on the front of the head. I read here on the forums that in tests, the light output was the same as with a larger opening. This appeared to work fine with the optics on the M60/M30. Plus, the optics obviated the need for a window on the host.

At the time I wondered if Malkoff made a mistake tuning their design so closely to the specifics of the M60. I also wondered if this would limit their future options with respect to new M60 designs.

Now that the M61 is out, the reflector is clearly smaller than normal on a P60-type dropin. This appears to be so the reflector matches the opening of the MD2 and VME heads.

My question is, does the need to be backwardsly compatible with the MD2 and VME heads limit the potential of the M61?

Thanks,

-John

I think you're right that the MD2 and VME heads do limit future products but on the other hand I have an M61 in my hands and it does not suffer one bit for it either. Despite a small reflector the M61 puts out the best general purpose beam I have ever seen. So as far as I'm concerned, it's not a problem for this generation of Malkoff drop-ins, or the new generation.