Ordered L2p host, need advice/help re first drop-in

I've just ordered my first host, a Solarforce L2p body from ebay (for $20.85) which seemed like a pretty good deal for a nice looking and hopefully decent quality host. I'm planing on starting out just powering it with a single 18650 which I don't have yet so I could use some advice re good 18650 choices as well. I already have some chargers that will work for it (Shekor and Trustfire TR-001).

But I haven't yet ordered a drop in for it and I'm pretty confused by all the choices available. I would like to get some advice re some good choices. I would like to get something that has three or more modes, ideally, with memory for the last mode, and that has a nice smooth beam, good efficiency and runtime on low.

I'm kind of interested in the XPG emitter as I don't yet have any lights that use that emitter, but I'm not limiting myself to that.

I'm wondering if I should just start out with a Solarforce drop in and was thinking of possibly getting the "Solarforce 300Lms R2 Cree Led 3Mode 0.8V-4.2V Bulb" that is available on ebay for ~$14.00 shipped, but I don't know if this is a good choice or not.

Extreme throw is not necessary. I generally prefer neutral white tints, when there is a choice.

Any suggestions on some good possible choices for my new L2p, especially ones that won't be too hard on my wallet, for the battery as well as the drop in would be very helpful to me. I'm a little confused about the different voltage choices that are available as well. Again, I plan to run it, for now at least, on one 18650.

If you have $35 you can get the dereelight R5 drop-in which is fully regulated with one 18650, 280 OTF lumens for 1.5 hours.

The solarforce R2 drop-in you mentioned has 210 OTF lumens which is not bad too for the price.

If you have experience in soldering and modding, you can buy a solarforce R5 drop-in and mod it with a 3x7135 driver. which cost $20 in total. Around 270 OTF lumens fully regulated for 2 hours. Excellent throw and flawless beam. That is what I am using now.

The .8-4.2V 3 Mode R2 dropin is quite popular. No 3 mode XPG dropin from Solarforce yet.

I don't have one yet but it sounds like the Solarforce 3 mode is a very nice dropin. I did a lot of 18650 research and picked up the red/black/flame pattern Trustfires from DX that get very good reviews on here. They are right around 10 bucks for two and after 9 months of use I have zero complaints. If you end up ordering your 18650's from DX, you might want to throw in one of their a R2 dropins for $9.00.

If you want your choice of tints and drivers, there is always Nailbender drop-ins.

If you want throw in your P60 drop-in, word around the forum is that Dereelight drop-ins are a good choice, or you could get a Dereelight smooth reflector for a pill of your choice. I've purchased two of them for my R2s and the results are quite satisfactory.

I have only one Solarforce drop-in, the LC-1 low-voltage high-output R2, and the tint is pure white, as far as I can tell, but I think that is just luck of the draw.

Like dhouseng said, if you're up to it, you can always make a mod of your own.

AW 18650 cells get a lot of respect around this forum. The consensus seems to be, though they don't offer the highest performance in terms of capacity and runtime, their reputation for high quality, safety, and longevity is well established.

One of the Trustfire 18650, I don't remember what color it is, has received favorable reviews, and it's considerably cheaper than it's AW counterpart.

Unless Solarforce has fixed the problem, don't be surprised if your 18650 cell rattles noticeably in your L2P. Some members have complained that they can change modes on their multi-mode drop-ins just by shaking their lights. Fixes involve shimming the inside of the tube with business cards or stretching the tailcap spring, to name a few.

Thanks for all the responses so far. Very much appreciated. I went ahead and ordered a pair of the Trustfire red, black flame colored 18650's to start with. The price is very reasonable. Hopefully I'll get some good ones.

(Fwimbw, I'm currently using some blue Trustfire protected 14500's in my SC50w that have been performing very decently for the money so far, and my Trustfire TR-001 charger's LED's reliably turn green when the batteries are at a reasonable ~4.15 volts, so I've had very good luck with Trustfire products so far.)

I'm still thinking about and researching various drop-ins. Eventually, I'd like to get into modding but have zero experience so it's best I start out getting something I don't have to mod.

But I'm pretty handy and I'm sure I could teach myself how to solder with all the resources available online and I'd like to acquire that skill and get into doing some simple modding at some point in the future. Sounds like a lot of fun.