Hi everyone. As some of you may know, I have been lurking around this forum for quite some time, late 2006. I haven't purchased a tone of flashlights until recently. I am a LEO and as such I depend on my tools to keep me safe and help other people too. There has been no more satisfaction than when people ask me to borrow a light at a scene or something alike.
My "collecting" seems to go in ebbs and flows and generally revolves around some one at work getting something nicer (not just brighter, not just better UI, the complete package upgraded) than what I currently have. Once some one gets something that I think is really great, I come here and speak with you folk and find out what is at the crest of the wave and buy that. It normally keeps me in good stead for a couple of years with minor tweaks (new drop in etc).
My first purchase of lights were Pila. I purchased a GL2 and a GL4. The GL4 was purchased with the RED Led tail cap. They have both been fantastic lights save one minor flaw and that is I have gone through two RED LED tail cap switches for the GL4, as the window at the back brakes off (see pictures below). The GL2 was purchased to be used with an LED, as such the normal clickey tail switch was used. For the front end of the GL2 a Wolfeyes Cree R2 Bin D26 drop in was used. I don't remember which version of emitter it was but I think it was claimed 280 lumens, which at the time was substantial. I recall that it was supposed to run regulated, however the indications on the box (which I just dug out for this project) are 3.7-6V which means to me, under load, it was not running in regulation off of one 18650 cell... See I did learn something new at CPF. I got the GL4 with the 12V 550 lumen lamp assembly, but never intended to run it with that lamp as I didn't want to feed the light 123's. I ordered a Lumens Factory HO-9L. I didn't go to the EO-9L as I was scared of the heat issues, I would have gone with it now (hindsight is always 20-20). Then one day Lumens Factory started running the H0-R5 bulb. They were nice enough to mount that Bulb in a D36 reflector for me and that is how my GL4 has sat ever since.
The big issues came a few weeks back... some new Fenix lights started to show up at work AA batteries and good output, plus they lacked the horrible blue tint of my Wolfeyes drop in. Also a few of the guys started to buy the Surefire P6D's (LED and P60) and V70 holsters and they are very nice. Combine this with the fact that I walked right buy a person hidden in a forest with my HORRID blue LED and then later found that same person with my incan; then combine THAT with the fact that I really wasn't ever happy with the Club Style of the GL4 either. Plus I played with the Surefire's the guys had and was enamoured with the quality. SO... I started poking around here and requested help from CPFers. Ill let that thread stand on its own for review.
Needless to say I ended up purchasing a few new lights.
I ended up with a custom Oveready M2 bored w/ Z44 bezel Smooth Steel Black ring and Ultra Clear Lens. Z41 upgraded Zero Resistance momentary tail switch. The M2 body is in Grey the Bezel Ring and Tail switch are Black. Oveready V3 Tripple in neutral at the business end.
I didn't stop there. I had discovered Wills PHD M6 Project. The M6 has always been a LUST item for me. However 20 min of light getting progressively more dim as it goes never allowed me to pull the trigger. Not to mention the cost of CR123's. My department pays for AA and D but not 123's. Anyway, I had at one point in time even purchased FiveMega's 3X17670 holder planning to go to a RM6 with some kind of Lumens factory bulb. I never did pull the trigger... but the PHD-M6 pushed me over the edge (or cliff). Anyway... I ended up getting an M6, Will's PHD-M6 and some bulbs (Surefire MN61, MN21, MN20, Lumens Factory (LF) IMR-M6, IMR-M3T, HO-M6).
I then came across a Lumens Factory P7 Led Turbo Head on a M4 body from B/S/T Forum. It was a good deal so... yep it found a home too.
Anyway... the point of this thread is to give a review and beam shots of the new and old lights. Thus I hope to show:
As of 10-08-23 @ 01:34 hours some items have arrived.
As of 10-08-27 @ 10:45 am PST the M6, MN61, MN20, MN21, Lumens Factory IMR-M6, HO-M6, IMR-M3T 3X17670 and 2 X IMR16340 have arrived. Still awaiting the PHD-M6.
AS of 10-08-30 18:32 hours PST
However further updates:
My HO-R5 custom mounted D36 version of the Lumens Factory bulb has now blackened very very badly as such it is going to be eliminated from this shootout! I have updated the graph to reflect this!
Secondly I something went wrong with my Oveready V3 Triple. They were fantastic to deal with and all will be made well shortly!
Also a friend has ordered a C2 from Oveready very similar to mine. We are going to be putting a Nailbender SST-90 2.8 amp single 18650 regulated drop in into it, so I might try and include that if time permits!
My "collecting" seems to go in ebbs and flows and generally revolves around some one at work getting something nicer (not just brighter, not just better UI, the complete package upgraded) than what I currently have. Once some one gets something that I think is really great, I come here and speak with you folk and find out what is at the crest of the wave and buy that. It normally keeps me in good stead for a couple of years with minor tweaks (new drop in etc).
My first purchase of lights were Pila. I purchased a GL2 and a GL4. The GL4 was purchased with the RED Led tail cap. They have both been fantastic lights save one minor flaw and that is I have gone through two RED LED tail cap switches for the GL4, as the window at the back brakes off (see pictures below). The GL2 was purchased to be used with an LED, as such the normal clickey tail switch was used. For the front end of the GL2 a Wolfeyes Cree R2 Bin D26 drop in was used. I don't remember which version of emitter it was but I think it was claimed 280 lumens, which at the time was substantial. I recall that it was supposed to run regulated, however the indications on the box (which I just dug out for this project) are 3.7-6V which means to me, under load, it was not running in regulation off of one 18650 cell... See I did learn something new at CPF. I got the GL4 with the 12V 550 lumen lamp assembly, but never intended to run it with that lamp as I didn't want to feed the light 123's. I ordered a Lumens Factory HO-9L. I didn't go to the EO-9L as I was scared of the heat issues, I would have gone with it now (hindsight is always 20-20). Then one day Lumens Factory started running the H0-R5 bulb. They were nice enough to mount that Bulb in a D36 reflector for me and that is how my GL4 has sat ever since.
The big issues came a few weeks back... some new Fenix lights started to show up at work AA batteries and good output, plus they lacked the horrible blue tint of my Wolfeyes drop in. Also a few of the guys started to buy the Surefire P6D's (LED and P60) and V70 holsters and they are very nice. Combine this with the fact that I walked right buy a person hidden in a forest with my HORRID blue LED and then later found that same person with my incan; then combine THAT with the fact that I really wasn't ever happy with the Club Style of the GL4 either. Plus I played with the Surefire's the guys had and was enamoured with the quality. SO... I started poking around here and requested help from CPFers. Ill let that thread stand on its own for review.
Needless to say I ended up purchasing a few new lights.
I ended up with a custom Oveready M2 bored w/ Z44 bezel Smooth Steel Black ring and Ultra Clear Lens. Z41 upgraded Zero Resistance momentary tail switch. The M2 body is in Grey the Bezel Ring and Tail switch are Black. Oveready V3 Tripple in neutral at the business end.
I didn't stop there. I had discovered Wills PHD M6 Project. The M6 has always been a LUST item for me. However 20 min of light getting progressively more dim as it goes never allowed me to pull the trigger. Not to mention the cost of CR123's. My department pays for AA and D but not 123's. Anyway, I had at one point in time even purchased FiveMega's 3X17670 holder planning to go to a RM6 with some kind of Lumens factory bulb. I never did pull the trigger... but the PHD-M6 pushed me over the edge (or cliff). Anyway... I ended up getting an M6, Will's PHD-M6 and some bulbs (Surefire MN61, MN21, MN20, Lumens Factory (LF) IMR-M6, IMR-M3T, HO-M6).
I then came across a Lumens Factory P7 Led Turbo Head on a M4 body from B/S/T Forum. It was a good deal so... yep it found a home too.
Anyway... the point of this thread is to give a review and beam shots of the new and old lights. Thus I hope to show:
- Surefire M2 Moddoo V3 1000 lumen neutral (off of 1X18650) 750 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Surefire M2 Moddoo V3 1000 lumen neutral (off of 2X16340IMR) 1000 claimed lumens (regulated)
- Surefire M4 Lumens Factory P7 Turbo head (off of 2X17670) 950 claimed lumens
- Surefire M6 Lumens Factory P7 Turbo head (off of 3X17670) 950 claimed lumens
- Surefire M4 KT4 w/ MN61 bulb (off of 4XCR123) 350 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ MN21 bulb (off of stock battery holder 3S2P CR123) 500 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ MN20 bulb (off of stock battery holder 3S2P CR123) 250 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ MN61 bulb (off of PHD-M6 @9.2v) ~450 OTF lumens
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ MN21 bulb (off of PHD-M6 @6.8v) ~650 OTF lumens
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ MN20 bulb (off of PHD-M6 @7.5v) ~300 OTF lumens
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ LF IMR-M3T (off of PHD-M6 @7.5v) ~485 OTF lumens
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ LF HO-M6 (off of PHD-M6 @10.8v) ~385 OTF lumens (dimming)
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ LF IMR-M6 (off of PHD-M6 @ 10.8v) ~585 OTF lumens (dimming) (have to research it wont hurt cells first)
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ LF HO-M6 (off of 3X17670) ~450 OTF lumens (dimming)
- Surefire M6 KT4 w/ LF IMR-M6 (off of 3X17670) ~800 OTF lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL4 w/Pila 550 lumen bulb (off of 4XCR123) 550 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL4 w/Pila 550 lumen bulb (off of 2X18650) ~450 lumens (dimming) (??)
- Pila GL4 w/LF HO-9L (off of 2X18650) 380 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL4 w/LF HO-R5 (custom mounted D36) (off of 2X18650) 630 claimed lumens (dimming) Bulb has died!:thumbsdow:sigh:
- Pila GL2 w/Pila 120 lumen bulb (off of 2XCR123) 120 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL2 w/ Pila 120 lumen bulb (off of 1X18650) ~100 lumens (dimming) (??)
- Pila GL2 w/Wolfeye Cree LED R2 (off of 1X18650) 280 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL2 w/Wolfeyes Cree LED R2 (Multi-mode:High) (1X18650) 280 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL2 w/Wolfeyes Cree LED R2 (Multi-mode:Med) (1X18650) ~168 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL2 w/Wolfeyes Cree LED R2 (Multi-mode:Low) (1X18650) ~60 claimed lumens (dimming)
- Pila GL2 w/Wolfeye Cree LED R2 (off of 2XCR123) 280 claimed lumens
As of 10-08-23 @ 01:34 hours some items have arrived.
As of 10-08-27 @ 10:45 am PST the M6, MN61, MN20, MN21, Lumens Factory IMR-M6, HO-M6, IMR-M3T 3X17670 and 2 X IMR16340 have arrived. Still awaiting the PHD-M6.
AS of 10-08-30 18:32 hours PST
However further updates:
My HO-R5 custom mounted D36 version of the Lumens Factory bulb has now blackened very very badly as such it is going to be eliminated from this shootout! I have updated the graph to reflect this!
Secondly I something went wrong with my Oveready V3 Triple. They were fantastic to deal with and all will be made well shortly!
Also a friend has ordered a C2 from Oveready very similar to mine. We are going to be putting a Nailbender SST-90 2.8 amp single 18650 regulated drop in into it, so I might try and include that if time permits!
Last edited:
