Need help choosing a drop-in

I bought a Solarforce L2P and I am going the use a single 18650 batt. I'm not quit sure on which voltage range to get on the drop-in. I was looking at the Solarforce Cree's. Some are as low as .8V-4.2V and some are 4.2V-8.4V. I know these are not the only ranges, but what is the reason or benefit of either end of the range? I'm wanting more throw than flood in a light if that matters. Do other branded lights fit without having to do any mods? Thanks.

For a single 18650, the lower-voltage drop-in would definitely be the better one to get - for a short period I had the higher-voltage unit that you cite and it really needs two LiIons to get to adequate performance.

FWIW the SolarForce dropins are generally regarded as being one of the better imported units along with Dereelight. If it was me, I would prefer a US-assembled unit, some of which are put together by some very talented CPFers and sold in the /Custom B/S/T/ subforum. Nailbender and Anto are two very good choices there. Moving more into the high-end gets to the Malkoff and Moddoo drop-ins.

Hope this helps,
K

as above said, solarforce makes very good cheap drop-ins. I've also heard lumens factory sells quite good cheap drop-ins, probably better than the solarforce ones. One of the most popular line of dropins are those made by nailbender who you can find in the marketplace.

First off you should head to the very first thread here which is dedicated exclusively to drop-ins.

I just bought the very L2P host you mentioned. Did a lot of reading myself before choosing a drop in and I wound up ordering a 3-mode SST-50 from Nailbender. It is fantastic. Very bright and can run either the 18650 or 2x cr123, drawing 2.8 amps. It has a reputation for having a good compromise of flood and throw however so if you're looking for a floodier light from Nailbender, do some reading on his SST-90.

Thanks for all the input. I'll do some more reading, but I was stuck. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions.

Do all of the led drop-in's regulate power or does it just depend on how strong the battery is? Sorry if this is a stupid question, just learning.

I think that varies too, Nailbender answered my questions in forum before I purchased. There's alot of info on the first page of his thread about the P60 dropins he makes as well. Overready, replies to questions via email or in forum too

mikedsokc said:

Do all of the led drop-in's regulate power or does it just depend on how strong the battery is? Sorry if this is a stupid question, just learning.

Click to expand...

Some drop ins are "direct drive" = no regulation. But most have drivers that provide regulation to varying degrees.

I'm really enjoying using a cheap 5 mode XPG (single emitter) drop in I got from DX for only $14 shipped. It's quite bright with a nice big hot spot and a nice smooth beam pattern, although it's certainly not the brightest drop-in available because it is driven at a relatively conservative ~1 amp on max. which is still quite bright (~320 lumens (manufacturer rated)).

It runs great on 1 18650 in my L2P. Indoors, I usually run it on medium in ceiling bounce mode. On medium it stays quite cool and it only uses about 500 mAh of my 18650's capacity after running for about 8 hours continuously. On max it gets pretty hot after about 10 minutes in candle stick mode, but not dangerously so. It can run for very long periods on max when hand held.

I imagine those drop-ins that are driven pretty hard at 1.5 to 2.8 amps get real hot pretty fast on max., especially in a P60 host like an L2P.

I guess I kind of like the way my cheap DX drop-in runs at a relatively conservative 1 amp on max. It's not my most expensive light by far but it's still my brightest and my favorite for using outdoors on max or for providing still fairly bright light that is very cool and long running on medium mode indoors.

Thanks pae77 for the description. that was helpful. My wife wants a single mode. I was looking at the Solarforce for the price. Maybe something better later. The three drop-in's I was looking at were the solarforce LC-XPG Cree R5, Solarforce LC-1 Cree R2 and the Solarforce LC-1 Cree P4. I'm going to use a L2 (tan) for the host. Can anyone tell me the differences in these drop-in's (trow/flood, heat, run time, etc.)? Thanks.

I don't think Solarforce makes a 3 mode XPG based drop in. IIRC, they make a single mode and a 5 mode, just like DX does. The only difference between them that I could see from the descriptions is that the Solarforce XPG drop-ins use a smooth reflector and the DX XPG drop ins use a Light Orange Peel reflector. If Solarforce made a 3 mode, XPG drop-in, I would be all over it.

I also have the Solarforce LC-1 (0.8-4.2V) 3 mode R2 drop in which uses an XRE emitter, (not an XPG). The XRE is better for throw and has a nice tint (at least mine does) but has a tighter/smaller hot spot and less spill than the XPG emitters, imo. Slightly less bright overall than the XPG emitters also.

Unless you really want the maximum throw, I would strongly recommend getting an XPG based drop in. They provide the best combination of brightness, efficiency and runtime, imo. Also, a multi mode is much more flexible than a single mode. Single modes run on max all the time and consequently you can't get much runtime out of them. Multi mode drop ins give you the choice of running very bright with short runtime or not so bright with longer runtime. To me that's very important and worth putting up with the hassle of switching through SOS and Strobe modes (in the 5 mode versions).

Would this work in the Solarforce L2P? http://www.lumensfactory.com/product_details.php?id=98&cid=2&sid=&page=2

I got the Solarforce Cree R2 (0.8V - 4.2V) 3 mode drop-in and it works great. What would be something that has more flood than throw? I am only going to use 18650 battery's too. Thanks.