Best P60 drop-in for the money.

Well I finally broke down and bought the last Surefire 6P incan at $62 at my local gun shop because I knew now they would be priced at $85 since the Surefire price increase. This was probably one of the few cheap ones left before the price increase. My only reason for buying this was to use a P60 sized drop-in. I know all about the Malkoff's and how great they are and I'm sure I would love them more than any other drop-in but the $75 dollar price tag just can't be justified for me. Then there are the Thrunite XP-G and XM-L drop-ins that are priced just about right for me. I will be running primaries only so no Li-ion batteries. Will the thrunite's be my best bet? What I am looking for is something bright (greater than 250 lumens OTF) and something that will have reasonable run time on the primaries (no less than about 2 hours). I do not want any cheap DX crap that will break on me I do want something reliable. What would be your preferred P60 drop-in? Thanks in advance.

I don't mean to rain on your parade but there are a lot of P60 hosts available. Many of them with forward clicky tailcaps instead of a twisty/push method of operation like on the 6P.
Personally I think the Solarforce hosts are great. I do own a 6P myself (with a Z59 tailcap) so I'm not saying you made a poor choice.
For a P60-type drop-in that's a good bang for your buck check out Nailbender's P60 drop-in thread in the customs & modified B/S/T forum here on CPF. You can customize the LED you want, how many settings you want, the tint, and other things.

A lot of people are very happy with Nailbender's drop-ins. You should definitely check out his thread in the Custom B/S/T Forum, Imon provided a link.

I've tried a few Deal Extreme drop-ins, getting Red, Blue, and Green colored LEDs for a little over $8 each shipped, and I think they're an excellent value. They're not really heavy duty lights, but the ones that I got were built about as well as the Thrunite XM-L that I tried (and sold).

I do think that the Malkoff drop-ins are an incredible value for the money. Malkoff Devices produces an exceptional product and $75 is not unreasonable for what you get. You can find them selling for a bit cheaper on CPFMarketplace fairly often, but they are easily worth three times as much as a Thrunite.

Hey there -
I second Imon on solarforce, well, their LED dropins it is. been using this solarforce which costs $11.50.
http://www.solarforce-sales.com/product_detail.php?t=RB&s=29&id=30

It was a cheap way for me to get a high power P60 dropin. Figured if I didnt like it, it's 11 bucks.
Cree xpg R5, single mode. Claimed 320lm. Due to finances, I've held off on Malkoff's but do want one. I have my buddies M61 to compare with, and the spot is absolutely brighter than the M61, and tighter. It is fantastic outdoors. I dont have a M60 to compare with, but I believe it would be comparable. It's a smooth reflector; they have an OP reflector at 300lm that may be comparable. I got it as it handles 4v-18v, so I can use with RCR123's on a 6P or C3. It's bright as hell. The solarforce is a bit longer than the standard P60 head so there is a 1mm gap between the head and body, so I put some glowie orings to make up the gap. Worth giving a shot for almost no cash investment. Again, bright as hell, and really not bad with the rings associated with the cree's.

I'd recommend you to look Nailbender's P60 drop-in too.
In my view, you can have more runtime on larger li-ion cells such as 18650, 18500, and so on.
And would be more economical.

If you are running primaries it is essential you get a buck not linear regulated drop-in. Nailbenders drop-ins are great but most of the ones he makes are linear regulated, this means that any voltage above the vf of the led is wasted, on 1x 4.2v li-ion (3.6 or so under load) you get an efficient driver, but on 2x primaries about 40-50% of power is wasted completely in the driver as heat.

I'm sure you could ask him to build you a proper buck regulated one, but I'm not sure if he has any of those drivers in stock, he might do though so it's worth a shot.

Malkoff's are buck regulated, and designed for primaries, as are many cheaper drop-in's but you'll have to do some research on it. I would really strongly recommend picking up some 17670's and a charger tbh and then running whatever you like.

I own an XP-G drop-in from LHound and a Thrunite XM-L drop-in that I use in a Surefire 6P and a Solarforce L2P respectively. I find that the xm-l is noticeably brighter than the xp-g when both are using rcr123s.

I really actually like the warm color of the P60 incan in it right now. For warm P60 modules right now are my only options Nailbender and Malkoff?

I did the same thing as you did Cole and got my 6p incan on ebay for the sole purpose of getting a p60 for it. I bought a Malkoff M61W and the tint is quite similar to the incan that was in the light already. not QUITE as warm, but pretty damn close. I got mine from battery junction for a pretty good deal and this is by-far my favorite light I own. Simple on and off and i really see no need for a click tailcap. Its easy to hold in one hand and twist it to stay on by either having the tailcap in your palm and rotating the body of the light or holding it like a clicky and twisting it with your 2 fingers. It's a more reliable design which is why they did it this way. I realize spending 65 bucks seems like a lot, but once you have it, you will understand. Its SOLID brass and the electronics are fully potted. It's HEAVY. When you pick up the light, you can tell something is there. There is a reason there is a Malkoff Junkie thread...Good luck whatever you choose!

Nailbender does some great warm XM-L drop-ins, but they are linear regulated. If you have the money to burn through primary CR123 cells then I would suggest the Malkoff M61HCRI drop-in, it is meant to pretty much exactly match the tint of the original P60 incan bulb.

At only $25 dollars that Thrunite drop-in is looking like the best bang for the buck. Based on the reviews I have seen it can almost hang with the Nailbender XM-L 3.1 amp drop-in module. And being driven at only 1.5 amps should be healthy for the battery life. What do you guys think of this?

Cole07 said:

I really actually like the warm color of the P60 incan in it right now. For warm P60 modules right now are my only options Nailbender and Malkoff?

Click to expand...

I am a fan of Nailbender, but only for single 18650 lights. Also Thrunite as mentioned, and Solarforce.

Don't forget the XR-E R2 drop-in, not so many lumens but a great thrower.

Edit: sorry missed 'warm' I don't know if Trunite and Solarforce do a warm XML.

There are lot of good drop-ins, different values and different people will offer different advices based on their needs... Based on MY experience, you basically have three very good drop-ins: Malkoff M61(W) for $70, Nailbender XML 2.8A for $45 and Thrunite XML 1.5A for $25...

So now you make what you really appreciate in the light... if you want bomb-proof, Surefire quality dropin, Malkoff M61 is there... might seem a little expensive BUT very versatile, uses XPG but you can use 2 or 3 primaries or 1 or 2 rechargeable cells... 260(240) lumens is very bright and it has great runtimes - 2 hrs on 2xCR123 and few minutes more with 1x18650... installed in MD2 with Hi/Lo is awesome light...

Then you have Nailbender... it's driven rather hard so really no need for 3.1A version, 2.8 is enough... it's so wickedly bright (around 580 lumens on turn on for 2.8A I'm guessing) and draws so much amps on high that you won't be using it more than 3 minutes, thanks to temp you'll feel... and it would shine less than a hour on 1x18650, if it could be left on on high that long... but you will use medium mostly anyway which is about the same brightness as M61 dropin... and you have LOW for pretty long runtimes with night adopted vision...

And there is Thrunite XML... with amp draw of around 1.5A it puts little over 400 lumens on high and pretty much allows you about 90 minutes on high with 1x18650-29 battery... pretty awesome setup in Surefire host with bezel like Ronac Cryos or Solarforce A001... this really seems the best bang for buck if you're going to use 1xLiIon cell, at least IMHO... I think you already made a choice on it... You will have 1 1/2 hours on continuous high with 1x18650-29...

I love all three of them... I'm running M61W in MD2 (new style) that I can extend to get 2x18500 or 3xCR123 batteries and I have hi/lo option... I have Nailbender in Solarforce L2m body on IMR 18350 for ridiculous brightness out of super small host but for short periods and I have C2 with Thrunite XML with Cryos head that I'm pretty sure I can leave on on high for all duration of battery juice, which is like I said about hour and a half for around 400 OTF lumens... not bad...

EDIT:
Malkoff and Nailbender have WARM options and high CRI options where Thrunite has THE MOST NEUTRAL WHITE tint I have seen so far... I absolutely LOVE Thrunite tint but, again, it's me...

Yeah, the 3-9v thrunite looks your best best. That's certainly a buck driver, 1.5a means less heatsinking issues as well.

I have about 6 lights with P60 drop-ins... My favorite and my main non-keychain light is a Surefire C2 with a Thrunite XML 3 mode that I run on a 17670. Also have a 3 mode Thrunite XPG R5 which is certainly more throwy, but also more expensive. I have a 5 mode Solarforce XPG which is nice if throw is more important than max brightness. In terms of value, I think the Solarforce wins over the 3 mode Thrunite XPG, but I prefer only 3 levels.

My personal take is the Nailbender is the way to go if you are going to run it on 18650s... On primaries, I'd definitely get something else... and I would strongly encourage you to get a couple 17670s and a charger.

If you only need 1 level, the $18 Lighthound XPG R5 is pretty sweet... and a bit smaller and more intense hotspot than the Thrunite XPG.

Out of all of my non-custom/modded drop-ins, the Thrunite XML is the warmest though I wouldn't call it warm or even quite neutral. Still, mine is very, very uncool and that's OK in my book.

I have a couple of bored C2's. 1 has a Nailbender warm XML 3 mode and the second one has a M61HCri. I can't really choose a favorite. I use the NB the most but that M61 just looks sooooo darn good. I think for around $30 NB can put together a nice warm xpe,XRE or xpg with a higher voltage driver that is buck and not a linear. Good luck in your hunt it's sure to be fun.