Pill vs P60 Drop Ins - Deere CL1H V4

My main question is why buy a drop in vs a pill - for example I have a Deerelight CL1H V4 with a "3SD 5A Q3" Input Voltage 2.8-4.2V -- I use 1ea 18650 Rechargable and a few reflectors. Should I be shopping for pills or drop-ins & why? I had entertained the idea of upgrading some years ago but saw little point when I learned that it would only improve the efficiency (I felt my light was plenty efficient for the usage it sees). But now I am seeing flashlights advertising 700+ lumens and am feeling that my measly 200ish lumens should be pretty easy to beat these days, but looking on Deerelights website it looks like they are not exactly cutting edge anymore with their upgrades... thinking I need to be browsing the rather intimidating 1027 pages of posts in the P60 sized LED drop in 'sticky' post to find what I need. More on that here: <link to follow in edit>

I would eventually love to get a 3 mode drop in/pill that would allow me to run on EITHER 1 or 2 18650 batteries (I envision there would be 2 possible ways this would work: either 2 batteries would provide NO additional brightness, but would increase runtime, or it would simply increase brightness with minimal effect on runtime). That way I could toss my spare battery in the extension tube as a "spare battery holder" and when I am out on my boat coming into shore or otherwise wishing my flashlight had more runtime/throw I could simply pull out the spare battery/extension and screw it in. Been done? Bad idea? Available at CPF-Mart for low low price of XYZ?

Summary:
1. Shopping for P60 upgrade - am I shopping for the drop in or just the pill?
2. Any comments on best option for my Deerelight CL1H V4 with a "3SD 5A Q3" 2.8-4.2V
3. Any modules that do 1 or 2 batteries that provide same amount of light regardless?

THANKS!!!

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pill + reflector = drop-in

Checkout the Warm XM-L pill (you already have the reflectors) Dereelight is offering,
it'll require two Li-Ions {approx. 8volts} for best performance .

Get your self the EXT500 size extension for your V4
and get a couple 18500 cells.

Orbital: Thanks for the reccomendation. I do a have a few/lot of questions for you on it though if its not too much to ask. (If you answer just a handfull of them all I will be absolutely thrilled!!)

Why the warm XM-L pill? I think I have read that it is more lumens and more throw than the XP-G if I am understanding this correctly. Looks like it drives at twice the amperage... but I have read it has less spill. Is it really noticable?

Also, on the note of reflectors, I was on Deerelights site and saw they have different reflectors for the XP-E/G vs the XM-L/SST-50 -- is this something I need to worry about since I have the old reflectors that came with my 3SD 5A Q3? Thus I guess I am asking is there a big enough difference to warrant buying the whole drop-in vs just the pill?

Next, to clarify you are saying that the 3SM-XM-L-T3 (T3 standing for Warm White) is the way to go. Please forgive me but I am just starting to grasp the meaning of these part numbers and want to be sure I am not completely off base in my translation of reccomendation to part number.

My last and biggest question is why you reccomend the 18500's instead of the 18650's. I read up on the 18500's (which I didn't even realize existed until you mentioned them) and found they are basically 18650 voltage in a smaller package with less capacity (approx 1600(ish) mAh vs the 2400(ish) mAh. Is the only advantage just to keep length manageable? If so, what do you think about running this 3SM pill with just one 18650 battery most of the time? Will I be majorly dissapointed? Will it just not work? Will the battery not fully discharge (thus less runtime) because of the required minimum voltage being 3.4 instead of the single battery 2.8? Ideally I would like to stick with my 18650 batteries as I have a lot of them, basically just leave the extension and spare battery in my pack/kit and keep single battery in the light for everyday (on belt) use.

Lastly, I calculated approximately 1.28 hours of runtime at 100% at the advertised 2.5A draw listed on Deerelight's website for the XM-L with 2ea 18500 batteries vs about 2.5hrs for the XP-G. Sound about right?

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~I mentioned the Warm pill because you have 5A now & seemed logical you liked warmer tints,..the Neutral is a good option too.
~You can use the XR-E reflector w/ XM-L emitter
~Two 18500 cells together will give you the voltage that pill was designed/optimized for,..also a size manageability thing too.
...depending on the date of driver,,, I believe you can use an single 18650 with the SM pills, its not optimized, but not dangerous or anything.
(or even ask Alan at Dereelight if he'll make a low voltage <4.2Volt XM-L pill) it won't be as bright though.

~Runtimes can vary

Don't you dare ask about OP vs. Smooth reflectors !!!!! just kidding

Orbital:

Just want to say THANKS -- I think you have given me enough of a start to figure out what I want to buy...

And you were right, I do like warmer tints, I just didn't for the life of me know how you knew that

Alltogether, I learned a lot today!

Thanks again!