How to Soup-Up M3 and Arc4 ?

I listened to you all, got the M3 and the Arc4...
And I am relly pleased-
But I somehow don't feel like I'm "done".
Aren't there some cool tricked out things I can do to soup up
my new lights?
Thanks!
ethan

I don't own an Arc4 so I can't help you. As for the M3...

1) The M3 is bright but the throw capability still left a lot to be desired. Get an M6 and you can swop the bezel (KT4) over to the M3 and have an M3T for more throw. And if you are sick of playing with the M3T you can always swop the KT4 back to the M6. Or if you don't want an M6 then just buy the KT4 turbo head but for the price SF is charging it is not worth it.

2) Get a KL6 LED conversion for pure white light. They are plenty bright but not as bright as your M3's 225 lumens.

3) Get a Z58 clickie switch for the M3. You will appreciate being able to operate the light single-handedly just switching it on and off.

4) Order a set of Pila rechargeables and have guilt free lumens. At 20mins on the MN11 you would be burning a lot of CR123s.

I hope that helps.

I don't think Pila can work with incandescent like MN10 or MN11 because M3 is a 9V light, the Pila is rated at 3.7V per piece with the 150S, so 2 pieces will give you 7.4V, can 7.4V have enough juice to drive a 9V lamp? If you use the single rechargeable 123 which is 4.2V fresh off the charger, with 3 pieces which is 12.6V on the M3, the MN10, MN11 and KL6 sure to blow. The Pila 150S may work with KL6. (I maybe wrong about this. Can someone correct me if i'm wrong on any point?)

The Z48 clickie, KT4 Turbo Head and KL6 are some good extras to have.

The Pilas work fine in the M3 with incandescent bulbs and they are great in the L6 too. I use them in a L6 daily. You do need the free spring that goes in the head around the stock spring. My L6 wouldn't work with the switch it came with, but it works fine with several other Surefire switches. I don't know why it won't work with the one switch. The Pilas work in the M3T too.

So 7.4V is enough to drive a 9V incandescent light? Maybe it's due to 8.4V when freshly off the charger?

The load that the M3 lamp puts on the batteries drops the voltage from the lithium batteries quite a bit.

[ QUOTE ]
pjandyho said:

1) The M3 is bright but the throw capability still left a lot to be desired. Get an M6 and you can swop the bezel (KT4) over to the M3 and have an M3T for more throw. And if you are sick of playing with the M3T you can always swop the KT4 back to the M6. Or if you don't want an M6 then just buy the KT4 turbo head but for the price SF is charging it is not worth it.



[/ QUOTE ]

I can use the M6 bezel like a turbohead for my M3??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/huh.gif

The pila batteries seem to be working real well with the HOLA-
I don't have any specific numbers though........

HEK,

The M6 bezel is the same part as the M3T bezel. You would need different lamps. The N2, MN15, MN16 are the lamps that you would need to use your M6 bezel on the M3.

Bouncer,

What specific numbers?
Runtime with Pilas in a M3 with HOLA is 21 minutes from what I read.
Two Pila 150S batteries work in the M3.

Hoghead>
What specific numbers?
"Runtime with Pilas in a M3 with HOLA is 21 minutes from what I read.
Two Pila 150S batteries work in the M3. "
I meant runtime numbers and brightness and tech stuff like that

If I or someone can find MrBulks comment on these. He found that he got slightly brighter output on his 9volt light.

The only arc4 mod I'm aware of is the tailcap 1.2 mod. If you count the 2x 123 body and the proto protected tailcap.

I've only had my custom 2x 123 pack for a week and have not had time to fully access. the jury is still out but at first blush, don't think brightness is improved, only runtime. Another warning for arc4 second owners, the 2x 123 packs is not recommended. My arc4 went haywire on the first install of the 2X 123 pack. I though I had toasted it. It came back to life after a good scare.

Bouncer,

I think the runtimes and brightness are about the same with Pilas. There may be a slight difference in runtime, but I don't think you'll see any difference in actual use. I just top mine off like I do my cell phone.