The unwashed generally are more impressed by throwers. If your goal is to impress those people, you should go with Richards BTU Shocker with FET driver and dedomed emitters. You'll probably get more use out of the M6 though. Better yet, get both and have yourself a super flooder and super thrower.
The unwashed masses buy those plastic $3 lights from Walmart and stuff alkaline batteries in them. Any light over 50 lumens impresses them, especially when they have a few drinks beforehand.
I think there's no stock light that impresses any more. It's all about modded lights and Richard mods some good ones. So do other members here and even if a person doesn't want to mod, there's many members here who can mod a light for them.
But I still like the original SRK or the fandyfire clone. Both have the shelf built in the head and the 3 toroid driver, which is an easy mod to do. I have been talking to Supfire, but I gave up on them, because they just don't want to work with pricing or shipping, even for group buys. Their lights are good, but not that good, to warrant the price difference over comparative models from other Mfgs.
Went camping a few weeks back... the lights I had on me were all over 5000 lumens (except the throwers), but to be honest I don't think I saw anything that was over even 1k. For under $100 I'll second the modded supfire m6.
Infinitas;
Unfortunately for many budget lights Chinese Lumens seem to be at least as overstated as no name and JunkFire Chinese 18650 and 14500 battery capacities. There are flashlights on Amazon I have seen that claim 18000 Lumens from 15 LEDs in a head that could no more dissipate the heat of that claimed output unless it was water cooled. Also probably need 30 Amp rated discharge batteries to get there. When my two M6 lights arrive from Richard I have a Fenix TK75, the 2900 Lumens version, and a RC40 with 3500 Lumens out to compare them against and I have ordered recommended batteries for them from Richard. Many people seem to forget that even the best 18650 high output flashlight can be sharply limited in both output and run time if fed with garbage batteries.
Things are gradually improving as far as many Lumens claims are concerned I believe. The Stanley LEDLIS 10 watt spotlight used to claim 2000 Lumens and now claims about 750 ANSI OTF lumens IIRC. Even some of the Chinese sellers have toned down their claims after reading actual test results of their lights performed by members here and on CPF where they were basically called liars. :exmark: IMO we need more of that.
I understand and know exactly what you're saying. Should have a been more clear :p
I was at a camping event with about 1400 people, lots of campsites, a lot of walking from campfire to campfire. While I can't claim to be able to tell how bright a light is by itself, I do play with my own lights a lot (everything from .01 to ~7500 lumens) and can say with reasonable (not perfect) accuracy how bright a light is, if I have one of my own to compare against. Most people were using regular store junk lights that were below even 100 lumens. A few were using cheaper xml sipiks, and other ****fire lights. Really no one was using anything that would compare to even a 2000 lumen SRK.
The situations with batteries is even worse than with lumens, so one of the things I did do was point people to rmm, and is for better panasonic batteries.
Per my measurement the front of the M6 is close enough to 60mm that the Nitecore 60mm nominal filters and diffuser should fit, possibly with minor modification such as tape on the front of the light. I have ordered the diffuser and the red filter from an Amazon seller and will report back once I receive them. Nitecore also lists green and blue fiters.
The 60mm Nitecore filters and diffuser fit the M6 and SRK great and the red filter on the RMM modified M6 is great for night use at the lowest light output settings for preserving night vision while still using a flashlight for seeing more detail while dealing with telescope controls or other mechanical devices at night and reading star charts for amateur astronomers. IMO useful accessories for owners.
I am still waiting for them to come back in stock. Still kicking myself that I didn’t get on a few weeks back.
I am waiting to order another too with the latest user interface firmware change seeing as how the change was largely based on my suggestion! Being able to turn the light off directly from any of the seven output levels should be a major convenience, at least to me.
back in stock
Does the Supfire M6 have parasitic switch drain like the SRK? If it does, I wonder how long it takes to drain a fully charged set of the recommended batteries.
It's an electronic switch, so there will be some parasitic drain as the driver waits for input from the switch. Slightly unscrew the battery tube to lock out the light and eliminate parasitic drain.
Cant be specific on this light, but it was worked out that most of these things will take months to deplete a single 18650.
Has any one done a lumens reading and current draws for all seven modes of a fully modified RMM M6? As I recall I saw one post listing the minimum mode as about 1/6 Lumen and max as 4500+ Lumens but I am curious about the intermediate levels.
I have several of Richards SupFire M6 lights and even an L1 I got him to modify for me. :bigsmile: I really like them. If you want to make the M6 into a handled light the new Nitecore NHM10 handle assembly fits both the M6 and L1 and IMO is a huge improvement over the stock L1 handle as it is MUCH more comfortable in use. Overpriced but it also can be fitted to the SRK and clones. Should fit any light with a 50mm battery tube O.D.
Another batch of accessories that fits the M6 and SRKs are the so called 60mm Nitecore filters which are available in red, green , blue and a diffuser. Flexible rubber bodies so they fit a range of lights close to 60mm in bezel outer diameter including the TM11 and TM15. Also per a post I ran across the diffuser for the Thrunite Catapult fits the M6 and SRK lights and it is a flip front version so can be installed and left on while allowing diffused beam or standard beam use. Thrunite lists the O.D. of the Catapult at 59mm which is also the actual diameter at the front of the M6 and SRK lights.
DBCstm;
The M6 and SRK clones have the same overall diameter battery tubes at 50mm and head diameters at the bezel of 59 mm per my digital calipers. The M6 is a tad longer with a longer head and larger tail cap. It is also considerably heavier than the SRKs as there seems to be a lot more metal in the head including a heavy integrally machined in LED mounting table. The SRK head tapers slightly more over it’s length so there is less of a step from the bottom of the head diameter to the battery tube diameter, giving the illusion of a smaller light. As far as front end and battery tube accessories fit though the lights are the same diameters where it counts.
hallo.i wanted to ask-i want to change leds in this supfire.cos its too cool white colour for me.but iam confused.
i have also this light
http://www.dx.com/p/trustfire-tr-j16-5-x-cree-xm-l-t6-4000lm-5-mode-memory-white-flashlight-black-2-3-x-18650-141619
this trustfire has also t6 cool white,but the colour is much warmer than supfires xml leds…
both are t6,both coll white…how is it possible,that there is so big difeerence between them ?
i want “trustfires leds” in supfire……but i dont know ,which colour or type of ml should i buy…thanks a lot for help
^ Like the look of that 5 emitter light you have there.
Who knows what tint emitters were actually put in either light. The term "cool white" is used in many product descriptions rather loosely. Check out the LED Database for sources for the tints you like. Here is an ANSI chart with Cree tints overlaid. Link to LED Database thread in it.
I also suspect that substitutions for claimed tints may take place at factories if the claimed tint runs out or something cheaper is offered by a supplier.
yes,you are right…and thanks for your profi answer…maybe to chane for xpl??
anyway,two disco modes ar annoying,so i want first change the driver…i really dont want them anymore…which driver could by good for this flashlite?i really like this incarnation of SRK….
Hi vresto. You might be looking at this for a regulated option which will give you around 11 - 12 amps in total, depending on if you choose the .35 or .38 options. Otherwise you can look into this if you require a direct drive option.
Or this.
These kits give you all of the components that you need to replicate the Supfire M6 Mod 1 or Mod 2 (except the LEDs for the Mod 2!)
Instructions are not currently available.
Mod 1 components:
(3) 56 mOhm resistors, to be soldered into the empty banks on all three channels
Stripped 105C master board with pre-flashed MCU set to Mod 1 specifications
(3) Silicone wire leads pre-soldered onto the master board (Batt+, Ground, PWM)
Length of Kapton tape for insulating board after installation
Black zip tie for wires
Uses factory LEDs and MCPCB
Mod 2 components:
Stripped 105C master board with pre-flashed MCU set to Mod 2 specifications
(3) Silicone wire leads pre-soldered onto the master board (Batt+, Ground, PWM)
Length of Kapton tape for insulating board after installation
(3) short lengths of folded copper braid, used to bridge the current limiting resistor banks
(4) longer lengths of copper braid, used to braid the tailcap springs
Black zip tie for wires
Direct thermal path MCPCBs required but not included
XM-L2 on 16mm Noctigon MCPCB recommended
Stock MCPCB will not handle this much current