They have a neutral option now. Does anyone have one or know how neutral it might be? I just ordered one a couple of days ago, but it hasn’t shipped and may not make it out before the holidays.
I got my neutral drop-in yesterday. I’m very impressed with the throw, about equivalent to an XM-L in a C8. There is still plenty of spill. Mine wasn’t all that neutral. At least 5000K, maybe more. I got a smooth reflector and it doesn’t seem ringy to me, a little bit of a yellow splash near the hotspot, but not bad. The low is very low, but not unusable. I could light up a small patch of ground. Might be the best P60 drop-in I have. KD included a keychain UV light that is kind of fun.
Regarding the question about using unprotected cells. I ran a battery down until the low voltage protection kicked in. I took the battery out and measured 2.86V (not under load and it was rising). So while the low voltage protection is there, that seems a little low to me, but probably acceptable. With six 7135 current regulators the driver will prevent the battery from supplying more than 2280mA of current, so you should be safe from drawing too high a current from a battery anyway.
Hi brted, pleased to read that you have been very satisfied with your dropin. I too found it to be a very good P60 dropin, right up there with the best. The light output for the current/power consumption it’s hard to beat. The one I have is CW (6500k). I’ve got lots of P60 dropins and for the price this one is the best. To get better you need to pay much more.
Brted, does the 3-mode XPL-HI NW drop-in you got have mode memory?
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I wish they made a single mode XPL-HI NW P60, I see they do have a single mode CW: http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S024262
I wonder what type of driver this has, no info on the driver like the other versions show but this one is listing the voltage at 3V-18V, Could it be DD?
I dont believe the single mode driver will be DD. More than one battery in series would kill the led if it was.
Yes. It sets after the light is on for about 1 second.
Ok thanks I should have thought of the voltage being too high.
I like how this (1 mode) drop-in can run on two batteries, I’ve got a solarforce L2X 2 cell tube I want to use it with. I’m wondering if its brightness increases with the higher voltages.
Great, thanks for replying. I didn’t see anything about memory in the listing on KD.
How many folks still use a P60 design flashlight?
I do.
They are good multi-purpose lights with very simple, reliable modules that are more than enough for up to 3A-3.5A. Solarforce might be past their days now but I am sure they are still selling a good amount of lights/hosts.
I like the P60 design too. My customers get very picky about weapon lights for hunting coyote etc. I hate stocking a ton of different small 25mm weapon mount lights just to have green led, red, xm-l2 and xpl hi. I like having one shell with different modules to suite their needs. I’m surprised that Solarforce is still in business. They haven’t really created any new styles in a while. I do love the look of the L2, L2t and l2m. I just don’t like how they are very fussy about a custom print logo and their MOQ. I can’t stand their bold white logo and printing all over the tail cap. Just my opinion though.
One of the reasons why I use CPF is because P60 models have always been widely discussed over there - they have a good amount of custom P60 lights on CPF and many fans. It is also very cheap to build a number of useful modules (pill is about $2 on Fasttech, good emitter and some driver I already own and that’s it).
My go-to P60 has a dedomed XPL V6 CW module with a 3.5A driver and a smooth reflector. The throw in comparison to the size of the light is very good. I own the L2T, L2 mini, L2 and L2T SS - unfortunately I was too late for the A001 head (still on my wish list but nowhere to be found). Also never bought the M3 or K head.
It is obvious that Solarforce lights are on the heavy side and therefore very realiable/robust. Unfortunately no longer competitive with current EDC lights.
+1
It’s still my favorite format. If I recall correctly, someone here once said something to the effect of “you’ll have to pry all my P60 lights off my dead hands”. Also, I really love how you can Lego Surefire C format flaslights like Solarforce and many other off brand and customs. I really do hope the P60 format continues for a long time and remains an option for us flashaholics!
Wow, I would not expect the P60 format to still be popular on CPF. I would expect them to be frowned upon due to “poor thermal conduction pathway”. Do you get a ringy beam with the dedomed XPL and a smooth reflector? What do you do about heat issues running a P60 at 3.5 amps? Aluminum or copper wrap?
CPF is still discussing P60 modules, not as frequently as before but there are still users buying Sportac, Eagletac and other brands. Most shops still carry custom dropins (probably very profitable for them).
After careful centering of the emitter I have no rings at all. Very happy with the Fasttech reflector. I use copper self-adhesive tape which is wrapped around the pill in 2-3 layers. My MCPCB is soldered into the pill, the driver side has several grams of solder inside and the heat transfer is good.
Once you have created such a drop-in it seems bulletproof though, the ones I’ve built years ago still work fine.
I have two Solarforce lights, but neither of them actually have a a P60 in them. I’ve made spacer things from copper pipe fittings to fit the cavity. I wish Solarforce would make a integrated head host for around the same price as their P60 hosts. I love their build quality.
The pure concept of changing/modding a light with another drop-in is excellent. You can keep buying/building the drop-in instead of a new light - say you have a red drop-in, a UV drop-in, a compact thrower and so on. No need to buy many other host, of if you do need one the Solarforce models are affordable. They just don’t look modern enough compared to Convoy or ThorFire lights (and, to be frank, if you buy several pills for a S2+ or other Convoys you could technically also do the same with them if you don’t have an integrated head).
I just wish newer light manufacturers would have the same quality like Solarforce when it comes to anodization, threads, build weight/quality and even little things like o-rings.
[quote=tech]
Everyone used to love P60’s in the old www.manafont.com days. Then the popularity increased a little when solarforce came out with a couple lights. It seems like the P60 has died a little because there haven’t been any new host/shells in a while. Part of the thrill of getting a new light is holding and admiring the light.
Wow, that’s a lot of work. You must really like the solarforce hosts. Which one is your favorite? I’m surprised you just didn’t work with the convoy m1 instead of modding the solarforce hosts.
What type of p60 hosts do the CPF folks use? And where do you get self adhesive copper tape? Thanks
Yes the interchangeability of the Surefire/Solarforce/P60 flashlights is still an awesome thing to me. If you want a different looking light, you can lego different parts together if you’re not too anal with the matching the finishes exactly. Using things like copper or aluminum rolled around the P60 module does a reasonable job for thermal management in my opinion. There are some really high end custom P60 modules that use optics and a hefty chunk of metal to them as well. It’s just simply a format that has alot of flexibility to me, even if not having the best thermal management.
To me not really alot of work. Aren’t we flashaholics here and are suppose to enjoy going crazy doing this hobby?
Here’s 2 of my favorite legos I no longer have as they were stolen by some bad contractors I had doing work on my house, we never able to recover them:
As for this thread, I do own a couple of these KD XPLHI dropins and like them too!