I originally posted this in the general flashlight area but didn’t get many responses. I decided 18650 battery’s would be the best from what I was reading, unless you guys think otherwise?
Light one
This light can be the larger of the two. It will be holster carried or but onto my gear bag. Throw > flood. UI isn’t to important as long as it has more than one mode. I’d like for it to be about the size of a surefire 6p. Budget about $30
Light two
This light will be carried next to my wallet so thin and under 4 inches is a must. I’d like for the head to be the same size as the body. Tail cap prefured if I can keep it under 4 inches. The shorter the better. Budget about $20
Batteries
I don’t own the batteries or charger yet so what do you recomend.
I’d like to order all at the same time so I can wait the month and get it all together
I’m liking the ideal of building my own light. The body solar force seems pretty awesome. The ultra fire one seems a little cheap? You said the solar force is your personal favorite? So once I have the body all I need is the drop in correct? And batteries.
Light two
Sorry thats a little long. It can’t be longer than my wallet
The Ultrafire 504b from MF that Noodles mentioned is actually very nice. I have one and really like it. It tailstands, doesn't have an annoying crenelated bezel, and has an anti-roll hex around the head. Good for holster carry...
For your smaller light; this MarsFire T6 looks much nicer than the the 2100 Manafont has available. It's a bit longer than you wanted (4.8"), but I think you will have a hard time finding a budget-priced compact 18650 that compact... I don't own this light to comment, but it seems decent.
Sounds like you are putting the horse before the cart.
You say you got a budget, just starting out, nothing wrong with either. However, building a light, not only considers some knowledge of the procedure, which I am sure you have, but other tools too. Maybe even a soldering station and some meters, etc. All of that, IMO makes the budget go up…
Oh well that just killed my excitement about building a light. I really didn’t think it would be that hard at all. I was picturing it was like putting together a older mag light in a sense. What would need to be soldered or what do I need? Is this worth it or should I get a prebuild light? Is there better performance in building a light.
Assemble/enjoy! No soldering required and you will have a fantastic and extremely bright flashlight. This build is modular so you can get different drop-ins for the same host body and swap them out at will.
(edit)If you want to build your own drop-ins, that is where you would want experience with soldering and to have a basic knowledge of electrical circuits. The P60 format is good to start with as you can buy a host (or two or three...) and start buying drop-ins to play with different configurations. You can get drop-ins with a variety of emitter options, with differnt emitter tints, different emitter styles, or different colors. I own (and regularly use) the exact combination I recommended above and am extremely happy with that. PM me if you have any questions and I'll be glad to assist!
That drop-in runs on Direct-Drive on high, and is reported to output 800+ Lumens. It is extremely bright with lots of Flood, but a good bit of throw, just because it’s so bright. Yes, protected cells are a bit longer than the unprotected variety, but this host/dropin configuration has room for the extra length.
Well you sold me on it! Going to order it right now. Still a little confused on some stiff like protected vs in protected and 3000mAh vs 2200mAh. I was looking at all the Solarforce body’s and I was getting really lost in all the options and what they meant so 504b it is for now. Also confused on how I know what flashlight will for protected cells since that is what I’m going to have
Using the protected cells with give you some added security. The protection circuit will prevent the cells from being over-charged or over-discharged, both of which can result in catastrophic failure. I would suspect that the majority of single-cell P60 hosts will accept protected cells; I know the 501b, 502b, 504b, and Sky Ray S-R5 hosts all do. One exception is the 502d (takes 2x 18650s); it is too short to thread the tailcap on completely when using protected cells. If you have any questions about compatibility with a particular light, post here and somebody should be able to help…
The 504b/XM-L combo will be a good start to get you hooked… Once Flashaholism sets in, you will be able to move up to bigger/better/brighter lights. :bigsmile:
I have a setup that is pretty much the same. The manafont drop-in is super bright and will heat up on high pretty fast, but use it all the time. I use a Solarforce L2 which is bout the same as 504b its grayish/silver and looks sweet! That setup is pretty much what started the addiction! :heart_eyes:
When it comes to solarforce or any drop ins llights there's no building .. its unscew and drop in a unit ..simple ///done ,add charged battey and .....light !!!
The reason solarforce over say a 504B which is basicly a clone of a solarfoce which is a clone of a surefire .
The reason people say buy the Solarforce light is .... it's built better ..It has a better tail clcicky ...better threads , better adonization , better machining ,better knurling ...etc ...and it's only a few bucks more ..
The tr001 charger is used by a ton of Blf members and all will say it's a great basic charger that chargers every single size battery out there and does it for under 10$ .. real hard to beat .
Batteries ....are crucial .. buying junk is like taking a leak in your gas tank at every fill up .. if you buy trashy batteries it doesn't matter if you have 100$ lights .. they will all perform like garbage ..spend the money on decent batteries ...Sanyo panasonic or a company that uses these cells and puts their name on them ..
As far as your second light ... There is no 18650 light that small ..It just doesn't exist .. look for a good aa/14500 light because they don't make a 18650 light that small at any price .
Any of the lights suggested to you will smoke the lights you have already . Find something you like the looks of and ask some of these older guys with lots of lights what they think ..Asking the forum in general is a good idea to get some ideas of things you might have missed in your search ...BUT at some point you need to pick what you like and then I'd go to some smarter guys and ask them ..that has to be the easiest way to get rid of all the 1000's of choices people are tossing your way
If you need any advice just pm ......fishinfool :P
Okay well I’m set on the light, batteries, and charger. All the ones recommended about. Now to sure on the host now. Is there a certain solarforce host you guys would recommend over the 504b. I’m a little lost when I was looking at all the different options. Shipping isn’t free with there host right?
Just ordered everything you recommended Keltex78. I decided just to go with the cheaper host for now and later on get a Solarforce once I understand more about this. I can’t wait a month now!!!
One thing to note, Before you install the drop-in, add some foil wrap or copper/aluminum strips to the drop-in. It will help to let heat away from the pill to the body. hopefully someone here with a camera shot of a drop-in wrapped up can post it.
lately mail from China has been moving quicker for some people, hope you don’t have to wait a month
