An XP-G based light will generally throw a little better with decent flood (not as much as an XM-L). The beam won't be very narrow. I'd try to go with a neutral white tint, but good luck finding in a stock form budget light. The XP-G will yield longer runtime because it should be driven ideally at 1.4 to 1.5 amps versus an XM-L at 3 amps. Take your mAh of your battery divided by your current draw (works for 1Li-Ion cell) and that approximates your runtime.
I have Manafont's Palight XP-G, but it was driven too hard so I did a driver swap. I don't know of a good stock one to recommend off hand.
Sure like the balance of flood and throw of my 2 cell TrustFire 1 x XML with the 54 mm head . . with 2 18650s and charger. $40 on Amazon last I looked. I'm sure you could do much better looking for the light only.
My son liked it well enough to buy a single cell clone version from TMart. But we haven't seen it yet to compare quality and throw.
for a couple of months, and price vs. performance-wise it is a good one. I sold it off to a friend simply because he literally begged me to sell it to him. Anyway, I own too many lights already. It has a really good throw, and a useful spill as well; and it only costs $24+
If you are willing to go 3 more dollars,I love the trustfire x9,my son uses it for hunting and at camp.It has good throw and a useful spill beam that does not just give "tunnel vision",has good runtime and takes 1x18650.being in the rainforest you need to be aware of water-tightness and the x9 has been dropped in mud and puddles and such and it's still going.You can get them on ebay for like 37.99.Hope that helps.
If the stock C8 is too throwy for you, an Orange-Peel reflector is available that would cut down on the throw and give you a floodier light.
I just built a P60 drop-in over the weekend using a hard-driven XP-G R5 and an OP reflector and it turned out to be a serious flooder! I'm not sure how much throw you need (you didn't specify) but an XP-G light with a Smooth reflector might be enough for you... It would give you improved runtime over the XM-L at the cost of decreased light output, but still give an impressive amount of light.
There's an XPG-R5 C8 on Manafont that a couple of users here have purchased...
If you can only do one, the low (20%) and mid (50%) on my XML (all of the above C8s are variations of my 2 cell) still produce a lot of useful light.
BTW, I noticed comments about heat in the 1 cell version on Manafont and others. Maybe I've not run mine long enough at one time, but I've never felt it was even warm, the longer body may be helping. Or maybe the head has better heat-sinking in the 2 cell that came from my seller? Mine did come with a spring on the head, where the comments on the zoomie says it did not.
I'd recommend the Xin TD C8 from Hank at IO for $30 shipped. Throw an extra 18650 in your pocket and have more than enough light and run time with what is considered one of the best all around lights today.
Get yourself the Romisen T601 that Boaz mentioned. Great throw and still plenty of spill. Throws better than any of my single 18650 battery lights. I here the newer ones are even better. I have the 2 mode model from Shiningbeam.
I agree with the concept of having power in reserve instead of under-driving if he can get by with low or mid. Having a L->M->H mode arrangement would be a help, too.
Still, his budget was one of the first limits . . he was open to a 2 cell . . says he already has 18650s and charger, so a 2 cell 18650 is a lot of advantages for his budget.
Doing a battery swap in the jungle at night would be pretty low on my buying criteria. Mid is supposed to be 4 hours and low should be at least 6 at half the draw of mid. And low is still more light than my son's Quark123. With no moon coming through a jungle canopy, that's a lot of light.
Totally agree something like a Shadow would be great with a larger budget for new batteries, charger and light, assuming the heft with more capacity is an asset.
Thanks everyone. Now I have many lights to choose from.
I will prefer (afterthought ) it to run on a single 18650 as it is less bulky.
I "believe" driving the XM-L on medium at around 1A to 2A will give a good runtime and heat management. But I don't know how bright it is when the XM-L is driven at 1A to 2A. Is it brighter (naked eye judgment) than an XP-G driven at same range or higher ampherage?
If it's still 'brighter', then I will have a good option as it will decrease the use on high mode. It will be on medium continuously for at least 90 mins in a single run. The high, strobe or SOS will come in handy in between for signalling.
It will still depend on how hard the light is driven on high, and what the step down to mid is on your particular flashlight's driver. Mine happens to be 50% of High.
According to the tables, an XML U2 bin is maybe 10% brighter than an G-S4 and a T6 bin is pretty close to the G if all are run at 1.5A (High for the G and Mid for the XML).
