Ultrafire XM-L 3 mode P60 drop in from Manafont

Don thanks for that animated gif, but the image doesn't appear to loop. Tried it in 2 major web browsers. Interesting still.

Eagerly awaiting my Manafont Ultrafire drop-in. KD one arrived yesterday, my first, but that's for another thread. Thermally potted it tonight using DX 'thermal glue, grease-like'. That was fun (not). At least it's over. My aim is to be able to still remove the reflector. I noticed the sag too even though my KD one draws less current, I think due to my batteries and there's still sag. In my mind it's from heat, and someone here did a thermal potting using thermal epoxy (and only a little bit) and pretty much proved that. Batteries do sag too though. But he proved the thermal potting helped substantially and it seems like the major cause.

It isn't for me either though it was working before. I've made a new one.

Aloha old4570, now that you've had this for a while, do you still like it as much as you did as stated above?

I'm thinking about getting a couple. I really like the fact that it doesn't come with any blinky modes. Thanks.

yeah , I like it plenty .. One of my favorites ,

ATM I reach for either this one , or my DIY build on a XP-E reflector , or the RL-198 [ XP-G R5 and no blinky modes ]

I hardly touch or give a second thought to my XR-E's any longer , not that there not nice , but the XM-L , wow , it just ........... Blows everything away .

Sold! I was going to get 2 of them but now maybe I should get one for each of my p60 lights which is 6. Hmmmmmmmmmmm...... Decisions, decisions, decisions.....Undecided

Thanks old.

I like mine too, but I wouldn't get rid of my XP-G's. It is a little too much light on full brightness, great for lighting up an area but not great for seeing ahead. I tend to use my lights in short bursts to see what's up front, but with this one, you get blinded.

That makes sense so 2 it is.........for now. :bigsmile:

Thanks for knocking some sense into me brted.

Well , I dis agree ... Sorry ..

Blinded ???? If your in a hole and its pitch dark and you turn on a XM-L , I can see that ..

But if your walking around with a XM-L and change into high mode , not really , it will affect your night vision some , but so will any flashlight ..

Thing is , if you want to see , a XM-L on high will let you see everything out to 200 Meters or so [ dep on variables ]

I love mine , there just impossibly fantastic on high , for a walk around light , you would not really need more than low mode ...

Mine is 50+L on low , walk around with that and changing into high is not going to blind you , though I would pity anyone looking directly at it [ XM-L ] when on high .

I guess this is all about personal perception ..

Buy one , check it out , Im currently on 6 XM-L's .. Hopefully a 7th soon .

KD has run out of the 3 mode driver I liked , hmmm , so ATM Im sitting on several emitters , just thinking about what light to mod next .

I just bought 2 for now and I'm pretty sure I'll love them since I love lights that are really bright. I'll also probably give the other one to Norm to go in the wf-502b kit I gave him.

I just recieved mine today! love the no blinky modes. I dropped it into my solarforce L2i. Absolutely blown away by the light output on this thing. Now to dig up some aluminum foil to wrap it in :)

And now to find another nice p60 body to put the R5 drop-in into, that I removed from the solarforce. Perhaps I'll order another solarforce, I am really liking the quality!

I purchased one around 24th Jan and it still has not arrived. I'm guessing the delay is due to the Chinese new year. How many weeks after purchases was it for yours to arrive?

Mine seemed to take forever from Manafont. I don't remember the date, but it was listed as shipped before the Chinese new year set in, and I just got it a few days ago. I'm thinking about 5 weeks, not sure. I've learned to develop the patience of a saint waiting for shipments from Asia. But this was my hardest one ever, and I think the longest one (which still arrived). Bummer to check your mailbox tens of times straight, and not have it be there. 4 weeks is standard from DX. Stuff from Singapore sometimes gets here sooner. Considering mine was shipped pre Chinese new year, I don't know what the hold-up is. Do the Chinese shipping companies even go on holiday??

XM-L's are fantastic and I am an evangelist prognosticator, and in a relative sense, they are really bright, but on an objective level, well, I think there's room to grow... lots. I hear people using the term "blinded" and "don't look straight at it". In broad daylight, I can look at my XM-L on high. Sure I get spots for a bit, and my pupils are already constricted, but then again the reflector is focusing all those lumens at me too. I admit I haven't done that with the smooth Manafont one, just the KD one which is OP and wider hotspot... and draws almost an amp less on high! That super-bright mode doesn't last long at all... and my charger only goes to 4.11 volts anyway.

Anyone complaining about high mode could simply run XM-L at medium which is still 300+ lumens, like an XP-G on high but like half the draw. XP-G has a wider beam pattern though--better for walks, definitely (from experience), but ONLY superior in that one area, IMO. That is the ONLY reason I'd consider holding onto my XP-G drop-in and not passing it to a friend. Great for walks. XM-L is neither wide nor narrow beam. Kind of awkward that way... (esp the KD one). Being picky, I think I'd rather have it go more in either direction: throwy or floody, I care not. OTOH you could come back and say the beam is 'balanced', but I'm starting to think that emitters should have kind of a defined purpose or goal. (Mainly: throw or flood.)

I stil... really want to see a nude XM-L operating indoors in "candle" or "full flood" mode, like on a headlamp or just an open, reflectorless flashlight with the head removed. If true at around 800L, that should look similar to a 50-60 W incan lamp. The head on my damned Spiderfire P7 is glued on so tight, that even after backing the f-er and ruining the finish, I still can't get the head off to get candle mode. If I could, I'd so be upgrading the star on that thing. (I can screw the bezel off and remove the reflector, but a significant amount of light is blocked by the sides.) Almost bought a nearly identical XM-L-equipped C8 just b/c the photos showed the pieces unglued and apart. But I can't find anything with a smooth reflector AND! 3 non-blinky modes. Okay.. the Yezl Y6 at CnQualityGoods.com does fit the bill, but the reports of the driver only drawing 2.0 to 2.5 amps on high (varied reports), killed the deal for me. The XM-L is very nice at 2 amps, but it's something new at 3. Any reports of these being driven over 10 watts? I still want one and what I've seen online looks nice. I also wonder if the tailcap can interchange with the C8 (which I assume is also interchangeable with WF-500 and many others).

The "no blinkie modes" sold me. All these XM-L's put out massive light, so I wasnt to concerned about which dropin was the brightest. After others tested theirs, it seems to be the brightest dropin of the bunch. I also prefer the SMO reflector. Thanks Manafont! You guys rock! Im very pleased with mine, but my C8 from KD is still a lot brighter and has a far better beam and more spill (thanks to its larger and more efficient reflector). It also has much better heat sinking for a little more weight and size over a P60. Not knocking the XM-L P60 by any means. Id buy this one again any day.

Norm is ganna love you for that. Just be aware that you're going to turn the poor guy into a complete flashaholic. Unfortunately and as of yet, there seems to be no cure for this horrible contagious disease.

I have around 5 XM-L dropins atm and 2 of those are 3mode H-M-L from manafont that are easily the best of all in my posession. It is definitely a higher grade dropin than usually found around. Best paired with KD multicoated lenses and a decent battery since current draws at high are well above 3A on both i have. I decided getting lower end 18650 isn't for me when i tried a few good cells. The price difference is low so you might want to have better cells than the cheapest findable around. For current draws up to 1A you can get away with pretty much anything. For higher current, better made cells are my sincere reccomendation. Old is our best guru on everything rechargable so you may want to check his tests and act accordingly. :)

LOL I can't wait to show him the difference between the XML and the CREE Q5 that's in the UltraFire WF-502B I gave him. Maybe I should get him a different P60 host so he can still use the Q5 instead of having a p60 drop-in just lying around.

I just drop mine into the solarforce l2i too today! Got the body more than a month ago, only got the drop-in last week and the cells today...wow..XML...really really impresive but it's getting warmer and warmer by the minute even after foil wrap around.

after seeing the stats on the xml anything above 2.8a isn't really beneficial and will just generate more heat..reason why I am leaving my 2.8a driver alone and not bumping it to 3.1a etc..at 3.4a heat is going to be a major factor..hell even at 2.8a it's a big factor lol

Someone did mention that the sweet spot is around 2,4A driven XM-L for a smallish flashlight like p60 hosts.

yeah if you look at arenat's measurements it's pretty clear anything over 2.6a isn't doing much other than adding heat and very little lumens..not worth it in a p60 host..