Hellow Tom E, thanks for your more orders, I will arrange the shippment and will send one small gift to you 
My bank statement has it recorded as paid, but it might take a working day or two to show up at DHGate. Its not instant like PayPal.
Ok, let’s wait
I used just used the chat feature with DHGate, I was told it can take from 3 to 7 days for BPay.
Oh my god, very long
> they are the brass poles
So from the picture it’s an aluminum pill — the silvery metal part that has threads and screws into the head — but I don’t see the two dimples (like you can see in the C8 picture) so how does it unscrew?
Here are pictures of pills: http://www.dereelight.com/pills.htm
Nice video, seems to be a well informed flashlight dealer, thanks.
you’re always welcome
Got my 3 SupFires today (post #52), all in excellent condition, packed well, all are working well. The threads were dry, so lubed them up with Nyogel and that was it. The F3-L2 zoomie is pretty darn nice for $12, and with an XM-L2. I just modded up a UF T6-875, comparing side by side, the F3-L2 is much shorter, can tailstand, no mode memory but reset to high in like 1 sec, and has a flood width that match's the 875 which is pretty good because the 875 is the widest I have. Also, it appears to be perfectly focused when zoomed in for max distance - can see all the XM-L2 bumps clearly. It appears the optic match's the 875's in width too. The C8 is classic SupFire styling, overall quality looks good, and the A6 is a nice little light too, nice clean beam pattern. Not too crazy the A6 and C8 can't tailstand because of bumped out buttons, but I'll see if it's fixable.
Dang - now I'm look'n at these: dhgate-5-xml-u2-supfire-l1 and dhgate-supfire-x6 - Oh boy... The X6 is a classic 2 cell thrower and seems to match up to a STL-V6 well, but cheaper, and it's a SupFire.
Thanks Tom E. I’ve got a friend who really likes zoomies but doesn’t appreciate the aesthetics/size of any of the 18650 pocket zoomies on the market. The large [ineffectively finned] heads, the fluted bodies, etc really just don’t sit well with him (or me!). The only pocket sized 18650 zoomie that ever satisfied him was the EDI-T P4… which is pitifuly weak by today’s standards (and he’s misplaced it anyway). Sounds like the F3-L2 is a good option in terms of aesthetics and power. The head is still much larger than his old EDI-T, but I think this is the closest thing to that light that I’ll see any time soon.
Ohh - is it the ED-T p14? I got two of those right here - size match's the F3-L2 exactly - scary close in fact. The P14 won't tailstand, and both of mine came all scratched up - I was disgusted with them, tell you the truth because of all the nicks/scratch's. In flood, the P14 has a tiny width area and the lens is much smaller than the F3-L2, even though th head diameter is the same - the F3-L2 has a much more narrower bezel - -the P14's is a total waste of lens space, because bigger lens, more throw. Comparing these, the F3-L2 should cost 5 times more - huge difference.
Here's #'s so far:
F3-L2: 1.9A tail, 323 lumens OTF @30 secs, 10.3 kcd
Now an important simple mod: remove that dang brown fake reflector retainer:
405 lumens OTF @30 sec, 12.5 kcd
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Update 7/22: flakiness with the switch is causing variations in the readings, so these results are unreliable
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I'm not crazy about leaving it like this because there's no pressure holding down the MCPCB because they have grease under it. You could thermal epoxy it down, or tap in screws (my preference). What's wild is the measured light in the lightbox stays dead on from power up to 30 secs - perfectly stable.
The P14 is different from the P4 in a bad way - it’s definitely a foolishly proportioned light. Take a look at this DX photo of an actual P4. As far as I know the P4 stands entirely alone on the market in terms of 18650 zoomie form factor. [The flood on the P4 is probably no better than the P14 unfortunately, I suspect that they use the same lens. Unlike the P14 though, the P4 has a good excuse due to it’s diminutive size!]
I’m very surprised that removing the brown ring has an effect on your kcd figures, are you talking about throw or wide mode? If your numbers are for throw mode, are you measuring them from far enough away to allow for divergence?
Ohh - sorry, P4, yes - I see it at DX. For zoomies, I always measure lumens at full flood and throw at full zoomed out position. The P4 and P14's are XR-E while the SupFire is XM-L2, so very different properties of lumens vs. throw (XR-E's will out throw a XM-L2 easy in low amps). I measure throw at 5 meters, and it's enough to see the perfectly focused image of the phosphor, so I think it's a legit distance. For big reflector throwers, 15 meters is ideal and usually you get higher kcd calculations at 15 than 5.
That brown thingie was not tightly screwed down, maybe that's why, not sure. I always get rid of those things though on zoom light mods - I think the height is going to hinder some photons from escaping out the front, and seems like this is the case. Zoomies are not very efficent compared to reflector lights, so every photon counts 
.
I do realize those things about XR-E vs XM-L. I’m (much) more worried about the host than the emitter in this case.
It sounds like you have very sane setup for measurements, thanks for that. I still don’t understand the results though: if you draw a line from the edge of the emitter’s dome to the edge of the lens, that should define the cone of light that matters for throw. Everything else should be simply spill / wasted. From the pictures I don’t see where the brown thing impinges on that line…
I dunno enough, if anything bout optics. Maybe it was something else I did in the process? Maybe the bezel/lens position changed somehow? I didn't notice anything though. I could re-test with the retaining ring in - got the light all apart now, but can easily put it back. Looks like a real easy driver to mod up - has the classic two LED + solder points: one after the resistors and one before, and the stock setup is after of course. the LED is on a 16mm MCPCB, with the MCPCB sitting in a recessed machined out cut to fit it exactly. So best mod is to go with a 16mm Noctigon. Thinking of leaving the stock driver for now and seeing how many amps I can get with 22 AWG wires, springs copper wired up, and a Noctigon screwed down. Let me re-check with the thing ON and OFF again...
Thanks Tom E!
Ok - first did it without the retainer and got a 480 on the lux meter at best (12 kcd), then put it back on and tightened it up real good. I'm thinking it definitely wasn't this tight and sat this low out of the box. Now I'm getting 510 lux on the meter (12.75 kcd), so you are probably right! It's actually a little higher, so this retainer has no effect on throw, at least when it's good and tight.
Also from my experience, measuring stock lights has lots of variations, I believe doing with connectivity issues - springs, threaded connections, etc. It's not the first time I take a light apart to some degree, re-assmeble and measured output changes. In this case the MCPCB is poorly mounted by what probably is Fujik. Also I always work on the tailcap section quite heavily using NO-OX-ID at all contact points and threads in the tail, plus copper wiring the spring. Not only does this reduce resistance but makes the overall electrical path more reliable.
As a sanity check, I loosened the retainer so it was clearly just above the LED PCB, then measured 450 on the lux meter at best, so the meter reading dropped 60 lux, so maybe loosened, it does partially hinder throw. I really dunno how loose it was to begin with - didnt' notice carefully, just knew it unscrewed very easy.
Update: seems like the switch is giving me some inconsistent readings, probably the cause of the discrepancies, more so than the retainer. It's not the best type of switch, but typical in zoomies, bette rthan many, but still not a PCB mounted type, but uses a hangin over tab to contact with the switch housing.
I can get 432 lumens at best, sometimes as low as 357 lumens, all depends on switching - sometimes changing modes, sometimes light taps - not enough to engage a mode change. That's a 75 lumens swing, or 17% loss. I've also seen this before - sometimes you can notice it by looking at the beam, not sure in this case though.
Nice update. Sounds like at least checking to make sure the brown retainer is snug is a good thing to do with a new one.
Do you think there is space to swap in a PCB mounted switch?
Well I'd love to - gotta check space, but getting the total spacing worked out is a nightmare for me - don't think I have that kind of machining ability, but maybe something simpler can be done with washers, etc. I do have a lot of spare switch's, so maybe I got a better quality one that's a direct replacement... Gotta check. Here's the tail parts for the F3:
