Some time ago I ordered a Dereelight Javelin with an XR-E EZ900 just to see how much throw I could get out of an AA flashlight. I never really used it though and it ended up in a drawer. Oh, it threw alright, good for picking out buoys in the dark, but I didn't have much use for a beam the size of a dot.
Well, tonight I was thinking about lights I don't use much, that I could mod the emitters of, and I remembered the Javelin. I got it out of the drawer, brought up the Dereelight website found out it was a P60 style flashlight. I didn't know what a P60 was when I bought it.
How cool is that? I had a P60 all along. Visions of Nichia 219s and XP-G2s danced in my head.
This is one hell of a nicely built light. Really well built, and rugged as hell with a ton of options for cell configurations. CR123,16430, 14500, 1xAA, 2xAA, 3XAA.
I think tomorrow I'll be shopping around for P60 Modules.
"To buy or build, that is the question".
2 X AA or 1 X 14500 + 1 X Blank
1 X CR123/16340
1 X AA/14500
3 X AA
If anyone has any good suggestions about this light...speak up.
Still want a thrower? Dedome the xre, reflow it to a copper pill, and run it direct drive from a 14650 through an aspheric. It might melt in your hand. You might even be able to do 3x 14500 or 2 x 14650 and a buck driver.
I just ordered some empty P60 modules. Time to do a little custom work. I figured, what the hell, if I’m going to build some P60s, I might as well pick up a Solarforce P1D while I’m at it…so I did.
I use my Javelin as a battery vampire with a joule thief circuit driving an XP-G R5 J) Love the flexibility of the host since I can drain both AAs and CR123s.
Whatever you do, don’t toss away the stock XR-E reflector! Dereelight’s P60 SMO reflectors have always given me the best throw numbers.
I have had several Javelins. The XR-E EZ900 with smooth reflector and XP-G with Light OP reflector went to my (non flashaholic) brother on a semi-rural property. He reckons they are great.
My own is now an XP-E (Neutral) Dereelight pill with Smooth reflector, running in a "shorty" body on 14500s. Actually, I think the XP-E emitter is the pick of the three I've tried. More throw than the XP-G, more useable than the XR-E. Overall, it's a great little light which I can also run on 3 X Eneloops when I want a bit more runtime.
However, it sounds like you might wan't to play with drop-ins that are little more exotic.
The Javelins don't get much publicity these days but I think they are a very under-rated light. Some have mentioned they consider them too expensive - YMMV.
Maybe, but you can spend $30 on a Solarforce host, which is still considered a budget brand. That’s the current price listed on the Dereelight website.
Then again, I don’t want to spend $30 on a Solarforce either unless it’s something unique and EDC worthy.
