I’m about to order the Mod 2 M6. I can only see the listing with 4C plus some other tints. I was thinking about a 3C because my Convoy L4 is a 4c and it’s a bit on the yellow side for my liking. I’d like something a little whiter and cleaner. I know some other people have ordered a 3C before.
-Are there any performance differences with 3C or is it just the colour?
-Is 3C available for order? Out of stock? Takes longer to build?
On the M6, just about as soon as you break the snugness the light goes out. Or on mine it does. Very little movement required, as the contact is in the end of the tube so it immediately separates when you start to unscrew it. I think Richard says his light has been on/off so many times it doesn’t lock out anymore, so wear and tear might become an issue in that dept.
Backing into off is easy from the lower modes, quick from the 2 highest to forward into off. Or simply give the tube a slight twist. You definitely do NOT want to hold your hand over it in high or Turbo! Might get away with it against your leg through jeans or something but it would certainly be something you’d want to run through and not linger. I burned 3 neat holes in the lining of a jacket by turning it on for a few seconds in Turbo.
Performance , or output, is in the bin number…T6 vs U2 or U3. The tint should not really affect the output performance but there may be normal deviation within the performance bin level.
aoeu, lower tint bins have a little lower light output. When I get confused trying to configure a light at RMM’s store balancing what I want versus the stock on hand I check his listing of LEDs that he sells. The description has the Kelvin rating and the output rating. I would not worry about the performance variation. That difference is not visible to the human eye. The incredible volume of light will blow your mind and make you giggle like a mad scientist. I see some 3C XMLs in stock. Order quick.
Someone else asked about the ability to turn the head and lock out the light- yup, it works good. I turn mine about 1/4 turn and test it before tossing it in my pack or wherever it might get jostled.
Enjoy!
My Mod1 M6 doesn’t lock out. The threads are a little buggered up and the anodizing is missing from a spot. Pretty sure it’s from the factory, not Mountain Electronics and it’s not at all unusual for less expensive lights like the M6.
My M6 is flawless, literally. On the other hand, the SupFire L6 I got recently from a friend was far from that. It had a gouge in the white plastic emitter cover panel and under that the aluminum star was seriously gouged on top. There was thermal compound (fujik?) showing, dried in a few spots at the edges, on the bottom of the aluminum star, but none on the shelf between the two, with the shelf scraped and scarred where it’d been cleaned off. Someone had obviously had a go at modding this light, but it came in as “new” from a group buy. Go figure. Didn’t matter much to me as I was removing the aluminum star anyway and swapping out the driver as well.
Buggered threads with no lock-out is more of a problem. I wonder if something like JB Weld could be used on one side, wax applied to the other, then threaded to let it set up…thereby creating “new threads” that are insulated??? Guess that would be a gamble though, huh? My luck I’d glue it together and wreak havoc getting them back apart. lol
That sounds like a sales technique. So bright it'll burn your clothes.
We have a new AC unit installed in the fall last year. Lately, the condensor coils in the house have been freezing up, no AC. At 1 in the morning, 2 nights ago, frozen up. I used my new Nitecore HC90 to light up the neat ice crystals and take pics, then grabbed the M6 to melt the ice. Kid you not! I used the light output to melt the ice on the coils, from 3-8” away. When the light started warming up (heating up) I left it on and pressed the side against the ice, almost instantly thawing that area and shifting to the next. Didn’t take but a few minutes to get the ice melting enough to stop.
:bigsmile:
True Story!
Reminds me I need to charge the cells…
All my Supfire and SRK lights lock out fine but are quite new. I would find one that did not to be quite annoying as the side switch is very easily operated inadvertently while the light is being transported. NOT good as a fire hazard. It should be possible to remove the cap and board from the battery compartment and get the battery compartment re-anodized. The problem is that unless you have multiple items to be anodized then the minimum charge gets expensive for one piece. Also make sure that the anodizer offers hard anodizing, as thick as possible, as normal cosmetic anodizing is very thin and can wear off rapidly.
Keep threads clean and lubed to minimize wear to the anodizing in the threads and limit thread wear as much as possible by only locking out when necessary and unscrewing fully only for battery charging.
You might also try wrapping the male threads with teflon tape to minimize wear and see if that can restore lockout ability to a worn threads light at least temporarily. If the threads cut through that then I would try some thin as I can find Kapton tape on the male threads.
OK...way too many posts on here for me to get caught up with at the moment. Here are a few questions I saw:
1. How long does an M6 build take? 2-4 weeks.
2. Why aren't there any 3C M6s available? I am out of 16mm 3C emitters.
3. Will you be getting XP-L emitters? Yes, as they become available at a reasonable price. I'm not going to pay $6+ for a bare emitter, and I don't expect you to either.
Ouch, I really like the SF L6. The Teflon tape over the existing threads may build it up enough to hold tight? Then again, if, the JB stays in place you might get lucky but chances are I would be buying a new host…
Small testimonial before a full review which will come out later.
I received a Fenix TK61 from Richard, it had prompt shipping and arrived in 7 days including the weekend. Initial impressions? It’s neat, very bright but doesn’t have a low enough low - I can deal with that though. Not like I’m going to use a TK61 as a night light.
It has been resistor modded to 5.8A to the emitter and as a result makes 2060 lumens initial and 315kcd (I measure throw before I centered the emitter, I’m sure it’s slightly higher but will do more extensive testing later). So… basically it’s like having the output of an SRK with the throw of… a light saber? Not to mention it hasn’t been dedomed so I still get to enjoy the wonderful white tint and it has a way larger hotspot and slightly larger spill than my dedomed 370kcd 1300lm TN31 running somewhere in the ballpark of 4.5A. Very impressive.
I got my Fenix TK61 this afternoon. Out of the box it was doing 1197 OTF at start, 1176 at 30 seconds. Lux was 172.5Kcd for 830.7M.
Now, y’all know I didn’t leave it alone! 
I stacked a R025 resistor and the lumens barely went up, to 1214/1201. So I stacked another. This time it jumped, to 1825 at start! Throw was 269.25Kcd for 1038M.
Not being one to leave well enough alone, I stacked a couple of IRLM2502 FETs on station Q4 as advised by Richard. I also de-domed the stock emitter with the heat method. The tint is still nice and white, and with some careful sanding of the base of the plastic reflector I saw 1228 lumens OTF and 440Kcd. Before I de-domed it and stacked the little FET’s I got a 5.02A reading at the emitter. After the additions I’m seeing 4.17A at the emitter. Beats me why it went down so far. Wonder if I should risk one more R025?
So now it’s a matter of awaiting nightfall. It’s near sundown now, with the sun shining from the West but it’s raining from overhead and East. Go figure.
At the moment, I have a Low of 45 lumens, Med is 297, High is 773 and Turbo is 1228. I’ve heard the complaint that low isn’t low enough. Well, mine’s TOO low! Wonder how that happens?
Hmmm thats very low?
Edit, no dedome, sorry didn’t see that lol.
I ordered a roll on Amazon. Only 1 mil thick and 1/2” wide so should be interesting to try on threads of some of my Titanium and SS lights which do not have lockout due to conductive threads. Kapton is a very tough Polyimide plastic with very high electrical resistance and wide range temperature stability. Supposedly good from close to 0 degrees Kelvin to about 400 degrees Celsius. I figured it is worth a try.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZFQNT6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Corrected the link!
0º Kelvin would be –459º F.
Kelvin being a measure of light. Absence of light being the equivalent of a black hole.
For a second I thought you were copying me… I just received my TK61 today as well! What I’m surprised about seeing is the drop in current to the emitter. Nearly a 1amp or 20% drop just from de-doming. The low is definitely too high for me, but mine’s not de-domed.
I would have thought it’s quite high, the emitter still has the dome - maybe this is the reason you think it’s low? I assure you the throw is quite high (probably the highest) for a light with the dome still on! Or are you saying the lumens is low?
It has a larger spill and larger hot spot than my de-domed TN31, so I’m happy.
0 Kelvin is absolute zero you’re right. But I might be mistaken - I thought that Kelvin is a measure of temperature.
I edited my post, yes your numbers are great.
Just quoting from the product description and degrees K was originally a temperature scale, also known as degrees Absolute. As I recall degrees K is also a measure of the light color emitted by as black body at that degrees K temperature. LEDs and other lights use it for color temperature ratings but as noted it was originally a thermometer temperature rating and dates back to the mid 19th century.