Hello old friends. I have not been here in a long time. I am looking for help with several topics:
Battery & charger review - There was a guy here that did great battery and charger reviews. Any hints to find something like that currently?
What retailers? Dinodirect used to be a good bet but seem to have moved on? What are the current best retailers?
I like C8. Convoy seem a good bet?
What is the best replacement for P60? S2?
I’m building a complete 18650 system for a graduate and then just lights and batteries for myself.
I’m looking for the best PROTECTED 18650 - hopefully no nubs - flat head. And best value of the same. Not only do I have 18650’s in my lamps but also now in my solar rechargeable motion lights.
There are still vendors selling P60-style lights with modern LEDs, if that’s your preference - for example, Kaidomain has the KDLITKER E6 with a variety of configurations.
Otherwise, I think Convoy’s M series (M1/M2) are most similar in form factor to a P60, but with better heat dissipation since they use a screw-in pill rather than a drop-in. The S2 would have a narrower body, but would typically have less throw due to the smaller reflector.
Depends if you want to upgrade the P60 module or just buy new lights.
P60 platform has substantially decreased since you were last active, there are still dropins available if you were looking to upgrade, I think kaidomain still sells them.
Mooch does good testing as well. Here is a link to a table, but some searching will find individual reviews:
For protected cells (I don’t use them much anymore. Modern lights and a good charger make the protection redundant):
He uses quality authentic cells and adds a protection circuit.
I have a couple of C8s from convoy and like them well. Sort of a small inexpensive thrower. If you have some specifics about what you are looking for I think we may have a better chance at recommending something. There are lots of Convoy lights (and others) that may be better for some things than the C8. Same answer for a “P60” replacement. There are just so many lights that fit that description (maybe every 18650 straight tube light made ). We need more info to answer that for your use case.
BTW, it seems that many are moving to 21700 powered lights. I know you have lots to 18650s. But including 21700 lights in your criteria would open up lots of more choices. Even the last couple of P60 hosts that I got are 21700 lights. It is definitely a superior cell .
Many (most) of the great retailers from a few years back are gone. It seems that many people now use Aliexpress and/or the manufacturer’s direct sales web sites for purchases.
All batteries listed there, and the stores selling them, are safe and reputable and it includes links to lygte-info in-depth reviews when available (would be great if it included links to Mooch reviews too, but haven’t seen that so far).
). We need more info to answer that for your use case.