For the thread in general, all readers… as it were.
Simon is a one man show. He get’s a lot of requests. A lot of special requests. It is, I’m sure, quite difficult to translate all the needs and wants and wishes into Chinese and what’s best for Simon. He DOES try! 
I doubt you need to return it.
They’re almost certainly wrong in this case. The L2 with the extension was and is sold with a 3.0A version of the LD29 Buck driver and runs fine on either 1 or 2 cells.
One way to tell is the LD29 is a 20.5mm driver and what should be in all stock L2 lights that come with the extension tube. The first run that was single cell only came with the LD25 driver which is a 17mm driver. If you take the tube off and are looking at the driver hold a ruler or tape measure up to it you should easily be able to eyeball-measure whether it’s 17mm or 20.5mm.
If it measures around 20 you’re good to use 1 or 2 cells. :+1:
Edit: The stock L2 is current controlled so you won’t see any additional brightness with two cells, just added runt time.
I pulled some numbers off my chart.
L2 roughly 120kcd 1000lm.
L4 xml2 - 35kcd, 1000lm*
L6 - 60kcd 3500lm
C8 xml - 20kcd, 750lm*
ThorFire C8 xml2 - 38kcd, 1000lm
C8 xpl-hi - 70kcd, 900lm
S2+ xml2 - 5kcd, 900lm*
The three marked are relatively old samples so a newer sample may measure higher if a higher bin emitter was sourced.
The difference between 60kcd and 120kcd is not that massive in person. I’d probably go with the L6 with the higher output and wider/floodier beam in most scenarios over the stock L2.
Hi all,
I am giving away a few of the SMO reflectors here if anyone is interested.
This definitely looks familiar. All I recall was that the L2 had lux in the 3-digits, whereas everything else was in the 2s.
I was just looking for a super-thrower for maximum “reach”, not necessarily lighting up everything in front of me. In fact, after hearing about the Maxtoch lights, I was tempted to get one of them when someone mentioned more throw and less spill. 
This is for a beach situation where it’s more important to light up the rocks and other things far far out, without blinding yourself with a scorchingly-bright foreground.
Who makes a high quality AR coated lens that would fit the L6?
I’m not aware of one that fits off the shelf, but I often need odd size quality AR lenses so I have resorted to getting a piece of TruVue museum glass from Michaela and cutting it. Its AR coated on one side and UV coated on the other, it has to be the most transparent glass I’ve eve seen. When its clean you cant even tell its there.
I use one of these easy cut style devices then just sand the edges a bit.
If cutting them yourself is not an option there are many local glass companies that can do it cheap. A stained glass shop would be best since they work with small bits more often.
Thanks man. That is way over my head, and way too expensive. Hopefully somebody will make one I just can install with no hassle and cost much less than the flashlight itself.
Can you tell me the diameter of the lens ?
Won’t Simon sell you one?
I measured 68mm
I’ll ask him
Chris at flashlightlens.com should have them in stock and they’re the best out there bar none. In this size, it’ll take an UCLp from him, which is a 2.25mm thick Acrylic AR coated both sides.
Will the thickness fit the L6 ? I don’t want to take it apart again to measure it. I have dust paranoia. lol!
I’m now the proud owner of a clear L6, in addition to 2 black ones that I bought when they first came out. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the look of it, but now that I have seen it in the flesh, I REALLY like the look. I also REALLY like the feel of the clear finish, much smoother (and more slippery), but it feels really nice holding it. And as others have mentioned, the threads are buttery smooth! I’m not sure if it’s due to random variations in workmanship, or a concerted effort to improve the quality, but the clear version seems to be much better made than my first 2 black ones. Not that the first 2 had anything major wrong with them, but this clear one is, dare I say, impeccably made. In particular, the lens and reflector seem to be a step up in quality. This might be due to the LED tint being different on the clear version, but on my original black ones (cool white tint), the lens and reflector had a slightly cloudy appearance with the light on – even after cleaning (both lenses had smudges and dust out of the box which I had to clean off). The clear version’s lens is already essentially spotless out of the box, as is the reflector, and no cloudiness at all. In addition to the slightly cloudy appearance of my original black reflectors, there were also more slight defects in the reflectors as well, one even had a 1/4 scratch on it. Again, the clear version’s reflector has only a few very slight imperfections that are hardly noticeable. It appears that the new lens has a different AR coating, which might be why it looks clearer. Regardless of any of that, I love all 3. I’m going to mod at least one of the black ones anyway, but I don’t think I’m going to touch the clear one. It’s pretty much perfect as is.
One more interesting thing is that I ordered the cool white tint from Banggood (I’m partial to cool tints, and it was cheaper!), but the light I received is definitely not cool white. It’s actually closer to the tint of the Nichia 219B in my astrolux S41. The box is labeled N4-1C, but it’s definitely not a cool white tint. Next to my other L6s, which are truly cool white, the difference is obvious. I’m actually glad they sent me the warmer tint though. After getting my first S41 with the nichia leds, I fell in love with the warmer tint. So I’m happy. Banggood only lists the N4-1C (cool white) and N2-3A (neutral white), but I think the one I got is even warmer than the N2-3A, which again, I don’t mind. Like others, I also got the bag of goodies (lanyard, o-rings, white/clear switch covers).
I like this clear one so much I might have to find a reason to get another one! :money_mouth_face:
flashlightlens has custom sizes for their AR coated acrylic lens. Their standard sizes don’t go as high as 68mm.
Neutral tints are by FAR the way to go once you get past lumen envy. I find that I can generally see a warmer tint LED the same or better then a cool tint LED even with the loss in lumens due to the lower bin. The same goes for a High CRI LED, the loss of flux bin generally equals out the extra viability that the contrast gives, thus you get basically the same “real world viability”
Now for shear wow factor a cool white LED will be what you want to impress people but for real world use, give me a high CRI LED any day of the week.
Chris cuts the UCLp to fit, as requested. I’ve got his lenses in everything from a chopped AA MiniMag to the massive SR-90 Intimadator and TR-J20. All’s ya gotta do is ask! 
(yes, I have em in my L6’s, L2’s and many others. I think I have close to 40 of his lenses.)
Good to know, Dale. I think I will be buying some of his lenses.
Dale, thanks for the info