Great host, lets put our setup here.
Resevred
12×7135 Qlite, 22awg leads, 20mm Noctigon XM-L2 U3 1A and copper braid on both springs.
All cells fully charged, lux taken @1M distance:
NCR18650A: 2.96A, 15,680lux
NCR18650B: 3.25A, 17,200lux
Samsung25R: 3.78A, 19,000lux
Compared to a similar sized dedomed fenix PD35vn, 2.9A and 14,000lux with NRC-B, the M2 has a far smoother beam and doesn’t get as hot.
I have yet to receive it, it’s stuck in “opening” in China 
I went for a simple build on mine. Qlite 3.04A and a Nichia219B on a Noctigon from Int’l Outdoors.
Pulls 2.99amp with a Samsung 25R on high. Less with other cells. It’s ok, maybe not as bright as I thought these new Nichia’s were meant to be. Nice tint/colour although maybe not as nice as my older gen direct drive Nichia in a C8 but brighter.
Gets very hot quickly on high.
You’re putting 3A through that Nichia? That’s madness 
That’s quite a lot for a Nichia… If you look at the test results that Match did, they make max lumens at 1.6A. Granted it was on a Al star but I still think 3A is a lot.
With my M2, I went for a Zener modded Qlite with a Q0 bin MT-G2. I stacked an additional 6x 380mA 7135s for 5.32A, some AS5 thermal paste and a UCL lens. I haven’t tested current draw yet because I haven’t added braid to the switch spring. For some reason the brass retaining ring is stuck in there, have tried everything to get it out!
I was basing on these testing results from djozz:
Mine’s not currently in my possession but I’ll post about it anyway, I went to the dark side with it- I’m using a M140 445nm LD and flexidrv driver set to 1.8A in a custom sink from VOB. Should be good for about 2W if I got a good diode (dont have a LPM, have to send it to IA4W for testing)
Hmm that’s interesting, I wonder why there is such a big difference.
They appear to be dead on up to 1.4A, looks like the normal from stock Al to DTP Cu to me.
Not sure I follow?
The direct thermal path copper star is allowing it to handle the current beyond the 1.4A and still produce more lumens.
CK, does the copper make that big of a difference? I know it certainly is better, but the peak lumens on djozz’s results are occurring at almost 3x the current?
Absolutely it makes that much of a difference. i would post links to the XM/ XP graphs but I recently lost all my bookmarks, I’m sure you guys probably have them saved tho. Look at the XM-L2 graphs tho, on stock non-DTP Al boards they start to loose lumens right around the 3A mark around 1200, with DTP they continue to climb to 6A+ and 1600+. The total lumen output doesn’t gain as high a % as with the Nichia but that just tells us the nichia benefit’s even more from DTP.
Take for example the 2 graphs above. At 1A both copper DTP and factory Al are doing 250Lm, this is exactly what we expect since it’s below the level at which DTP becomes an advantage. We can look at those 2 graphs to see the exact point DTP does start to help. Same with the XM graph I’m thinking about above, looking at the graphs its easy to see exactly why we all use Noctigon’s, it’s not a gimmic they really do help that much.
I wonder if you are misreading the graph. I don’t see the old 219A and new 219B making the same lumens at the same amp draw anywhere on the graph.
But yes, DTP makes a big difference. But I think the biggest difference here is, the newer 219B has a much lower vf than the old 219A’s.
I’m comparing the output graph of the 219B on Al (Match’s graph) to DJozz’s graph of the same emitter on DTP Cu. Up to 1000mA its the same exact output then at 1400mA the DTP starts to show its advantages and 1600mA on Al (Match’s) it drops off where as on DTP Cu (DJozz’s) it continues to climb.
Thought I’d add some pics of my setup.
M2 with my M1
M2 with the Nichia219B and Qlite 3.04A pulling 2.99amps on a Samsung 25R:
My M1 with an XM-L2 T6-4C and AMC7135*8 pulling 2.94amps on an Efest 20A IMR:
Side by side, the M1 Nichia on the right:
For those that want to use a 219b emitter like me, better go with theese centering insulators, as they dont affect the beam like the ones from fasttech. They should fit, mine are still on their why from china. But as they are 7mm outer diameter I don’t see why not.
I want a tactical version of M2, so reversed switch should get replaced by a forward one.
Only thing that should get modded is cutting the niple part of switch button, as DJOZZ mentioned here.
An XM-L2 & aQlite driver will follow.
—-
I am really dissapointed with the fact that the reflector don’t sits on the led but there is a gap between.
The next days I will fix that using a lathe but it is annoying Convoy let it happen.