So if I’m looking for something that’s about the size of a P60 host, uses a single 18650, has a neutral white option, has multiple modes, & isn’t a thrower, what should I be looking at? I realize I could get a P60 host and a drop-in, but they’re not very well heatsinked.
Custom-Build Convoy S-series of your choice (Smaller than a P60)…
Or, if you like the larger head style of a P60-sized light, A Convoy M1 in your choice of tint?
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=426
Convoy M2 would be the closest to P60 size, and is very high-quality light (as long as you get the “new version”).
Does the driver have low voltage protection?
While not a P60 sized light, this did catch my eye. :smiling_imp:
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=162
Too bad he’s out of black bodies. 
Lights the size of a p60 will be more throwy than a tube light. Due to the larger refactor. You could probably make or get someone to make you a triple led setup with some floods optics. I have a triple X6. Had a large hotspot and bright spill beam compared to a reflector light of the same size.
On a side note. I really wouldn’t worry about the heat sinking on a p60. It’s more than good enough for most tasks, even if it is theoretically ideal.
Isn’l Outdoor sells some nice p60 drop ins. A NW XM-L2 in an OP reflector would work quite well as an all round light. No throwy or floody.
A Solarforce L2M makes a great host. All in should set you back less than $30.
If you want a floody the a Convoy S2+ is a very good option. It’s a tube light, so smaller than a p60. Don’t worry about low voltage protection. It’s super obvious when a battery is getting low. Or if you are really paranoid run protected batteries.
Another light you might consider is the Astrolux S41 (there is an optional 18650 body tube)
http://m.banggood.com/Astrolux-S41-4x-Nichia-219BCREE-XP-G2-A6-1600LM-Mini-LED-Flashlight-p-1054876.html
I’ve got a number of Solarforce P60 hosts with drop-ins already. I don’t think they’re all their thermal situation is all that good when you start looking at 1000lm lights. Hence my interest in something with a similar form factor, but better thermal management.
I’ve got one of these already, and a few more on order. :sunglasses:
Convoy M1, it has a OP reflector, decent hotspot and lots of spill! I have and use a number of P60’s and love them, but for all around use the M1 is really nice.
Hmm, my first question was going to be “build or buy?”, but given the answers, it seems it’s implicit to “buy”. 
Otherwise I’d suggest a ’502 host with an OP reflector, and from there you can pick your own emitter (NW as in 4000K or 4500K or 5000K?), driver (modes, max amps), and so on.
But yeah, per the recs above, a tube light like an S2 would be pretty floody and not so throwy.
If you want flood, though, you can’t really beat an aspheric like a ’98 (or ’68, but I like 18650 lights). The fade from an OP reflector can be nice, but nothing beats the nice even flood of an aspheric. It just needs to be bright to fill in that huge area with enough light. (And that kinda sucks, because they’re usually cheepcheepcheep and mounted on hollow pills. 
)
My own EDC is a simplecheap’n’easy ’502 1-mode with 4500K XP-L. Not too high-strung, maybe 1A or so. Decent light, great runtime, handles like 90% of what I need a light for. I surprised myself when I accidentally bumped the switch on (belt holster, bumped it on a chair’s armrest while sitting down) and it was on for well over an hour. Got almost too hot to handle, which to me was a good sign, because the LED didn’t even break a sweat, and alllll that heat was being dissipated from head to tailcap.
The ’501 is lighter (easier carry) and not as well heatsinked as the ’502, but the ’502 is surprisingly well heatsinked, as I discovered. For roughly 3-3½W into the LED, it became quite a nice handwarmer.
Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be pushing 3A (~10W) into it for too long a time. (Ow ow ow!)
And therein lies the dilemma… push too much power through the LED, and it has to heat up. Either the LED cooks and the light remains mildly warm, or the LED stays cooler and the whole flashlight gets fairly hot.
I don’t know what current/power you wanted, but keep that in mind.
Ooh, I kinda like the gold!
Damn, at 3A/1200lm in that small a frame, that sounds like holding a soldering iron by the wrong end after a while.
The 4000K sounds like a nice option, or the ’219s.
That’s one reason I like to roll my own. I can go crazy with AS5 under the LED, Cu foil around the pill, little tricks to try to make it as heatsinky as possible, whereas store-bought you’ll never be sure unless/until you take it apart and do it up yourself if they didn’t.
I almost crapped the first time I saw a 20mm star on a C8 clone that was just held in place by the wires coming up from the driver. Not even a drop of Fujik, let alone AS5, just dry.
I couldn’t sleep for days…
Your op didn’t say 1000 lumens. 
Although actual use would matter here. If you are only using it for short burst then it will be fine. I have a p60 that uses the 3amp Qlite driver and an XP-L. Don’t know it’s output, but must be getting in the ballpark. It handles the heat fine. Even for longer runtimes.
Plus there are other things you can do, such as wrap the p60 in foil, or even get custom copper or big brass pills which can all aide in this.
If you are wanting to run a turbo mode for prolonged periods, then yes the thermal management isn’t as good. But as long as you are using a copper DTP star and have taken some other precautions, I don’t really think it’s an issue. Nothing major at least. It’s a bit like saying you can’t fit a 500hp motor to a classic Mustang, because it’s suspension design isn’t as good as a new Corvette’s. Which is true, but such a Mustang can still be perfectly useable. I feel a p60 is the same.
Anyhow. The biggest issue you face is the fact the p60 form factor gives a larger reflector. Larger reflectors will focus the light more, giving a tighter hotspot and more throw. The p60 due to it’s design is actually a somewhat shallow reflector for it’s diameter, so many lights the same physical size might have a deeper reflector too.
This isn’t to say these lights are true throwers, but they are not going to be flooders either. If you want flood then you’ll need to either add a diffuser, frosted glass, some other optic or look at a mule or multi LED setup. In most cases these will either be self modified or custom built and not off the shelf. The Astrolux S41 (which you say you already have) is somewhat oddball and unique in the market place.
If you can find a light using a larger LED then it will be more floody in this size reflector. An MT-G2, XHP50 or 70 for instance. But you may struggle to find anything in this exact form factor. As most of these lights like 2xLi-ion for power, or a special boost driver. The latter usually sucks a lot of amps, so the trend is a 26650 light rather than an 18650.
The only one I can think of is the new Nitecore TM03. But suspect it’s a little more chunky than a p60 host.
For instance, I like the X6 format and it will handle the heat very well. But they are a fraction bigger than more chunky than a regular p60 host. The Solarforce L2M I’ll happily EDC in my jeans pocket, but the X6 is just that bit too big that I only carry those in coat pockets.
The triple X6 runs 3 x XP-G2 and is more floody than an XM-L2 reflector X6.
The L2M is running a Nichia219B, so not the most floody LED for the p60.
The triple X6 is a custom build I did myself. Pretty easy and there are normally people selling copper spacers for the build. But the copper spacer does make it quite a bit heavier than a stock X6 and more nose heavy. Making it far less suitable to regular carry.
The Convoy M1 and M2 lights are nice. The M2 being closer to p60 sized.
But the M2 does have a deeper reflector than a p60.
The M1 left has an XM-L2, the p60 L2 an XP-L and M2 a Nichia219B. As you can see the p60 is by far the most floody of the three, although with an XM-L2 in the M2 it might not be miles off.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will probably see about a Convoy M2 with a fancy driver and an appropriate 3_ bin Cree LED.
Or course, does anyone remember the old MF 3-mode XM-L P60 drop-in that was Direct-Drive on high? I routinely measured 4+ Amps at the tail using that drop-in and never had any thermal issues. And it used an aluminum non-DTP PCB as well… :face_with_monocle:
I had a Seraph SP6 clone with a P60 heavy op reflector and XML2 U2 4C warm tint driven with Nanjg 105D 16 AMC7135 that should deliver 5.6A of current
Never really get the full ams needed (4.3A on LG HE4) nor did I get more than 700 lumens out of it but it definitely heatsink well if you do stuff the drop-in well with aluminum can strips.
!!
As for the first part, even 100 parallelled 7135s will all “saturate” and drop around 0.1V, so with 4.2V from the battery straight out of the charger, the max the LED will see is 4.1V, and that’s not counting voltage drops from the wiring, tailcap switch, springs, etc.
Second, a U2 brightness bin and only 700lm at >4A?!?
Sounds to me like it’s on the decreasing end of the parabola (lumens vs current). Ie, output flattens out with increasing current, then actually decreases with more current as it heats up even more. Sure that wasn’t the case?
I got a whole P60 module that was supposed to be 3V-18V (har!), that I decided to check for myself if that be the case. Removed the tailcap, replaced the 18650 with a pair of 18350s, then jumped the (-) end to the case with my meter set to current.
Ho boy! It got very blue and very dim. Surprised the LED didn’t pop altogether. Went from 0.9A with the ’650 or so to multi-amps (don’t recall exactly how much) with the ’350s. But that was my experience firsthand about how LEDs get dimmer with too much current.