I’ll cut to the chase… I’ve spent the last 10 years carrying what I believe is one of the most underrated pieces of flashlight engineering ever made. A PFlexPRO Advanced Program P60 drop-in built by Randy Brogden.
The short version of why I love it:
Lives in a Solarforce/6P host with a tail clicky. That’s it. No magnets, no touch interfaces, no nonsense.
Single LED, high output, simple reflector
Runs an AMC7135 stack + direct drive FET driver with firmware that is genuinely incredible
Once configured, it operates like a completely dumb, reliable light
Driver is fully potted - waterproof, vibration proof, and built to a standard you rarely see outside of mil-spec equipment
The complexity is there when you want it and completely invisible when you don’t
Features on the driver include: dual mode groups each with up to 7 fully programmable modes, PID thermal regulation, off-time memory (configurable per group), strobe/beacon/bike modes, mode lock, battery monitoring with stepdown, 16kHz PWM (truly inaudible), and bump-proof mode retention. All configured via tap sequences.
I still have the original programming PDF which I can send along. Tried to attach but I’m too new to the forums.
The problem: Randy has gone out of business and is unreachable. I’ve seen a few old forum threads confirming others have hit the same wall. I’m not looking to reverse engineer anything proprietary, I just want to either:
Source remaining PFlexPRO stock if anyone has it
Find someone willing to build a modern equivalent. Same AMC7135+FET topology, similar firmware, P60 form factor (or similar simple tactical host.)
The firmware feature set is fully documented in the PDF. The hardware topology is standard. It seems like this should be reproducible by the right person.
If you’ve seen this driver before, know who built the underlying firmware, or are someone who builds custom drivers and wants an interesting project, I’d love to hear from you. I think there’s a real gap in the market for a light that gives you Anduril-level programmability in a dead-simple tactical footprint.
Maybe what I’m looking for already exists, I just haven’t searched hard enough. If a link to swipe my credit card is the only response this post needs, I’m all about it.
It sounds similar to a Bistro driver, but in P60 form and with some firmware changes. If you can’t get in touch and the code isn’t available, you’d probably need to get a Bistro driver and start modifying the code until it does what you want.
Thanks for this. With Bistro as a keyword I found some cool stuff. Prometheus seems promising. Not quite as simple/tactical of a host as 6p style hosts but it’s definitely in the right direction. Very pricey… but build quality is amazing and UI is comparable. Also found ReyLight. Thanks again!
I too loved PFlexPRO products and stupidly sold the ones I had before they stopped producing parts.
To fully pot a double sided driver like that in a P60 you need to machine the driver shelf with a lathe so the bottom components sit below the bottom of the P60 shell. I’ve done this a few times and attempted to recreate the way Randy would pot and then re-expose the contacts by milling on the driver for configuration (e.g. connect star 1 to ground for mode group 1 on something like a Qlite driver).
That’s it! Awesome. Thanks for sending that along. Good to know the driver exists. Now I just have to a) find it in a p60 drop in (or in a similar light)… b) pay someone to do it like Randy… or… oh no… c) do it myself.
If it’s a job you’d be interested in, let me know!
Unfortunately Huawei has a cell phone named “P60” which makes searching for the P60 drop-in a little more challenging…
They used to be available on Kaidomain but I can only find assembled modules, they’re cheap enough you could destroy one experimenting with it, but I’d reccomend ordering through AliExpress for faster delivery.
Note that Kaidomain also sells flashlight bodies that take P60 drop-ins, which are fairly rare nowadays. I haven’t received mine yet, so I can’t advise on the quality. They sell an 18650 and a 21700 version.
One of the drawbacks with the P60 system was the thermal path for the LED to shed heat; “integrated” designs like most modern lights use, have a flat surface milled into the head that the LED board can be mounted on directly. If you did want to experiment with different lights, once you’ve found your “perfect” user interface in a 17, 20, 22mm driver, you could ask for suggestions here, you’ll likely get directed to the convoylight.com site.
Thanks for this. I definitely found the perfect UI. DrJones H17f is it. Unfortunately for me… the only lights I can find that use that driver are made by Dawson Machine Craft… Which range from $300 - $600. Better is better?
I’m just making wild guesses for suggestions based on your preference for P6 style light…
The Convoy M2 is an 18650 light which uses a 17mm driver, you could choose a fully built light with 3V LED of your choice and swap the driver*.
I could have sworn MTN used to have some sort of “build” service listed on their site. They also stock some of the convoy lights so if you like the M2 could be worth sending them an email…
Ohhhhh, that makes sense. It’s a DrJones H17F in a P60 drop-in.
Yeah, you can buy those drivers and put them in whatever you want.
DrJones and I both developed similar firmwares that year for similar hardware, and MtnElectronics sells both.
The main differences between the two are…
H17F: Proprietary (no source code), more complex programming menu system, all programming is done via button presses. Can do unusual configurations like “medium low high strobe moon turbo”, but common configurations are relatively time-consuming to set up. During use it can go forward (short press), reset (long press), or special (very fast double press). 2 mode groups of up to 7 modes each, plus a special shortcut mode (usually turbo).
Bistro: Open-source, simpler menus and configuration which makes common configs easier. Onboard customization is more limited, but unlimited deep customization is fairly simple by changing the code (like editing the mode group table). During use it can go forward (short press), backward/hidden (medium press), or reset (long press). 8+ mode groups of up to 8 modes each, “muggle” mode group, and a hidden group with quick access for turbo and blinkies.
During regular use (like, not in config menus) they’re mostly identical. The biggest usage differences are…
H17F: Can quick double-tap to jump to a special mode (usually turbo). However, I find this mostly just gives me turbo when I don’t want it, because I often try to navigate too fast. Gotta be slower and more deliberate with my H17F lights. And I can never remember how to access blinky modes, so I just don’t use them.
Bistro: Can medium-press to go backward instead of forward, so you can navigate both directions. Going back from the first level enters a hidden group, which starts at turbo then proceeds to blinkies. Does a “soft start” (quick ramp-up) when turning on, which makes it feel a bit more like an old incandescent light. Medium press is (IMO) too slow on some models though, and sensitive to manufacturing changes.
But personally, I don’t generally use either one on my clicky lights. Instead I use more customized UIs which remove the config menus entirely, to make room for more modes and features. Not much need for config menus when I can just bake my settings directly into the code, but it’s nice having extra modes which wouldn’t otherwise fit.
Instead of a P60 drop-in, it’s more common to use these in a Convoy host with a MtnElectronics driver. It will generally have much better thermal performance… because the P60 form factor was designed to trap heat instead of conducting heat.
Epic. Thanks for all of this information. I’ve learned a lot in just a couple days.
Yeah it took me a while to get used to the UI but once I got it, I loved it. The way that I got around the annoyance of accidental turbo mode is I just programmed the double tap mode to be the same setting as my first setting. So if i do it, I don’t even know because it’s just the same. Honestly the P60/6P + H17F is purely a nostalgia thing for me at this point. Stoked to have found it and now can experiment with building my own. I’m sure then I will spiral into different drivers and hosts.
