I have gifted, traded and sold so many Solarforce P60 torches I've lost count. When I began this madness in earnest (maybe 3 years ago?) the L2i was $7.99 and I bought a bunch of cheap Q4 and R5 modules from Manafont and gave over a dozen away as Christmas gifts. They cost me about $15 to spec but because of the host quality and perhaps also because an L2i loaded with 3 x AAA has a satisfying heft, the recipient thought I had spent a lot more.
There was a period about 18 months ago when every time somebody was looking in or under a car and saw my light, bought one . . . or three, and I would just cycle them through my collection. The extra L2s and L2Ps I have now are because I quickly saturated Foy's "market" (my small circle of acquaintances) and all my friends don't need any more flashlights.
The way they put it to me cracks me up. They'll say, "can you make me one like that?" Even when I explain that with a Paypal account, they can "make" one themselves and bypass the $15 Foyvig . . . didn't matter. My boss bought a 980L from me and all I did was order it from Manafont, take it out of the manila envelope in my office, walk three feet to his office and hand it to him. Worked out to $5 a foot on that one.
after graduating from CR123 zenon lights, I found the ‘way’ which was that leading edge (to me anyway) LED revolution allowed me and by extension (like you, buy and sell and pay for my own lights) friends, fellow campers, paddlers, riders and co-workers to have a proven system instead of just looking on in envy at the latest $$$ light from Surefire or Streamlight that someone higher up the corporate foodchain was showing off to the assembled murmuring horde (some murmuring in amazement, others in disgust, surely…)…
Mistakes were few and rectified w a new drop in or alternate for whatever highest purpose was intended. And occasionally a wonderous upgrade head would appear like a beauteous swan to take the new head of the class, first flashlight.
And 5 lights w attendant accessories and accompanying goodies arriving discreetly in a ratty brown envelope* didn’t raise the ire of the wife like a single flashy new goodie brought by the dude in the brown truck…
So far so good. I will have to up the ante soon with a MT-G2 or similar, maybe even the new SF.
*and damn, didn’t these things impress and were so good, compared to the old faves.
And I love it, iam looking for a a good drop in., currently I am using a lightmalls XML2-U2 with an OP reflector but my L2N has a tail switch not a forward any how can any one else recommend an updated P-60?
I have gotten 4 of the new Tailstand forward clicky L2T and really like them compared to the older version. I ordered just the switch for one of my older L2T. I love the L2T host the most out of them all.
I was basing my choice of host on Foy’s review, as the only hosts I have so far are the P1 and P1D. After reading through some of the threads, I was planning on the L2T head, the reverse clicky that can tailstand, and L2N. Do you think I’d be better off just getting the L2T instead? I see if I wanted to tailstand it they have a product SKU that includes the forward clicky SS cap so I assume that would end up being cheaper then getting the L2N and then ordering the other parts separately.
Thanks, I had just stumbled across that when your reply came in. If you’re going the L2T route and want tailstand that certainly seems like the SKU to use, almost the same price as just buying a head and tailcap separately.
I ended up ordering the L2N Host and the reverse clicky tailstand cap I referred to the first time. I thought about the L2T head that had been recommended as well but decided to wait and see how the stock head looks. I’m planning to try an XM-L2 T5 on a Noctigon star at 2.8A in it. I’m curious to see if this will be a better host than the Convoy M1.
I have a question: which Solarforce’s host gives the widest spill/flood with the same drop-in? They all have slightly different head/bezel design, sometimes drop-in goes deeper inside body and it really makes a difference. I had regular L2 with stock bezel and spill was very tight, it was worse than in many superthrowers.
IIRC, it's really only the bezel that makes a big difference as all the L2s are compatible with the same bezel and lenses, the amount of thread/material after the reflector stop is the same. If it makes a big difference to you, get a flat bezel.
I actually have the very old version of the stainless steel bezel which is completely flush with the head.
All of my Solarforce lights fit a Panasonic 3400 mAh cell fine. You shouldn’t have any issues with battery fitment. There was a L2P that was about 3 to 4 yrs old that only fit CR123’s, but they should be long gone by now.
