If you want an honest opinion from a fellow Aussie, heres my take:
I’ve been seriously into lights for nearly 10 years (but always liked and played with them prior)
I have bought some of the most expensive custom and non custom lights CPF (CandlePowerForums) has to offer so I know the ups and downs with this hobby - Other than using them for the usual out door stuff I actually use them as a tool for work and have found over the years that as they are a tool no one light does it all, you need different tools for different jobs. the closest light I have found that does a fairly good all round job are the multi emitter lights, but as you have found out they tend to be big - Nitecore TM series are some of the smallest/compact multies around bar Zebralight .
P60 hosts can make a good cheap standard output host that you can upgrade, but here are some of the cons I have found with P60 hosts:
This all is really only relative if you are a lumen addict and want to get the most out of the leds.
I am always left feeling I want more with them because to start with the reflector was never made for any LED it was actually made for incan bulbs, XR-E leds were OK in them but with almost all other leds there is a compromise like XM-L’s are floody etc.
The tubes are usually thinner as they were made for 2x cr123’s but had to be bored out to accommodate 18650’s giving less mass for hard driven leds as is the head that’s not really big a mass for hard driven leds (but some of solarforce’s later stuff is not too bad) - So…… to fix some of the short falls you can ether use them in short bursts, a lot of the switches weren’t made to take high currant so they can melt, you can get around that with a zerores but its only a twist on or momentary press on. then there’s the heat issue of the head you can over come that with a Cryos cooling bezel or a Beefy heat sinked head
Now after you’ve pimped out your host or bought one already done, yes you can then add pretty much any led set up as a drop in but you are still limited as to output by 1x 18650 battery - yes you can use 2x 18350/16340 but hardly giving you any real long output in high and running 1x 18650 will have power droop, then if you use an extension tube that then hardly makes for a small host not to mention the now bigger heat sink head as well. Custom dropins can cost you anywhere from $60-$120 for single emitters to up to $300 for triples (of which are very floody with no real throw).
A few years ago the P60 host was one of the best and cheapest customish light for pushing the boundaries of leds, so I guess my point is these days lots of manufacturers are designing the lights from the ground up and IMO are cheaper and purpose built.
As a suggestion the EagleTac SX25L3 its about the same length as a P60 host but thicker making it for a comfortable hold - there is a thread on them on CPF - IMO you will get the best of both worlds, good run times good colour rendition flood and throw. they have an XM-L model for throw and the MT-G pumping out 2700 lumens and throwing 317 meters - they also have an upgrade kit that has SS bezel, extra tube with button that tail stands for rear activation, YRGB filters, and a holster. You can get a discount here - 12% off code: CPFSAVE12 (does not work with Google Checkout)
No offence meant to any P60 lovers out there, I’m just giving my take/experience with them that might save someone from going down that can be very expensive road - A top notch P60 host can set you back $400 no probs.