I received 2 items in the mail last week that I am going to review in a quick “drive-by” manner.
First item: Solarforce L2m
All accessories– including the flashlight itself– were ordered from Solarforce USA
Going in rows from top left to right: car adapter, wall adapter, dual 18650 charger, Solarforce 18650 (rechargeable), L2m extension tube (to use 18650), adjustable rail mount, cr123 (non-rechargeable), Solarforce L2m
The package arrived promptly USPS. I believe shipping time was no more than 2 days for me.
As you can see if you look closely at the above picture of my L2m–there are 2 small scratches on the tube. I believe I must have put those on there myself when I was messing around with the light since I didn’t notice them right away. The flashlight is very very bright–even running on a single cr123. Here is a shot from the lamp below:
Notice how concentrated the light is in the middle of the picture. The reflector on this light allows it to be thrown a very long distance–while still keeping that ring around it so you can light up your surroundings easily. One person I showed the light to commented, “The ring is so perfect it looks like those flashlights off of a video game.” As you can see in the picture below, a offbrand LED flashlight (3 x AAA) and a S&W LED light (2 x AA) can not hold a candle (pun intended) to the L2m.
You cannnot even see the beams of light from the other two LED flashlights--they are to the left of the L2m's beam
I went ahead and carried the L2m this week as a “daily carry” light (with a single CR123 cell). It fit very snuggly into my JEEP mag pouch beside my XD45C backup magazine. Because of the size of the light head–I had to fit it into the pouch tail first. This lengthens access time over my previous carry light but I will hopefully remedy this in the near future by possibly doing some sewing on the mag pouch and increasing its width by a small amount.
I also tried carrying the light in the pocket of my jeans for a few hours. It has a pretty large head for a short flashlight–and because the crenelations are sharp and might poke thru my pocket I had to carry it tail down. It was fairly comfortable and could be pocket carried in a pinch–however, I think I would much rather have it ride with my backup mag on my belt.
Here are some photos of the L2m next to my previous daily carry (an offbrand LED light I got from a vendor) and a red/white (two separate buttons) S&W LED light that my mum bought me years ago. I kept the S&W light next to my XD45 on my bedside stand but it has since been replaced with the L2m.
L2m next to former daily carry
Notice the two separate buttons on the S&W light--one for red LED's and one for white. While handy for low light scenarios it is nowhere near as bright as the L2m
Notice the protruding button on the L2m--you can purchase flush tailcaps (indented button) that will stand on end for around $10 on solarforce-usa
The crenulated bezel is "sharp" enough to poke a hole thru a thin pocket and I have no doubt that it would puncture skin if the flashlight was used as a defensive weapon. I highly recommend picking up the smooth bezel for around $3 if you are going to pocket carry a lot.
I am pleased with my L2m purchase
I tried the rail mount out on my Saiga and then my XD’s just for kicks and giggles–I was pleased with how it fit my Saiga but a little disappointed that it did not fit my XD’s as well. It didn’t seem to want to grab on very tight to the XD rails but it did fit tight enough that I would feel comfortable with its ability to stay on there if need be. I did not purchase it to fit a handgun–and only tried it to see if it would work (not a big fan of lights on handguns). Here is a picture just for fun:
Which brings us to our next review--the AGP +4 mag extension for XD9/40
The next accessory that I am going to be reviewing really isn’t much of a review at all…more of a “first look” really. I found an AGP +4 mag extension online from an individual for $12 shipped so I jumped on it. It will fit either the XD9 mags or the XD40 mags but for this review I will only be using an XD9SC. I don’t need the extension on the compact 13 rounds mags so I went ahead and put it on my fullsize 16 round magazine with XD grip sleeve. Installing the extension takes about 5 seconds: you use a pen to release the old baseplate, slide it off, use the original spring and put the new locking steel baseplate on (with the tab towards the front of the mag on the outside of the spring), and then slide on the new extended basepad. You may have to hit the magazine sharply in the palm of your hand a few times to get the baseplate to lock in (I did). Please note that it is kind of a pain to get the AGP baseplate off once you have installed it. It took me about 2 minutes:(
Upon installing the baseplate and attempting to fit the mag into my sub compact XD I realized that the fit between the new extended basepad and the XD gear sleeve wasn’t a fit at all…it had about 1/8th of an inch gap all the way around. This gap was causing the mag to fit extremely tight (I had to slam it into the gun) and the mag release was almost impossible to push in. I took the mag extension off and compared it to the old baseplate and found one glaring difference between the two. The old baseplate has a slant at the back of it and the new baseplate did not. I filed it down real quick and installed it again–it fit perfectly!
I have not yet tested the function of this new baseplate but I will be sure to update you all when I do. I was able to fit 21 rounds (16 + 5 in the extension) into the magazine using the XD gear mag loader. I went ahead and lowered it down to 20 rounds in the mag because I didn’t want to crunch the spring too much. With one in the chamber this puts the XD9SC capable of holding 21 (or 22) rounds of 9mm! That is even more than the 19 + 1 rounds that the XDm holds. I will let you all take a look at some pictures of the mag extension on the gun…I think it will make for some fun plinking and depending on the reliability…one heck of a backup magazine.
AGP mag extension on the extended magazine next to a standard 13 round compact magazine with pearce grip extension (the pearce is just for comfort--no additional rounds)
Loaded with 22 rounds and ready to go--that is almost half a box!
Overall, I am very please with my L2m and I like that is so easily customizeable with so many options! Most (if not all) of the L2 series flashlights will fit the surefire series of lights and vice versa so replacement parts are readily available. I like to keep a single CR123 in my L2m when I carry it with me but I also appreciate the fact that it ships with the extension tube (when you order from solarforce usa) that makes it the same size as a standard L2 and allows you to use a rechargeable 18650 cell. The 18650’s charge in about 4 hours and I purchased a protected cell so I don’t have to worry about it blowing up or doing anything funky.
Special thanks to Jim at Solarforce-USA, thank you for a great product and fantastic communication!