Mini Maglite

I've had the Maglight LED upgrade in my 2D MAG for almost 3 years now and am still on the same set of batteries. That light is now very bright and has tons of throw, even more then my iTP C7T (Cree XR-E, 1AA) and EagleTac P100C2 (Cree XP-E, 2CR123A) that I gave to my brother recently. Was worth the money for the increased brightness, throw and runtime. Love carrying the 2D Mag because it's really bright and makes a good club. :)

The other day I got a 3LED Nite-Ize brand upgrade for my Mini Mag. So far so good. Much brighter then the old bulb and cost less then $10. My upgrade came with the tail clicky which was cool. :)

My take on it is, if you have some MagLights invest in the LED Upgrades, they are totally worth it IMO. If you are looking to spend $40 to $60 on a new light, look at iTP, EagleTac, Quark, Fenix or Inova. All really nice lights for the money.

Heber
 
M. McCord said:
I used a MM for almost daily for 15 years as an EDC pocket light. If you know it's limitations and stay within them it's a great light. Mag recently came out with Xenon bulbs for it and the consensus is they're much brighter than before.

It's been used as a platform for modification in the past, however with the introduction of newer, smaller and more powerful LED lights I think the MM's days of mod host are limited.

Go to candlepowerforums.com and dig around. You'll like it.
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Excellent point. I still carry a Mag of some sort as a secondary light at work, but I certainly don't count on it to light up the night sky.

wildmanh said:
I've had the Maglight LED upgrade in my 2D MAG for almost 3 years now and am still on the same set of batteries. That light is now very bright and has tons of throw, even more then my iTP C7T (Cree XR-E, 1AA) and EagleTac P100C2 (Cree XP-E, 2CR123A) that I gave to my brother recently. Was worth the money for the increased brightness, throw and runtime. Love carrying the 2D Mag because it's really bright and makes a good club. :)

The other day I got a 3LED Nite-Ize brand upgrade for my Mini Mag. So far so good. Much brighter then the old bulb and cost less then $10. My upgrade came with the tail clicky which was cool. :)

My take on it is, if you have some MagLights invest in the LED Upgrades, they are totally worth it IMO. If you are looking to spend $40 to $60 on a new light, look at iTP, EagleTac, Quark, Fenix or Inova. All really nice lights for the money.

Heber
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I had that tail-cap switch and ended up returning it. It wouldn't ever work right. I think I just got a bum unit.
 
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pilote said:
if a flashlight was an integral part of my job, i'd consider some of the higher end lighting equipment...but it isn't, and so the maglite at home, in the backyard, and camping work out just fine...it isn't a matter of cost either...i have since retrofitted my 4D cell and 2AA cell models with LED's; i give up the beam adjustment, but gain bigtime in reduced power consumption...

i still find it difficult to comprehend the lust some people have over flashlights...
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That sounds like my story as well.

I had AA minimags when there wasn't any better out there. Know what, they did just fine then. Had about 4 of them stashed around. When they came out with the nit-eze drop in LED mod, I spent the 4.95 apiece and converted them over. been happy as a clam in mud ever since. Taken them camping, hiking and lighting the treai back at the end of the day, and used them in power blackout emergencys when a storm knocks a line down. They still do just fine. I love the long run time I get from a set of batteries.


You loose the bean adjustment with the conversion, but I find the soft flood very nice to work with. Lights up a room pretty good finding my way to the breaker box. Also lights up the inside of a tent great, and makes it wasy to find thigs at the bottom of a pack in the dark.

I use one for the late night last dog walk of the night job. I walk the dog out in the woods in back of the house, and the minimag lights up the trail just fine to see where I'm going.


I think the mini-mag is the single action army of personal flashlights. Yes, there are more modern whiz bangs out there to spend 50 or even a hundred dollars on, but will it find that dropped item at the back of a basement storage closest any better? I doubt it. It's too bad that too many things these days are sold for inflated amounts for the bragging rights. If your not a LEO, do you really need a light that will blind a fellon at 50 yards while eating up batteries like candy with poor run times?

Like pilolte, I don't understand either the high dollar flashlight craze. In Vietnam tunnel rats went down in the dark with a GI D cell angle head flashlight anda .45 pistol. There's times when you can have too much light. You don't want to have such a brilliant glare that when you look away, your blind as a bat.

For a personal flashlight a converted minimag will do for 99.9% of what you will be doing.
 
With it's low output and seemly lower quality as of late, there are so many better lights out there. I go with single LED AA lights all the time. Everything from nice SureFires to cheap ($25.00) 5 function Asian lights. The LEDs run way longer on the same betteries than the Maglights. More durable too.

Bad experiences with the Mini-Mag conversions. I've tried several ans none were worth my time.


Good luck.
 
There are definitely better lights out there (I've got several Fenixes and other LEDs) -- but Maglites are very useful. My 20-y/o 2D is great with the basic Mag LED drop-in. Not Malkoff-level performance, but it's bright, and the batteries last forever. Great for the truck or the backyard.

I also recently grabbed a couple of the latest generation of the 2AA LED, which now has a smart switch with a couple of power settings. The focusing beam is a mixed blessing -- it's handy, but you have to deal with the weird Mag dark spots. It's as bright as a 1AA Fenix, though, and it was nine bucks on sale at Home Depot. Awfully tough to beat for that.
 
I've been using Maglites since they came out,I like them.I'm sure some of the others are much better,but the humble Maglight works for me.I can remember when they were considered state of the art.
 
smersh said:
There are definitely better lights out there (I've got several Fenixes and other LEDs) -- but Maglites are very useful. My 20-y/o 2D is great with the basic Mag LED drop-in. Not Malkoff-level performance, but it's bright, and the batteries last forever. Great for the truck or the backyard.

I also recently grabbed a couple of the latest generation of the 2AA LED, which now has a smart switch with a couple of power settings. The focusing beam is a mixed blessing -- it's handy, but you have to deal with the weird Mag dark spots. It's as bright as a 1AA Fenix, though, and it was nine bucks on sale at Home Depot. Awfully tough to beat for that.
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This is thing is interesting. Are you talking about the one that has the SOS flash setting and such?
 
I have both surfire and mags. I think surefires have their place as weapons light and for tactical use, but I prefer Mags for general duty. I have 2 3 cells that I keep in my trucks and I keep a minimag on my belt for work. I have all three outfitted with led upgrades which solved the only problem I had with them and that was they burned through their batteries way too quick. I carry a combo sheath on my belt that holds my SOG powerassist and my minimag. If you need a tailcap switch, I recommend the one that has the little blinking light that helps you find it in the dark. I don't think you can beat the Maglites at their price point.
 
pilote said:
...
i still find it difficult to comprehend the lust some people have over flashlights...
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Some say the same thing about knives or stamps or salt and pepper shakers yet people collect them for different reasons. Who knows really.


With regard to the OP's question I think the new LED minimag would be better in the long run. Even though it is more expensive it would save money in batteries in the long run.
 
ive got 4 mini mag lites i love them. i dont carry them as much as i used to. one of them is modded to house 3 leds which just looks so cool. im actually trying to get rid of them if anyone has something to trade for them?
 
wildmanh said:
I've had the Maglight LED upgrade in my 2D MAG for almost 3 years now and am still on the same set of batteries. That light is now very bright and has tons of throw, even more then my iTP C7T (Cree XR-E, 1AA) and EagleTac P100C2 (Cree XP-E, 2CR123A) that I gave to my brother recently. Was worth the money for the increased brightness, throw and runtime. Love carrying the 2D Mag because it's really bright and makes a good club. :)

The other day I got a 3LED Nite-Ize brand upgrade for my Mini Mag. So far so good. Much brighter then the old bulb and cost less then $10. My upgrade came with the tail clicky which was cool. :)

My take on it is, if you have some MagLights invest in the LED Upgrades, they are totally worth it IMO. If you are looking to spend $40 to $60 on a new light, look at iTP, EagleTac, Quark, Fenix or Inova. All really nice lights for the money.

Heber
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Which LED upgrade did you use for your maglight?

I have a 2D and want to upgrade it , but don't know which LED module to use for it.
 
i led'ed my aa maglite, works pretty good. but i think iam going to
get the t25 olight. it's a aa with a cree led.
 
I have a couple of the LED Maglites around the house. For what you pay for them I think they are a pretty good deal. I also use a pelican that is really a great light. You might want to look at those also.

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The new mini mag LED is pretty bright, very nice for the cost. Fenix and Surefire products are my go to lights, it's just a nostalgia thing with the Mag lites, though you couldn't go wrong with having one of them in your glovebox or as a back up.
 
dougo83 said:
This is thing is interesting. Are you talking about the one that has the SOS flash setting and such?
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The latest LED Maglite AA flashlight, I think it's the second generation, has four levels. Twist once for on with full power, twist again for low power, again for fast flashing, and again for SOS. The cycle repeats as you twist the head. The Home Depot was blowing them out before Christmas and I grabbed one for the wife to keep in her car.
 
IUKE12 said:
The latest LED Maglite AA flashlight, I think it's the second generation, has four levels. Twist once for on with full power, twist again for low power, again for fast flashing, and again for SOS. The cycle repeats as you twist the head. The Home Depot was blowing them out before Christmas and I grabbed one for the wife to keep in her car.
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Yea...I picked one up from Academy for $20. I took it back when I got frustrated with it. If I could find one for $10, I might buy one for the truck.
 
dougo83 said:
This is thing is interesting. Are you talking about the one that has the SOS flash setting and such?
Click to expand...

IUKE12 said:
The latest LED Maglite AA flashlight, I think it's the second generation, has four levels. Twist once for on with full power, twist again for low power, again for fast flashing, and again for SOS. The cycle repeats as you twist the head. The Home Depot was blowing them out before Christmas and I grabbed one for the wife to keep in her car.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's the one. Awfully good for ten bucks. Still pretty good for twenty, which is the normal price.
 
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