Flashlights?

[大馬伕]

Only a few things could damage a Mag-Lite.

Dropping it is what happens most. That usually damages the old lamps and filaments. I suppose you could damage the LED if you drop it down a cliff. Drop it hard enough and you could dent it.


Battery failure is common, but not the fault of Mag-Lite. Batteries leak inside the lights. You could take the light apart, clean it, and replace parts.


The switch is a replaceable part. You could ask Mag-Lite to repair it under warranty. Or buy a parts kit and do it yourself.

 

[Fifty150]

I hate this thread.

This thread got me to take a second look at Mag-Lite.

Which means that I spent more money!






About 15 years ago, I thought that I was done with Mag-Lite. Antiquated. Old tech. I had a couple of D battery Mag-Lites from when I was a kid. I bought the LED drop in which was available at the time. I think that company is no longer in business. At least I don't see a web presence for the company when I run the name through a search engine.

At the time, I thought that it was expensive. The drop in LED costs more than the flashlight. But they worked. And in that era, they were brighter than the old Krypton bulb. Good enough for stashing them around the house for power outages. Really good for fishing, hunting, and camping trips. I was happy. I was done with Mag-Lite.​

Mag-Lite didn't have the appeal to me as a work light. At that point in my life, Streamlight was a better product. But in the back of my mind, I knew, that in the event of an emergency, AA & D batteries were easier to get a hold of. It would be easier to swap out fresh Alkaline batteries, when a rechargeable flashlight took hours to charge.

In today's world, a D flashlight with only 140 lumen seems under-powered, in comparison to tiny LED flashlights on Amazon with 100s and 1,000s of claimed lumen. In 2009, this was pretty good. Today, I turned it on, and it still works pretty good. I turned off the lights, and it lit up a wall just fine. I went out to the backyard, where there's no street lighting, and it lit up the yard just fine. t works in an urban environment where I need to shine the light into cars, under cars, up in trees, into dark entry ways, down dark alleys. I'm not an expert. But with my "naked eyes", it's good enough to do the job.​

Now this is the part that I hate. Spending money. I'm looking at the Mag-Lite website, and I see that there's a 4 D cell LED which puts out over 1,000 lumen. And it's a D battery operated light. Which is what I want as a backup light during power outages. And ordering direct from Mag-Lite, there are discount codes.

I don't need another flashlight. But I want this light. I want to see what the 1,002 looks like in real life. $60 is competitively priced.​

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a32208859/maglite-ml300l-review/
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[Fifty150]

An interesting watch:​

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Of course, he can't test for things like long term durability, product warranty service, and real life conditions. Dude isn't going to stand guard in the rain for a 12 hour shift. He's not going to drop it down a hillside, or even drop it while running and fighting. Other factors like if you can mount the light to a weapon, or on a helmet, were not considered. He didn't even put the light in his mouth, like a lot of guys do when working with both hands. I would want to know about how many months or years the switch will last, after you click it on and off all night during a shift. And he didn't turn them on and dunk them into a fish tank.


All in all, it was an entertaining video.



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[Trenchfriend]

If I wouldn´t have my 2D Cell LED-Mag, I would get a 2C Cell Mag, these days. Just a little more compact.

BUT, I still would prefer the no-gadgets 1st generation LED, if they would sell them again on the super low price range as in 2010!
Back then, you could buy a dozens MagLED if you want to, haha. And of course you got a free krypton bulb in the screwback.

 

[大馬伕]

I spent more money!

You could just sit in the darK.

2C Cell Mag, these days. Just a little more compact.

the super low price range as in 2010!

How much was a Maglite in 2010? $20?


You can still get them for the same cost as buying a meal.

 

[Trenchfriend]

MagLED 2D Cell was around 30 EUR, back in 2010 in German Market. It was very atrractive to get a new introduced LED-Maglite to replace to old thursty Krypton-Mag.

The current common MagLED ML50L 2C Cell costs around 80 EUR.

 

[Fifty150]

You could just sit in the darK.

Not me. I have a coupon.

The current common MagLED ML50L 2C Cell costs around 80 EUR.

Quite the disparity in pricing. Are there flashlights made in Europe which don't have an import tariff?

 

[Fifty150]

I would get a 2C Cell Mag, these days. Just a little more compact.

Years ago, I decided that I was going to switch to using rechargeable batteries. What I didn't know at the time, was that Alkaline batteries are 1.5V and most of the rechargeable batteries are 1.2V. As I went down the path of buying batteries and a charger, I got AA. That worked for just about everything. Until the odd remote control which needed AAA batteries. And 1 odd penlight that called for AAAA batteries.


I even got some of those adapters to use 2 AA batteries in a D battery shell. Those worked great, until I got tired of taking them apart to recharge the batteries. Laziness. A little extra effort, and I quit. I eventually bought some D batteries.
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I didn't have anything that used C batteries. I never bought them. That's the only thing holding me back from buying a flashlight, or anything else, using C batteries. I would have to buy the batteries.​

if they would sell them again on the super low price range as in 2010!

How about eBay or Amazon listings?

Here in The USA, buying new directly from Mag-Lite, or Mag-Lite on Amazon, has the lowest prices. Odd that on eBay, people are selling used Mag-Lite for more than the cost of a new one.

 

[Fifty150]

In the last decade, with LED technology getting better, the cost of the lights have dropped dramatically. Along the way, I have picked up a few whenever I saw something on sale, and thought that it was a good deal. Keep one in the kitchen. A few in the garage. One in each car. One in the hallway closet. One by the front door. One in the motorcycle saddle bag. One for work. One as a backup. One for camping. I've accumulated a small collection. Some have really stood out. Some I kind of shrug my shoulders at.

What I've learned is that every modern LED flashlight beats the old incandescent lights. With advertised lumen into the thousands, the average homeowner can easily meet their needs.

One thing that I do, is turn off all the lights in the house. I go into the backyard at night, because it's not lit by street lighting. That's how I discover how much light is enough in a power outage. Surprise: the Mag-Lite Solitaire advertised at 47 lumen was good enough to walk around my house in the dark, and navigate my garage workshop. The Nite Ize LED conversion kit for 2 AA Mini Mag-Lite, advertised at 40 lumen, was also very good.

My preference these days is for rechargeable lights, or rechargeable batteries. Some lights use proprietary chargers and batteries. That's okay if you work somewhere where your entire agency is equipped with the same Mag-Charger or Streamlight. Then there are bank chargers in the stations and mounted into the fleet vehicles. A homeowner may want to consider having a vehicle charger, since one of the emergency flashlights will be in the car. I like that some flashlights use USB chargers. Although the USB port on your computer may take forever to charge a flashlight.

Traditional AAA, AA, C, and D batteries offer a unique advantage. Those batteries are everywhere. Grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, liquor stores, etc. Where are you going to find an extra lithium ion battery at the last minute? I learned this from years of using Streamlight and Surefire lights. Those "sub-c" battery packs and CR123 batteries are not commonly found at 7Eleven, at 3 in the morning. I like using the rechargeable batteries. But in the odd event that all of my batteries drain, leak, burst, or whatever........ I can simply pick up over the counter alkaline batteries.

I'm not worried about an electromagnetic pulse weapon attack from a foreign enemy or terrorist organization. A lightning strike could happen. This is where the old Mag-Lite will still work. If you upgrade your Mag-Lite with an LED, keep the old incandescent lamps. You can always reverse engineer the lamp if you survive an EMP.

There are drop in LED conversions for old incandescent lamps. Some costing more than others. I have the old TerraLux brand LED from 15 years ago, which were advertised at 140 lumen. Those have worked well. They still work, which means a lot. I have the Nite Ize brand conversion for the Mini Mag-Lite. Advertised at 40 lumen, it gets the job done for the casual user. I have one on the nightstand. When I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I don't have to turn all the lights on. I also have the current generic LED, sold by eBay & Amazon sellers, which claims to be 200 lumen. All of those conversions are good enough for homeowner use. Not tactical. I wouldn't want my life to depend upon it, for a hot prowl or man with a *** call.


I haven't seen or tried every popular light. Mag-Lite, Streamlight, and Surefire are my favorites. There's at least a half dozen other brands that people favor for tactical, work, hunting, etc. Fenix, Coast, Pelican, Bright Star, NightStick, Condor....... Here are a few lamps that I picked up (cheap) over the years, which I would recommend. They all have their pros and cons. But they put out enough light, and are solidly built. Not like some of those $5 Amazon or eBay specials, or the free flashlight from Harbor Freight.

I feel that I can honestly depend on these lights if I need to. What does that even mean? It has to work. I can trust it to turn on, and stay on, until I turn it off. And it provides enough light that I can see. If I'm stumbling drunk at camp and need to go pee in the bushes. Or I have to see down a dark alley where chickenhawks lurk. I was surprised that by buying the occasional cheap flashlight, I would find a few that were really good. These would certainly work for someone who is looking for an alternative to the more expensive professional flashlights. Even more of a surprise is that they are all Energizer. Eveready is a subsidiary brand of Energizer.​

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[Trenchfriend]

I found out, that the 1. generation MagLED 2D Cell, like mine, was rated on 112 or 132 lumens. Sure, there were different LED over time.
Sound less today, BUT the old Cree LED has +37.000 candela on full focusing!

That's where its official 298m range is coming from.
In Europe, before the lumens war, you had only the important markings, you needed: "Range"! And also LED power.

And like I said, even back then, there were much better, much more trendy flashlights on the market, but MAN the Mag price was ridiculous!
You could get 1 newest whatever Surefire or 4 Mag 2D Cell.

 

[Fifty150]

I found out, that the 1. generation MagLED 2D Cell, like mine, was rated on 112 or 132 lumens.

I'm guessing that a decade ago, there were several generations and models . I found some information that says 168 lumen. Still pretty good. Good enough for most people who aren't fighting fire, crime, and wars. 10 or 15 years ago, TerraLux advertised upgrades for up to 140 lumen. Nite Ize, the brand which is commonly available, claims 55 lumen. Generic LED lamps on eBay & Amazon claim up to 200 lumen. Then you have the units which cost more than the flashlight itself.......... I'm not spending up to $100 to "upgrade" an old flashlight which is only worth about $20.

The light which you have is a good light.​

 

[Fifty150]

I have a 1st generation 2 AA Mini Mag. Photos of the old packaging claim 69 lumen. It's adequate. Lights up a wall just fine. I can find my way around a campground at night. For a lot of people, the LED Mini Mag may be all that they really need. The 2 AA Mini Mag with 127 lumen works well enough to look under the hood of a car. The 2 AA Mini Mag Pro with 332 lumen is probably better than any incandescent flashlight from 1979.​

 

[Fifty150]

Comparable in size and price to a 2 C or 2 D cell LED Mag-Lite. That's the comparison. Close enough in length and circumference. It will fit in your jeans pocket. You can hold it in your hand, with the activation button accessible to any finger or your thumb, without it being too heavy or off-balanced.



My Energizer 3500XT-R,.

A Maglite® ML50LX - LED 2C has 466 lumens. A Maglite® ML300L - LED 2D has 487 lumens. The Energizer claims 3,500 lumens. I have no way to measure that for accuracy. All 3 claim to be rated IPX4. Remember that if you are going to The Beach, deployed to a dessert environment, work in a marine unit, going to a subtropical jungle, or standing guard duty in the rain. 2C Mag is supposed to 291 meter beam distance. 2D Mag is supposed to be 323 meter distance. Energizer claims 300 meter distance. All three say that they can be dropped from 1 meter.




Here's what I like about the Energizer. It has a solid feel. The light output is bright enough that I don't find myself wanting it to be brighter. So far, it has been okay in the trunk of a car, and has gone on a few hunting and fishing trips. My impression is that this is a homeowner flashlight. Good for camping trips and power outages. Excellent if you walk your dog at night. Not something that I would consider for professional use. A firefighter or law enforcement should stick with products made for their trades.


That rubber cap for the USB ports will fail. The rubber switch cover will fail also. It will fail from use. It will fail because the flashlight will roll around and bump into things. It will fail from rubbing against your jeans as you slide it in and out of your pocket. It will fail from using belt holsters and flashlight rings. Mag-Lite sells switch covers as a serviceable part. Energizer is a battery company, not a flashlight company. There are no parts offered.

The tail end bulges out to be larger than the shaft. Not ideal. I'm used to a smooth body with a tail cap which is the same size. Maybe this is for grip and retention. But it won't slide into those "c-clip" mounting brackets, which fit Mag=Lite and Streamlight.

The USB ports will be the downfall. This is where water, dirt, sand, lint, and whatever will cause a failure. That little rubber cap is simply not going to last a lifetime. This is a gimmicky feature. USB C for charging. And a USB out so that the light can be used as a power bank.

The light is not built for you to take apart or service. No spare parts are offered. There is a finite service life. The battery and LED unit will eventually fail after so many cycles. You cannot replace either. Switches clicking on and off eventually fail. No replacement switch for sale.

The light color is not "white". It looks more like "warm white" with a yellow color. I'm not sure what the kelvin rating is. But it's certainly not "white" like other LED flashlights.

There are four LED units in the head. Two spot beams. Two flood beam. Turn the light on, and all four are activated. Then you can cycle through for energy saving and strobe. You can also use the digital focus. I just use it on high with all four beams on.

I'm not a fan of the "digital focus". Hold the switch down, and it will turn off half of the LED units. You can adjust it from spot to flood. But not manually. You can't turn the head to focus the light. Maybe some people like this feature because you can adjust the light with one hand.

Charging takes forever. Hours. Like 6 or 8 hours. I gave up checking. I just plug it in overnight, and hope that it's done in the morning. I could be doing it wrong. The flashlight only comes with a USB CABLE. I'm using a Motorola adapter rated for 5 volt, @ 2 amp. Of course, there are no technical specs for the flashlight. No idea what kind of rechargeable battery is inside the flashlight, or what the demands are. It's nice that I can plug into a phone's car charger. Not so practical for patrol, since you have to plug it in and unplug it. And if you drive around with the USB cord attached,; worry about it breaking off inside of the flashlight.


Overall, it does turn on and off. No problems with that yet. Incredibly bright. Lights up a wall. Has survived drops. I would consider it as an alternative to Mag-Lite at the $40 price point. Mag-Lite is proven for reliability, serviceable, and has a lifetime warranty. Energizer is brighter, also constructed of lightweight metal, and is an international company which claims to offer product support. More than likely, better quality than some of the off-brand lights sold on eBay & Amazon.​

 

[Peacoat]

I hesitate to mention this as I might be seen by some as pedantic, but I am seeing it so often lately, I feel I need to mention it. We all have our grammatical pet peeves.

Where = Where

Were = Were. The two are not interchangeable.

• Where are you going? and

• Were you at the party last night?

Two separate words and two separate and distinct uses of the words.

OK, another one I frequently see is using the "apostrophe s" for a possessive. (it's). That isn't a possessive; it's a contraction. A contraction combines two or more words in a shortened form, usually with an apostrophe.

The possessive of "it" is "its." Nothing more. No apostrophe needed.

The contraction of "it is" or "it has" is "it's."

Ok, back to flashlight programming.

 

[大馬伕]

After you enter a plea of not guilty, you pled not guilty.


It's a hung jury. Not a hanged jury.

I hesitate to mention this as I might be seen by some as pedantic, but I am seeing it so often lately, I feel I need to mention it. We all have our grammatical pet peeves
Where = Where
m
Were = Were. The two are not interchangeable.

• Where are you going? and

• Were you at the party last night?
e
Two separate words and two separate and distinct uses of the words.

OK, another one I frequently see is using the "apostrophe s" for a possessive. (it's). That isn't a possessive; it's a contraction. A contraction combines two or more words in a shortened form, usually with an apostrophe.

The possessive of "it" is "its." Nothing more. No apostrophe needed.

The contraction of "it is" or "it has" is "it's."

Ok, back to flashlight programming.

 

[大馬伕]

That's actually impressive for 30 lumens.

The "upgrade" is 30 lumen.

 

[Trenchfriend]

That's actually impressive for 30 lumens.

Depends on how much Candela (on full focus). That´s, what makes the older ones competitve.

 

[TLW '90]

The only good affordable LED upgrades for old incan Maglites are from Litt industries, but they are about $30.

Now if you're looking for a new home / workshop ( or even vehicle) flashlight, the mag charger ML150LRS with wall dock charger is amazing.

It's not very cheap ( you can certainly spend more though ) but it holds it's own respectably against all these contemporary Chinese made lights, I don't know if it really makes the 800 lumens claimed but with maglites high candela led's it's quite bright, it's reliable with a good battery that lasts due to it's wall dock charger that it lives on 24/7, and the user interface is great.

Just a simple click on / off for high or you can rapid click to cycle through medium and low.
If you want any other modes like strobe, momentary on...etc, this light has other mode sets that you can set it to if desired.
The process will likely remind you of setting a universal remote if any if you ever had to do that back in the day.

There are fancier Chinese made lights out there for the money, but this Mag charger is American made and has a far superior user interface.
The fact that you can completely ignore the existence of any other modes if you want is absolutely amazing, you literally have to know they're there and intentionally try to use them.
I also trust the reliability of Maglite, when I've had plenty of Chinese lights just stop working over time.

 

[TLW '90]

I have always used Maglights and Surefire lights. Got an email from my local FOP about a new (to me) tactical light called the Fenix. Didn't look into the price, but it appears to be a decent tactical light. Link below:

https://www.fenixlighting.com/pages...um=FOP&utm_campaign=Email&utm_content=JulyTac

As far as Chinese made lights goes, fenix does make some great products.
I use a fenix headlight at work, it's basically just a small right angle pocket light that can clip to the included headband but I do like this format better than a conventional dedicated headlight.
It charges quickly, has great output and quite a long runtime.
Plus the battery inside can be replaced if needed.
It has some modes I don't really need , but the user interface ( how you operate it and access/change the modes ) is smartly thought out.

 

[TLW '90]

My favorite EDC pocket light for 3 years was a brass AAA light from Lumintop.
A few months back I lost it and in a panic I went on line to replace it.
The only small AAA light I could find with solid brass construction and a warm high CRI LED was hand made here in the US by peak solutions.
It was a twist head instead of a tail switch, but I needed a new light so I ordered one.
I promptly found my little lumintop that afternoon, but had a new light on order so I decided to give it a try when it arrived.

Thid little pocket lug Eiger model from PEAK LED solutions is such a great little light, it's a bit brighter and has a much warmer high CRI led in it.