right it has to be done what have you done to your maglites
over here in the UK mags can be a bit pricey but occasionally there are bargains to be had [ASDA now part of Wal-Mart were selling 2D mags on line at £6 to clear around 1/4 of the normal selling price so i got 10 used 6 for Xmas gifts and the other 4 i have
1 has a terralux 140lumen drop in running on 3x c-cells
1 has a terralux M300 600lumen running on 3x 18500
1 has the KD 200lumen with aspheric lens also running on 3x c-cell
1 is a ROP on 6x AA
total cost was around £140-£150 which i don't think is bad for 4 good outdoor lights
I have a 6D ROP high and a 6D ROP low - they cost me £13 each for the basic 6D's as my local B&Q was clearing them out. The relectors came from KD, the glass lenses from DX. The high has switch issues - even after replacing the switch. The low runs on some old D NiCd cells i got for about a pound each, the high runs on Maplin's LSD NiMH cells (8Ah)
I have a 2D (TK Maxx did them for £11 a couple of years ago.) It has an ROP high, KD metal reflector, shortened spring and two KD unprotected 32600's. Both the highs have resistance fixes done
I also have a 3D with a 9AA adapter, intended for a WA1185 bulb but I've never got round to getting the bulbs. At the moment it has a 12V 20W bulb in it which only really works with cells hot from the charger so runtime is too short to be useful. A 36V bulb with 9 14500s would probably be crazy bright till the protection circuit cut in - pulling 3A out of a 14500 is not smart. Can't remember what I paid for that one, but it was less than £15.
All in all, a bit over £100. I get two hours out of the 6D's and one hour out of the 2D
I also have a minimag LED 3AA with a Luxeon 3 emitter. Used to have more of them, gave them away.
i am thinking of getting the 6D from 7day shop to give longer run-time on either my ROP or terralux M300 i like the 2Ds but run time is a bit short for some of the longer walks we sometimes take our dogs
Wish i had mine....i gave one to my Father-In-Law and my little brother took my other. No mod was done to them except the 3D which had the Magled upgrade. Would love to see a pic of the big boys if you guys dont mind posting them. The only light that i keep in the car is a 2AA Magled....for emergency use only.
A whole lot better. Will hold their charge for longer. The typical Maplin D rechargeable is actually a low capacity Sub C cell in a bigger case. Typical capacity is 2500mAh (on a good day). The Maplin branded ones are 8,000mAh and low self-discharge so wan't need recharging before you want to use them. They will run for more than three times as long as the cheapies. The capacity rating seems pretty honest. By Maplin's standards they are cheap at £5.50 each - surprised they didn't ask £20 for a pair rather than £10.99. Maplin are never known for their cheapness. It is worthwhile comparing their 2.5" drive cases with the same items on DX - Often DX charges a fifth of the money for the same thing.
Give them their due they do have some good deals now and again but never really paid much attention to there other goods as i mainly use them for electrical components :-)
Thanks for the info Don ill pop up on the weekend and get a pair.
Coming up - got one of the dogs to pose with a 6D. She is an enormous dog (47kg -105lb), got the other to sit in the same general area as a 6D but he wouldn't stay still long enough.
Here's a 2D a 3D and two 6Ds. The 2D is a lithium batteried ROP high and the other lit one is a 6D ROP low bulb
Here's Fizz and a 6D. Her pedigree goes back to Germany in the 19th Century. She is a Giant Schnauzer and thinks she's a lapdog. No 100+lb dog is a lapdog.
And here's Corrie a West Highland White Terrier posing somewhere near a 6D. He's pretty big for a Westie at 10.5kg/24lb
You wouldn't say that about Corrie. Fizzy scares him (Well her head is bigger than him) and as a result of being nervous he's marking the carpets. Three times in the last 3 hours. Just as well urine neutraliser is a stock item where I work. Actually, vinegar works just as well and is a lot cheaper. The green one is probably my brightest light - it puts about 4.5A into the bulb which should be about 1300 lumens. The NiMH 6D one gets about 4.4-4.6A to the bulb (when it is working) but seems to hate me - switches give me untold grief in it - and the stock Mag switch is good to about 10-11A. Not sure what is going on there and am thinking of blowing silly money on a soft-start switch for it. Great for spotting big black dogs at long distances. My throwiest 18650 light will do the business to about 150m/450 feet but beyond that, it's ROP time. But walking two dogs while carrying a 6D just isn't going to happen.
Basically I don't buy much from Maplin that isn't marked Half Price. However, they have a shop about a mile from here which is handy when I want it right now. When I can wait a day, these guys http://www.tait-components.com in Glasgow are brilliant and cheap. They do real next day delivery for £4 and are happy to send the goods to the customer site and the paperwork to me. I'm often in Glasgow where they are based so I pick up stock items there and use them a lot for network kit and cables/connectors etc. They have a good range of tools, general electrical stuff and networking kit. If you want wire they are a good place to go looking. I've had an account there for 15 years. Recommended for bits and bobs if you are in Scotland and probably the UK.
If you can wait longer - the Screwfix catalogue is worth a look. Just watch for shipping charges.
Corrie's just nervous. He belongs to my folks and is the grandchild neither I nor my brother have obliged them with. He's spoiled. The folks are away at a family funeral that i couldn't get enough time off work to go to, so I got the dog to look after.Fizz scares the £@$^$%& out of him. He's not used to being away from home. Fizz is wonderful - she has won prizes at Crufts. In her breeding days, a puppy from her would have cost you more than I spent on my current car. She's not mine either - she belongs to a psychologist I work with who's off on a course so I get to borrow Fizz. Not a lot bothers her - except next door's dog. They hate each other and if loose will draw blood from each other. Means i have to let her out the back to empty herself on the lead. I've never seen her water a carpet, even when I've been out for 12 hours.
To drag this back on topic. I've never really needed a light to spot her as she always comes when called. Except when fighting with the Airedale next door.
Not so sure about next day, but well worth a look. Most of their market is contractors who care about stuff getting to the job on time so it is pretty likely that you will get stuff next day. Not worth it for a single ethernet cable, but when you are buying Cat-5 in kilometres, well worth it. Last wiring job i did in a not very large office, ended up using 1.2km of ethernet cable. I used over 400m of the stuff networking my house. And it isn't a big house. Just make sure you are paying less than you would from a local supplier. There is almost certainly an equivalent near to you - ask a local electrician where they get their stuff from. Best to ask a public sector one who won't think you are trying to steal business from him/her.
If I could have got away from work, I'd be on my way towards Bristol just now, heading for Wells. But only way i could have done it would have been to drive overnight tonight and then back overnight tomorrow. Might have done that at 25, but not at 50 when I'd still have to work on Friday.
I used to be really big on mags but it seems that the smaller lights with a cree led seem to outshine a stock mag. What i would like them to do is upgrade there led stock. I do know that some of there lights are using Rebels which i have not been fortunate enough to find around here yet.
Basically, Mags are quite nice for modding. They aren't that great the way they come out of the nasty clamshell packaging they use. The Rebel based LED ones are quite nice but hardly ground-breaking. THe Chinese stuff is not as well made usually, but a whole lot brighter. And multi-D cell lights are rather large for the light they give by today's standards.
