Maglite - No Respect?

LED Flashlights – General Info Multiple AA / 14500 Flashlights
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I've been following the planned release of the new 2xAA Mini-Maglite Pro Models since early summer. A quick search of the forums here found only one mention with no replies.

I've always had a spot in my heart for the classic look and feel of Maglites, even though they are years out of date in technology. The lights are well built, fairly cheap and if you live in the U.S., chances are a Maglite was your first flashlight or you have owned a few in your lifetime - I know I have. And they seem to be a favorite for Flashlight modders. For the most part, since embarking on my light addiction adventure over two years ago, I have pretty much stopped thinking about Maglites. Then Old-Lumens offered up for sale his 3xAA Mini-Mag mod and I kind of rediscovered them. My cycling buddies were suitably impressed with my new light and one of them asked me if I could get someone to mod his 15 year old AA Mini-Mag. I hesitated because the shipping costs alone would be greater than you can buy one of these for on sale. So I searched to see if there was an update from Maglite available and found this thread over at CPF.

Quite a long thread that has been going on since July. Lots of rumoured or promised release dates in the thread, so I contacted Maglite customer support to get an official update - here's the response:

"WE do apologize for the delay in getting these on the market. We just started shipping the PRO and you can find them at Gander Mountain or Quartermaster or on line at www.zbattery.com. Give them a few weeks to receive them and get them on their shelves. We don't have a firm date yet on the PRO+"

These look to be respectable offerings, with 226 ANSI rated lumen output for the PRO and 245 for the PRO+ off 2xAA cells. Not a lot of product details on emitter used yet. I'll be keeping an eye out and plan on jumping on it as soon as I see one. As of today, no one is offering the light online.

Mini-Maglite Pro

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They look to be worlds better than the old model. I read about them a few weeks ago and there was something about them that I didn't like but I can't recall what it was at this time. I will need to read up on them again.

But yeah, count me as a big Maglite fan. ;)

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And I suspect you will quickly find a way to improve the new models, JohnnyMac!

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I dont have much interest in them now. Maybe 25 years ago they were great.

Other people might like it if its a nice light, cheap, bright, easy to buy locally....brand recognition.

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I'm looking forward to seeing how they are put together. When you think about it, 245 lumen is really not too bad compared to other 2xAA lights available. And Maglite is pretty honest about their lumen rating so it's likely to be a true number. It would definitely be better if they used XP-G or XM-L emitters but even the ShiningBeam Caveman with the XM-L only does 25 more lumen. You can no longer say their lights are outdated. Add in the simple elegance of the design, the rock-solid reliability, and the usual Mag color selections and you have a winner. I do wish they would upgrade the ano to HAIII but Mags have always help up pretty well with what they've been using.

Now they just need to up the game on their full sized models.

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Love the form factor .

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I am recently a follower of their lights. I have a XL100 and a XL200 which I find really unique in interface. 3d and 2d led lights are also great throwers. I will be looking forward to see some reviews of these ML series. The only downside I know about them is that their lumen ratings drop a few minutes later to protect bulb circuits. I like the tints of their Rebel lights but higher lumens Cree lights are a bit cooler in tint.

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Great hosts!

I gave up waiting for the vaporware MM pros.

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zbattery.com shows no sign of the Pro model. In fact, you can't even buy a regular LED Minimag there.

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The nostalgic choice. Though, just looking at it makes me feel old. I guess that's the essence of nostalgia...

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You can find regular LED: http://www.zbattery.com/Flashlights/LED-Mini-Mag

But you're right - no sign of the Pro anywhere. I'm going to pop in Gander Mtn this weekend on the offchance they'll have it, but I think Dorpmuller's right - so far this is still just vaporware.

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Mag incans are still awesome. the problem is most of their LED lights have kind of sucked. instead of building the lights from the ground up, most of them are retro-fits of their incans. they dropped in a pill, made some changes to the reflectors and that's about it. the pills don't make proper contact with the bodies so the heat sinking sucks. they tried to retain focusing ability of their incans, but that doesn't work with LED's because most LED emitting patterns don't work the same as an incan bulb's. they're trying to apply incan tech to LED's when they should have figured out how LED's work.

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Overall, I'm not a fan of 3xAAA lights, even though I own two. I would try out an XL200, but they seem to be crazy overpriced - $35. Not worth that to me. One of the appeals of the mini-Maglite has always been reasonable cost - $20 or lower is not uncommon.

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Every cheapo $3 Xenon P60 dropin wipes the floor with Incan Mags and as a modding object... half of the fun is figuring out the shortcomings of the host (heatsinking, current through switch/tailcap) and make it work anyway...

The big Maglites are batons with emergency lighting ...

Surefire and Maglite were too big back in the day and thought they would stay ahead without investing in new technologies.

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I need a clicky and I need a clip. Maglights don’t tend to come with either so I don’t buy them. In the day they were good but that day is over.

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Reports of them being available at an online outfit - sold out in a matter of hours Saturday.

If there's any interest, Quartermaster has the Pro (+free shipping), ZBattery has the Pro+. Full Retail though, in true BLF spirit, probably best to wait until they go on sale at Christmas....

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Is the new mini maglite pro + regulated?

And for how long is the regulation?

I ordered one but forgot to check to see if it was regulated.

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According to thread over at CPF, yes it is regulated and you should see ~ 25% drop in output by 12 to 15 minutes. I don't know how to check that myself. And according to my iPhone camera, it has PWM on low mode.

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:(((

Was hoping for it go be fully regulated.

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Maglite - No Respect?

Guess you know my answer to this one.

Maglite is probably the most talked about, least respected, most respected and most sold flashlight in the world. I believe that if there was no Maglite, modding as it is known today, would never been as popular. More mods have been adapted to the D & C series lights than any other light in the world. Why? because they are thickwall, machined well and readily available (USA) and let's face it, there's not many "other source" alternatives that can be modded with machined aluminum heatsinks, multiple emitters fancy finning of the heads, etc.

Maglites may be in the dark ages for most of you, then I am also in the dark ages. I like the sleek looks and I like a round barrel (without those ugly flats machined in them), I like the fact that the head can be finned and dressed up. I like the fact that there's no crazy lugs all over the light's body, end cap and head. The majority of those lights from "other sources" that I see, look more medieval in appearance, like something used by a knight of the round table, or by Conan the Barbarian.

The sleek look is my thing, so for me, Maglite is king. The only lights I have seen coming from "other sources", that look sleek, tend to run to the $100-$200 range and usually they do not have adequate cooling or improper driving, so they still need more money to bring them up to a hot modded light. At least for $15 - $25 (USD) I can have a 2,3,4 D host and for $100 complete I can end up with a hot rodded SST-90 or multilpe XM-L light.

Maglite will never be cutting edge. They settle for long lasting and dependable (in C & D sizes). Plastic lenses? Yes, because they are less prone to breaking than glass and can be cleaned up with polish like MAAS or that bikers polish (pink stuff). Low power? Sure, for longer lasting life of components. Plastic reflector? The REbel reflector in the Mag is very popular due to it's excellent design, even though it's plastic. It's been used in many an XM-L, SST-50 and SST-90 mod.

Overall, Maglite is still the king, for me.