How things change over the years...The Maglite is actually pretty good

Mini Mag Pro + is vaporware IMO.

Regular incan Mags=great hosts, especially the C size for my painful wrists.

Everyone remember the Neutralizer? That's what they're good for!

Rich

If you like large under powered lights with plastic lenses and reflectors Maglites are one choice for sure.

I don't find myself with much use for C and D cells these days.

Since they are relatively inexpensive and available everywhere they seem to be decent candidates for modifying. I've never had one but a black 2 C model has a certain appeal for modification.

A mag combo was my first “proper” torch buy, a 2 or 3d mag and a 2aa mag, that got modded with a 3 led bulb, slapped in a head strap and did duty as my under vehicle work light for 11 years, in that time, I maybe changed the aa’s once or twice. It’s currently out of use as the o-rings perished, it got rained on once too often and the batteries fitted till they stuck :frowning: .
Once I get the one remaining stuck battery out its being match modded for a p60 host of some description (and cell type).
The other silver big torch is under the stairs, I’m sure that when I put my hand on it, it’ll switch on straight away and still give illumination, it’s been there a couple of years but I’m confident. I do fancy nodding this one too, a kind of “yeah its a maglight, Wtf” mod 8)
As said, they are an iconic design, we all grew up watching cops catch the bad guys with a mag strapped to his belt, that makes them cool, I don’t see any other torch get that kind of recognition, ever, no matter how small, bright, lightweight, nothing will ever come close to the brand recognition of a mag. To me, that makes them cool, their the mustang/mini/beetle/Coca-Cola of the torch world, pull one out and anyone, flashaholic or none flashaholic alike will instantly recognise it, and probably, even if they don’t want too, like the form.

My mag 2C ROP is an awesome light and the new 3D led mags throw like crazy and run forever. They make good emergency lights.

Oldbob, the tailcap was trimmed about 5mm to accomodate the 3 123's. I havent tried with 18650's but jacks info seems easy enough.

Any chance you got a pic of the de-ano cap you're talking about Jack?

I don't personally own one(my employer bought one for use in the store), but the 4D LED mags seem to be fairly bright (not insane at all) But the throw on it seems to be very good and you always have the option of hitting someone in the head with it.

Gotta say: throwers are the nice things to play with and some people really need them, but for serious business at work use, I take the flooder!

Mags are IMO very OK as hosts. Had one Lambda lights 2D XM-L. One word and that's : solid.

What it comes to stock 3-4D mags... Well.

Let me put it this way: in here they still cost around almost 40-50$ a piece. One 4pcs round of batteries can be like 15$ or even more.

These facts combined with not-too-flat regulation with new batts, size, weight, price, power-ratio to all mentioned before - Mag is not too popular anymore.

I know what the prices are at US, much more reasonable choice there even with incan and alkalines.

Well, i grinded down the ano on the inside of the tailcap and squeezed a small spring from a $1.50 ebay light between the cap and cells. It works and now i dont have to use 123s!

Buteven though its much brighter than a stock 2C (and much whiter) it cant touch a magcharger, xml thrower, or even an xpg. It was much more impressive back in the luxeon days.

Still, not bad for less than $20...whether you run primaries or 18650's.

MAGs are for modding - they are excellent hosts as mentioned before. like solar force. i cant speak to there newer stuff but regarding modest mods for beginners its a good platform. not that the Pros dont knock out some sick mods with them too.

my example, a while back ,prior to BLF, i took a p7 dropin from DX and a 4c MAG ( yes i am a C cell fan ). blah blah after some cursing a solid flashlight that runs either 4c or 2 18650s ( with adapter) all for around $40

seen a few people drill out some 2 AA MAGs to get a regular driver in there. then you can use a niteize clicky or something ( havent done an AA yet ). again modest but very functional

the AAAs are tight (inside space) and i havent found a easy driver to use with them but again a solid 2 AAA flashlight.

I think Maglite dropped the ball a little. They probably had enough revenue from their lineup in the past few decades, that they could have invested a little more in developing new products that incorporate the newest technology. I also think the Mags are only decent hosts for modding, there are far better options out there. Maybe it's the most rewarding in terms of achievement, but you have too invest a lot of time/money or both to make it a decent host.

I'm not only talking about driving XM-Ls to their limits, but also efficiency which is much more important with alkaleaks. See what Fenix can do with standard cells... one has to wonder why Maglite hasn't reacted in all this time. Also even elder people who are not flashaholics are using NiMHs nowadays. They are not that uncommon... you can buy them in every big Walmart-like store here. (Walmart didn't make in Germany... too competitive market.. ). The Mini Pro+ just has entered the market, they should have updated their whole lineup 2-3 years ago or even before that. After all this time they introduced a light which is essentially the old host with the old thermal problems... to me it looks like Maglite is stuck in the past. I guess their sales numbers have to heavily drop first before they wake up. That's not healthy for a company, that was considered top of the line several years ago.

But, it is what happens to most home grown companies that are still controlled by the original owner. I have seen that in home grown compamies all across the USA. When “The Boss” kicks the bucket, is when Maglite will fall and disappear.

I don't see any NiMHs in WalMart either. They did away with all of their good NiMHs (Duracell) and there's just a handful of Rayovac or Energizer NiMHs out there. They doubled or tripled their inventory of Alkalines, because that is what people here buy. If it wasn't the best selling battery in the US, they would not have dropped their NiMHs and doubled their Alkalines. We are a throw away country and world. Rechargeables will never be the most popular batteries. Just like no one wants electric cars here either. They will even buy the 1.5V throw away lithiums before they buy rechargeable Li-ion. People like us, on these forums, are just a minority. Maglite is for the Majority, who still buy them.

I watch the stock in my local WalMart (the flashlight stock). Ya I'm crazy, but I mark the packages, so I know when they move out. (I said I was crazy). Maglites go out of that place in good numbers. Averaging 15+ lights per month, in one store. (Two years ago, the numbers were higher). The other lights, like Brinkman, that are in the same price range as the LED Maglites, don't sell well at all. 2-5 per month. Now the really cheap plastic lights, they sell well. 4 lights with batteries for $10.00, ya they sell almost as good as Maglites.

WalMart is also starting to push the LED Maglites. They are not putting Incans back up, but putting more and more LED lights up. (Probably because of Maglite). I am starting to hoard Incan 2D Maglites. I buy one a month and put them away, so I can have lights to mod this winter. Sooner or later Incan Maglites will be really hard to find. If I don't use them, then when they do get scarce, I can sell them on ebay for twice the price.

I’m afraid that when I take all of these into consideration, The Mag come close to the bottom of the list. They are Too big, too heavy, they have a plastic reflector, they are not bright enough, and expensive for what they are.

The simple fact is they have been left behind by the Chinese.

Marc.

Some time ago I dropped a TerraLUX upgrade into my old Mini Maglite, and it is now my most used light around the house. I’ve had the thing for about 20 years, so I guess I have some sort of emotional attachment to it by now, which probably factors significantly into my inclination to keep it in play. Upgrading it was a pleasure. In fact it was almost personal, in a “this faithful torch deserves it” kinda way.

Great iconic light, with a new lease on life :slight_smile:

If you really wanna upgrade it put a xm-l in it.

Once again, for the average flashlight user a Maglite wins by a large margin.

Ease of use ( you pick it up and press the button )

Durability ( They can take a hit and they have been in use for YEARS)

Dependability ( They ALWAYS work just as they are, My last order of Chinese lights were 3 for 3 DOA, simple fixes though, but can you see the average joe putting up with THAT?)

Availablity - Can buy one almost anywhere, drug, hardware, even WalMart! why it takes up to 2 MONTHS to get a Chinese light! I can hop in my car and get a Mag in 5 minutes

Length of runtime - Talking LED Mags here, 9 hours for 2D and 70 hours with 3D. Of course Chinese lights can get that kind of runtime …………on LOW

Availability of Batteries - The average person is NOT going to put up with taking the batteries out and recharging them, THEY JUST WON’T DO IT. They will however plug the light in at night if it has an integral charger. We do this already with Cell phones, but only because a cell phone is an “every day carry” Remember the average flashlight is NOT used every day. Also if you battery runs down you can walk into ANY store and buy more, no waiting for 4 hours to recharge.

Overall Quality of build and Finish Except for the high end Chinese lights, The quality of the build and finish of a Mag exceeds the JUNK that I have seen in ALL the cheaper Chinese lights that I have bought. The anodizing is especially superb.

Usability ( Pick one up and it just works, do you think that a “forgotten Li Ion battery flashlight is going to actually work 3 years from now when you need it, after it has been in a drawer all that time (remember it is not used every day, but rather only several times each year. Now I hear that the latest Duracells have a shelf life of 10 years!

Price (Cheaper initial cost than ANY Chinese flashlight, battery, charger combo) - Its TRUE

Decent enough spill OR Throw for most applications. (how often does one REALLY need 1000 Lumen?)

Front mounted switch, not a tailcap switch, for one handed operation - I HATE tailcap switches

NO BLINKY modes - enough said

Only people with a specific need or a flashaholic would choose anything else.

Now after having said all that, I am excited about these new Chinese lights and find myself lusting after a number of them. I actually buy many of them. But I am a flashaholic, NOT the average flashlight user.

Marc you are right, technologically the Chinese have gone way ahead, but will they sell to the general public??
I think NOT.

I am not saying they are the best for you and I, I am saying they are the best for everyone else!

BTW, When the IPAD first came out my wife wanted one. I objected because

It was Apple - Proprietary
no USB ports
can’t print
no external video port
can’t replace the battery
no flash
etc. etc.

but I got her one anyway…….and she LOVES it, and so do I
It’s simple and it WORKS and it is dominating the market, sometimes what seems best to the ones “in the know” is not the best for everyone else.

That was the Genius of Steve Jobs, creating the best computers, not for techies, but for the “rest of us”
In fact that was Apples motto.

Love my Mag 2c :slight_smile:

I think maybe there is a little patriotism there. First off I do not hate Mags, I have 3 of them, 2x 3D cells and a minimag. But if I need to go into the garden, I pick up One of my Solarforces or my Klarus, because the Mag is too big and heavy. Both of the D cell Mags have been upgraded to XPG R5 with 200lm, made a big difference but still for the size of it, it is just not practical, or bright enough.

As for reliability all of my Solarforces, my Klarus and my Jetbeam work Flawlessly and the crazy thing is, my Jetbean BC40 cost me less than a 3D Mag! So as far as cost goes the Mag loses in a big way. Run time is irrelevant as it’s relative to the output. My Klarus has 33 hours on 2 Eneloops.

Now I agree that Most people will buy a Mag, simply because it is there, But the same could be said about my Klarus, If it was stocked on shelves in every shop. The Klarus wipes the floor of the Mag for quality. It is HAIII, it has a far superior switch, it’s far smaller and far brighter and runs on double AAs, £2 for 4 Duracells (I use eneloops) as opposed to £4 for 2 D cells, £8 for mine as I need 3 cells.

The Mag has a place but it’s no longer a real torch IMO. You must however compare them with high end Chinese torches, because I agree that there is a lot of crap from China, that will not work in 12 months or even out the box. The crazy thing is a Solarforce is only a couple of dollars more than a cheap copy.

Oh, and by the way when I ordered my last Solarforce, it arrived in 4 days.

Marc.

Aloha and welcome to BLF CamoNinja!

Hi and welcome to BLF!

Now, can you give us more pics of heatsink, driver, switch, or can you give us a link to more details of that build? :slight_smile:

Viktor