Running an MT-G2 off 2 alkaline D cells? Unworkable, probably would need ~10A from the cells after voltage sag to run 3A to the emitter. And add ~$20 to the cost.
Who’d thought that Mag would come out with a high-amp boost driver?
Good on them. They’ll definitely have a programmed step-down to achieve those ANSI runtimes but they should be regulated, unlike the Chinese big, bright, ’n cheap XM-L/2 lights inundating store shelves.
These almost definitely share internals with the LED MagCharger, so heatsinking AND focusing should be much improved over the traditional model. If so, they have a smaller focal adjustment range with no dark spots. Just a little Cree Rainbow
Edit: By “regulated,” I mean this (courtesy Robin Wang at LED-Resource.com):
Mag uses switched-mode buck and buck-boost drivers with programmed stepdowns, whereas the cheap, bright (XM-L/2), 3-cell torches locally available to consumers today simply use unregulated drivers with PWM modes (no voltage conversion—just MCUs driving FETs, resistors, and capacitors).
The beauty is the design grants the user a period of full output (mostly) regardless of battery condition upon turning on while leaving enough juice for extended runtime. It’s also kind of a product of the ANSI specification game but I can hardly blame them.
Guess you didn’t see the first magled lights taken apart? Everything was in the bulbpost and the ‘heatsink’, about 8mm diameter,0.5mm thick. They compensated for heat by reducing current (to about 50%) which happened in a matter of two minutes.
Not even info on Mag’s home page about 3rd gen. These will still be bought by many with the new “higher lumen” ratings. Maglites after all are an American tradition so to speak.
Well, I just bought a Black 3D ST33016 and a Black 2D ST23016 for $77 shipping included, (about $38.50 each). In a few days I will do a review of them. I'm looking forward to it. If they are bright, it would be a good option to do my file work on them and be able to keep the overall price down. All I plan on is adding a glass lens.
Not really a like for like comparison though is it. The Mag runs on cheap, everywhere available D cells. the C8 does not. And I suspect the Mag will wipe the floor with the C8 in terms of run time.
Imagine if it was a Chinese company producing flashlight with problems like this the Americans would definitely call it “chinese crap” without a second thought lol.
Good engineering means that a product is neither over engineered nor under engineered. Chinese products often times have NO engineering, and are sometimes just copies of someone else’s design with cost reductions with no thought as to the functionality of it. I have seen so much stuff from China that are obviously copies of something, but have NO chance of being useable because of the cost reductions that render the item worthless. I am not just referring to flashlights.
Maglites on the other hand are engineered to be USED and abused. We as flashaholics can tolerate some issues with the Chinese copies of lights that we buy, but the general public can not. For them a flashlight needs to just work.