I received an email Ad today from Zbattery.com advertising the new 274 lumen Maglite Pro 2D. This was discussed some at CPF, but I can't find anything on BLF. Has this already been talked about and dismissed?
http://www.zbattery.com/MAGLITE-PRO-LED-D-Cell-Flashlight-Black-ST2P016
ANSI rated at ~33kCd, and it produces 2x the output of the XP-E Mags. Kind of cool because the XP-G die is 2mm square versus 1mm square for XP-E. Robin says it’s time regulated akin to the MiniMag Pro.
Edit:
It’s worth a look. I like that Mag has stepped it up quite a bit in terms of peak output while retaining the same amount of throw. I hope Mag nixes the current cammed-reflector focusing system to focus on improved heatsinking. If they did, an XP-G2 could be pushed hard in an 8xAA Mag Pro or MagCharger, and that would be boss.
Based on their track record, the XP-G2 is about 4 years away, unfortunately. 
Indeed 
Anyone with ties to engineering at Mag, I hope you see this and prove us wrong, but I won’t hold my breath.
Funny, I sent an email to Mag back in February (about the time of the MM Pro/Pro+ intro) asking when they planned to introduce newer LEDs into the full size line of Maglites. The response? "Soon". 
OK, I decided since there's not much response on this, I'm going to talk to myself like ILF and Lumatic do. If you don't think this new Mag is big news, just look at how many mods have been done using Maglites. Hell, Old Lumens alone keeps them in business in Texas! 
Soon…in geological time! I almost feel bad about badmouthing them for being slow because I imagine they can’t really afford to disrupt what is likely an extremely streamlined ‘concept —> manufactured product’ process. Their price to build quality is generally quite good, especially given that they have to integrate more complex tech in some of their newer lights…and that they’re still manufacturing here.
I feel like if the latest revisions of the LED Mags were given the extremely thorough reviews that other brands and specific lights enjoy here, the better Mags might be seen as more desirable. I feel like the general perception of lower price:lumen ratio hurts, but some of their lights are really innovative and offer good to excellent performance. XL200 and Minimag Pro+ being prime examples. I have a 2D XP-E pill in a Mini 2AA MagLED and it exhibits excellent regulation and good heat dissipation-on long continuous runs the head gets even toastier when batteries are low (indicating the driver works overtime to extract full power from depleted cells).
If the forum had some more reviews/perspectives on them in the traditional BLF fashion of leaving no stone left unturned, people would see that particular models of Mag’s newer LED line make for pretty good torches, all things considered (except the Solitaire LED, we don’t need a review for that one 
).
at least I don’t get any sassback when I reply. 
I think it is amazing that they are releasing lights that have twice the lumens and have the same runtime. To the general public, runtime is more important than lumens. Notice that twice the lumens does not give more throw, probably because the die size of the emitter is larger, the hot spot will be a little larger, hence approximately the same throw.
That's a good thing, right? Biggest complaint with existing 2-D/3-D is they're great throwers with low output. I'd love to see a comparison.
Last night on a woods walk , the battery in my SE -1 suddenly went out . My buddy says " Good thing I've got my trusty Maglite ."
He had a point .
Good story, Jack. Someone should write a poem.... 
I haven’t seen the new 2D, but that makes sense since the new 2AA MiniMag Pro is so much brighter than the old version. Maybe its old news to everyone else, but it was a real surprise to me when I saw it at Home Depot. For $23 it seems like a great price for a quality light. And at 240+ lumens, it seems to be on par with more expensive lights. My Quark X AA^2 is only rated at 280 lumens and it cost substantially more.
H)
I think they are making a legitimate attempt at making the lights brighter, while keeping them Maglites. Focusing (good or bad), is a Maglite tradition and has always been a draw. Heat buildup is no good for them. They have always been designed to run for hours with little or no heat buildup.
Making a light that would compete with the Chinese lights, would undo what Maglite is and the general public wound not understand, if the light got too hot and cut out, or only ran for 15 minutes before it went out, due to the batteries not lasting. The general public also wants Alkalines. Not NiMH and certainly not Li-ions.
We are a breed apart as flashlight enthusiasts, but John Q will never understand if their Maglite ends up being holy hell bright but gets too hot to handle or does not use Alkalines.
Just my take. I think Maglite is trying to improve within the guidelines of what a Maglite has stood for and right or wrong, I agree with that.
I’d love to know more about this. Thanks.
Last year for Christmas, I gave a friend that goes camping with his family alot a 3D Mag LED.
As he opened it I blurted out “This flashlight will run for 80 hours on a set of batteries, That means that when you pack it for a camping trip, you could actually accidentally turn it on when you pack it and it would still run the whole trip.”
I like it but I'm waiting to see if it has a heatsink, an XP-G definitely needs one.
[quote=Old-Lumens
Just my take. I think Maglite is trying to improve within the guidelines of what a Maglite has stood for and right or wrong, I agree with that.
[/quote]
This probably makes more sense than anything else. I mean, given the $20 XM-L light that some of us have picked up recently at Home Depot (which is actually quite a good light!), how hard would it be for Mag to drop an XM-L into one of their lights so that they could get 500+ lumens? It would be neither difficult nor expensive for them to do so. But, as you say, people want alkalines. Not NiMH, and DEFINITELY not Li-Ion. And alkalines and XM-L just don’t belong in the same sentance. Even Malkoff goes so far as to say that their XM-L drop-in for Mags simply won’t run as bright without NiMH batteries.
At the end of the day, a Maglite can best be described as a ‘high-end flashlight for the average person’. And, unless Mag wants to have a whole separate line of lights for flashlight enthusiasts, they pretty much have to stick with what is ‘average consumer friendly’. This means relatively low-powered lights that can run fine on alkaline batteries for more than half an hour. I suspect we will see 500+ lumens from Mag the day that this can be done with a 200 lumen per watt chip.
On the other hand, I can certainly see a reason to buy this Maglite Pro. First of all, I have ALWAYS liked the simple, sleek look of Maglites. And although it isn’t even as bright as my Defiant from Home Depot, there are situations where you just don’t want or need a flashlight that’s THAT bright. Add to this the fact that runtime is probably GREAT with a couple of Tenergy Centuras, and this could actually be THE light to have in certain situations.