Was in Bass Pro shop the other day and ran across a 1 watt drop in for Mini Mag light by Nite-Ize. They offered it 2 ways, Bulb and Reflector which is direct drive or Bulb,Reflector and tail switch with drver in it. Been wanting to mod one of this light. Amp draw on high with 2 alkilines is the same as the stock bulb[.36 amps}but with 65 Lumens of light as called out on there specs. Comes with clicky tail switch that has a 5 mode driver in it. High 100,Med 50,Low 25%,Slow and Fast strobe. Emitter is biult on a drop in base ,a little tight going in but great connection. Pretty good beam pattern with provided reflector. Disarmed stock on-off with head twist by add .020”shim under stock bulb base on outside of light. This allowed reflector to be setted on emitter base which gave best pattern. Tail switch has a little blinking light in it to help u find the light in the dark. Also turns it self off after 17 minutes but after giving u a warning at 15 and 16 minute mark with a short burst of fast flashes. All in all happy with this product. Also see now the Mag Light now makes there own Mini in a LED 4 mode light. Will check that one out later. Got to find it on sale first. Merry Christmas to the BLF gang.
I’m actually thinking of getting these for a friend of mine. My friend currently has a Minimag incandescent. And, as you know, striking a match will likely produce more light. I know that I can go get her a Minimag Pro for not much more money that will produce more light. But that light only runs about 2-3 hours on high. Plus, she is an alkaline battery user. So in all reality, the drop-in (which has a more alkaline-friendly current draw) will probably be more useful. Plus, she won’t have to ditch her old light (which she seems to be somewhat fond of).
I just ordered this mini mag drop in: MiniStar2 Extreme® LED Conversion from TerraLUX
They claim 140 lumens, the LED looks like a CREE XPE. I did a direct drive setup off 2xAA’s, with a XPE I had sitting here, and it was fairly bright. Not sure about 140 lumen, but WAY brighter than the stock incan bulb. I have read about some reliability issues with the TerraLUX modules, but I think that was from the previous model. We’ll see, I guess…
Too bad Malkoff doesn’t make a drop-in upgrade for the Minimag. I would buy one in an instant if they did.