I find it incredibly wasteful that most Maglites aren't designed for modern lithium cells, instead using alkaleak primaries that have a habit of prolapsing their contents out and ruining the light. That's also an environmental nightmare.
I do keep a Skilhunt E3A on my keyring which I DO run off a single alkaleak as it's something that gets very little use (cell will last me all year). Yeah, that's wasteful, but not as bad as throwing out several D cells.
I think leaking batteries are more of a user problem than a Maglite design problem, given that rechargeable NiMH cells are inexpensive and readily available!
Maglite wanted their products sold in Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc . Those places would never touch a lithium based light like a Convoy etc. Too much liability.
Don’t forget the flashaholic community is very small compared to the entire population of flashlight owners.
I’ve put LSD Eneloop batteries in every new Maglite I’ve gotten.
I still have and use my first two “upgrades”. Both are 2C Mags, with 3*CR123 (for 9v) and 7v PR-based incandescent bulbs. If I stop caring about CRI, I can swap in a 6D LED for runtime.
Beautiful beams, incredible shelf life, easy to adapt to batteries & bulbs in the field.
Not for a pocket, but so what.
I have LSD NiMH cells in my D cell lights (three 3D and a couple of 4D). Too bad I never found any Eneloop “true” D cells. They all have LEDs. Including one with an SST90 and 8 level E-switch, good for 1550 lumens OTF. With the big AL focusing reflector and UC dual coated lens, great runtime with the 10 amp hour NiMh “D” cells, it gives a lot of the current lights a good run. But yeah, it is huge…
I have Eneloops in all of the Two AA lights (all with clicky tail switch and LED conversions). Fortunately I only had a mild case of Alkaleak corrosion in a two AA light early on. I was able to clean it up and it works fine. But I learned my lesson.
I have something over 10 of them stashed around the house and in the cars for backup. Good little lights for what they are.
Time moves on. The lights I use the most now are things like the TS10, Sp10 Pro, or Tool AA…
Yeh, “Roar Of Magpie”. :laughing:
I loved Maglites and trusted them exclusively while caving… in the 90s. I really did my best to hang on and resist change. I just couldn’t. My last old school Maglite died to alkaleaks a few years ago. It was my fault for leaving them in there.
That prompted me to give them another chance. I got an LED version in their then-recent Spectrum series. Compared to cheaper lights from Convoy or Sofirn, it was garbage. I was very disappointed and haven’t since thought much about them.