Hi

I am contemplating the eventual purchasing of a couple of LED mini Maglights.

I'd love to hear some advice about that particular type.

Are they powerful enough (3 Watts) ? Are they reliable ?
Which one should I buy ? The AAA X3 or AAA X 2 ?

Thanks for your comments.

I have 8 D cell Maglites and 3 AA, all are LED 3 watt or more. One of the AA's is a 3 cell,Maglites are quality all the way, and the AA's are no exception. I wouldn't think twice about buying one, I have never had a problem with any of them. Short of dropping one and breaking a bulb once. Never have had a switch or anything else fail on any of mine.

As far as 2 or 3 AA's. there are two things that come to mind, one is if size is a concern the other is run time, both should be taken into consideration when purchasing. LED's are the way to go in my opinion.

my 3aa seems to be flaky, it turns off if you bump the head sometimes, seems to be loose.

I converted my conventional mini-mag and my 3D mag to LED a while back. So far I'm quite happy with both. The mini mag isn't quite as bright as some of my Princeton Tec LED lights, but it's a good compromise between brightness and toughness. I have no complaints at all about converting my D cell to LEDs though

I converted a 2 AA mini-mag to LED using a Nite-Ize kit and I have been happy with it. I did not like how the standard mini-mag bulb would burn out at the time you needed it most, you then needed a back-up light so you could see to replace the bulb. Long-life LED's solved this problem.

Lately I have been using headlamp LEDs and find them even more useful because they are hands-free.

Mike

I like my 2xAA MiniMag 3 watt LED. It is solidly constructed. As with all MiniMags (and fullsized Mags for that matter) the head will feel a bit loose when you screw it out to focus the beam. I wish Mag would use a tighter thread pattern to alleviate this. I find the 3W MiniMag a great replacement for a fullsized 3 D-cell Mag with incandescent bulb. I have many many LED lights, and this 3W LED MiniMag is the first I've owned that has a decent throw - on par with an incandescent Mag. The beam of the LED MiniMag is much smoother (and whiter) than the incandescent Mag. With the incandescents, you get to see all the internal wiring inside the bulb and other artifacts projected. Not so with the LED MiniMag. The head screws all the way off for "candle mode". The light will stand upright on it's tailcap, but being tall and skinny you shouldn't expect it to stay upright after even a minor jarring.

I am still on my first set of batteries with this new light, but I have read that the LED MiniMags are very regulated - meaning the light stays at the same brightness right up until the batteries are exhausted, where the MiniMag simply turns off unexpectedly. If what I've read is true, you may not want this light if you desire a warning period of lower light output when your batteries start dieing. I actually prefer the full brightness until death output, since I always carry a single AAA led light on my keyring as a backup.

The MiniMag LED is on my list of "would buy it again". Not all of my other lights qualify for that. You need brightness, quality, durability, and reasonable price to qualify for a "would repurchase" recommendation in my book. The 2xAA MiniMag 3 watt LED qualifies. I do not have experience with the AAA models. I assume they'd be similar to the 2xAA, just with reduced runtime.

"Are they powerful enough (3 Watts) ? Are they reliable ?
Which one should I buy ? The AAA X3 or AAA X 2 ?"

IMO power, raw light output is seldom an issue, few if any flashlights are suitable as searchlights. There are a few rather expensive HID lights that are adequate searchlights but they aren't small or light and duration is short.

In my experience almost all of the use will be within 20' or so and mostly within arms reach. Within arms reach the evenness and light distribution is a primary concern. A light that puts all the light into a focused point can be tough to work with if you trying to illuminate a larger area like when your reading a map.

On the other hand a light that spreads its light over a wider area is fine for maps but it can be frustrating for detail work. Some of this is countered by the ability to focus the beam but some don't do either well or the light is uneven and spotty in either or both settings.

The other thing to watch for is color rendition. Does green look like green under this light? Reading a map or working on electronics, where wire color is critical, requires good color rendition. Reenacting the tense scene in the movie where the guy has to decide to cut the red or blue wire is a great way of building drama but it sucks in real life. LED lights can be all over the charts.

The good news is that the LED Mini-Mags are pretty good. The ability to focus or spread light are good and there are very few artifacts. Color rendition is good with a slight bias toward the blue end. Up close this isn't enough to cause any confusion.

A question is: Do you need 3 Watts? The amount of light is strong verging on too strong. Operating in the dark a dimmer light is easier on your night vision and wider situational awareness. Too bright a light means when you look into the dark you will see definite spots. The down side of this too bright goes along with shorter battery life.

Another thing to consider is cost. The 2-AA LED flashlight is going for around $25. An alternative is to buy the 2-AA incandescent Mini-Mag for about $9 and installing a Nite-Ize LED conversion lamp for $5. The Nite-Ize conversion is dimmer but plenty bright enough for close work and camp jobs. Color rendition is more yellow but perfectly acceptable for map reading and reading color codes. You lose the ability to focus the beam but the spread is a nice balance between flood and spot with very few artifacts or unevenness.

Up side is that you get adequate light for arms length and camp jobs, a bit longer battery life, and a flashlight that costs about $14 versus one that is a bit better as a focusable searchlight, has more raw power, slightly better color rendition but shorter battery life and a $25 price tag.

Owning and using both they both seem reliable. With a slight edge going to the LED Mini-Mag. Of the several Nite Ize units I have installed at least one has a burned one out of there LEDs burned out. It still works and puts out enough light but it shows both weakness and strength. Weakness that one out of three LEDs on the Nite-Ize conversion unit is out but strength in that the LED Mini-Mags have just one LED each so a single failure would end the game for those units.

Personally I find the 2-AA units to be best for my use. The LED Mini-Mag 3-AA units are too long for my liking. The 2-AAA units are thinner and lighter so if weight and bulk are important you might want to go that way but I think your right in assuming your going to get significantly shorter battery life. IMO the 2-AA units are a good compromise between handy with a nice heft and small enough to ride in a belt sheath, pocket or kit well.

A 2-AA flashlight also rides well in a Nite-Ize headband, about $7, and makes it into a nice, off to the side (Borg-like), headlamp. I never liked headlamps because they aren't user friendly used in the hand and they don't pack well.

Go to CandlePowerForums.Com and look around. There is a tremendous amount of information there on virtually every flashlight made, including many custom modifications and other unique lights.

Additionally you can check out TheLEDMuseum.com where Craig regularly puts submitted flashlights through his own testing.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Comanche7

I've got sooo many LED lights. My current "go to" lights are:

Bright, with good throw: 2xAA MiniMag LED 3 watt (around $20 at Target stores)
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_minimagled.htm

All around: Rock River 2xAAA LED 1/2 watt (bought on sale for $7.99 at Target, usually $9.99)
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/nuwai_tm-311h_2aaa.htm

Keychain: Gerber 1xAAA 5mm LED Tempo (bought on sale at REI for $7.99, usually $10.00)
http://www.rei.com/product/753122

Headlamp: Petzl Zipka Plus LED (received as gift, I think around $30 normally)
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/petzl_zt_plus.htm

How is the brightness of the mag 2AA compared to the mag 3AA? I like the brightness of the 3AA but need to send mine in as it sounds like I shouldn't be having the switch problems as no one else had mentioned them.

mini mag LED light isn't good at all. It doesn't measure up to other 3Watt LED lights on the market. it is just poor imitation of the real thing. there are much better 3 watt LED lights on the market.

When you measuring one product against another, there are many factors to consider other then just which light looks brighter, stronger with your eyes, the pretty case etc...

Consider this, you go out and buy the super duper x technology flashlight. First time you use it near small-town nowhere and the bulb(s) blow, get broken, lost etc. Go into the local hardware/gas station and ask for a replacement bulb....good luck. However, chances are the small-town hardware/gas station has mini-mags in stock and probably spare bulbs...along with parts for my Chev pickup but no parts for the import pickup parked outside and now waiting for parts to be shipped in at a very high cost.

Why do state this? This happened to me and my super duper x technology flashlight once upon a time in Carcross Yukon which is about in the middle of nowhere as it gets....

I learned my lesson and standardized on the AA mini mags (and now LED) lights since.

Although he stopped updating the site a year ago, I really like flashlightreviews.com He has a review of the Maglite LEDs. The nice thing is he uses the same tests for all his lights so you can compare things like beam pattern, color, has graphs for battery runtime, etc. Just use the menubar at the top.

To be specific on the Maglites.

I think the larger Maglites are much more reliable than the minimag. I have had over a dozen or so of the incandescent ones over the years and they weren't all that bright to me and every time I dropped one, at least one bulb would break. Sometimes the spare in the tail cap would break too.

Several years ago, I bought an LED minimag. It was much brighter than the incandescent ones and with better run time too. But then the it would start flaking out on me too, like someone mentioned. So I upgraded my oldest, most beat up mini maglite with a terralux 100 lumen drop in. It was blazing bright and with good run time. I have three minimags with LED drop-ins and while they are bright, I don't think they have been very reliable long-term to me.

I think a Fenix light would be more reliable and versatile. When I compared a series of different lights that I have, I was surprised to find that my itty bitty 1 AAA Fenix L0D Q4 at 75 lumens on high was brighter than my 2 AA minimag with the 100 lumen drop in. And my 2 AA Fenix blows away my 2 AA minimag for throw, brightness and run time potential.

But when push comes to shove, I usually grab my Surefire G2. Now one of them is equipped with a BugOutGear Q5 LED. Super bright and very decent run time.

Thanks a lot for your comments - all are highly appreciated.

A couple of years ago I stuck one of those aftermarked LED kits into a regular Mini-mag, and was less than thrilled with it. About six months ago I popped for a Mini-mag 3W 2AA light, and I am pretty happy with it. It is nowhere as bright as the CR123 powered lights I have, but it is bright enough to allow me to see well 50 ft or so at night, and it only cost $20, so it is in the pouch I carry every "working" day, along with my Leatherman...