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.