I carried a standard 2AA Mini-mag on my duty belt, in an open top holster, for over ten years, rain and shine. It was not my primary light, just an always with me back-up. The only problem I ever had with corrosion was a little bitty bit on the tailcap threads. I still have that light, and it still works as advertised...

I've carried them myself for a long time. Only failure I ever had was a 2AAA that went through the washer. One lead on the bulb rusted and broke off. I have the 3 AA LED and its my around the house work light now. I need to get a 2AA to replace my old 2AA non led as the kids got in my closet one day and it disappeared.

I have found the incandescent mini-mags to be very reliable, but not very bright. And the bulbs are very fragile. One drop from only a few feet can shatter the bulb in the light AND the one in the tail cap.

The LED versions have been sturdy, bright, but unreliable for me. I have the stock LED mini-mag and the mini-mag converted to LED. Both are bright, but both have connection issues with the LED bulb. That has been my experience. Hopefully they work better for you.

The Fenix lights, on the other hand, have been bullet proof for me. I EDC a little AAA one that is about as bright as a 2 AA LED mini-mag. And when hiking or camping, in addition to a Tikka XP head lamp, I may take a P3D Q5 for throw. And it has massive run time on the lower brightness settings too. Waaaay brighter AND waaay more run time than a mini-mag at about the same size. And for me, more reliable.

I am one who doesn't have any affection for mag lights. They were great 10+ years ago, but the market has moved on while Maglight has not.

For the same money one can buy better focused, brighter lights with more durability.

The 4AA Streamlight series is a great bargain in a high end lights ($20-30). Waterproof, impact resistant, bright as heck, decent throw/spill etc. Not much more one could ask for.

Mag lights are simply over priced old tech with good marketing.

Not much fond of mini-Mags; big ones are superb. I'll have to try Streamlight some day soon, with all the good things I keep hearing about it.

yeah mag lites are good i have the led one but for big tasks i prefer my tactical lights but the batteries are pricey so if you looking for a cost effective way to go get the mag lite led and do what i did by rechargeable batteries works great saves money too!

Just be careful whacking anything but a T-rex with one. Back in the '70's most cops carried Kel-lite flashlights. More than one got into trouble in court after putting knurling marks in the noggin' of some bad guy with one. Got so bad that my department came out with a weight to number of D cells formula that could be carried, both Kel-lites and Mag-lites were too heavy, and therefore could not be carried. That stuck us with junky plastic lights 'til the Streamlite SL-20 came into being, the department OK'd those thanks to their superior lighting capability...

I don't know what the current situation with Mag, but it used to be the case that the insides of the Mag lights were untreated aluminum, where at least with many SF models, the inside is has a coating to prevent corrosion.

I grew up in SE Alaska, and I can say that I was plagued with the Mag corrosion issue with the lights that used big cells ("C" and "D").

I'm not sure I ever saw this with the "AA" lights, but those were likely to be kept in my bag or on my person, and probably kept warmer. I also kind of recall the coating might have gone on the inside on the AA models, but am too lazy to dig in my box to look.

I think a lot of the failure issue has to do with the use and storage of the large alkaline cells in cool and damp conditions.

I also had a lot of issues with contacts and the Mags in this environment always required a bit of fiddling (disassembly and cleaning the contacts). This affected both the big lights, and the AA and AAA lights.

In general, I would probably first avoid using large cell alkalines in applications where you are going to be storing the light in cool and damp conditions for long periods of time and expect the light to work.

In addition to the problems with corrosion the big cells like the "D" cell, while they contain a lot of "power", deliver it miserably. You really need regulation to use these cells effectively IMO.

In general, while Mag was a pioneer in its time, I find that they have not grown and their lights are underwhelming in the modern context.

They have too many parts, take too much fiddling, have less robust waterproofing, and so-so performance.

-john


Edit:

Some general lights that make good replacements for Mag lights - Fenix and Inova.

For cold damp environments, consider the Surefire G2 or G2 LED. Polymer, lithium technology, very reliable, and waterproof.

If you really want to stick to alkaline in a wet cool environment, consider 4xAA offerings by UK, Pelican, Princeton Tec.

while not my favorite light, I have an AA incandecent from before just Desert Storm. No real problems other than bulbs and batteries. I promise this is not the case with the green angle neck that was also with me at that time. Mag may not be perfect, but better than nothing.

Ah, I didn't mean to suggest that Mag products are bad. In fact, they are decent. But there are better products to be had for the same dollars and I'd rather reward a company with my dollars that is offering a better product and evolving.

FWIW Desperado, try a 1xAA product from Fenix. It is a good contrast.

-john