LED Mini-Maglite

I saw these on sale at the local OSH store, picked up 2. Seems like a pretty nice light for a whopping 22 bucks including batteries and a belt case. One to keep and one to give away in a few days.

I'm sure most of the folks here have owned or used a Maglite, I still like them. They're not the fanciest, or the lightest or even the brightest but I've only had one ever actually fail on me and if I had shipped it back to the manufacturer they probably could have fixed the problem easily, I didn't and finally tossed it.

I'm glad to see that they've "come around" to the whole LED bulb thing.

I've got one of their C cell lights in my car with an aftermarket LED conversion, not the brightest light in my collection but it works fine for what I need it to do and the extra long battery life is nice.

Cody Lundin makes a good case for continuing to use the Mini-mag in his latest book. He also makes a strong case against modifying them with an LED bulb and and the end switch, ala, Nite Izes.

I also use a Pelican M6 I think it is, very bright, uses 2 CR123 batteries. Battery cost is a small issue as is battery life but I use it for work so it's a writeoff. I also use a fair number of penlights at work, buy em by the 6 pack. I've tried using a better penlight but most are too bright for medical/EMS use.

JohnE

You're right, the 2AA 3W is not a bad light at all and that price is about the same as an old style mini-mag with a custom dropin. I thought I read mag was coming out with a "new" LED pretty soon, anyone heard anything about it?

I have one of those MM lights, and really like it. Not as bright as other lights I have, but bright enough for most of the things I use it for. Got mine for $19 and change.

I have to agree about that Nite Izes mod. Not bright enough, and the push button tailcap kept getting pushed into the on position in the pouch I carried it in, draining the batteries badly...

I bought the Maglite LED and I bought the Nite-ize LED drop in for an old Maglite. The Nite-ize drop-in is brighter and at $10 is a cheaper option if you have a old Maglite body laying around.

Either way though you get a good light that is universal.

The 2AA MagLED I've owned has been great. I bought a set of them at Wal-Mart about 2 years ago and kept the one with better tint. I even upgraded the stock thin plastic lens to a thicker glass one.

It's a simple bomb-proof design - with all the multi-stage clickclickclick lights out there, it's nice to have a single stage LED that is well-suited to many tasks. It's a good combination of brightness, runtime, and cost-efficiency.

I also think the LED mod is worth the money. I had an old mini Maglite lying around that I've barely used in the past 5 years or so. Now with the LED upgrade I have a much better light that lasts longer. Not in the same league as a good Inova or Fenix but definitely good enough for a backup light.

I shy away from Mini Maglites, myself. I have had several of them fail all in the same way. The switch, i.e. the momentary push button that is the bulb base which is activated by unscrewing the bezel, has decided to stick or generally become unreliable in every single Mini Maglite I have had.

Maybe I just let them get dirty. I don’t know, but I have had a couple of them fail in the described way while relatively new and never having the bezel completely removed (for “candle mode” or bulb replacement). Full-size Maglites are quite nice, in my opinion, especially with a Malkoff drop-in LED upgrade.

In 2008, Mini-Maglites, in fact all Maglites are over-rated. In my situation i just want it to work. I'm not gonna run over it with a car, or beat anyone with it.
The biggest enemy of maglites is the environment. THEY WILL CORRODE...We had several mini-maglites upgraded with the led kit, focus was horrible, don't even think about taking them out in the snow or wet.
Took them, applied silicone to the ends, and focused them and let them dry. Cool....a fair LED lite....just that ...fair.
I've had better luck with a 7 buck Garrity 9 LEd flashlite. (Part # 2718 if you're interested)
That's why we use PT headlamps. They're bulletproof...

I think that is a fair opinion DannyL. However I don't believe Maglites are made to be used in wet environments where they would corrode, its possible the items your describing were not being stored properly. (of course in Alaska the humidity is high). But I used Maglites in the south Pacific in the 90's and growing up in the PNW and don't recall tremendous corrosion with proper care and good batteries changed often.

I expect my $100 Surefire would perform the same as my $10 Maglite in a corrosive environment. Maybe the Surefire has more O-rings and weather resistance but I couldn't tell you. Same as my Inovas. When I am in wet situations I will use my water proof Pelican lights.

Headlamps. I prefer headlamps. I have used my Black Diamonds, Tikka (etal.) and e+lite all in downpour conditions and worked perfectly multiple times. So I am with you on that point as well.

I disagree with your assessment and have used Maglites for years in all kind of foul and fair weather conditions including the Arctic, Yukon and PNW rainforests. Aside from a blown bulb and the occasional dead batteries (not a fault of flashlight) they are very dependable for the price. A new 2 AA LED goes for $22.00 here...

I have always been curious as to how maglites fare after cold weather abuse so I did a test today to see how the maglites would still work after an hour being submerged in a bucket of snow and ice water.

Two lights, one is an older AA with incandescent bulb, the second is a LED conversion kit. Up until the photo was taken, it has been in my BOB in the trunk of the car in sub zero temps for a month.


Left the flashlight on and submerging them. The outside ambient temp is -6.


A bit more snow and water slushed over top and let sit.


One hour later, out they come.


Though it is hard to tell in the photo, the lights are much dimmer then they were initially, however that is to be expected.


Post submerging inspection shows no water got into the body casing of the flashlights


I have re-assembled the flashlights and they are now once again sitting outside in the same bucket for two weeks as I am curious how they will hold up.

Although YMMV, I am sticking to the maglites for now, they work for me....I will report back in a couple of weeks on the results of the long submerging.

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

agreed. I use surefire g2 and e2d for most part. Then I have a right angle rechargable fire fighters light and a huge rechargable firefighters lantern from the same company (streamlight I think). Both were gifts from an Oklahoma FD for OKC bombing help.

I'm not particularly fond of mags. I guess I just got used to SureFires and the like.

What can I say, I bought another one today. Local store had all Mag-Lites on sale, 20% off. Got an incandescent bulb AA Mini in a nice shade of violet along with a Nite-Ize LED upgrade for about 15 bucks.

As I posted earlier, I've never had any issues whatsover with any of the Mags I've owned over the years, with one exception, somebody wrote that they have too many parts? Not sure that computes as they are one of the simplest flashlights made, very basic switches, virtually no wiring, no circuit boards, etc. Ah well, to each their own.

As for police use, I see where Pelican has apparently picked up the LAPD contract as they are now selling a light that was designed by them and somebody at the LAPD, it is apparently standard issue nowadays.

JohnE