Defending the Maglite

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Roving Rich

Full Member
Oct 13, 2003
1,460
4
Nr Reading
(maglites have taken some flack on the worst kit thread)
Well sorry but I like em, i have had them for years and have only killed one when the batteries corroded too badly to get them out.
I have had hundreds of torches and these are amongst the very best.
The switches work, the bulbs last years, you don't have to clean the contacts, you can focus them, they are virtually unbreakable. They don't flicker, and you don't have to beat them to get them to work! The larger ones make a great club for self defence.
In short mine have never let me down - 100% reliable, and set the standard for torches.
OK so things have moved on and LEDs are the way forward, hopefully Mag instruments will take this on board shortly. In the mean time I use a Tikka plus and still have a maglite as backup.
Cheers
Rich
 

MartiniDave

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 29, 2003
2,355
130
62
Cambridgeshire
I'm inclined to agree with Rich, the only problem I've had in about 16 years of using maglites is losing them, either thru carelessness or some sod just borrowing and not returning.
Oh yes, the 6 cell makes a great club!

Dave
 
R

Ratboy

Guest
I had a few maglites over the years and keep one under my seat on my motorbike so I can undo my locks in the dark, and its a damp home for it but never had any trouble. My & my better half both have a tikka plus and they are great for walking about and reading but this weekend we were woke up by someone walking about at 4.00am in the field we were sleeping in and the tikka was useless for scanning the wood and field, were as my mini maglite was great for having a look (assume it was poachers as I was on private land owned by a friend and heard a dog and a rabbit screaming) :-( !
 

al

Need to contact Admin...
Sep 18, 2003
346
1
kent
hear hear , agreed ,top lights,had to fight off an irish terrorist with a 6 cell once ,worked well
 

larry the spark

Forager
Dec 16, 2003
183
0
Belfast
Tell us more about the terrorist story Al!

I like 'em too.... dropped a mini in a camp fire for a good few seconds and it came out unscathed. Got a streamlight keymate with 1 led and optics recently though which is a wee gem of a titanium cased mini torch.
 
T

Tumper

Guest
...If you'd had a decent torch, youmight have seen him coming... :twisted:
 

al

Need to contact Admin...
Sep 18, 2003
346
1
kent
i did , he didnt see me though:wink: , larry it was on the falls road in 93 not far from the beechmount estate
 

grumit

Settler
Nov 5, 2003
816
11
guernsey
i'm on the maglite's side too have had them for years and all
i have ever had is bulbs blow i have just brought a 3 led torch
that use's weard little batteries that cost a packet but they are good for
50 hours still rather the maglite though
you can get a led converter for the maglite cost more than
the torch from 7days shop dot com
 

Chux

Member
Mar 27, 2004
12
0
uk
Never had a problem with them myself. I have a AA Minimaglite as an EDC. I have cracked recently though and ordered a Surefire G2 Nitrolon. I see what I think after I've had time to play. :)
 

Hoodoo

Full Member
Nov 17, 2003
5,302
13
Michigan, USA
I've owned maglites since mid 70s and have found them ultra reliable. I don't take them into the field anymore because I like the lighter weight and longer battery time of led lights, and ultra reliability of led bulbs. But I still use mag lights around the house, in my vehicles and on my boat. And a 3 cell maglight with D batteries is handy for defensive purposes as well but sheeple and police/court friendly. :)
 

familne

Full Member
Dec 20, 2003
444
1
Fife
Went caving once in Wales, my headlamp packed up and all I had in my kit was a mini-maglight - suffice to say it saved my skin!! Never had a problem with it.
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
Roving Rich said:
100% reliable, and set the standard for torches.

Well, I'm going to go into the negative camp as far as Maglites go. OK, I agree with the fact that they set the standard and in their time they were tough and provided excellent light. Problem is, I don't think that there was enough innovation. OK, there was different sizes and then came different colors - but it ended there. For some reason, I think that Mag Industries thought that it had the ultimate torch and stuck with it.

How many times have you dropped the torch and the bulb died?
How many batteries do you go through?
How many switch covers have you lost?
How often do you have to clean the contacts and grease the joints?

Go back 10 - 20 years and I would have agreed that the mighty Mag was a force to be reckoned with ... but now, there are both far better, far cheaper and probably far better and cheaper lights to be found.
 

Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,446
1,284
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
Personally, none/never to all of those (except the batteries - not sure how many!)

Only time I've had to renew a bulb was when I crushed it when screwing the front bit back on becaue the bulb was wonky!
 

JimFSC

Tenderfoot
Mar 21, 2004
89
0
Isle of Wight
Same here, fantastic torches :notworthy - as for batteries I have 3 sets of quadruple life rechargeable AA's for my mag and a alternate these- with this lot I got through 7 weeks solid camping in North Yorkshire last July/ August no problem :super: . Plus, having nearly lost mine once or twice I find using the maglite belt holster + batteries and a small key ring (just the small metal circle on the end of the torch jams it firmly in place whilst still allowing swiftaccess to your torch. However as I am open minded.. :0: I would be interested to here what people have got to say about any new generation torch. Have you got something with better specs, a reasonable price and the same (or lower! :wink: ) battery usage?
Jim.
 

Roving Rich

Full Member
Oct 13, 2003
1,460
4
Nr Reading
Adi Wrote:
How many times have you dropped the torch and the bulb died?
How many batteries do you go through?
How many switch covers have you lost?
How often do you have to clean the contacts and grease the joints?
I think this may have happened once in the 15 years i have used them, and i have dropped em plenty of times and regularly been amazed when they still worked. Then there is the spare bulb in the end cap anyway. Not a common feature with other torches :wink:
The D cells seem to last forever. I don't think your supposed to use rechargeables in maglites :?: . As everything else i own uses AAs, i usually have some spares for the mini.
Never lost a switch cover
Never cleaned or re greased the terminals - Yet - if it ain't broke don't fix it

Only negative point I can find, is a black torch is mighty hard to find in the dark. Oh and they are a bit pricey but then you pay for quality. :wink:
Cheers
Rich
:-D
:-D :-D
 

Roving Rich

Full Member
Oct 13, 2003
1,460
4
Nr Reading
I guess its the bulb doesn't like the voltage drop off? No idea otherwise, just said so in the instructions with the bulb. Never had any problems though.
Well if I ever manage to break one then I probably will buy another colour :-D
Rich
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE