aa maglight upgrade

[crazydave]

I fitted the led upgrade to our d cells and they work pretty good. i also got the three aa cell maglite with their led in and its excellent lightwise. for close up work I use a gerber infinity or recon. single aa and nice and compact

the nite ize upgrade is ok I got a different switch for my two cell as I didn't like the nite ize one. had one set of bulbs fail one by one till I ended up with 1 working led and after a while they seemed to go to a bluey light as the batteries fail. the proper led maglites are single bulb with a proper focus and much brighter.

 

[Minotaur]

My Maglite is getting a Terralux and IO switch upgrade in the near future.

Like the look of the Nite ize but the IO switch seems more useful.

Also the terralux is brighter.

 

[Surrey Yeoman]

The Nite Ize combo conversion kit is available form USMC in Portsmouth / Southsea for £7.99. I bought one for myself and when the boys and girls at work saw it, I ended up going back down and buying several more for them!

Get it online at

www.USMCPRO.com

No connection with shop / sellers, just a happy customer!

They also do the I/O "intelligent" switch.

Update. The switch on the Nite Ize conversion gave up the ghost after about 6 months of fairly regular use. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it didn't. I couldn't be bothered with it in the end, so reverted to the original end cap and use the twist to turn it on and off. LEDs are still going fine and batteries last for ever, so on balance I'm still pleased with the conversion to LED lamps.

 

[Jedadiah]

anyone seen a 2D cell upgrade like these? im looking for one
cheers

For 'C' & 'D' cell upgrades as well as decent Surefire upgrades at reasonable prices, you could try here:

http://www.malkoffdevices.com/

Don't tell anyone though, closely guarded secret; from the people who brought you 'explosive entry'!

 

[redandshane]

I just bought a Cree flashlight- a P4 Cree 3 Watt LED AA Battery Mini FLASHLIGHT to be exact

on initial testing sems very bright indeed
Anyone know any disadvantages before I rely on it ?
I would use it in combination with my old style Petzl head lamp
seems like a good combo to me but thought I would ask for esteemed opinions
cheers

 

[mark wood]

There are a couple of drawbacks with the really bright small lights (depending on the type and whether they are moderated):
1. The batteries may only last an hour.
2. They can get really hot after a few minutes (useful handwarming facility!).

The torches with the reduced power modes up the life quite a bit. I've an Ultrafire EMR1 that runs on a single CR123A and is supposed to last about 20 hrs on the low setting which is still pretty bright. I think it gives an hour on high and 4 on medium.

The fenix's always get good write-ups but the ultrafire was significantly cheaper!

 

[huntersforge]

I converted my AA about a year ago and its still going strong . Only drawback I have found is that the push button end cap switches itself on when carried in a pocket.

 

[Minotaur]

I converted my AA about a year ago and its still going strong . Only drawback I have found is that the push button end cap switches itself on when carried in a pocket.

Thought you could turn it off by the head still?

 

[Surrey Yeoman]

Thought you could turn it off by the head still?

You can still use the head's twist on and off facility. As I said a while back, the switch on my upgrade gave up the ghost and I've reverted to using the standard end cap and the twist switch. I found that when the switch was working I did tend to rely on it and leave the twist in the on position, so I guess it would be likely to switch itself on in your pocket.

All in all, I'd say that the LED upgrade is well worth the money, but I wouldn't bother with the switch.

 

[Minotaur]

You can still use the head's twist on and off facility. As I said a while back, the switch on my upgrade gave up the ghost and I've reverted to using the standard end cap and the twist switch. I found that when the switch was working I did tend to rely on it and leave the twist in the on position, so I guess it would be likely to switch itself on in your pocket.

All in all, I'd say that the LED upgrade is well worth the money, but I wouldn't bother with the switch.

I am looking at the IQ switch, which gives you 5 modes. The LED coversion kit switch seems pointless as all it does is turn it on and off.

They now do this kit - 1 Watt L.E.D. Upgrade & IQ Switch® Combo.

Still think I fancy the Terralux MiniStar2 Extreme over this, but really like the idea of the IQ switch for General camp use.

 

[spamel]

A word of caution. I never saw this thread and got the tail cap and LED upgrade from Niteize. I think Jed mentions earlier on that the tailcap switch gave up the ghost after six months, it seems it isn't a one off. Mine is on the blink now, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

 

[Minotaur]

Anyone had this problem with the IQ switch?

They are different.

 

[leon-1]

Anyone had this problem with the IQ switch?

They are different.

The only problem I have had with the IQ switch was solved by changing the batteries, effectively when the battery power is low the IQ switch modes are reduced to 2 rather than five, I find it quite handy as it lets me know it's getting close to the time to change the batteries.

 

[Minotaur]

The only problem I have had with the IQ switch was solved by changing the batteries, effectively when the battery power is low the IQ switch modes are reduced to 2 rather than five, I find it quite handy as it lets me know it's getting close to the time to change the batteries.

Cool.

Do not really get the point of adding another on/off switch, but the IO seems to make to fix the only thing wrong with the mag.

 

[Womble_Lancs]

Is it only me that hates LED torches? Yes, I know they consume much less power, but unless I'm doing something really close-up, I can't see a damn thing with them. Give me my lovely bog-standard AA Maglite with its properly focussable beam any day.

 

[leon-1]

Is it only me that hates LED torches? Yes, I know they consume much less power, but unless I'm doing something really close-up, I can't see a damn thing with them. Give me my lovely bog-standard AA Maglite with its properly focussable beam any day.

The TLE5EX is great, the light is properly focusable and it easily provides enough light to work by.

 

[Wallenstein]

Is it only me that hates LED torches? Yes, I know they consume much less power, but unless I'm doing something really close-up, I can't see a damn thing with them. Give me my lovely bog-standard AA Maglite with its properly focussable beam any day.

The maglite LED upgrade still allows focus... it's the same lens, just a different light source so there's no alteration to the light spread.

 

[tecNik]

I am looking at the IQ switch, which gives you 5 modes. The LED coversion kit switch seems pointless as all it does is turn it on and off.

They now do this kit - 1 Watt L.E.D. Upgrade & IQ Switch® Combo.

Still think I fancy the Terralux MiniStar2 Extreme over this, but really like the idea of the IQ switch for General camp use.

I have the IQ and 1 Watt combo. Its pretty good. The LED looks like either a 1w Luxon light engine or a really good clone so you get a nice white output (not blue tinged like some cheap LED's). I had a few problems in the first Mag I used with the LED not seating correctly but I put this down to the Mag itself, very old and bashed about. Since installing them in a new Mag I've had no problems at all. The only thing is the auto turn off feature of the IQ can be annoying if you are using candle mode; I often just remove the Mag's head and hang it from somthing as a task light. Apart from this I'd recomment them.