Mini maglite upgrade

[santaman2000]

....The only thing holding LED torches back right now is heat dissipation....

That comment has me stumped; one of the advantages of LEDs (a very, very big advantage) is that they burn cool. The other reasons they gained so much acceptance being their very, very low battery drain and having no filament to burn out, they last virtually forever. These are reasons they have replaced incandescents not only in flashlights/torches but in electronics in general.

 

[cbr6fs]

That comment has me stumped; one of the advantages of LEDs (a very, very big advantage) is that they burn cool. The other reasons they gained so much acceptance being their very, very low battery drain and having no filament to burn out, they last virtually forever. These are reasons they have replaced incandescents not only in flashlights/torches but in electronics in general.

I don't understand what there is to be stumped by mate.
On lower power levels LED's will run very very cool, when i'm using my H502 on low at night to read my Kindle it's not even warm to the touch.

Something like my Fenix TK70 though is pulling over 9 amps on turbo mode.
That's a LOT of power going through that little diode, the result of which means it produces heat.


My SC600 has 750Lm in turbo mode, but it has a auto step down to 500Lm after 5 mins as there simply is not enough surface area to dissipate all that heat.

As LED's get more efficient they will waste less energy as heat, until then though the biggest thing holding back smaller torches especially is they don't have enough surface area to dissipate all that heat on their highest outputs.



On the plus side, they've gotten THAT powerful that it's rare to need turbo mode on most modern torches.
Even on medium most my torches are more than powerful enough to enable me to ride downhills on my mountain bike as fast at night than in the day.

 

[Harvestman]

I should just say that I have myself abandoned my maglite to switch to an LED torch, but that wasn't really the point.

The point was that the OP asked a question about maglites and most of the replies that he got basically told him to give up on them, which wasn't what he asked. At least the advice was givewn politely though. Anyway, I just felt that if the OP wanted to use a maglite, that's his choice, and we shouldn't all be telling him he is wrong.

I should also add that my old maglite still works, after many years and much battering, but my much newer led torch has just inexplicably given up the ghost.

 

[cbr6fs]

I should just say that I have myself abandoned my maglite to switch to an LED torch, but that wasn't really the point.

The point was that the OP asked a question about maglites and most of the replies that he got basically told him to give up on them, which wasn't what he asked. At least the advice was givewn politely though. Anyway, I just felt that if the OP wanted to use a maglite, that's his choice, and we shouldn't all be telling him he is wrong.

I should also add that my old maglite still works, after many years and much battering, but my much newer led torch has just inexplicably given up the ghost.

Thing is though i can only give my opinions from my own personal experiences.

As i've tried several upgrades and found them crap, i can't in good conscious recommend them.


Lets say you had a Auvwbmwrover 4x4 and had nothing but problems with it, you then bought a roverbmwvmau and found it better in every single way, THEN someone made a thread asking folks to tell them which was the best model auvwbmwrover (kinda wish i'd used a shorter made up name now).
What do you do, do you be honest and explain the problems you had, or do you just bite your tongue and only write what you were asked?

What then happens 6 months down the line when the op is having nothing but problems and you say, "yeh mine did that" to which he replies "why the flip didn't you tell me 6 months ago?"
You've then had the guy throw his money at something you know was fundamentally flawed product without giving him the history of your experiences.


I've got engineers/technicians at work that still use mini maglites, this in the face of the fact that i've supplied them with decent LED torches that are brighter, better beam pattern, longer battery life, light, smaller and the bulbs last longer.
They still insist maglites are the best torches you can buy, even when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Likewise our main offices in the US STILL keep sending us mini maglites after i've told them we don't want them.



Their choice.
I gave the best advice i could and they discounted it, again their choice.
I still always try to give the best advice i can though, what can i say it helps me sleep at night

 

[steve75]

Well seems like i stirred up a hornets nest with this thread. As i originally posted i did upgrade one of my mini mags a few years back. I just wanted to know if newer upgrades were any better. From this thread and other research i decided not to bother with upgrading my other mini. I did upgrade my D cell a while back. Have just purchased a new mini cree torch from maplin. This is a lot smaller than the mini mag and has a 65lumen output. It also fits nicely into the belt pouch with my swiss army knife. I will still use maglites as i know how reliable they are but am now aware of how good led torches now are. Thanks for your input people.

 

[cbr6fs]

Well seems like i stirred up a hornets nest with this thread. As i originally posted i did upgrade one of my mini mags a few years back. I just wanted to know if newer upgrades were any better. From this thread and other research i decided not to bother with upgrading my other mini. I did upgrade my D cell a while back. Have just purchased a new mini cree torch from maplin. This is a lot smaller than the mini mag and has a 65lumen output. It also fits nicely into the belt pouch with my swiss army knife. I will still use maglites as i know how reliable they are but am now aware of how good led torches now are. Thanks for your input people.

That's no hornets nest Steve.

I think you've gottten some good advice from various viewpoints and have made a decision based on the varying opinions, so good on ya

 

[santaman2000]

I should just say that I have myself abandoned my maglite to switch to an LED torch, but that wasn't really the point.

The point was that the OP asked a question about maglites and most of the replies that he got basically told him to give up on them, which wasn't what he asked. At least the advice was givewn politely though. Anyway, I just felt that if the OP wanted to use a maglite, that's his choice, and we shouldn't all be telling him he is wrong.

I should also add that my old maglite still works, after many years and much battering, but my much newer led torch has just inexplicably given up the ghost.

Why would you abandon maglites to go to LEDs? Maglites ARE LEDs now.

As for anything going wrong with them; I've only ever had a single maglite fail and that was due to bad batteries. None-the-less Mag Instruments honored their lifetime warranty and replaced the light free of charge. I do believe they probably recouped the cost from the battery manufacturer as they have mutual contracts with most major manufacturers.

 

[cbr6fs]

Why would you abandon maglites to go to LEDs? Maglites ARE LEDs now.

As for anything going wrong with them; I've only ever had a single maglite fail and that was due to bad batteries. None-the-less mag Instruments honored their lifetime warranty and rplaced the light free of charge. I do believe they probably recouped the cost from the battery manufacturer as they have mutual contracts with most major manufacturers.

Problem is they bring out new lights with old technology.
Pretty much any decent LED light is brighter, better beam pattern, lighter, more efficient than anything maglite offer.

Obviously being American you are slightly biased, for anyone else though there are farrrrrrrrrrrrr better out there than even the newest maglite stuff.

 

[santaman2000]

Problem is they bring out new lights with old technology.
Pretty much any decent LED light is brighter, better beam pattern, lighter, more efficient than anything maglite offer.

Obviously being American you are slightly biased, for anyone else though there are farrrrrrrrrrrrr better out there than even the newest maglite stuff.

Not sure how that would make me biased. I don't really even know where the other brands are made; I just assumed they were American too.

 

[Harvestman]

Not a hornets nest. Hornets are pretty placid. There are lots of valid opinions on here, and generally being put very well.

With kit it always boils down to using what works for you.

 

[ex member pyrophil]

That's no hornets nest Steve.

I think you've gottten some good advice from various viewpoints and have made a decision based on the varying opinions, so good on ya

Agree.
I would say its not worth the money upgrading mini mags with drop-ins. Better off getting a new aa led light.
You could check out the maglite xl200, worth a look if you want to stay with maglite.
The best lights got to be the 2 cr123's, for size and power.

 

[cbr6fs]

Only problem I've found with CR123 lights is run time, on turbo with the more powerful CR123 lights your lucky to see 15 mins.

 

[Ronnie]

I run my Fenix PD32 on a single Li-ion 18650 cell, equivalent to 2 x CR123's. I use my torch every day and recharge the battery approximately once a month.

Banks of 18650's are used to power laptops, so they are a highly evolved technology. They're larger than an AA or single CR123 cell so make for a larger flashlight, but my PD32 is still small enough for EDC, especially if worn in the belt holster.

My previous torch was a mini mag with LED drop in, I've since given it to my 3 year old. Doesn't stop him trying to nick mine though!