Maglight Solitaire - Why not an LED?
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Blue72
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You can read about the divorce in the owners Wikipedia page. It is very interesting including his stepsons new flashlight business that he sued out of existence. They had advance flashlights for its day. I wanted the headlamp
You can see the archived website here for bison flashlights
http://web.archive.org/web/20011216213435/http://www.bisonsportslights.com/Products/Products.html
You can see the archived website here for bison flashlights
http://web.archive.org/web/20011216213435/http://www.bisonsportslights.com/Products/Products.html
tam17
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Here are some of my initial observations regarding the Mag Solitaire LED:
- 37lm is more than enough light for a general close-up work, and maybe even too much for finding a keyhole - I'd be satisfied with floody 25lm and a bit longer runtime, but I'm glad that Mag folks built this light around a moderately driven power LED (most likely XP-C or similar IMO) and not around 5mm LED. Perhaps an easy emitter swap would be possible..?
- UI remains the same (or so it seems) as on the original Soli. It would be a shame if they've given up the "tighten-2-turn-off" feature that some CPF users (incl. myself) wish to have.
- Compared to a competing product, for example Pelican 1910 (39lm, 1AAA single mode), Soli's runtime looks OK (1hr30 vs. 1hr00), which means it has good driver efficiency (hope it's regulated!)
- Focusing ability...? Uhm, be prepared for a ringy beam. Wish they dropped that, but this feature might provide the "candle mode" when the bezel is off.
- Looks like water ingress protection is IPX-4 only. Not a deal breaker for me, with some maintenance that's quite enough for regular EDCing.
- Considering the Mag's worldwide availability, this could be the entry level LED flashlight for many of those "non-enlightened" average users, used to nothing better than incan bulbs and alkaline batteries (hope the Mag folks get the right price!)
Cheers
- 37lm is more than enough light for a general close-up work, and maybe even too much for finding a keyhole - I'd be satisfied with floody 25lm and a bit longer runtime, but I'm glad that Mag folks built this light around a moderately driven power LED (most likely XP-C or similar IMO) and not around 5mm LED. Perhaps an easy emitter swap would be possible..?
- UI remains the same (or so it seems) as on the original Soli. It would be a shame if they've given up the "tighten-2-turn-off" feature that some CPF users (incl. myself) wish to have.
- Compared to a competing product, for example Pelican 1910 (39lm, 1AAA single mode), Soli's runtime looks OK (1hr30 vs. 1hr00), which means it has good driver efficiency (hope it's regulated!)
- Focusing ability...? Uhm, be prepared for a ringy beam. Wish they dropped that, but this feature might provide the "candle mode" when the bezel is off.
- Looks like water ingress protection is IPX-4 only. Not a deal breaker for me, with some maintenance that's quite enough for regular EDCing.
- Considering the Mag's worldwide availability, this could be the entry level LED flashlight for many of those "non-enlightened" average users, used to nothing better than incan bulbs and alkaline batteries (hope the Mag folks get the right price!)
Cheers
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That would be good. I'd just wonder what the price would be.
The old solitaire was my first torch ever and pretty much got me into the whole flashlight thing back in 1988. I don't know if anything has changed about it since then but this is the first development for 24 years
Maglite refuses to give knowledgable consumers what they want. A tail cap switch on the 2aa models, orange peel reflectors for better beam quality, a light with a cr123 form factor, a real tactical light, a light that produces over 250 lumens, the list goes on. Most of the new rechargeable flashlight take lithium-ion packs and all are led. Maybe in 2020 the new led magcharger with a lithium-ion battery pack will be released along with a led solitaire.
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M@elstrom
Flashlight Enthusiast
37 Lumens is still better than a kick in the pants and certainly more than the 15 Lumens offered by the aftermarket incandescent upgrade kit, why can't people give Maglight credit for at least moving forward into the LED realm and trying to offer a small (efficient) all round lighting solution?
Try and remember when 37 Lumens was what people used to get from an incandescent 2D Maglight :thumbsup:
Credit for moving forward? The guy in charge sat on his laurels for close to 40 years. And then often tried to sue all of his competitors out of business. A few of the lawsuits were legit. Many were beyond frivolous. Clearly the competition realized that they have to spend a great deal on attorney fees if they hoped to make a profit in this industry. It's only because of all the competitors who couldn't be sued out of existence that M@glite even bothered with upgrades just a couple of years ago.
I can't think of another company that has managed to sell the very same products, made exactly the same way, for almost 40 years while turning a profit. And, having owned more M@glites than any other brand of flashlight (except SureFire) I can honestly say that I found the M@glites I've owned over the years to be no where remotely as good as my first full-sized disposable flashlight. My orange 2D, GE model with a black plastic bezel lasted me far longer than any of my M@glites. 12 years of trouble-free service. And, the beam quality from its dimpled, plastic reflector, was considerably better than the various full-sized M@glites I've owned.
I even remember the night I bought that flashlight. I needed to inspect my car for damage from a small fender bender that was my fault earlier in the day. I stopped at the outskirts of my neighborhood, parked, and went to a late-night convenience store I remembered being nearby. Asked the clerk for the best flashlight they sold. He held up an orange GE model that he told me had served him well on a nightly basis. He then pointed to a barrel that was full of them. $1.99 without batteries. I bought one, bought a couple of D-cells, and headed back to my car to check the damage that night.
12 years later, I finally disposed of that disposable flashlight. 12 years . . . Not one of my M@glites came close to being as good, yes even quality-wise, as that $1.99 GE flashlight. Best two bucks I've ever spent in my life. 12 years of reliable service. Once again, none of my M@glites (past or present) were even remotely as good as that GE disposable I bought all those years ago.
But okay, I'll give M@glite credit for actually opening up their R&D department since sealing the doors and apparently bricking over them for almost 40 years.
I can't think of another company that has managed to sell the very same products, made exactly the same way, for almost 40 years while turning a profit. And, having owned more M@glites than any other brand of flashlight (except SureFire) I can honestly say that I found the M@glites I've owned over the years to be no where remotely as good as my first full-sized disposable flashlight. My orange 2D, GE model with a black plastic bezel lasted me far longer than any of my M@glites. 12 years of trouble-free service. And, the beam quality from its dimpled, plastic reflector, was considerably better than the various full-sized M@glites I've owned.
I even remember the night I bought that flashlight. I needed to inspect my car for damage from a small fender bender that was my fault earlier in the day. I stopped at the outskirts of my neighborhood, parked, and went to a late-night convenience store I remembered being nearby. Asked the clerk for the best flashlight they sold. He held up an orange GE model that he told me had served him well on a nightly basis. He then pointed to a barrel that was full of them. $1.99 without batteries. I bought one, bought a couple of D-cells, and headed back to my car to check the damage that night.
12 years later, I finally disposed of that disposable flashlight. 12 years . . . Not one of my M@glites came close to being as good, yes even quality-wise, as that $1.99 GE flashlight. Best two bucks I've ever spent in my life. 12 years of reliable service. Once again, none of my M@glites (past or present) were even remotely as good as that GE disposable I bought all those years ago.
But okay, I'll give M@glite credit for actually opening up their R&D department since sealing the doors and apparently bricking over them for almost 40 years.
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watchcollector1968
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Rossymeister
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Any idea when we will see these available in stores?
tam17
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Xmas 2012 (optimistic) to June 2013 (realistic). Ignore official statements to avoid anger and frustration :thumbsdow
Blue72
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They stated next month. The military is what's delaying the release
TheSilverman
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This simply isn't their target market.
And where would the avg American go to buy cr123 batteries?
Brick & Mortar chain Pharmacies . . . At about $9 for a single CR123 cell.
They're definitely available if you need them right away. But I agree with you that the average person couldn't care less about what a knowledgeable consumer wants. Average consumer just wants something cheap, reliable, runs off common alkaline batteries, and with an easy as pie U.I.
Blue72
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Exactly...not to offend CPF'rs.....but flashlights are a commodity. Most people who are looking for a decent flashlight (maybe not by cpf standards) will just grab a maglite...the reason why maglite succeeds.
Think of all the lights that have come and go on CPF and even the regular retailers shelves at Walmart,target,home depot,etc......maglite has outlasted all of them (with the exception of those cheap $2 plastic lights)
Maglite strategy is the right one for mass appeal wether we agree or not
I think mag is feeling the pinch now as they used to dominate stores with their offerings now you can go to most stores and instead of seeing 12 pegs full of their lights in several models, colors etc you may see 2-3 pegs of them and LED on at least half of those. I figure the sales of solitaire lights have reached a point that they cannot keep a plant making them full time any more at the price they want for them in the stores nobody is buying a $6 incan light when a $1-$3 LED lights blows it away in output and runtime and many people have realized it after they get suckered into buying a solitaire then get a keychain light and compare.
As I have said the price is what will determine how popular the solitaire is. As the LED mini mag came out at over 2.5x the price of the incan models and is still normally priced around $20 vs less than $10 for the incan we backtrack a $6 solitaire to $12-$15 range for an LED version. If they would do as dorcy did with their 1AAA LED everyone would have a solitaire at $7 I probably would.
