Ladies & gentlemen, once upon a time the maglite minimag was the one to copy much like these days 6P look alikes are the norm.
Many-a flashlight company made their own version of the mini mag much to the dismay of Maglite. BrightStar was a long established light maker who had a reputation of making great plastic flashlights. Many inovations took place by them as well. Intrinically safe, sliding switches with defined stopping points, and floating plastics to name a few.
Well at one point they did a 2aa light called the Star II and it was pretty good. Not as robust as the minimag in terms of sheer durability, nor was it US made. But it was cheaper and brighter.
Different enough in appearance.
A plastic lens that protrudes slightly outside of the bezel.
It creates a unique ring at the edges of the beam so that when the light is focused (minimag-like) to pure spot there is a more dynamic spill than the mag. It's something taken from a fad in the 1930's where flat glass lenses poked out of the bezel to create a ring-like beam to enhance the spill.
A fat globed T1 bi-pin instead of the sphelt kind.
Creates more oomph from the filament causing a noticably brighter beam with extra throw.
Sheath came separate but at no charge
I left the sticker on mine.
They also came with a spare bulb in the tail and a nice soft yarn-like lanyard with an easy open split ring fastener.
Light tail stands, mules and feels weighty just like a mini mag. Thing is... nowhere on the light identifies the brand. So if you see "generic minimag clone" in a listing there's a good chance it's one of these. If you like the incan minimag, you'll love the Star II by BrightStar.
I have not found any info on production years but if I do it'll be added to this thread or perhaps a future "history of minimag clones" type....
Thanks for reading this.
Many-a flashlight company made their own version of the mini mag much to the dismay of Maglite. BrightStar was a long established light maker who had a reputation of making great plastic flashlights. Many inovations took place by them as well. Intrinically safe, sliding switches with defined stopping points, and floating plastics to name a few.
Well at one point they did a 2aa light called the Star II and it was pretty good. Not as robust as the minimag in terms of sheer durability, nor was it US made. But it was cheaper and brighter.
Different enough in appearance.
A plastic lens that protrudes slightly outside of the bezel.
It creates a unique ring at the edges of the beam so that when the light is focused (minimag-like) to pure spot there is a more dynamic spill than the mag. It's something taken from a fad in the 1930's where flat glass lenses poked out of the bezel to create a ring-like beam to enhance the spill.
A fat globed T1 bi-pin instead of the sphelt kind.
Creates more oomph from the filament causing a noticably brighter beam with extra throw.
Sheath came separate but at no charge
I left the sticker on mine.
They also came with a spare bulb in the tail and a nice soft yarn-like lanyard with an easy open split ring fastener.
Light tail stands, mules and feels weighty just like a mini mag. Thing is... nowhere on the light identifies the brand. So if you see "generic minimag clone" in a listing there's a good chance it's one of these. If you like the incan minimag, you'll love the Star II by BrightStar.
I have not found any info on production years but if I do it'll be added to this thread or perhaps a future "history of minimag clones" type....
Thanks for reading this.
