MagLED 3D version

[EV_007]

After hearing of the Maglite coming out with LED versions of their lights, I had to see what it was all about.

The ringy beams and uneven sickly yellowish looks of the older incan versions didn’t do much for me. I did like the overall streamlined looks of the casing though.

I picked up a 3D version at Wally World. It comes with the 3W LED installed and an Incan bulb in the tail cap. Not bad.

I opted for the largest one on the shelf. I picked the 3D version thinking more juice would power the LED brighter and the extended battery life seemed like a good emergency light to have around the house.

I was expecting an artifact-free beam in the wide flood mode and a tight clean spot in the “focused” mode. I was spoiled by my Surefires and other quality LED lights that are smooth and bright. For some reason, I thought they would have upgraded the reflector and focusing with the new LEDs.

No such luck with the Maglite. Still very ringy with a horrible hole in the wide spot setting. I figured that the LED version would show fewer artifacts.

I compared it to my favorite much smaller (And much more costly.) Surefire L2. What was I thinking.

The Mag 3D is much heavier compared to the higher end lights I own. Not a flashlight I would take camping.

The color of the LED seemed slightly blue/greenish. I really don’t mind greens since they seem to render color and contrast a bit better than the blueish or purple color temps on some LEDs.

For $35 bucks I shouldn’t complain too much. It is a pretty solid light with both Incan and LED option all housed in a durable “skull cracking” case.

I’ll try it out for a couple of days and if I don’t like it I may give it to a family member. Outdoor beamshots to test throw may come soon. Judging by the size of the reflector and focusability, it should be a throw monster. We shall see.

[Haz]

For $35 bucks I shouldn’t complain too much. It is a pretty solid light with both Incan and LED option all housed in a durable “skull cracking” case.

Great review, and pics. One of the big plus about the MagLED is the incredible run time it has over the Incan equivalent.
I finally found a store that stocks the 3D MagLED, selling for $96 (or AUD $125)
$35 is an absolute bargain imho.

[dragoman]

I have the 3D version as well as the 2D and 4D (guess I have them all lol)

Its a great step up from the incan maglite, so much so that I wouldn't even use an incan mag any longer.

The light is just as durable and well made as it always was, now has the output and runtime that it deserves.

Yes the beam is horrible but what did you expect....they didn't change the reflector, just the bulb.

I love these things....

dragoman

[EV_007]

It is my new billy club with an LED attached to it. LOL

[cheapo]

i wonder if 2x18650 would work in the 2c mag.

-David

[EV_007]

MagLED 3D Update with some other lighs to compare:

My girlfriend and I went for a stroll around a small lake along a dirt road. It is around 5 miles around. The moon had risen low in the night sky, but most of my “testing” was done under heavily wooded portions of the road.

I brought the 3D MagLED for a test drive. It was bulky but not as heavy as I thought it was going to be. The flood is ghastly. The dark hole in the center and ringy sidespill barely lit up the road and trees. The spot was something else though. I had forgotten how far the Mags throw. When focused down to a spot, it projects a very tight pencil of light.

I also happen to have the SL PP 4AA, My SF Z2, L2, Arc P AAA and the Fenix L0P in the car. Oh and the Dorcy 1 AAA. I purposely waited until nearly dark to take the walk because I knew I’d have an opportunity to “play” in the dark with a few of my lights.

As mentioned above, the MagLED was good for long distance spotting, that’s it. The bulk and weight isn’t really worth the trade off. The LED did dim after 15 minutes as mentioned before. No thermal regulation?

The SL PP 4AA doesn’t quite throw as far compared to the Mag, but is much more compact and the beam is much smother and a bit wider than the Mag.

The Dorcy was a joke. Bad purple tint and not much of a flood or throw.

The Fenix L0P was the biggest surprise for me. The nice white floody beam with plenty of sidespill was just right for the task. I was able to see 25 feet or so in front of me and both sides of the road and trees as well. Not a thrower by any means, but exhibited mini L2-like qualities.

The SF L2 was the best overall light for the task at hand. The Low setting was slightly too dim, but not bad on the more open dirt road. I am using the rechargeable, which outputs a bit dimmer on low. The L0P is brighter than the L2 on low. The High setting lit up the whole scene up to 60 feet ahead. When I had to go into the deep woods to water a tree, the low setting was perfect. It was more than adequate for navigating between dense trees without major light blowback.

And the SF Z2 Combat, light that I have on me most of the time, was a good combination of throw and flood. The G-90 bulb and reachargeables makes a good combo. The MagLED threw further, but the small dot of light at long distance was marginally affective. My girlfriend took the Z2. She wanted the “Big police light” as she put it over the Mag-Lite. Tree trunks and leaves seemed more 3D and vivid under the incan illumination. The LEDs flattened the scene, but was still usable.

I’m giving away my MagLED to a family member along with the Dorcy 1 AAA. I was going to take more lights, but she made me rush out the door. Next time I’ll bring the “whole family” of illumination devices. And I'm bringing my camera too.

I know thee are plenty of “walk in woods” style posts here, so I thought I’d add my .02 cents. Thanks for reading.

[dragoman]

Nice real world review.....I take my MagLED 3D for walks with me too, for long distance spotting (throws like a champ) but I don't keep it on all the time. For one thing, its really too bright on spot to look at things close up.

I use a SF D2 with BOG 3W drop in for a constant-on light....decent throw, excellent spill, and 3hr runtime.....

dragoman

[faucon]

I was expecting an artifact-free beam in the wide flood mode and a tight clean spot in the “focused” mode. I was spoiled by my Surefires and other quality LED lights that are smooth and bright. For some reason, I thought they would have upgraded the reflector and focusing with the new LEDs.

Thanks for the review. I also have an L2, and after reading your piece I think I'll stick to it and to my other (mostly Surefire) lights. One off the wall question: has anyone ever tried to modify the Mag reflectors to make them more like a stochastic reflector, i.e. take a piece of sandpaper or something to them? I wonder if this would help to smooth out the beam and reduce artifacts? Patrick
Edited: Oops, probably wouldn't work too well in a plastic reflector!

[Blinding]

My son found a 3D mag in the hills behind scout camp. Some of the boys wanted to borrow it to play zorch so he agreed if they would buy new batteries for it. He figured he got a nice light and batteries for free and keeps it under the driver's seat of his truck.

I asked him about putting an LED in it but he insisted he wanted it for throw as he had headlamps for flood. I used a gift card to get a Magled at Home Depot and convinced him to just try it.

My son was pleasantly surprised with the Magled. The incan bulb would just reach a tree down the block. The Magled would actually light up the same tree brightly. He handed me the incan bulb and said he didn't want it any more. He also commented on the better color. It is slightly blue but better than the sickly yellow of an incan with an older bulb and used batteries.

Mainly I wanted him to have the longer battery life. He is majoring in park management and doing search and rescue drills. Having a light that will run all night could come in handy.

I had previously gotten him that Costco K2 headlamp. He wasn't very interested in it until he actually tried it side by side with his old headlamp. Now the K2 is on his helmet and the other is his backup.

I think I have made a another believer in LEDs.

[woodrow]

Great review, and pics. One of the big plus about the MagLED is the incredible run time it has over the Incan equivalent.
I finally found a store that stocks the 3D MagLED, selling for $96 (or AUD $125)
$35 is an absolute bargain imho.

$96 ouch! I will send you 2 3D MagLED's for 1 baby kangeroo. Its a good deal! The MagLED's will be cheaper to feed and lighter in the long run!

edit:
Also, Thanks for the great real world review EV 007!

[arty]

You can make the 3D Mag much more useful by adding a diffusing lens - LDF - from Flashlightlens.com.
It works great. I have a UCL version with the ldf coating.

[fishwatcher]

You can make the 3D Mag much more useful by adding a diffusing lens - LDF - from Flashlightlens.com.
It works great. I have a UCL version with the ldf coating.

Just to add a different opinion, I have UCL's with and without LDF coating for my Mag LED lights. I much prefer the lens without the LDF coating. I feel that the additional diffusion is minimal, and cuts down tremendously on throw. For use inside a house, LDF is fine, but I have smaller, AA lights I use inside.

If somebody asked me on recommendations re: UCL for Mag LED's, I would definately recommend UCL's, but not with the LDF coating.

Just my experience.

[IcantC]

Nice review, I don't know about you guys but for flood I do not fully lock out the head as most do. By not doing so, I have no donut in my beam. Also FWIW a stippled reflector gives a wall of light.

I have a Malkoff P4(totally different from Magled) in a 3D and have a SMO and stippled reflector. The stippled one works very well giving a very nice wall of light with no donut. When I use the SMO it gives good throw and nice spill. I will try to take some pics this weekend if I can figure out camera settings to capture this.

[arty]

The Malkoff stippled reflector works great - I also have one in a 3D.

I just popped the new Malkoff dropin designed for 4-6D Mags in my 4D. I have an ldf lens in there and I'll see how well it works when I walk the dog tonight.

[geepondy]

Where do you buy these Malkoff stippled reflectors?

[arty]

I got the Malkoff stippled reflector from Malkoff's website. It is cut for use with his drop-ins.
I tried the new Malkoff 4D drop-in using an ldf coated lens. It killed the throw and reduced light output too much.
While the ldf coating is OK on a regular maglite LED drop-in, I didn't like what it did to the Malkoff.

I tried the latest Malkoff 4-6D drop-in in my 4D Mag with a clear plastic lens - and it is fantastic. The throw is amazing, and there is still good spill. If you keep the light tightly focused, the beam is fine and doesn't need the diffusing effect of the stippled reflector. The older model Malkoff drop-in that I have in my 3D needed the stippled reflector.

The new LED drop-in will get a more complete workout later when I take the dog on a longer walk.

[arty]

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE MALKOFF DROP-IN FOR THE MAG.
CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE - NOW!

[jzmtl]

For a cheap upgrade if you already have magled module, replace the luxeon with a seoul, it's only six bucks from DX. Down side is if you don't succeed the first time, you fry the module.

I have a seoul on order from DX, wish me luck, heh.

[Swedpat]

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE MALKOFF DROP-IN FOR THE MAG.
CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE - NOW!

Arty,

Some months ago I purchased the TerraLUX MiniStar5 to replace the standard krypton bulb in my Maglite D2. The batteries was a bit low and the light started to be quite yellowish. I changed to the LED. Wow! The difference was amazing, even with the batteries quite low I got a bright intense light. And unlike to the krypton bulb which brightness fast decreases, the Terralux LED runs hour after hour without a noticable worsening.

I read that the D4 with the Terralux runs 20 hours with practically constant brightness. I have not measured the D2, but a fair conclusion would be that it runs about half the time, 10 hours, because the output is stated to be the same with all the D models.

I also went to a store who carries some flashlights as Ledlenser, Inova and Maglite. I compared my D2-Terralux to the Inova T4 and Maglite D3 LED. The D2-Terralux outperformed the Maglite D3 LED but was quite close to the Inova T4. Inova T4 is stated to give 125 lumens and the Terralux 140lumens.
I think this comparison can be true, but the Inova T4 has a much narrower illumination so it's difficult to estimate the total light amount without comparing in a dark room. I found the Terralux to be superior to the Maglite LED but inferior to the Inova T4, which has a much more even and usable illumination, it,s brighter over the same area.

My conclusion: I think that the Maglite D2 with standard krypton bulb still is a decent flashlight in comparison to usual cheap D2 flashlights and considered it had been worth to get the LED with the same maximum brightness and much longer runtime. Now the runtime of the LED is several times longer AND the light output is MUCH higher. This is really a cheap way to improve the Maglite.

I read that the Malkoff LED-dropins are stated to give 250 lumens. Does it provide 250 lumens with the D2 also? Do you know if it has a brightness regulation for constant output like the Terralux?

Regards, Patric

[M@elstrom]

I read that the D4 with the Terralux runs 20 hours with practically constant brightness. I have not measured the D2, but a fair conclusion would be that it runs about half the time, 10 hours, because the output is stated to be the same with all the D models.

Sadly that's not the case... in recent tests I conducted with a TLE-6EXB & MagLED drop-in output diminished significantly with Vin reduction, to avoid double posting my conclusions details & beamshot comparisons can be found in this thread HERE

[arty]

Patric - The Malkoff dropins are much brighter than the MagLed. I can't compare them to the Terralux in a 2D, since I don't have the model you are interested in.
I can say that the Malkoffs are really bright in a 3D or 4D. I have a MagLed in 4D and the Malkoff makes it look dim.
Runtime won't be as good, but the light is much brighter. I don't have the time to do runtime tests, but I do recommend the dropins. My 3D uses a Malkoff stippled reflector and it produces lots of output with adequate throw. The 4D has a smooth reflector and it will light up a house that is more than a block away. It has way more throw than the MagLed, and a wide spill that is useful for walking. It is dark in my neighborhood at night.

[sikl]

In my country brand names like Inova, Maglite, Surefire et cetera are almost unknown . So these brand names meant nothing to me when I started to look for a good flashlight few months ago. My friends and I walk often with our dogs (their "boys" Great Dane and Rhodesian Ridgeback and my "girls" Malamute and Israeli Canaan dog) in the forest at evenings and since it darkens early in the winter I thought it would be a good idea to get a better flashlight than cheap generic ones we used before. I wanted a flashlight that is not very expensive <(50$-100$), has a good lighting distance and battery life. MagLed 3d seemed to be too heavy to carry around a lot so I bought 2d version. It's size and weight are fine but it is not as bright as I thought it would be. It has amazing battery life but I wonder how can I make it a little brighter without shortening the battery life too much. I see people recommend Malkoff a lot but it costs over 100$ (incl shippment) and seem to be too bright for my needs. I consider buying non-led version of maglite and then upgrade it with TLE-6EXB but it seems to get somewhat mixed reviews here so I wonder if it's worth it. Can someone recommend another branded flashlight that is brighter than MagLed 2D but not too much brighter, has a good throw, not too expensive and still has good battery life.
I consider getting Streamlight TwinTask 3C and just wonder how this flashlight compares to Mag Led 2D.

[arty]

I have a Streamlight Twintask 2D and it is not as bright as a Maglight. I got it for long runtime
The Streamlight Tasklight 2L can be had for a decent price and has better throw than a Maglight. It is not as bright as the Malkoff dropin in a 3D or 4D, but it is a little less expensive on Amazon.

[f22shift]

For a cheap upgrade if you already have magled module, replace the luxeon with a seoul, it's only six bucks from DX. Down side is if you don't succeed the first time, you fry the module.

I have a seoul on order from DX, wish me luck, heh.

agreed. i don't know why other people dont do it. it's probably not as bright as a malkoff (1a to the emiter i think) but it'll run longer and is much cheaper. i'm going to guess the magled is somewhere around 500-600ma. current pull at the battery is 650-700ma. just a guess.

i wonder if it's as simple as bending the prongs of the ssc downwards and replacing the stock 3 watter. some thermal glue to hold it in place. the prongs are a little different though.

[StefanFS]

i wonder if it's as simple as bending the prongs of the ssc downwards and replacing the stock 3 watter. some thermal glue to hold it in place. the prongs are a little different though.

It might work with only bending the arms or prongs on the emitter. I trimmed them down and soldered the SSC contacts directly to the contacts on the driver with thin copper wire instead of 'prongs', this means disassembling the M*gled module (which is easy) and some delicate soldering. That and some thermal epoxy. Now it's about 60-65 % of my modded 3D's that run at 1.2 A. Very bright.
Stefan

[jzmtl]

How do you disassemble it? Just pry out from the back?

My SSC is already on its way from DX, not often you get to double efficiency for only six bucks.

[StefanFS]

How do you disassemble it? Just pry out from the back? My SSC is already on its way from DX, not often you get to double efficiency for only six bucks.

Take off the emitter - just lift the metal casing up off the module - straighten the positive tab on the module and slide the driver board out.

Be very careful when soldering this little board, too much heat and it falls into pieces. With pretinned wires it only takes a fraction of a second to secure them onto the driver board contacts. I use liquid flux for this.
Stefan

[jzmtl]

Thanks, sounds easy enough, can't wait for my emitter to get here.

[jzmtl]

Finally got my emitter from DX and put it on. All I got to say is if you have magled module lying around, you really should swap it.

I did it like stefan's pic above, opened up everything and soldered the wire onto the board contact, instead of just insert contact in. If you do this just take care to mark polarity on each component.

[Cydonia]

Upgrade to MagLED is a great idea. I did it to two 3 cell magLED's here.

I use them in C size Maglights using Downloads awesome MagCTower to completely heatsink the MagLED. This way the MagLED operates at peak initial start up efficiency all the time. The MagCTower works amazingly well... after half an hour continuous operation it is just warm to the touch.

How much current then, does the 3 cell MagLED put to the SSC P4? I don't know... I don't have a VOM with current measuring ability!
So how much current does a 3 Cell MagLED provide to the SSC P4 when heatsinked?

But Newbies huge MagLED review has some interesting numbers that you may find helpful.