Maglite Solitaire Review

carrot

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Dec 6, 2005
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Imagine not being able to see your feet in the dark as you climb the stairs of a 100-story skyscraper. You've forgotten your favorite EDC light of choice, the lights are out, the emergency power has failed, and you are desperately wishing to see before you trip and fall and roll down the stairs.

Enter the Maglite Solitaire, the revolutionary keychain flashlight with a sleek look and Mag Industry's legendary reliability. This keychain flashlight uses Krypton gas for almost unheard of output from a single AAA alkaline battery. Today, I will review this light.

Usage
Turn on the Solitaire with the bezel facing towards you, and you are blinded by the bright light. I've never seen an AAA light this powerful, besides the superior Maglite Mini 2AAA. The powerful Krypton bulb is replaceable, and behind the spring in the tailcap, you can find a replacement bulb, a sensational design advancement by Mag Industries. You don't see a replacement bulb in the tailcap of the Arc-AAA, do you?

Output
The Solitaire is bright and surprisingly gratifying. Unlike the "benchmark" Arc-AAA, the beam is focusable, and you can even take off the head to put the Solitaire in "candlelight" mode. Take that, Arc Flashlight! The incandescent bulb gives better color rendition than the Arc-AAA, and has none of the strange blotchy blue that could give you a headache. Being able to focus the beam allows the Maglite Solitaire to throw a tight beam of light across a room, unlike the Arc which is too floody and fixed focus for such purposes.

Build
The Solitaire is manufactured out of high grade aircraft aluminum by a reputable company, whereas Arc is made by some mom & pop shop out of who knows what kind of aluminum. Arcs aren't even shiny, so they must be some kind of poor grade aluminum. Also, the Maglite comes in a variety of colors, unlike the Arc-AAA which only comes in a boring grey. Someone shot an Arc-AAA out of a shotgun or something, and it failed on impact against a tree. I have not tried it with the Solitaire but I am sure that it would keep on working. Even then, you could replace the bulb, unlike the Arc-AAA where the LED is epoxied inside the reflector. It's a solid little light.

Conclusion
I give the Maglite Solitare 5 out of 5 stars, where it beats the Arc-AAA in style, utility, and durability. Couple that with Maglite's outstanding warranty, and you have a true winner. Make sure to lube the o-rings with KY or something, to ensure a watertight seal.
 

defusion

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Feb 21, 2007
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carrot said:
Someone shot an Arc-AAA out of a shotgun or something, and it failed on impact against a tree. I have not tried it with the Solitaire but I am sure that it would keep on working. Even then, you could replace the bulb
trust me, the bulb will die (miracles excluded), but your probably right that you can just put in another and use it again because of the overly simple design. I wonder about the lens tough.
 

LG&M

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Sep 9, 2006
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Nice review Carrot. Are you going to start a group buy?
 

DM51

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Wow, Carrot, that sounds like a sensational light. I'll have to get one. I've already got an idea of how to make it even brighter. If you take out the AAA battery and put in a whole bunch of deaf-aid cells in series to fill up the space, you might get about 10 in there which would give you ~15 volts. Then you could put a 625 or some other big-*** bulb on it and see it REALLY scorch things up. Run-time might not be great, but it would be terrific while it lasted.
 

carrot

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I must say, I have been playing with my Maglite Solitaire all day and I'm still impressed! It appears as if it is almost regulated, even! Imagine that!
 

pokkuhlag

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Jun 19, 2004
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Country full of corrupted politicians
Solitaire can stand on tail unlike the arc aaa, but my solitaire can hang up side down. It has a rare magnet on it's tail making it far more versatile than my arc aaa. With it's spring battery support, the solitair is also much cleaner than the arc aaa's foam.
 

Alteran

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Where the grass is blue, up is down, and hamburger
carrot said:
I must say, I have been playing with my Maglite Solitaire all day and I'm still impressed! It appears as if it is almost regulated, even! Imagine that!

No, it's not regulated, it uses a new revolutionary technology by Mag Instruments! It's so dim, that you can't notice it getting dimmer because your brain thinks it isn't possible!
 

LEDninja

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
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Hamilton Canada
The Krypton gas must have leaked out on mine. I have to feel my way up the stairs.
carrot said:
This keychain flashlight uses Krypton gas for almost unheard of output from a single AAA alkaline battery.
 

reltor

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2005
Messages
36
I post some beamshots from my solitaire. Slightly modded it puts out around 300 lumens.
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and uhh. doesn't even get warm after 4 hours of runtime, yeah thats it.
 
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