Funny story.....'My Maglite is brighter than your SF M6' or 'Mag85 vs. M6'

So, I was at a local gun store recently. Just looking around killin time. One of the guys there was looking at the Surefire M6. The guy behind the counter says, "This is the brightest flashlight money can buy.' He turns it one and you can see the huge grin appear on the customers face. I walk up and say, "Ehh, not as bright as my Maglite." Gunstore worker starts to chuckle and respons,"Son, I highly doubt your Maglite is brighter than this." I shrug my shoulders and say,"Sure looked like that had a weak beam to me. I bet my Maglite is brighter, I even have it in my car." Worker was up for the bet. So, I go get my overdriven Mag85 out of mycar. It was very very hard not to smile. I walk in all nonchelaunt and whatnot and show them the flashlight. Looks like a regular old 3D cell Maglite. I shine it at the ceiling. Obviously I had a very confused Gunstore worker and Gunstore customer. About that time I was laughing so hard I had tears. I took out the battery pack and took the head off for them so that could see what was inside. Absolutely hilarious.

For those that don't know, my overdriven Mag85 is putting out 1000 lumens plus. The SF M6 with HOLA is around 500.

I'm still laughing.

clipse

i had the SAME THING happen!!! same lights and all. with one of my fraternity brothers. he was like "whatever" and left thinking his light was still better.

feels good doesn't it? "i seriously doubt your maglite is..(click).. OH poop!"

Clipse can you explain your overdriven Mag85? I have a Mag85 as well that I think is at the limit. With Fresh eneloops it instaflashes (Thinking of a AWR driver for softstart). I want mine to put out as much as it can too. Mine is in the range of 800-1000lumens. Really I can't tell if something's 800 or 1000 lumens at that point only 3000 lumen HIDs can show the difference.

Good story should have just walked out after turning it on. Let them think about it for a while then come back later to show them.

IIRC the Mag85 is the WA1185 pushed by 8 AA batteries. I have 9 in mine. After charging I let it sit for about 30-60 minutes and the batteries settle to a voltage that doesn't instaflash the bulb. Then again, I'm using Sanyo 2500mah batteries. I don't know for sure how eneloops would do. I've been wanting to get some though.

Yeh that's pretty much what I have I'm pushing mine with 9 Eneloops. The switch has been done with Progold, the tail cap has the low resistance mod on the spring which is also progolded, the battery carrier is progolded.
And I have the bi-pin mod as well. I leave my batteries overnight to be on the safe side because I let them sit for a few hours before and it still instaflashed.

Good story. What would be really funny, if you could do it with a straight face, is to play dumb. Act surprised that they think your Mag is unusually bright. "Well, it does have fresh batteries..."

tebore said:

Yeh that's pretty much what I have I'm pushing mine with 9 Eneloops. The switch has been done with Progold, the tail cap has the low resistance mod on the spring which is also progolded, the battery carrier is progolded.
And I have the bi-pin mod as well. I leave my batteries overnight to be on the safe side because I let them sit for a few hours before and it still instaflashed.

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That sounds identical to mine except the low resistance mod to the spring on the tailcap.

George M said:

Good story. What would be really funny, if you could do it with a straight face, is to play dumb. Act surprised that they think your Mag is unusually bright. "Well, it does have fresh batteries..."

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That would have been good if I would have thought about it.

That's why I love sleeper mods!

LOL!!...I love stories like this one...LOL!!! Thanks for posting it.

A few months ago one of our members was faking out his buddy at the shooting range who owned an M3 HOLA. The CPF member had a modded-out Walgreen's plastic light and freaked out his buddy with the M3 who thought that there was something the matter with his M3 when it was stomped on by the $2 plastic light. Those stories crack me up. I wish I could remember who told that story.

One of the terms thats been co-opted by the Car world is "Q-Ship". High performance cars that look like ordinary cars.
from naval history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship

Clipse,

That is a good story. I would have liked to see their expressions. I do the same thing when I'm camping with one of my vintage hotwires or my LarryK14.

Patriot36,

Any info on the Walgreen light? I searched the forums and found only Walgreen batteries threads. I do have a $1.87 2 AA Eveready light that I put a ROP High and 2 unprotected 14500s in. It's fun for short bursts.

Regards,
Mark

LOL!!! that's great.

Stories like this are fun. Thanks for posting.

I loaned a modded minimag with the Halogen 1499 bulb on 2x14500 (370-ish bulb lumens) as well as a Mag11 in a 2D to a friend who was going on their annual camping trip with other dad-n-daughters. It appears that there was one annoying dad who always bragged how bright his Mag3D was (blahblahblah) and they were wanting to shut him up.

So, that evening the daughter walked up to him and said "I've always heard you say how bright your light is, but it must have a problem. My light (minimag) is brighter than your flashlight." He responded with a hearty laugh and said "you don't know what you're talking about and starts his usual blahblahblah speech again. *CLICK* The minimag was turned on. Not only did he just about fall out of his chair, I think he exclaimed something colorful in the process!

After this annoying dad had to concede that this little minimag light was really bright, my friend piped up. "No it's not!" as he casually picked up the 2D Mag11.
*CLICK*
"THIS light is brighter!"

My friend said the look on this dad's face was priceless!

Good story, and I don't doubt your Mag85 is brighter than the M6. But, in all fairness to the M6 I think your numbers are a bit off. Your Welch allyn 1185 bulb in your Mag85 has 1200 bulb lumens with about 800 coming out the front end. The M6 is closer to 630 lumens on fresh batteries, due to Surefire's average rating. Still I agree--big difference.

Great story! :laughing:

It really is amazing about how clueless most people, including gunshop owners are about flashlights. Everytime I walk into the local Gun shop I frequent the guy behind the counter holds his hand out and says, "Let me see what light youve got today." They sell SF there, but I usually have a RPMed cub, or a Ti PD-S with me.

Maybe I should carry the Torch in there....

good story I amalways waiting for a senario like that, but all I ever got was comparing ym Fenix L1S (what I had on me) to a dollar store flashlight (D cell) a friend said his light was much bigger and would be brighter...................Now he owns a Fenix himself, lol...

Patriot36,

Any info on the Walgreen light? I searched the forums and found only Walgreen batteries threads. I do have a $1.87 2 AA Eveready light that I put a ROP High and 2 unprotected 14500s in. It's fun for short bursts.

Regards,
Mark

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I may be remembering the story incorrectly. Maybe he got it was from Walmart... I'm sorry that I'm not recalling very well. I believe it was a plastic light that he modded with a couple of 18650s and by the time they were done playing with it and told his buddy it was a prank, the reflector had mellted. The CPF member metioned that he picked up a couple of them specicically for the purpose of freaking people out with the unlikely ROP. Maybe he will see this thread and ID himself...lol

That would be me...
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=158365
Ive also got a mag 623 ready to rock.
Ive already told the employees at the location what im going to do, and they have agreed to play along... should be a great time

hehe! great story! really love this kind of stories like that!

Had one myself, or atleast simular but not really close...

I was in a store and had a look at the SF U2, the retail price here is almost the double the price in the US! I hade a look at it, turned the light on(on high), then I asked him if he knew about Cree lights. He didnt. I then showed him my Fenix P1D CE and compared it to the U2, and told him that I was not sure spending that kind of money on the U2 when this little light puts out about the same or even more light at the time. he looked very suprised indeed! Wanted to know what is was and the price...

Not a M*g story I know..., but I havent had one yet! I really hope I will! yours are really funny to read! cracked me up!

clipse said:

IIRC the Mag85 is the WA1185 pushed by 8 AA batteries. I have 9 in mine. After charging I let it sit for about 30-60 minutes and the batteries settle to a voltage that doesn't instaflash the bulb. Then again, I'm using Sanyo 2500mah batteries. I don't know for sure how eneloops would do. I've been wanting to get some though.

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The way I learned it, the Mag85 is definitely the WA1185 pushed with 9 AAs, not 8. There are other bulbs on 8 cells or less that are brighter than a WA1185 on 8 cells. Letting the batteries rest, fresh off the charger, is standard procedure. I also remember that 2300mah batteries actually worked better than 2500mah. I don't remember why that is, exactly--probably something about the 2300mah batteries (or less) having less resistance-- but I believe that particular piece of information was posted by Elektrolumens (several years ago), so you can probably ask him.