Mag 2D incan Malkoff upgrade

Looking for a light for outdoor use with good spot and flood and think the Malkoff led upgrade for a 2D may fit the bill. Anyone have experience with these? Also want to make sure exactly which Mag 2Ds are compatible with malkoffs led upgrade. Is it only for the older incan style? If I ordered a 2d mag off of Amazon would that work for the drop in? Had mags in the past but I'm done with alkaline so planning on getting some Tenergy D cells. I don't currently have a D cell light so want to make sure I'm getting the right thing. Any help would be appreciated.

So you are specifically looking to buy a Maglite 2D incandescent ($18), to then to convert to Malkoff LED for ($40+ if you don't modify the reflector yourself..which effectively removes the spot to flood functionality) and purchase D cell rechargeables (4 for $25) to run it?

This somewhat goes against convention...usually people already have the older Maglite and are looking to help keep it current with times or just get a LED light like the Maglite ML300LX ($46) as it is more cost effective and more powerful..just sayin'.

I'd just get the Maglite ML50L or ML50LX in 3C format. Then get some LSD high-capacity NiMh rechargeables to run it off. Alternatively, the ML300L or ML300LX in 2D/3D.

You guys are great. Totally forgot about these upgraded Mags. Bonus is that the walmart right near me has them in stock. Good call. Going for the ML300L. :thumbsup:

gurdygurds said:

You guys are great. Totally forgot about these upgraded Mags. Bonus is that the walmart right near me has them in stock. Good call. Going for the ML300L. :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Yep! When I was over in the USA recently I picked up a bunch from Walmart because they're so much cheaper. $30 each rather than £70 here!

I originally got a ML300L 2D but then more recently have gotten a few of the ML50L 3C variety as they give basically the same performance as the 3D but are much more compact. I have them set with High->Low->Strobe but they do have a few other power settings. The other main advantage of the new ones is that the beam pattern and focus is much much nicer than the old one. No doughtnut holes or anything.

Both the older, larger diameter Mag and newer 'slimmer' versions use the same reflector and bulb retainer assembly. They changed the collar that fastens down the bulb for the bi-pin set up.

With a Malkoff drop in you do not lose spot to spill focus ability, just the cam that allows full focus from one to the other in a half rotation.

Now the LED does not cast light like a light bulb so the beam will not focus to major thin pencil lead beam with a gentle spill like the light bulb. What it does do is focus a spot from large to narrow while spill remains pretty much the same. Malkoff genious as usual, it becomes a potent spot light with a generous spill 10 years before everybody else figured out how.

The Tenergy cells don't cost much more than top shelf alkalines and will pay for themselves in time. Plus they won't leak.

Conventional wisdom would say buy a newer Maglite. But we're flashlight junkies and conventional wisdom does not apply. A Malkoff'd Maglite is something to behold and to the flashlight junkie well worth the extra coins.
My favorite is a Malkoff'd 3D for its not so big size while potentially able to be used in a 4-6 cell body too. But I'm seriously considering the 2D version. GG, if you have an older, larger diameter version consider a lanyard ring tail cap from eCops and your favorite wrist strap. It's genuine Mag P/N 108-000-009 and as of Monday they still had 4 left.

bykfixer said:

Conventional wisdom would say buy a newer Maglite. But we're flashlight junkies and conventional wisdom does not apply. A Malkoff'd Maglite is something to behold and to the flashlight junkie well worth the extra coins.
My favorite is a Malkoff'd 3D for its not so big size while potentially able to be used in a 4-6 cell body too. But I'm seriously considering the 2D version. GG, if you have an older, larger diameter version consider a lanyard ring tail cap from eCops and your favorite wrist strap. It's genuine Mag P/N 108-000-009 and as of Monday they still had 4 left.

Click to expand...

Lol, this is true! The Malkoff has much better heat sinking than any of the stock Mags. Couple with an aluminium OP reflector I don't think there's a nicer Mag beam out there. So there is a reason why it is more expensive even if most folks don't value it. The Malkoff drop ins can also fit into the older non-letter serial lights you just need to make sure you buy the adapter too. The one thing nicer about the ML300 is that it has high/med/low modes whereas the Malkoff does not. I have a 2D Malkoff in my Jeep and I love it. I think I'm up to half a dozen Malkoff drop in Mags so I might be a little biased.

Right after I wrote that Lift'd I bought a 3C ML50.

The wife and I were rifling through the $5 movie bins in a WalMart and I kept thinking about going to the flashlight row, grab an oldy 2D and Malkoff it. Then I saw that ML50 had an XL50 button, got online and read the low was 100 or so lumens with a 20-ish lumen "eco" mode.... sold... for $34 to the flashlight geek with an arm full of 1970's and 80's tv shows on dvd's. Hogans Heroes, Hawaii 5-0, Crime Story, Mission Impossible and a 2016 Maglite. Spent the potential Malkoff $ on tv entertainment from back in the days you didn't have to shuffle the kids out of the room until 10:00 pm.

Lol, I don't blame ya one bit! I've had a few of the newer multi mode Mags but I always find myself using my AAA light for most of the low brightness stuff and my 3D Malkoff Mag'd for more heavy duty. Most of the times I'd ever use a low mode I'll just break out the AAA.

bykfixer said:

Right after I wrote that Lift'd I bought a 3C ML50.

The wife and I were rifling through the $5 movie bins in a WalMart and I kept thinking about going to the flashlight row, grab an oldy 2D and Malkoff it. Then I saw that ML50 had an XL50 button, got online and read the low was 100 or so lumens with a 20-ish lumen "eco" mode.... sold... for $34 to the flashlight geek with an arm full of 1970's and 80's tv shows on dvd's. Hogans Heroes, Hawaii 5-0, Crime Story, Mission Impossible and a 2016 Maglite. Spent the potential Malkoff $ on tv entertainment from back in the days you didn't have to shuffle the kids out of the room until 10:00 pm.

Click to expand...

Good choice! Great torch to keep in the car or for general use.

LiftdT4R said:

Lol, I don't blame ya one bit! I've had a few of the newer multi mode Mags but I always find myself using my AAA light for most of the low brightness stuff and my 3D Malkoff Mag'd for more heavy duty. Most of the times I'd ever use a low mode I'll just break out the AAA.

Click to expand...

Yup. Let's see... go back inside and grab the 27 ounce club sized 2D or pull a 1xaaa outta my pocket.... hmmm.
The 2D with a PR base xenon puts out a very useful lighting but those little lights are just so dang convenient.

arKmm said:

Good choice! Great torch to keep in the car or for general use.

Click to expand...

I really dig the ML50 but I missed my lanyard...


1/8" hole drilled at right angles and a 99¢ lanyard...
Problem solved.
My pa-n-law did not heed my advice to remove alkaline cells supplied with his ML25 when not in use so I ended up with spare parts. The ML25 tailcap works perfect on ML50's...