D maglite LED

Hello all,
Rather new to LED lights, and never really investigated them seriously until now. I initially was looking for something along the lines of a really small and bright light. I've pretty much decided to go with the ARC AAA (unless someone can supply a reason otherwise).
My intial goal was to get something to replace my D battery Maglite. After researching, I've learned that people modify these lights to accept LEDs. I thought I'd write for advice on this. As I am not a serious LED person, I'd much rather just buy a unit I could screw into my Maglite, and use. So far, I've just seen these guys:

http://www.inretech.com/adapters.htm

Has anyone used their "3D" replacement? If so, what do you think about it? Is it a lot brighter? One thing that looks strange, is there is no reflective cone in the head, and it makes it look like it wouldn't put out a good "beam" of light. Also... is this a bit pricey? $125?

If anyone knows of any other people selling things for the Mag 3D, I'd like any advice... thanks..

----Lane

P.S. I'm most likely going to order online, unless someone knows of a place to buy these things (ARC AAA, Mag replacement) in Austin TX.

Check out the LED Museum for anything and everything you`ll ever want to know about LED lights - including a recent review of Inretech`s big bad Mag LED floodlight module... http://ledmuseum.org .

I would plug my own review site at this time too but I havn`t had a lot of time to update it lately (plus you can`t miss the banner down there should you finish reading all that Craig has to offer ).

Arc AAA is a fantastic light. Cue Ryan and Darell to forcibly convince you to buy one .....

In the meantime, also see the Opalec NewBeam http://opalec.com (or http://torchreviews.tripod.com/newbeam.htm - my highest score to date and will be hard to beat). Tremendously useful retrofit that goes in an AA minimag in place of that poor jaundiced stock bulb, and gives up to 10 hours of pure flat regulated moonlignt-white from the 2AA cells.

The Arc AAA LE is a single-AAA keychain light that gives about 20cd with a fresh AAA cell. This decays to about 13cd after about 3 hours and then stays steady at that level for another 3 hours. The listing on Brock's page is for a standard AAA not the LE. I think the LE is a nicer light.

The 2AA Opalec New Beam stays rock stable at 35 cd but is much bigger.

http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/battery.htm

Brightguy.com still has some AAA LEs in stock.

Now why do you want to put an LED in the Maglight? What do you want to do with it? That is the key. You can get a lot of light in much smaller packagages (but not matched to run time)...it all depends.

Cheers,

Richard

Here's the reasons I was considering a Maglite LED:

1) I already have a good 3D mag lite.
2) I wanted to never have to buy those big D batteries again. I keep the Mag in my car, and use it only during emergencies and other problems.
3) Although a smaller light could provide the same amount of brightness, I do like the 'other' features that a Mag lite has... think defensive weaponry.
4) Size isn't a huge consideration, as the Mag fits very nicely in my drivers side door compartment, and is rarely used but always handy.
5) having a super bright, long lasting Mag, out of LED has a 'cool' factor as well... I am a bit of a gadget guy

So is that one vendor the only place you know of to get the LED 3D mag replacement?

---Lane

I know you're looking to "salvage" your mag lite, not replace it, but I completely replaced my mag light with the well respected Lightwave 4000:

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/lw4000.htm

and haven't looked back. You can find them for around $40 on E-Bay. Its has the long battery life you're looking for and the durability and heft you want for self defense purposes. Although nothing can really beat the lead pipe characteristic of a good 6-D mag lite, but jeeze how often do you need that degree of defense (beyond what the LW 4000 can give you) versus needing a dependable light?

Read the reviews and compare it with the mag lite replacement you're looking at. Plus, am I missing something on the Inretech page? Is the adapter you're looking at $125?!?!

Originally posted by thefirelane:
Here's the reasons I was considering a Maglite LED:

2) I wanted to never have to buy those big D batteries again. I keep the Mag in my car, and use it only during emergencies and other problems.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'd be careful about that.
The LEDs are going to make you think you've got a light that you can store for 10 years and then you're going to find yourself with dead or leaking batteries.

Maybe you might like these led drop in bulbs for the d cell maglites. Ledcorp, www.ledcorp.com makes a luxeon star drop in bulb called the pro series led bulb www.ledcorp.com/probulb3.html . You can see the review of this bulb at the led museum at http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/lcpro3.htm .
Also, ledcorp sells a nichia drop in bulb for the maglite. http://www.ledcorp.com/bulb_99-3.html
The review is at ledmuseum http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/pr1.htm

I personally have a 4 D cell maglite with the pro series ledcorp luxeon star drop in bulb in it. I also placed a nichia ledcorp bulb in the tail piece bulb holder in case I want to make the batteries last much longer and only need turtlelite brightness. The luxeon bulb is not as bright as other luxeon maglite conversions but it is much brighter than other led lights. Although, at close range it is not as bright as a lightwave 4000, at medium to long range it blows the lightwave away since the maglite luxeon really throws the beam far since it is fully focusable.

I really like this flashlight. Luxeon bulb $40. Nichia bulb $13.

I bought one of those Ledcorp PR Luxeons as well, I think it only draws 150-175mA which explains its less than normal light outout, plus there is not much of a heatsink in the turned brass base, bought mine in january(?) and felt it was not an adequite usage of the Luxeons potential. Only good point is that you can focus the beam in a Maglite.

thefirelane,

Keep checking InReTech.com over the next month and see if we are able to come up with a product that meets your needs. I'm sure we provide a good utility/inspection/emergency light. Right now we have a really good AA utility light. The Super6 is a big solution for some kinds of big problems.

I can say that I keep 3D flashlights in my car and that we are looking at that need. The Luxeon Star is a great product that is well worth adapting primarily because it practically will run on good intentions alone.

Any light with alkaline batteries kept in a car should have those batteries changed at least once a year, or you might be in for a messy and destructive surprise.

I was lucky enough to be able to order 2 Cell Pro Series White LS Mag-Lite replacement bulb for my 2D Mag-Lite on Monday September 16, 2002.

I was looking at the LEDCorp website after reading Craig's review of the Pro Series and didn't see White listed for either Nichia based nor the Pro Series. I had to wait until monday to make a phone call. When I did call to inquire about future availability of 2 Cell White Pros, John told me that they had just found some White Luxeon Stars suitable for 2 Cell usage. He told me how to order one of those, and told me they still had to make the actual bulbs (about 10 days).

It was either that or buy a 3 or 4 cell Pro and a new matching Mag. So I got lucky and saved an additional $20+

Craig's review satisfied what I was looking for.