Brightest, Drop In MiniMag Mod?

[LuxLuthor]

I have 25 logo inscribed MiniMags that are otherwise stock, and I want to get easy drop in mods where I don't have to do anything beyond the "1 out of 4 difficulty level" on the Dummy Guide....BUT......I want to have these blow people away compared to stock.

Here is my order of priority of the factors I can think of....which I sent in a note to the sandwich shop, but they didn't respond....in order of importance:

1) Brightness....looking for that "Holy poop" factor when they get it as a gift.
2) Minimal artifacts
3) Throw
4) Use NiMH-R or Alkaline disposable AA's
5) Durable/Reliable (no crappy switch performance)
6) Duration (Not very important for this purpose)
7) Price

Again, I want something I can just take out the existing light, reflector, plastic lens and pop something else in with no other assembly/solder/modding. I could put in a custom bulb, but it needs to stay in socket securely.

That Nite Ize IQ switch looks nice....Don't know if their drop in is very bright. Also not sure if Opalec drop in would be impressively bright.

Thanks

 

[NickelPlate]

That Nite Ize IQ switch looks nice....Don't know if their drop in is very bright.

Thanks

Pretty unimpressive really. I have a Nite Ize for my Mini mag and it sits on the shelf, of course that's after I bought an L2P :naughty:. But for the money it's okay and probably a better choice than the stock minimag bulb. Also the included tailcap switch is rather chincy but again, it works.

Dave

 

[pedalinbob]

1) Brightness....looking for that "Holy poop" factor when they get it as a gift.
2) Minimal artifacts
3) Throw
4) Use NiMH-R or Alkaline disposable AA's
5) Durable/Reliable (no crappy switch performance)
6) Duration (Not very important for this purpose)
7) Price


Brightness: the Madmax or Badboys are crazy bright. I think you can get a BB750, which must be positively killer.

The above with an NX05 or S017 reflector, will have a great beam. Choice is nice!

Throw: The S017 provides quite good throw, with a fantastic spill.

The Badboys are great for NIMH, because they drop out of regulation at about the voltage where you should recharge. Tends to protect the cells.

Switch: that is a toughie. I guess you could use the twisty function. The Krolls can be a bit finicky.

Duration/runtime? With 2100mah Nimh, my BB400 runs well over 2.5 hours before falling out of regulation. Maybe a BB500 with conditioned 2500mah bats would go ~2 hours?

Price: well, the Badboys aren't cheap. You might pay as much as $50 each, but the performance is top notch.

With less performance, but better price, I think the Terralux might be a possibility. You could contact some of the dealers/manufacturers (Wayne, Lambda, Terralux, etc) to see if you could get a bulk price deal.

Good luck!

Bob

 

[revv11]

You can scratch Opalec from your list. It's not going to impress with brightness and has a strong blue tint. Check AuroraLite's thread on MiniMag Hotwire. The TL-3 version is super bright & has a good throw and it's all drop-in stuff. It uses Li-Ion batts though.

 

[DFiorentino]

MadMax Plus or NexGen are both great converters add a U-bin LuxIII and McR-18 (for drop-in fit) or McR-20 (slight modding needed) and you'll have yourself a bright MM. All available ready to go at the SS. Or if you don't really mind assembling yourself, get a NexGen1000, emitter board w/connectors, and a soon to be available U-bin K2 using the previously mention reflectors. Of course add in a B270 or UCL lens

The switch is up to you :shrug: I still prefer my "maintained" Krolls.

-DF

 

[the_beast]

If you have 25 of these things to do, I think you'd be best with the TerraLUX TLE-5 MiniStar2. It can be had from several places online (I won't mention names as there are several dealers on CPF and it wouldn't be fair if I missed someone out - a search for Terralux SHOULD (if the search is working) yield a good list of places).

It's a very easy mod (unscrew head, put in new bulb, switch reflectors, reassemble). All of the other mods require a little more effort (removing the switch assembly etc). They are not hard to do, but an extra couple of minutes adds up when you have 25 to do!

The best thing about the TerraLux is the price - it is almost as bright as the low end sandwiches, but is around half the price ($23 or so against $50+). You would probably be able to get a reasonable discount for 25 too. They will blow away the stock lamps for both brightness and runtime, so probably fit best for your purpose.

 

[cratz2]

Yeah, there are LOTS of options when it comes to modded Minimags... Long runtime with modest brightness... CRAZY bright with CRAZY short runtime... Nice wide flood beam intended mostly for indoor use...

The Minimag hotwire kit with the TL-3 is surely one of the brightest, if not THE brightest Minimag mod. And a pill with a T-bin or U-bin Lux III run at 750ma would be pretty crazy for that size. If you can ante up for it, one of the modders offers Minimags that have been drilled out and had the stock reflector replaced with a very nice-throwing IMS20mm reflector which will give much nicer throw with a Lux III than the stock reflector will.

The Opalec Newbeam and Nite Ize drop-ins are nice for a dimmer output (still about as bright as the stock incandescent) with a relatively wide flood and great runtime. Personally, I've owned them all and I prefer an MJLED with a drilled out reflector but it needs primary Lithium cells to look it's best. Gets somewhere between 20-40 hours runtime on a set so it's not like they'll break the bank. The Nite Ize/Newbeam is floodier or has a larger hotspot, but the MJLED/SMJLED gives a more traditional 'defined bright hotspot with a nice spillbeam' type pattern which I prefer.

Still, if you have 25 of them, I'd DEFINATELY suggest getting at least one of the Nite Ize modules since they're only $5 at Walmart... just remember, they are about runtime, not brightness.

 

[greenLED]

1) Brightness....looking for that "Holy poop" factor when they get it as a gift.
2) Minimal artifacts
3) Throw
4) Use NiMH-R or Alkaline disposable AA's
5) Durable/Reliable (no crappy switch performance)
6) Duration (Not very important for this purpose)
7) Price

Given your constraints, I'd say get a sammie from the Sandwich Shoppe, or the TerraLux TL-5 (the latter is my choice for "gifts with a punch").

Incidentally, throw will depend more on your choice of optic/reflector than the Lux itself. Also, you'll get minimal artifacts with a reflector (although you can "de-focus" the TL-5's reflector and will get all those rings. Sammies need occassional cleaning, which may hurt your reliability requirement in case you give the light to a non-flashaholic. Also, Sammies are twice as expensive as the TL-5.

 

[CLHC]

Like greenLED said regarding the drop-ins from The Sandwich Shoppe and nothing else. . .Enjoy!

 

[the_beast]

The sammies have the brightness, but they require too much maintenance for the non-techie to keep running. With your requirements it has to be the TerraLux. Most of the sandwiches aren't really that much brighter except in direct comparisons anyhow.

I know I sound like a TerraLux rep, but I can't see a better alternative. I own a U-bin sammie and love it, it has relegated my Terralux to the drawer. But it isn't the best for this use.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Thanks for the great info. Is the TerraLUX TLE-5 MiniStar2 that the_beast recommended the same as the TerraLux TL-5 that greenLED said?

The Badboys and MadMax caught my attention, but I could not figure out from looking at the sandwich shop EXACTLY what I needed to buy to have it be a SIMPLE & a complete drop-in package.

I already have a Fenix L1P and L2P, but these Minimags are promo gifts for a large Vacation Tour operator/Travel Agency with many offices who already has several thousand of them inscribed, and my friend (the owner) gives them to his customers.

He gave me one, and I showed him my lights, and it was obvious that the stock MiniMag was pretty sad, and he asked me to "soup them up" for him. There actually could end up being thousands of these given out to his more select, repeat customers.

For the batch of 25 "test" he told me not to worry about the cost, and wanted to see how much better they could turn out for his higher end repeat customers. The gold stock minimag has been better received than any other gift he has given.

Independent of a drop in performance mod, I was also wondering if that new Nite Eze IQ might be a winner as an additional switch replacement "WoW factor."

I think he will end up giving higher quality mods to his better customers, since people ask for another light when they rebook instead of other gifts he has given out. (Don't ask me why people don't just pick them up at Walmart...but they don't).

So, if the TerraLux is gonna impress his customers, and is easy for me to setup as a favor to him, that sounds great. If the Badboy/Madmax is also easy and reliable, that would also be great. I think the Sandwich Shop should have a clear display of EXACTLY everything a dummy light person like me would need (remember I have not yet modded a flashlight.....PC computers...I mod & overclock like crazy though).

Even though I suspected the Nite Eze and Opalec drop ins were not "Holy poop" impressive, they have mastered the very important issue of making it perfectly clear of it being a complete dropin package which I liked.

===== edit =======
BTW, now that I look at mine and talked to him again, he had these electroplated with real gold...now I see why it is so popular....I assumed it was a cheap faux gold color model.

 

[InfidelCastro]

The Night Ize upgrade is very unimpressive. Though it's alot better than the standard bulb. They could have put at least one more LED on there IMO. I'm still getting the red one when it comes out!

 

[LuxLuthor]

Is there any difference between these two TerraLUX MiniStar2 models?

Lambertian Style

TerraLUX brand

 

[GarageBoy]

I do the BB750NG with the classic IMS 17mm..
1hr run time

 

[LuxLuthor]

I have no idea what that means. Remember....dumb down.....complete package drop in.

 

[cratz2]

To translate GarageBoy's advanced flashaholic-ese into budding flashaholic-ese, he's recommending the BadBoy 750 mA Next Gen pill available from the The Sandwich Shoppe... basically what the rest of us have been saying regarding anything from The Sandwich Shoppe.

As far as what is needed to make them work, just a completed assembly... and batteries. And you need the appropriate reflector or optic which is right on the page when you order your assembly. The IMS17mm costs $2 and works fine, but as I suggested above, you can have someone machine the head a bit to allow for the larger IMS20mm reflector which gives quite a bit more throw.

 

[wwglen]

The one on AMAZON shows the OLD side emitter TLE-5. This is not as bright as the newer ones or as clean a beam shape.

wwglen

 

[GarageBoy]

Whoops sorry! The sandwich shoppe even has their own forum here. Wayne usually sells them with an optical system included. You don't need to machine for the larger 20mm reflector, you could always go with the sandpaper the reflector down route too. The 17mm and the 20mm gives you a nice dense hotspot in the middle with plenty of side spill and corona

 

[mahoney]

If you really want to blow someone away with a money-no-object AA Mini-mag, I suggest a 500ma Nexgen sandwich with a McR 18 reflector. Anything beyond 500ma is not really going to live up to it's potentiall with AA alkalines, and the greater efficiency of the Nexgen will give more runtime than the Badboy.

The McR 18 reflector is a easy drop in for the AA Mini-mag. It's a little smaller in diameter than the stock mini-mag reflector so an O-ring to take up the little extra space is a nice touch, but a few wraps of tape would do the same job. It's a bit pricy compared to the IMS 20 reflector, but fitting the IMS 20 into 25 heads...well... The IMS 17 reflector will also fit in the Mini-mag easily but there's a lot of extra space, so it's not as gracefull and the beams not quite as good IMO as the McR 18.

 

[rikvee]

the Sandwich Shoppe sandwiches are a revelation, I've tried out the NX-05 and the Fraen optics, and initially I preferred the 17mm reflector.
With mahoney above, I also found that the McR18 reflector is the very best for an even beam, ok it costs money, but the result is so good I don't even have to use a SF F04 beamshaper.
The whole assembly of a sandwich-modded MiniMag is just about as easy as a drop-in, especially since the Sandwich Shoppe tends to supply the appropriate O-rings with each Luxeon Pill.