Best 3v minimag upgrade?

[mr.squatch]

I've seen a few upgrades for the aa minimags, but I've heard of and can't find a few more. What all is available? I think somebody makes a 3led version. Any cree ones? I've got a couple that are running off a single 3v cell. I'd like it to be wow bright. Sorry if its been beaten to death, I've not had a minimag in a long time. Thanks in advance



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[Marduke]

NiteIze makes a Luxeon 1 watt upgrade and 3LED upgrade, both available at any number of B&M stores for $5-20 depending on the upgrade and combo pack deals with switches.
http://www.niteize.com/productdetail.php?category_id=28&product_id=145
http://www.niteize.com/productdetail.php?category_id=28&product_id=110

TerraLux does make a Cree upgrade.
http://www.batteryjunction.com/tle-5k2.html

 

[mr.squatch]

hmm, the 5watt terralux one looked promising til I read the flashlight reviews review of it and they said the maglite 3w led is brighter and lasts longer. I can't imagine that nobody has been able to beat the one offered by the manufacturer. Anybody compared the 3led one to the maglite 3w? Hmm, still searching, lots out there. Somebody has to have tried a few of em and found what's brightest. Thanks for the links duke!
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[Sgt. LED]

Try out that terralux with cree from battery junction.
http://www.batteryjunction.com/tle-5k2.html
Should help alot.

 

[pipspeak]

Avoid the nite-ize 3 LED module... it sucks mainly because you lose any focusing ability and the beam is just too spread out for me. I think the 1W replacement has the same problem... no beam, focusing.

I did a similar search and decided to simply buy a brand new new LED AA maglite. Got one on sale for about $12. It's bright (but not cree bright) and retains a nice focusing ability, although mag really neads to work on its reflectors. Now I just wish there was a tail cap clicky switch available, but alas there's only one for the old incandescent AA maglite.

 

[mr.squatch]

Reading in another thread I heard of some dropins from the sandwich shop, the madmax and another one. They list em as twoAA but none say maglite. Hmm. Some are as much as 70 bucks! Get whatchu pay for? Any ss minimag fans out there?

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[Marduke]

http://www.batteryjunction.com/tle-5k2.html

This one isn't the one you saw in the review, as it is about 3x brighter than the stock Mag 3W (and is not 5 watts). It's the best you'll find for a 2AA MiniMag for brightness vs runtime. Only a hotwire mod would be brighter, for a grand total of 30 minutes....

 

[copperfox]

I have direct experience with the NiteIze 3x5mm LED upgrade, the luxeon based Terralux TLE-5 and the Seoul based Terralux TLE-5EX. The NiteIze, which my father bought, is the dimmest of these three, and I would personally not purchase it. The TLE-5 is nice, very very similar in color and brightness to my 2AA mini Magled. The TLE-5EX is the brightest and whitest of these three, I consider it a very worthy upgrade to the minimag and makes for a useful light. I don't have personal experience with the cree version (most recent) of the TLE-5EX, but from what I've read, the beam has a much more defined hotspot and slightly less output than the seoul (SSC) version.

If i had to do it all over again, I would first try to purchase the SSC version of the TLE-5EX by looking for a store that still has them in stock. Failing that, I would buy the cree version.

 

[Wolf]

I have the nite-ize 1watt kit on one of my old 2xAA mags, its not that bad, it does have some focus to it (enough to make a kinda almost even hotspot) and IMO its a really nice setup... long as you dont have any thing better then a incan mag to compare it to tho. I just got a fenix l0d-Q4 and it on reg alkaline vs the night ize mag are almost close, going off lookin at the hotspots on a wall at 10 feet, but the tiny 1xAAA beats the thing for brightness, as for runtime, thats probably a diffrent story. Seeing you said you are looking for "WOW Bright" the 1watt is not it... now a L0D-Q4 on a 10440....

 

[Gunner12]

The Terralux on Flashlight reviews uses the Luxeon III or K2 LED. The Cree one is quite a bit brighter.

This would probably be the brightest unless you go for the hotwire mod.

 

[mr.squatch]

The mag-modder in me likes the idea of the hotwire the best, but considering the whole thing is shorter than my carkey and runs off one cr2, I guess I better play it safe. I think I'll go with the terralux so far. Still have yet to hear from the sandwich shoppe peoples.

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