4. Tiger85 vs. Mag85.
Both are 9 cell NiMH running the Welch Allyn 01185-u halogen lamp. The Tiger85 uses a Carley 1940 reflector with a ring-potted lamp. The Mag85 uses one of a few different reflectors, all but one of which is a Carley 1940 modified in some way or another. And one of which is a reflector custom made for FiveMega. Almost all of the reflectors have their bore enlarged to allow the mag pedestal to pass up into the rear of the reflector. Their is one exception. JimH's Mag85 uses a 1940 with a standard bore and one of my ring-potted 1185's.
The Tiger85 battery pack is 9 KAN 1050 high-current NiMH 2/3A cells. The Mag85 is 9 AA cells in 3 3-to-D adaptors in a Mag 3D.
What does all of this mean? Well, it depends on what batteries people use in the Mag85, but most of the time people use high quality consumer AA cells, such as the Maha's or Energizers or Sanyos, with around 2100 or so mAh capacity. Assuming that is the case, you get the following differences:
1. The Tiger85 is brighter, because the KAN 1050's are somewhat better at holding their voltage under a 3+ amp load than a consumer AA cell is. The 1050s will hold close to 1.2 volts, but a little under that (at the mid-point). The consumer AA cells, on the other hand, will hold 1.1 volts. This translates into 10.6 or 10.7 volts versus 9.9, which equates to a noticeable (but not large) difference in lumens.
The downside to this is that the Tiger85 will only run for 17 minutes, instead of 25, and it also means that the Tiger85 has around a 30 percent chance of flashing the lamp if turned on hot off the charger.
The other advantage to the mag85 I should mention is that in most set-ups, it can be focused on the fly, whereas the Tiger85 has to be opened up and adjusted, and then stays where it was set and is not adjustable while running.
But, the Tiger85 can be run continuously, over and over again, without any damage accruing to the light, whereas with the Mag85 or MC85, one has to be careful about heat damage to the pedestal and/or bi-pin socket.
Also, the Tiger85 is significantly smaller than the Mag85, by around 4 inches, I think, and the Tiger85 has a rear positioned switch, if that matters to you (it does to me).
Except for the small loss of light due to the extra large bore and lower voltage, the Mag85 will throw as far and have more or less the same beam as the Tiger85.
The Mag85 can be put together more cheaply and the parts are readily available. The Tiger85 is more expensive and for the moment, I am the only supplier of the 9 cell battery pack and LA.
Hope that helps.