i guess that's true. many technical terms are used very liberally on CPF.
but even by those loose standards, i think it's a major stretch to say that a light that has "more than just a resistor and is better than direct drive... can be considered regulated," which is what Robin wrote and the claim that i was trying to provide a counter argument for.
anyway, the OP's original question was, "Do the Mag LED flashlights have a circuit that keeps the light output constant as the batteries run down?" and i was just trying to provide a clear answer. and of course the answer is no... not that there's anything wrong with that.
Everything you write here is correct.
However, by the terminology commonly used on CPF, the MagLED 2D could be described as regulated.
Why?
Because its runtime plot on NiMH cells will be fairly flat until the cells finally give up trying to supply current at the level demanded.
There are MANY lights - way too many to list - that have this characteristic and are described as "regulated" even though they exhibit very rapid output decay when run on alkalines.
What's fair for the goose, is fair for the gander....
.