Mag ML25LT runtime test? Anyone done one?

[Chicken Drumstick]

Wondering if anyone has done a proper runtime test on the Mag ML25LT? I've been hitting Google, but no luck.

I'm interested to know what the regulation program is like on it. So I'm looking for a chart, a bit like the ones Led Resource used to do, e.g.

http://www.led-resource.com/2012/02/mini-maglite-pro-and-proplus-led-flashlight-review/

Thanks.

 

[xxo]

I posted some run time info (no graphs) here:


https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?454937-New-Maglite-2C-ML25LT/page4

 

[greenpondmike]

Was it you xxo that did the original 2c ml25lt? I remember someone doing a complete rundown test where it stayed a rock steady 177 lumens for 2 hours and then power stepped down after that and slowly declined for a half an hour till the battery was depleted- kinda like an incan. It was only rated for 2 hours, but that was soooome 2 hours. That link xxo provided will help you with the newer version and bykfixer does a beamshot comparison between the old and new version I think on his night shift thread.
Chicken Drumstick, I was going to say this before, but I didn't want to be the voice of temptation.
Seems like you want to make a decision to buy one of them or you have one and the other is calling you. Why not just own both?-I mean that is what flashaholics do right? Several of us have done that. One time I had a difficult time choosing between 2 different brands of lever action 30-30 rifles, but I clearly chose the better and more durable one. Ahhh, but the other one that I had dismissed kept bothering me and I eventually got it also. The so called not so durable brand was easier to handle, point, shoot, it felt better in my hands and it was more accurate.
I still have that wichester 94, but I practically gave the marlin 336 away to one of my in laws. Lol, I got it back though (in value) when he traded it for a mating pair of oriental thai chickens which later he gave to me along with one egg where he successfully cross breaded a thai and a cleret (both purebreds) and I was able to hatch out ol red (rip) which is in my posting pic along with his mate.
Crazy how some things work out, no?

 

[xxo]

Was it you xxo that did the original 2c ml25lt? I remember someone doing a complete rundown test where it stayed a rock steady 177 lumens for 2 hours and then power stepped down after that and slowly declined for a half an hour till the battery was depleted- kinda like an incan. It was only rated for 2 hours, but that was soooome 2 hours.
Chicken drumstick, I was going to say this before, but I didn't want to be the voice of temptation.
Seems like you want to make a decision to buy one of them or you have one and the other is calling you. Why not just own both?-I mean that is what flashaholics do right? Several of us have done that. One time I had a difficult time choosing between 2 different brands of lever action 30-30 rifles, but I clearly chose the better and more durable one. Ahhh, the bug bit me and I eventually got the other brand also. The so called not so durable brand was easier to handle, point, shoot, it felt better in my hands and it was more accurate.
I still have that wichester 94, but I practically gave the marlin 336 away to one of my in laws. Lol, I got it back though (in value) when he traded it for a mating pair of oriental thai chickens which later he gave to me along with one egg where he successfully cross breaded a thai and a cleret (both purebreds) and I was able to hatch out ol red (rip) which is in my posting pic along with his mate.
Crazy how some things work out, no?

I did some informal run tests but I never measured lumens/output, just run time. I think Infernal was going to do a graph, but I don't know if he did.

As to .30-30's - I guess that's why they make (or made) different ones. A old Marlin 336 Royal Canadian from the 50's was one of the best guns I ever had, handled great, silky smooth action - a real tack driver too. I had an old Winchester 94 for a while, meh.

 

[hsa]

Bykfixer did the test that you speak of.

 

[bykfixer]

I did one back in 016 with the original ML25's using a celphone app light meter measuring amount of light bouncing off the ceiling about 5 feet above a 2 cell and a 3 cell.

The 2 cell (according to a celphone app light meter) held steady at a bit over 2 hours then dimmed for about 30 minute to useable light. I turned it off at 2-1/2 hours as the head of the flashlight was mighty warm. That was using 2 gray wrap Rayovac alkalines. It was kind of pulsing where the hot spot would shrink and swell as it dimmed. It had me thinking perhaps I was hallucinating so I asked my wife and she agreed.
The 3 cell slowly dimmed to about 50% output over a 17 hour period and like the 2 cell dimmed rather quickly over the next half hour when I turned it off. With that one I turned it on and went to bed then monitored the next morning forward. Again using gray wrap Rayovac alkalines. Same shrinking/swelling hot spot.

Neither were official tests with charts and graphs. But both showed me Maglite was telling the truth when they stated runtimes. So I am supposing the upgraded version runs as long as they say it does. Both of my upgrade ML25's use Eneloops.

 

[greenpondmike]

Xxo, I've owned several used 336's and they all seemed good, but I liked the older scoped one that had the dark brown wood (probably real walnut) the best. All those past ones were used and I had a old anniversary engraved 94 which I should have never gotten rid of. The two I compaired were new ones. The last winchesters were bad from what I read because FN was closing the New Haven plant and there were a lot of angry employees, but mine is a cheap ranger version and the person that rifled that barrel must have still taken pride in their work. The marlin was a 336w from walmart with birch wood and the 94 was from academy and was hardwood. If I use the 94 too much the shell carrier probably will wear out and it will become a single shot(unless they have improved it). The pre 1964 models were the best, but quality was cut after that to save production costs. When they first did that the 94s were awful in looks and performance, but later versions got better under the new ownership of US Repeating Arms. USRA sold out to FN- the ones that own browning. I think you can still buy a new 94- a well made one from Japan for over a thousand.

 

[greenpondmike]

Bykfixer did the test that you speak of.

Sorry about that. Seems like I remembered how the 2c test went, but forgot who did it. Now I remember the 3c test also. Well done bykfixer.

 

[bykfixer]

I'm still trying to find the thread we did back in 016 about the ML25. It was lots of pages long. The LT one that is. There were 2 or 3 IT ones if I recall correct.

 

[greenpondmike]

I'm still trying to find the thread we did back in 016 about the ML25. It was lots of pages long. The LT one that is. There were 2 or 3 IT ones if I recall correct.

If I remember correctly back then you ruint the led on your first 2c- the one you called puter. I think you put too powerful a battery in it. I think you then took it apart so we could see how it was built. It wasn't long before I had one....then two.

 

[caelyx]

I'm still trying to find the thread we did back in 016 about the ML25. It was lots of pages long. The LT one that is.

I think it might be this one: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?416135-2-C-Cell-Mini-Maglite-LED-at-Wal-Mart

 

[bykfixer]

Yup, that was the one. Give that man a golden ticket……
Apparently back then I did not know what a "PR base" light bulb meant.

I tried a pair of 18500's in my first ML25. Back then I called it pewter not knowing Maglite now calls that color gray.

Like many Maglite products, the ML25 never got much attention here and I don't recall anybody doing a full blown grand scale review of the ML25.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

Yup, that was the one. Give that man a golden ticket……
Apparently back then I did not know what a "PR base" light bulb meant.

I tried a pair of 18500's in my first ML25. Back then I called it pewter not knowing Maglite now calls that color gray.

Like many Maglite products, the ML25 never got much attention here and I don't recall anybody doing a full blown grand scale review of the ML25.

Do we know if the new one has flat regulation also? It's just a little odd on a Maglite, at least the ones I've seen. They all seem to either step down or gradually dim on any past model I've seen reviews off. And in some cases only maintain their initial brightness just long enough to attain the ANSI FL1 output rating (isn't it something like 90 seconds after activation).

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

I did some informal run tests but I never measured lumens/output, just run time. I think Infernal was going to do a graph, but I don't know if he did.

As to .30-30's - I guess that's why they make (or made) different ones. A old Marlin 336 Royal Canadian from the 50's was one of the best guns I ever had, handled great, silky smooth action - a real tack driver too. I had an old Winchester 94 for a while, meh.

Have I seen you post pics of a 21700 to 2 x C cell adapter? Where are they available from? Thanks.

 

[xxo]

Have I seen you post pics of a 21700 to 2 x C cell adapter? Where are they available from? Thanks.

I make them myself. Send me a PM if you are interested.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

Well I think I may have managed to buy an ML25LT. It's been pretty hard work to do so in the UK. I can see why Maglite are now pretty much an unknown over here.

Two big stores that used to stock Maglites no longer stock or sell any.

Even a UK based Maglite 'specialist' selling LED drop-ins for Mags no longer stocks or sells new Maglites.

I did find two online sellers in the UK. But one didn't have the ML25 listed at all and other wanted approx $50 for the old model.


Spent some time looking on Amazon.co.uk and ebay.co.uk but without much luck. Eventually headed over to ebay.com and got slightly different results and have bought one (192 lumen in black) for $32 delivered to the UK. But expected delivery date is way out at the 14th Dec!!!

So I guess we will have to wait and see if/when it turns up.


On the flip side, I ordered a KR1 from Intl Outdoor on the 24th Oct and it arrived today (10 days door to door). With detailed tracking for the entire process. Which considering it is cheaper than buying an old model ML25LT locally is a win win really!


For those that don't know the KR1 is barely any bigger than an XL200 but with it's Osram LED packs a whopping 100,000cd :naughty:

 

[bykfixer]

I hope it turns out to be the upgraded version.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

I hope it turns out to be the upgraded version.

Me too!

I doubled checked the listing and it explicitly said 192 lumen in it. Plus PayPal normally gives quite good buyer protection should it turn out not to be true.

 

[xxo]

The original single mode 2C ML25 had too short a run time on alkaline C's , though you could double the run time from 2 to 4 hrs with a couple of soshine NiMH C cells and a 3500 mAh could stretch that to almost 5 hrs and with a 5000 mAh 21700 you can get over 7 hrs – not bad for a stubby C cell Mag.

Of course with the step down on the current 2 mode ML25, you get more runtime on high plus you have the low mode that runs near forever, but still puts out a very useful beam of light.

For regular people who are not into batteries and flashlights, I usually recommend they run AA Eneloops or L91 Energizer lithiums, a L91 should beat a alkaline C by about an hour for runtime on high and a Eneloop Pro should at least match the alkaline C's. Of course the alkaline C's would do better on low mode.

For those who insist on running alkaline C's, the 3C version is the way to go.

 

[bykfixer]

I started using regular eneloops in my first gen 2 cell and at first kept thinking I had forgotten to put batteries in it. I have one with 5000 mAh Imedion batteries in it and it's like picking up a lead weight in comparison. I set it side by side another 2 cell with a pair of eneloops for 2 years and the Imedion powered one was dead when I went to use it while the eneloop'd one fired right up. So if you use Imedions but store the light in a glove box etc keep tabs on how much self discharge has occured.

I was hoping to see an updated version of the 3 cell but so far no go. It's really a nice light. If the ML50 isn't too big to carry the 3 cell ML25 is a treat with it's ML25 beam in a classic 2C length package.