I want to start a new thread related to the another thread. We all know there are some tremendous upgrades for Maglites that deliver an enormous amount of light that cost a little bit and are well worth the money. But what about the guy that has one or more Maglites around that knows the incandescent isn't working, dim yellow light, drains battery and just wants to upgrade them a little bit just to make them serviceable expensively? There are the TerraLUX LED bulbs for $16. What are other bulbs in this price range that may be better that people could try so they would be happy with this simple upgrade?
Maglite Inexpensive Drop Ins
- Thread starter mjac
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The nite-ize have come a LONG way since back when they were either 5mm or 10mm LED options only. Last time I picked up a 2-cell nite-ize PR bulb for the MIL from the local hardware store, it was on close out for $7 and works very nice. A slightly cool, almost neutral tint and good, reasonable output. Was a smaller emitter, IIRC it looked like an XPE.
The hands down budget winner is the Rayovac LED bulbs for ~$3. Similar output to the factory incan bulb but exceptional runtime. A bit towards "angry blue" on my examples, though. Great for a blackout light anways. I have a number of them stashed in tin foil for my "oh sh1t" can as they would work with any PR bulb application within their voltage range.
Now minimags are easy! Similar output to stock bulb without POOF and with, literally, weeks of runtime (I'd have to look for the thread but I feel like when I did a test it was 1+ month continuous of 2AA). Look at a 5mm LED stuck in place of the bulb. Just have to trim the leads a little and hog out the reflector a little bit. Works great! I've tried it with Nichia GS and it worked amazing. I also tried it with some warm white LEDs from ledsupply which worked great. I have some other high output LEDs which I'd rather use but just haven't messed with them yet.
The hands down budget winner is the Rayovac LED bulbs for ~$3. Similar output to the factory incan bulb but exceptional runtime. A bit towards "angry blue" on my examples, though. Great for a blackout light anways. I have a number of them stashed in tin foil for my "oh sh1t" can as they would work with any PR bulb application within their voltage range.
Now minimags are easy! Similar output to stock bulb without POOF and with, literally, weeks of runtime (I'd have to look for the thread but I feel like when I did a test it was 1+ month continuous of 2AA). Look at a 5mm LED stuck in place of the bulb. Just have to trim the leads a little and hog out the reflector a little bit. Works great! I've tried it with Nichia GS and it worked amazing. I also tried it with some warm white LEDs from ledsupply which worked great. I have some other high output LEDs which I'd rather use but just haven't messed with them yet.
LED Monkey
Enlightened
I would check out "Adventure Sport Flashlights", Matt the owner has a whole bunch of Maglite stuff there, everything from high power/lumen multi LED dropins with reflector and heat sink to small but still bright LED dropins down to $16. n change. you could even run your Maglites with rechargeable batteries like nimh or li-ion. It is plug n play install type of stuff too.
You might want to watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7NbWqvB-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7NbWqvB-k
Nite-ize might be a little better.
The Rayovacs are economical but I would want better performance then the factory bulb.
I am not familiar with this and I definitely want to upgrade my Maglite Mini. Sometimes that is the only flashlight you can fit in tight spaces. Standard 5mm LEDs have prongs on them like the factory Mini Mag bulbs? How much do they cost? ThevTerraLUX FORVTHE Mini-Mag is $16 too.
I wish I would have know about this earlier. I am going to try and cancel my order for the TerraLUX and look into what Adventure Sport Flashlights has to offer. Like to support small busnesses. In your opinion, is his stuff better then the Malkoff $44 Maglite drop in for the money? Just curious.
LED Monkey
Enlightened
I would not say the Adventure Sport products are better but they have differences that you can consider such as lumens and cost. the Malkoff stuff has a good rep for very high quality build but they're not quite as bright as some of the AdvSpt. dropins. Fwiw I bought a 3/6 D cell Fire Fly 800 lumen dropin built with the reflector, good output, build quality seems to be good as well. I would prefer a different UI as far as the on time memory but thats just my preference. I did have a unintentional torture test by it accidently dropped it out of my 2nd floor bedroom window and it landed on my driveway and still works like new.
The Malkoff quality is unimpeachable. I have a number of their modules, though only one of their Mag drop-ins. It is as well done as any of their other offerings. That said, its becoming dated with the cool white XPG2 as the only option. IMHO if I were to need/want a drop in that offers better performance than a PR LED bulb then Malkoff woul be my go-to. Also, if you don't mind voiding their warranty you could EASILY replace the LED with anything you want as it is basically just right there on top.
The Rayovac bulbs that they used to sell at Walmart for $3-4 were OK if you didn't need a lot of output and didn't mind the blue tint…lots of run time with these. I think Dorcy sells similar bulbs for around $5.
The 55 lumen Nite Ize is a big step up – brighter, whiter beam and can be used in any 2-6 cell PR bulb light. I think these were around $8 at home depot last time I looked.
These are great if you want more output and don't want to spend a lot:
The 55 lumen Nite Ize is a big step up – brighter, whiter beam and can be used in any 2-6 cell PR bulb light. I think these were around $8 at home depot last time I looked.
These are great if you want more output and don't want to spend a lot:
Much to my surprise LED Supply just sent me an EMail allowing me to cancel my order. So now I am going to look at Malkoff's stuff and Adventure Sport Flashlight's stuff and decide on what to do. By the way, what Batteries do guys like ya'll use that know what they are doing?
LED Supply has allowed me to cancel my order. So I will look at the Malkoff stuff and the Adventure Sport Flashlight Stuff and see which one gives the most for the money. But everyone says the Malkoff stuff is bullet proof. I don't think I was getting my money's worth with the TerraLUX even though it was only $16. Once it starts breaking down you are back to square one. Get something good right up front.
LED Monkey
Enlightened
As already noted the Malkoff products are high quality rock solid stuff, but as also mentioned by Buck91 the led options are pretty much the Cree XPG cool white and I didn't want to go with that so I opted the go with ASF. I got the FireFly 800 lumen XML dropin and I'm running it on 2x 26650 Vapcell 5000mah 20A continuous in a 3D cell maglite with a dummy spacer that I made. The Malkoff dropin needs to mod the reflector or buy a new reflector to use with the dropin just a heads up. The batteries you use with whatever you decide to go with must match the working voltage range of the specific dropin/bulb and consider the size of the Maglite you're going to use also.
You are way beyond me in sophistication with your set up. I just bought the Adventure Sport 280 Lumen drop in and standard Duracell Batteries. But I think this $16 upgrade will still be a significant improvement over the stock Maglite with the incandescent in brightness and run time. Good for the money.
LED Monkey
Enlightened
Nice mjac! I think you're gonna like the upgrade you get for the money. That has the highest lumen rating I've seen for the "bulb style" dropin that I'm aware of. Please let us know how it does after install.
LED Monkey
Enlightened
Fwiw you could go with rechargeable batteries either nimh or li-ion if you wanted. I'm assuming you have a 3D cell maglite since you ordered the 280 lumen version.
Yeah ya right. Feeling good, LSU just put on a Virtuoso Performance on a National Stage. For $16 to get that level of an upgrade, though not nearly the level of the high end upgrades, I think is very cost effective unless you need higher output.The drop in is not only rated at 280 Lumens, it was tested at 276. Good place to start. Every Mag should at least have this done, everyone. That is how strongly I feel about it. I hope this guy sells a ton of them for putting out an honest product with no Marketing BS.
I always thought you lost voltage with Rechargeables. At least that is what I was told. Another advantage of the LED Bulb is that you will get vastly more run time anyway. This guy Matt at Adventure Sport Flashlights has a Dura Cell D Battery on his website called the DuraLock D. I could not find it. Do you know anything about it? I didn't order it from him because I thought the shipping would kill me.
Yeah, it is an old 3D Maglite. That is why I did not go with the Malkoff. I am just trying to replace a5D that was took when someone tried to steal my truck. It turned out good though. With the upgrade I will have a better more powerful lite then the 5D in a 3D package.
LED Monkey
Enlightened
You should use whatever works best for you. Yes you will lose a small amount of voltage with nimh, alkaline batteries start off with a higher voltage at 1.5~1.6 when new but quickly drop in voltage and continue to drop until they're dead, nimh will start off at a slightly lower voltage about 1.4~1.5v when fully charged then quickly drops under 1.4v but then it will steady out for a longer time in it's mid range area in the 1.3s to 1.2s voltage giving a longer run time for many applications, combining that with the more efficient led you should get good run time. I have another old Maglite that has a factory led (non removable led) 2D cell that I'm using 6aa nimh batteries in 2 3Xaa to D cell parallel adapters and it works very well for that light. I just hated buying then throwing out those big D cell batteries. Or they sell D size nimh batteries but they're quite expensive, AA size batteries are very ubiquitous and cheap. The dropin you have can run up to 9v so you could go with li-ions running 2x 18650 or 2x 26650 with a spacer. 2x li-ion cell = 8.4v fully charged and that's what I'm using in my 3D ASF Maglight. And the higher voltage of the 2 li-ion batteries will lower the amp draw on your light.
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