Maglite ML25LT "3C" cell

[Mr.Mag]

Whats your opinion (like/dislike) on the ML25LT "3C" L.E.D.
Maglite ? Im just curious if they're worth buying? I sort of got carried away earlier at a few of my local TSC stores and found them to be clearanced out because they reset the flash light displays and are no longer carrying Maglites. Not wanting to pass up a deal of a lifetime (at least I hope)I bought all the ones I could find just not knowing if that was a good choice or not?

 

[Berneck1]

Depends on what you paid. This particular Maglite is underpowered relative to current offerings, including other Maglites. I've seen them on sale for under $20. Not bad for a very basic household flashlight. If you paid well under $20 it's certainly not a bad deal. However, highly doubt these are something that are going to become a collectors item or increase in value over time. They could certainly be nice gifts to give.

 

[Mr.Mag]

They were originally marked $25 a light.
I caught them on the clearance rack marked down to $8.49 each. I figured now days its hard to find a 2AA minimag for under about $12..... just as you mentioned I might give them away as Christmas gifts or birthday gifts.

 

[bykfixer]

The ML25 was a bit of a throwback light by Maglite in 2016 that was seen as a C sized minimag.

Much like the classic Maglite, it was a thrower. At less than 200 lumens it has over 12k candela as it throws out a pencil beam a lot farther than the lumen number would suggest.

The 2C was regulated for rock solid output for 2 hours then quickly dims to about 10% output. The 3C was rated for 17 hours of output and would still be around 50% at that point, then dims to about 10% after another hour.

They released an incan version as well, but most stores did not carry those.

With the ML25 you can use the tailcap for on/off or signaling. Set the beam like you like and a half turn of the tailcap cuts the power. A bit less allows the user to press on the tailcap for signaling.

Many folks use aa adapters and eneloops for fuel for a nice lightweight light for dog walking, putting out the trash etc.

Around here there wasn't a lot of excitement about the ML25, but the Maglite fans here were certainly happy to obtain the maxi-mini-mag.

When they first showed up at my local Wal Mart there were a bunch of zeros to the left side of the serial number and it appeared they'd produced at least 10,000 at that point. The current crop at my local Wal Mart have a one to the far left of the serial numbers indicating some 10 million plus may have been produced.

No special colors were sold at stores but there were some Christmas, and patriotic versions produced that were sold by Z Battery (and perhaps other online stores).

A word of caution about alkaline batteries and leaking. If you gift them caution the gift-ee to store batteries outside of them. The Duracells they used to come with leaked.

Also it seems Maglite has come out with a 2 level version but details are sketchy at this point.

Evidently Maglite's contract with WalMart and Lowes have not been renewed. Home Depots seem to be restocking the Maglite's.

 

[xxo]

Depends on what you paid. This particular Maglite is underpowered relative to current offerings, including other Maglites.

"underpowered" is not how I would describe the ML25 when I turn it on - it's damn bright when the focus is dialed in. Lumens are ok for a measure of perceived "brightness" for a unfocused light bulb, but for a flashlights like the ML25's with a focused beam candlepower is much more of a factor in how bright a focused beam looks and also of course, how far it throws. If you shine a Mini Mag Pro against a wall and compare it next to a ML25LT, most people would say the ML25 is far brighter despite the MM Por's 100 higher lumens. If you shine them both at a distant object the ML25 will seem even brighter by comparison. In terms of candlepower the ML25's are up there with some of the higher lumen Mags.

 

[xxo]

They were originally marked $25 a light.
I caught them on the clearance rack marked down to $8.49 each. I figured now days its hard to find a 2AA minimag for under about $12..... just as you mentioned I might give them away as Christmas gifts or birthday gifts.

That's a real good price! I picked up a couple of ML25 combo packs (1 each 2 and 3 cell ML25's plus 5 rayovac batteries to go with them) on clearance from walmart for $19 a while ago. A few years ago home depot had the combo packs (with duracell batts) at $25 for black Friday and I think they still may have some on their website. I also see that my local Target has put the ML25 3 cell on clearance, though the price hasn't gone down all that much yet. Even at $20 each, I consider the ML25's to be a bargain!

 

[xxo]

The ML25 was a bit of a throwback light by Maglite in 2016 that was seen as a C sized minimag.

Much like the classic Maglite, it was a thrower. At less than 200 lumens it has over 12k candela as it throws out a pencil beam a lot farther than the lumen number would suggest.

The 2C was regulated for rock solid output for 2 hours then quickly dims to about 10% output. The 3C was rated for 17 hours of output and would still be around 50% at that point, then dims to about 10% after another hour.

They released an incan version as well, but most stores did not carry those.

With the ML25 you can use the tailcap for on/off or signaling. Set the beam like you like and a half turn of the tailcap cuts the power. A bit less allows the user to press on the tailcap for signaling.

Many folks use aa adapters and eneloops for fuel for a nice lightweight light for dog walking, putting out the trash etc.

Around here there wasn't a lot of excitement about the ML25, but the Maglite fans here were certainly happy to obtain the maxi-mini-mag.

When they first showed up at my local Wal Mart there were a bunch of zeros to the left side of the serial number and it appeared they'd produced at least 10,000 at that point. The current crop at my local Wal Mart have a one to the far left of the serial numbers indicating some 10 million plus may have been produced.

No special colors were sold at stores but there were some Christmas, and patriotic versions produced that were sold by Z Battery (and perhaps other online stores).

A word of caution about alkaline batteries and leaking. If you gift them caution the gift-ee to store batteries outside of them. The Duracells they used to come with leaked.

Also it seems Maglite has come out with a 2 level version but details are sketchy at this point.

Evidently Maglite's contract with WalMart and Lowes have not been renewed. Home Depots seem to be restocking the Maglite's.

The ML25's are great! They have pretty much taken over for my AA mini Mag Pro - I find the ML25's beam with it's tight hot spot for throw and it's huge spill beam for up close much more useful than the MM Pro's higher lumens, but less throwy and smaller, too bright spill beam. If I want something smaller, I just go with the AAA Mini Mag LED, which also has a very nice beam pattern.

I like the size of the 2C for pocket carry, but I generally recommend the 3C for anyone who intends to run alkalines. I run my ML25 3C mostly on 18650's in a adapter that I 3D printed and it works great. The 2C version will also run on 18650's, but I am a little hesitant to recommend that since the Voltage is higher than it was designed for (boost driver), though it dosen't seem to overheat. AA eneloops in either light is another excellent option.

 

[Mr.Mag]

Thanks for all the info.....what does the LT mean at the end of the model # ?

Hopefully I made the right choice and bought all I could find I ended up with 21 one of them at $8.49 a piece which comes out to $178.29 total before taxes. They were originally marked $25 a piece which at full price ends up at $525. I guess I probably got a little carried away but like the post before mentioned make good Christmas gifts or birthday gifts or even throw one of the neighbors a decent light. Thanks again for all the info.

 

[hsa]

Both the 2 and 3 cell throw over 300meters with around 25,000 cd. With the 5 degree beam they are especially good in hazy/foggy conditions.

 

[bykfixer]

LT is the LED version. IT is the incan version.

 

[Mr.Mag]

Got it. Thanks

 

[bykfixer]

At a glance the LT is in black and white packaging and the IT is in their light blue packaging.

 

[ZMZ67]

Thanks for all the info.....what does the LT mean at the end of the model # ?

Hopefully I made the right choice and bought all I could find I ended up with 21 one of them at $8.49 a piece which comes out to $178.29 total before taxes. They were originally marked $25 a piece which at full price ends up at $525. I guess I probably got a little carried away but like the post before mentioned make good Christmas gifts or birthday gifts or even throw one of the neighbors a decent light. Thanks again for all the info.

You got a smoking deal! The ML series are great lights afaiac and well worth the typical $20 price tag.

 

[Mr.Mag]

Sort of what I was thinking. Got them from my local TSC store and after the clearance rack I went to the flashlight section and almost the whole reset is the JobSmart brand which TSC carries alot of (not just in flashlights) and they were priced anywhere from a few dollars up to the $30 range. I have been a die hard Maglite guy for as long as I can remember and the flashlights they offered for around what I paid for the Mags were not even close to comparison. I've had some hand tools that were JobSmart from TSC that are okay get the job done but nothing I'd be in a hurry to run to the store and buy. After seeing what they replaced the maglites with I couldnt pass them up.

 

[Berneck1]

$8.95 is awesome! Yeah, definitely can't go wrong with that.

 

[greenpondmike]

Had the 2c--liked it, but horse traded it. Got the 3c and I like it also. Will hold its own against a ml50.
I work at (guard) an old abandoned mine from 2:30pm-2:30am and I have plenty of time to play with different lights.
The crazy thing is I have all these midrange to long range lights and I mainly use them to spot mosquitoes in the jeep lol.

 

[bykfixer]

For some reason my local Wal Mart never carried the 3c version and my local Home Depot never carried the 2c version.

I have a psuedo flashaholic neighbor who I say psuedo because he refuses to cross the $35 price point. But he likes accumulating flashlights. Actually I know a slew of folks who say "my wife says I have too many flashlights". They all flock to those fingyung, deathspot, tacticool numbers that say they're as bright as the sun at noontime. When I mention Maglite I hear "what that old thing, yeah I used to have one of those but the batteries leaked and ruined it". I whip out an ML25 and say "you mean this old thing? " ……… "Holy crap where you get that? " I reply Wal Mart" or something similar. If I ask if they've tried those 177 lumen 2c lights by Mag they scoff. If I show them ​it's a completely different reaction kinda like that guy who made the statue of liberty disappear.

Wait a minute.…… so you guard an abandoned mine greenpond?

 

[greenpondmike]

Yes, bykfixer I guard old Jim Walter #3 in Adger. At least a hill that has equipment on it a mile off the main road.
I call it abandoned--and the mine is, but a company dumps their scrap metal and clay pipe debre, but they refine the scrap for
using again. They say the mine was mined out, but I found out the secret why it shut down and even some of the police are paranoid
about coming out there--especially at night. 2 minors and a guard disappeared along with an trackhoe and a d10 dozier in 1999--not a trace even now.
I know more, but think I best stop my rambling. Let's just say that you don't have to be crazy to work out there, but it helps lol.

 

[bykfixer]

A D10 aint no joke. That's one of those giant Tonka toys you see delivered to a project in pieces. Wow.

 

[greenpondmike]

From what was told to me the minors were escourted off of the property one by one by the police and the older officers on the force at the Oak Grove branch don't like
to come out there, but young folks on razers, 4x4s and atvs come out there all the time mostly in groups and well lit up with leds everywhere. Only the ones who are not riding in a group have creepy tales to tell.