Maglite XL100 Owner's Club

[Hellbore]

I assume you haven't read a review about the light, it was released back in February. 😉 Click on my sig pic to read my review.

The drop-ins are discontinued now, and they've also tweaked the D-cell lights to be more optimized for LED. All of their LED lights use the Luxeon Rebel, except for the upcoming ML125.

Wow really? I have been out of the loop. Well I'm impressed! Way to go Mag Instrument 🙂

 

[Robin24k]

Yup, there's a few new lights to be released soon as well, so stay tuned!

 

[Chadder]

Yup, there's a few new lights to be released soon as well, so stay tuned!

I thought mag was announcing new lights at the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show. I have not heard any information and the show has been over for a week now. Whats the deal with that?

 

[JNewell]

I have to admit, I bought one mostly out of curiosity (and because of this thread!). I wanted to see what they were up to.

Perfect light? No, it doesn't exist. But it is GREAT to see Mag, an American company, thinking along new lines and doing some innovation. I think some of what they're doing with this light will turn out to be dead ends, but I'm glad they're thinking and doing new things, and I am very happy to support that with a purchase.

BTW, even though I think some of the bells and whistles are silly, the features that I do use are very well done on this light. So even just as a light, it's a good product, forget what it says about keeping the company moving forward. That's all IMO/YMMV...

Whoah Mag came out with a new flashlight, one designed specifically for LED? Crazy...

When did this happen?

Also... umm, this is a pretty non-traditional UI and design... Doesn't anyone else think it's weird that they stuck by their traditional designs for so long, only opting for drop-ins in existing light designs (albeit with outdated LED emitters), without coming out with anything new and up-to-date, and now, we go from that, to this... a very unusual and risky design compared to what they have done in the past?

A light light this seems really unexpected from them... Did the company change ownership or something??

Oh and what emitter does this light use? Don't tell me it's an old Luxeon 1 or something LOL, that would be so like them... Actually I guess it has been enough years that they could maybe have switched to something newer like a Cree XR-C? haha...

 

[rontaki]

Having had S/N 000008267 for a few months (black body, from Home Despot), I like the dimming feature the most. It is great to go from max to moon and anywhere in-between.

I've given it some underwater illumination duties at parties, used it to time how long an object takes to reach the hard cement from the height of my arm (approx. 1.0 Klunk), and it still keeps ticking! I didn't know flashlights should tick... 🤢

I, too wish it had a real glass lens, or at least something harder than it has now. I keep it in my pocket face-down to avoid scratching the lens. This is how I learned to use the lockout feature. Keeps the pocket temps reasonable.

Mods - I super-glued a bit of foam from a new earplug to the knurled part of the tail cap parallel to where the switch fin is located, to provide better feel in the dark of the dim-mode index than the fin gives me.
However, this wore off rather quickly. I'll play with gluing other things there when I get inspiration (and my hands unstuck from the flashlight:devil🙂.

I want to find a way to run this flashlight with a Li-ion cell, as the AAA batteries just do not provide full power for very long. The Li-ion is in the right voltage range for the light it seems to me. The hard part will be dealing with the way the battery-holder connects with the tail cap and the head, I guess.
Has anyone tried this or another battery mod?

Ron A
EagleTac M2XC4, various Maglites incl. XL100, and a 98¢ (plus $10 shipping) UltraFire that has not caught on fire. Yet.

 

[Robin24k]

For Li-Ion, you'll need to use a 10440 and a wire to short the end across the other two bays. Don't know if capacity will improve though. The light will overdischarge the battery though, so you'll definately want to get a protected cell.

 

[ebow86]

I still don't understand why mag won't release these lights with glass lens already installed. I understand they are trying to keep cost down but this is 2010, shouldn't a glass lens be standard by now? It's a shame there is a bit of risk and difficulty removing the lens from the xl100, would be nice if it was as easy as swaping it in the 2AA.

 

[Robin24k]

I think it has to do with reliability, unless you have very thick glass, it will break easily if the light is dropped. If you follow the directions in my review thread of the light, it should be pretty easy to do.

 

[ebow86]

I think it has to do with reliability, unless you have very thick glass, it will break easily if the light is dropped. If you follow the directions in my review thread of the light, it should be pretty easy to do.

True but basically every other manufacturer has been using glass for quite some time. Surefire undoubtly makes the most rugged and reliable lights made and they have a glass lens so I don't see why mag can do the same. Thick borofloat or pyrex is stronger than you might think.

 

[Robin24k]

You're going to see a price increase for sure, and while we may not mind it at all, their target market, general consumers, might.

 

[ebow86]

I haven't used the XL100 yet but what's turning me off is the discouragement of using lithium primaries. Reason being we get some pretty cold winters here in pensylvania and lithiums are gold when using lights in freezing weather. Alkalines and Nihm just can't compair to lithium primaries when a lights in your pocket all day long in freezing weather, or sitting in a vechice for long periods of time for that matter. If using lithium primaries was ok they I might consider one, otherwise I'm holding out until one's in the discount bin.

 

[GAReed]

They're out of them at the moment but I'm using a clip from this sales thread: http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=223771
I got a couple (17$ ea iirc) of the "Z58/Z59/HDS Black Oxide Pocket Clips" that were on the Overready site...
It fits perfect on the XL100, indexes dim in the dark very well and it's an easy roll of the wrist to hit nite lite, ZZzzz. I'm not so keen on hitting any of the other modes but you get the idea.

...Mods - I super-glued a bit of foam from a new earplug to the knurled part of the tail cap parallel to where the switch fin is located, to provide better feel in the dark of the dim-mode index than the fin gives me.
However, this wore off rather quickly. I'll play with gluing other things there when I get inspiration (and my hands unstuck from the flashlight:devil🙂...

 

[Robin24k]

I haven't used the XL100 yet but what's turning me off is the discouragement of using lithium primaries. Reason being we get some pretty cold winters here in pensylvania and lithiums are gold when using lights in freezing weather.

Lithium primaries work fine in the light, I've posted current measurements on my review thread of the XL100 on alkaline, NiMH, and EA92. The new 1500 cycle Eneloop works fine down to -4°F, so that could be a possibility since lithium primary gets expensive really fast (I've got a pack of EA92's and haven't used them yet because of this).

 

[ebow86]

Lithium primaries work fine in the light, I've posted current measurements on my review thread of the XL100 on alkaline, NiMH, and EA92. The new 1500 cycle Eneloop works fine down to -4°F, so that could be a possibility since lithium primary gets expensive really fast (I've got a pack of EA92's and haven't used them yet because of this).

Alright, a couple questions please, since the lithium primaries have a higher voltage that alkalines they are overdriving the LED abit, isn't there a possibility that could shorten the lifespan of the LED over time?

I see in your review how you replaced the lens, when's mag coming out with the part needed to change the lens without risking damage like you mention in the review? I use the AR coated glass from flashlightlens.com in my 2AA mini mags and it's a bit thicker than the standard plastic lens, therefore it won't tighten down snugly all the way, I wonder if that would be an issue with the XL100's bezel?

 

[Robin24k]

The light is regulated, so the extra voltage would only mean a bit more inefficiency.

I haven't asked them about it since I was able to remove it myself. The tool is pretty basic, it just pushes down on the window. The risk for damage is still there, it's just that the kit comes with a spare reflector.

I don't know about the thicker glass, I used Mag's glass replacement for the 2AA, which is a hair thicker than the plastic. How much thicker is your glass?

 

[ebow86]

The lens is 22.61 X 0.95, or atleast that's what flashlightlens.com is saying, I don't know, it's slightly thicker but not alot, I imagine it's about the same as your maglite glass lens.

Robin, you're saying that the efficiency isn't as good when using lithium primaries. Surely that doesn't mean that overall alkalines will give better performence does it? What are your thought's on the performence of lithium primaries vs Nimh's?

 

[Robin24k]

I don't have a caliper, but my OEM glass looks to be a little less than 1mm on a ruler. Does it cause the 2AA's bezel to not screw on all the way? Is there a gap? I have no problem with OEM glass in my 2AA.

No, of course not. There wasn't much noticeable difference in brightness with NiMH and lithium primary (whereas for the 2AA it made a big difference because the higher voltage helps), but both were brighter than alkaline. I don't know about runtime though, I guess now that I have two XL100's, I should probably do a NiMH vs alkaline test (although alkaline doesn't seem to last very long as brightness drops pretty quickly).

 

[ebow86]

I don't have a caliper, but my OEM glass looks to be a little less than 1mm on a ruler. Does it cause the 2AA's bezel to not screw on all the way? Is there a gap? I have no problem with OEM glass in my 2AA.

No, of course not. There wasn't much noticeable difference in brightness with NiMH and lithium primary (whereas for the 2AA it made a big difference because the higher voltage helps), but both were brighter than alkaline. I don't know about runtime though, I guess now that I have two XL100's, I should probably do a NiMH vs alkaline test (although alkaline doesn't seem to last very long as brightness drops pretty quickly).

The bezel won't screw down all the way but it really is minimal and doesn't cause an issue, I don't own a camera so no photos, sorry. I am willing to bet it's probably the same thickness as your glaas lens.

A compairson between nimh and lithiums would be great, I would enjoy seeing the results.

 

[Robin24k]

I'm kind of curious about NiMH vs. EA92 myself as well, but unfortunately, the lithiums are quite expensive and I got them for emergency use, so I'm probably not going to do any runtime tests on them (unless we get a power outage, in which case I would probably have two XL100's tailstanding doing ceiling bouce and a timer next to them 😉)

 

[Swedpat]

I still don't understand why mag won't release these lights with glass lens already installed. I understand they are trying to keep cost down but this is 2010, shouldn't a glass lens be standard by now? It's a shame there is a bit of risk and difficulty removing the lens from the xl100, would be nice if it was as easy as swaping it in the 2AA.

I agree. The plastic lens really constributes to give XL100 a feeling of budget light.