RARE MAGLITES

[LiftdT4R]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone had any info on the 3AA? I recently found one for a decent price on ebay and picked it up. I see them regularly go for around $100 and I was wondering what makes them so special other than they are discontinued? Mine is serial # ~1,200,000 so they don't seem super rare. The packaging puts it from 2006. I'm guessing that when Mags LEDs first came out and maybe they needed more volts to power the emitter they wanted so they did a 3AA instead of a 2AA because 2004 or so was Mags first LED light. They were pretty late to the party.

It doesn't make sense really because the Mini Mag is supposed to be a compact light and the 3AA is anything but. The run time is so high with a 2 AA I can't imagine the 3AA would have had any more real benefit there.

Also, here's a pic next to a standard Mini Mag. The head on the LEDs are much longer so this 3AA is almost twice as long.

 

[DayofReckoning]

I have one of those 3AA LED's stashed away somewhere. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I've owned at least two. Very surprised to hear these are going for that kind of money.

 

[Monocrom]

Honestly, those 3AA Mags came out very early in the company's took-them-long-enough decision to stop ignoring LED technology. They came out at the same time as the first generation of 2AA LED Mag models, and were very soon discontinued. Their extremely short life-span means they're quite a bit rare now. I sure as heck wouldn't pay $100 for one. But I can see a dedicated Maglite collector doing so in order to simply round out his collection. (I've started doing that with fountain pens.)

I gave away my 3AA model during one of the past Christmas Giveaways on CPF. I also had a First-Gen 2AA version. About 4 years ago, I gifted it to a fellow security officer I used to work with. He lost it in the stupidest way you can imagine! Thinking about it still ticks me off to this day.

 

[xxo]

I had one of those 3 AA Mini Mag LEDs for a short time, never liked it - too long and cumbersome. They were probably a little brighter than the Luxeon III 2 AA version and probably had a better run time, but I remember being disappointed that the run time of the 3 AA was not that great for only around 35-40 lumens. The tail cap design on these also kinda sucked.

 

[Monocrom]

I had one of those 3 AA Mini Mag LEDs for a short time, never liked it - too long and cumbersome. They were probably a little brighter than the Luxeon III 2 AA version and probably had a better run time, but I remember being disappointed that the run time of the 3 AA was not that great for only around 35-40 lumens. The tail cap design on these also kinda sucked.

They simply got rid of the lanyard hole and smoothed out the tailcap. i like that they brought back the lanyard hole on the models that came afterwards.

 

[LiftdT4R]

I'd like to revisit the Halogen / Xenon /Krypton discussion if folks don't mind. I think it may be of benefit to future readers of this thread.

The light came with and old Osram Halogen PR Base. These aren't much brighter than a Krypton but they are more expensive. They were made in Germany and they throw a heck of a nice beam when paired with a clean reflector and lens. The quality is very very high and they are one of my favorite PR base bulbs. I believe they were made for medical use originally. They were expensive in their day and an aftermarket bulb which I think shows someone cared a lot for this light when they owned it. After all they were one of the most expensive lights in their day.

I've seen those in some of the older lights I've picked up too. I don't think they are Osrams but it's possible because early on Mag sub contracted production of a lot of their parts. They didn't move production house until the late 80s when the sales really took off. They are likely Argon/Vacuum if they are form 1980. I don't think the Kryptons came in until around 1983 or so.

I never really understood the Halogen bulbs. I like them and the beam is very pleasing, not too warm, and not too cool, a really nice neutral but compared to Krypton and Xenon bulbs I don't see a huge difference. For example for 4 cell lights you have the choice of the following bulbs:

Halogen - HPR50 - 85 lumens - 25 hour rated life - 19.2 lumen / watt efficiency
Krypton - KPR113 - 51 lumens - 20 hour rated life - 14.2 lumen / watt efficency
Xenon LMSA401 - 81 lumens - 25 hour rated life - 19.2 lumen /watt efficiency

I didn't bother listing Argon/Vacuum because the specs are lousy and you really don;t see too many any more. The specs for Xenon and Halogen are nearly identical but the Halogens are much more expensive and much harder to find. Always been curious about this.

Halogen were over rated in my view Lift'd. So much heat without that much more output.
Perhaps they were more drop friendly? Perhaps it was just hype?

Never studied SureFire's retina scorchers like the M6 or HellFighter, but their typical stuff was a xenon based mixture long after halogen were popular.

Didn't the MagCharger use halogen bulbs?

I've been researching this out on CPF and some other sites because I really wanted to know. Why are the Halogens seemingly more expensive when based on the numbers there doesn't appear to be much benefit?

Well, the answer is that the Halogen prevents the glass of the bulb from darkening / blackening over time. The Mag Charger bulbs were designed to be especially long life bulbs intended for rugged service. If a Xenon or Krpyton bulb was used the bulb would run for so long that the filament would eventually degrade and blacken the glass leading to a reduced light output and a cloudy beam.

Quality control could sometimes be quite lax back in the day and the fill gasses were not always tightly controlled. So many folks opted to buy PR based Halogen bulbs for their lights instead of the common Krypton and Xenon models. Maglite never produced these for their standard lights although many other companies did. The Halogen bulbs provided a marginally longer life but also ensured that the filament wouldn't darken the glass over time by combining with the tungsten atoms of the filament and re plating them there. The lights kept a brilliant light much longer. I've heard that hardware and sporting goods stores that knew Mag products would often carry Osram Halogens and upsell them to customers. Imagine that a knowledgeable salesperson?! I think Mr. Fixer would say that's as rare as an honest politician these days.

This makes sense because when I fired up that 1982 Osram HPR I got a beam that had very few imperfections and was a nice warm color similar to a new Xenon bulb. Even a new KPR on Xenon bulb doesn't give off a beam that nice. Hope this helps or at least amuses everyone!

 

[bykfixer]

Good info. Thanks.

 

[LiftdT4R]

I was finally able to make a trade for a 2005 George W Bush Inaugural Mini Mag so I've completed my collection of Mag "giveaway" lights.



They are:

1989 George HW Bush Inaugural AAA
1994 Lillehammer Olympics Remember Sarajevo AA
2001 George W Bush Inaugural AA
2001 9/11 Search and Rescue 3D
2005 George W Bush Inaugural AA

Maglite has donated many lights over the years, the specific donations can be found on their History section of their web page. Only 5 of them had laser etching to commemorate the event they were being donated for. These lights can be very tough to find. About 40,000 each of the Inaugural and Lillehammer lights were produced, but only 3,000 of the 9/11 lights were made. I've seen some other potential giveaway lights too but they must be extremely rare and aren't listed on Mag's website. Two of them I suspect are for the opening of the Ronald Reagan Memorial Library and a dinner with George HW Bush. There must not have been very many at all produced and they could have been ordered by someone other than Mag.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Very cool, LiftdT4R. What a great addition to your collection! :thumbsup:

~ CG

 

[Crumbly]

Nice 4d varibeam LiftedT4R. Nice C cells Guitar Guy. Here is a 3D varibeam I got recently. It is a bit beaten up and had some battery corrosion inside but other than that it's okay. Gives it some character. You are right about the 2005 inaugural mini mag as well I have been looking for a while myself and have not seen one come up.

 

[Crumbly]

I got these mini maglites recently as well.

The back of one of the packs is dated 1986 the other 2 are dated 1987.

The orange coloured one is sort of in between orange and burnt orange. It could be the yellowing of the plastic gives it a slightly darker look.
The blue is a very bright light blue very similar to a varibeam, in the photo blue shimmer is on the left and standard blue on the right.

 

[Crumbly]

The bezels do not have the panther on them.

Old light on the left new mag on the right.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Wow, you have some nice vintage lights there!! I like some of the worn lights better too. I have a 1980 Paten pending 2D that's one of the most worn lights I've ever seen and one of my favorites. I brought it back from the dead and I use allllll the time around the house. You just know they have a great story behind them.

Did ya see the 7D that popped up on Fleabay? If anyone here is going to be a bidder lemme know and I won't bid on it.

 

[Crumbly]

The 7D that started out life as a 7C. I was thinking about it, the wife might kill me if I do.

 

[Crumbly]

Who saw this one? Someone got a real bargain.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Heck yeah they did! That's a $250+ light all day long. I just checked it out and it was on fleabay for less than 1 hour. I scored a 7C pretty much the same way. Seller had it listed for $40 BIN as a 4C. Occasionally those sweet deals come around but ya have to be extremely fast. I was devastated when I missed a Surefire 6 for $100 a few years back.

 

[bykfixer]

EPIC SCORE!!! Old 6D are getting pretty scarce.

I like promo minimags.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Hey Mr. Fixer, that's actually a 7D that the seller mislabelled. Nice promo mini mag! I was picking up a couple here and there and bought a nice little lot from an ex-Mag employee but my gosh you can go crazy trying to collect them all!

I'm working on a deal for a pretty rare 2D light now. I'm hoping it goes through because it would be an awesome addition to my collection.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Did anyone else see this "Bernie Madoff" 2D on the bay? The price of entry is high and I'm not a big collector of the laser etched lights because there are so so many but this one has an interesting story. Anyone else bidding?

 

[Toohotruk]

That's pretty crazy! I bet that is worth something for sure!