rechargeable flashlight recommendation

[Will91]

Hi:

I'm an active do it yourselfer on my home and love my mini Maglite (2 AA batteries). I'm even using the old style two pin bulbs (just found out they make a Krypton replacement bulb)

I love my mini maglite but bulbs and batteries can get expensive and I'd really love a rechargeable flashlight - similar in size and candlepower to the mini mag. A rechargeable would be nice too for occasional power outages - so I know I always have a flashlight at the ready. I want something I can just leave plugged in when I'm not using it.

Can someone recommend a rechargeable lite to me? I also like the focusable nature of the mini-mag so want this feature as well. I have heard of Inova, Stinger, Strions and MagChargers.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Peak Atlantic or Mediterranean
Romisen RC-N3Q5 from ShiningBeam.com
Fenix E20
Rechargeable AA batteries, and charger can be bought anywhere

 

[Chrontius]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and recommend a TerraLux TLE-5ex module for your Mini-Mag plus good NiMH batteries like Eneloops (Costco).

 

[Marduke]

You don't really need a rechargeable flashlight, just rechargeable batteries. Something like the Eneloop cells and a decent smart charger.

 

[Will91]

Thanks everyone:

I guess my thoughts were to have a wall-mounted, rechargeable flashlight for my home projects. Use it for a project, and return it to the charger. That way it has a dedicated place to live rather than tring to figure where I left my mini-maglite!

 

[glockboy]

Get Eneloop AA cells, it's as the same or better than having a wall-mounted light.
Wall-mounted light can kill yours batteries is a long run.

 

[Will91]

It appears that none of the Eneloops retailers are in my area and I'm not a costco member. Is there a reputable internet site for purchase of batteries and charger?

Thanks!

 

[carrot]

Strion is a great one if you ask me. I have one sitting on my telly right now and it sees a fair bit of use. There ARE more powerful, yes, but it is quite good, and you will be very pleased coming from a Maglite. Also the charger is well designed and quick and easy to use. It seems to have mounting holes too.

 

[mdocod]

unfortunately, I am not aware of any reasonably priced "charge-on-cradle" flashlights that use a charging method that would be suitable for home style usage. Most of them are just dummy chargers that constantly trickle charge an old NiCd battery. Within a year or 2, the battery is toast from sitting on the charger all the time without proper maintenance. This type of charging works pretty well for people like LEO's who are using the light every day and taking some charge out of the batteries each day. They last even longer if a nice deep discharge is done once every couple months to break down large crystal formations within the cells....

The one exception to this I suppose is the streamlight strion. Which uses a li-ion cell and therefor must use a proper charging method with true charge termination to prevent your house from burning down (so I assume it does)... You might consider that... in this size class, LEDs blow it away, but it'll still make your mini-mag look like some kind of party favor joke of a flashlight as far as performance goes.

Eric

 

[Nochrome]

I fear to reply right after MDOCOD because I think his level of knowledge is an ocean while mine is a puddle but here goes anyway,
I would say the MagCharger is a great light as I have carried one for the last 18 yrs everyday. It is basically indestructable and has a lieftime warranty. My first NiCad battery pack lasted around 8-10 years but I used it like MDOCOD said so maybe thats why it lasted a good long time
The battery limitation could perhaps be overcome with the addition of a new battery pack which uses nimh cells and has greater capacity (sold by some online battery places $24 or thereabouts). I think this can used with the stock charger? MDOCOD could maybe clarify or correct that?
There is also an LED upgrade (TLE-300MR) for it which will make it very bright. It's maybe a bit big for your needs but it has quality going for it.

 

[nohcho]

+1 on Strion, while not the best light out there, it gets the job done, comes with car and wall charger, very useful light, and has a focusable beam as well. It can be found if shop around for about 70 bux and it will pay for itself as far as savings on batts go.

 

[mdocod]

I fear to reply right after MDOCOD because I think his level of knowledge is an ocean while mine is a puddle but here goes anyway,
I would say the MagCharger is a great light as I have carried one for the last 18 yrs everyday. It is basically indestructable and has a lieftime warranty. My first NiCad battery pack lasted around 8-10 years but I used it like MDOCOD said so maybe thats why it lasted a good long time
The battery limitation could perhaps be overcome with the addition of a new battery pack which uses nimh cells and has greater capacity (sold by some online battery places $24 or thereabouts). I think this can used with the stock charger? MDOCOD could maybe clarify or correct that?
There is also an LED upgrade (TLE-300MR) for it which will make it very bright. It's maybe a bit big for your needs but it has quality going for it.

Switching to NiMH with these types of chargers will generally just make things worse as NiMH is even less tolerant to constant trickle charge bummer eh?

One way to counter the problem is through the use of a wall-timer on the charger.. but the problem with this is that, when you use the flashlight heavily one day, it could take days or weeks to finish charging if the charger is only coming on for an hour or 2 a day...

In the end, I really prefer recommending flashlights that are good at using loose rechargeable cells and making their maintenance and charging and storing a part of the weekly grind as there are so many better options out there with this method. Yes it's more complicated, but more complicated is almost ALWAYS the answer to getting better performance from anything in life...

 

[Hlorrithi]

unfortunately, I am not aware of any reasonably priced "charge-on-cradle" flashlights that use a charging method that would be suitable for home style usage. Most of them are just dummy chargers that constantly trickle charge an old NiCd battery. Within a year or 2, the battery is toast from sitting on the charger all the time without proper maintenance. This type of charging works pretty well for people like LEO's who are using the light every day and taking some charge out of the batteries each day. They last even longer if a nice deep discharge is done once every couple months to break down large crystal formations within the cells....

The one exception to this I suppose is the streamlight strion. Which uses a li-ion cell and therefor must use a proper charging method with true charge termination to prevent your house from burning down (so I assume it does)... You might consider that... in this size class, LEDs blow it away, but it'll still make your mini-mag look like some kind of party favor joke of a flashlight as far as performance goes.

Eric

I have a Led Lenser "rechargeable tactical light", that is around mini maglite size, runs a single 3.7v li-ion cell that can take over 1000 charges (apparently), and puts out more light than my LL p5 that runs a cree.
It's real nice, smooth white beam in both flood and spot settings, twist to focus like a mag, and has an led on the body opposite to the charge point, red for charging, green for fully charged.
Can be charged in the supplied cradle or just plugged into the adapter.
http://www.nightgear.co.uk/p/1802/L...l-Light-Rechargeable-Torch.htm?source=froogle

I really like mine, pretty much EDC it over my LL p5,and definately over my nuwai q3,inova xo and xo3 and mag with led drop-ins....my only wish is that the switch could be locked out.

 

[Nochrome]

Switching to NiMH with these types of chargers will generally just make things worse as NiMH is even less tolerant to constant trickle charge bummer eh [/quote

Dang! yes that is a bummer, I was hoping to get one of these batteries myself because I thought it would give me longer run time.

 

[mdocod]

Switching to NiMH with these types of chargers will generally just make things worse as NiMH is even less tolerant to constant trickle charge bummer eh [/quote

Dang! yes that is a bummer, I was hoping to get one of these batteries myself because I thought it would give me longer run time.

They will give longer runtime, but it will likely wear out faster than a NiCd pack if left on the charger all the time.

Eric

 

[Gunner12]

I think your main problem would be finding a wall charger light at that output level, its pretty low. 10 lumen is very easily achieved by all of the lights mentioned.

As an example(no a wall rechargeable light), the Fenix L2D-CE Q5 can hit 150 lumen on turbo mode while having more runtime(runtime with alkaline batteries on turbo is similar but the Fenix is a good bit brighter). Low mode is similar(around 15 lumen vs the 10 of the minimag) to the Minimag's output and lasts for over 50 hours vs the Minimag's 45 minutes.

That is one of many 2 AA lights you could buy. I'm not sure which rechargeable lights have a 10 lumen low output level to match the Minimag.

As for buying eneloops, I'm not sure.

:welcome:

 

[lightplay22]

I've had a strion since the very first shipped and it is still on its original bulb and battery, although it could use a fresh cell now. After 2-3 years and many recharge cycles,this light has more than paid for itself in battery savings alone. Add to that fact that it is not to bright for close up work, it will tail stand, and fit in your pocket if you need it to, and you have an very useful illumination tool.

 

[Mikellen]

Will91, check out the CPF Marketplace. I have a Strion for sale (cheap).