U
user1016
Guest
Hello to all of CPF =)
Two years ago when I decided to get into flashlights, I bought my first Maglite AA.
I made two decisions I regret. The first was foolishly picking a "Camofluage" pattern instead of pure black or any colour. Since that day, all the paint has scratched off and some remains in the grooves of the grip (which looks quite silly).
The other is that I purchased a Nite-Ize 3 x LED mod and tailcap switch for it.
Whilst the tailcap switch seemed like a good addition, the LED mod was nothing special. It removed the ability to focus and the throw on the light was nowhere near that of what the original incan bulb would do.
Another problem is that in recent times, the light has been flickering like MAD, sometimes it will not even function or turn on unless I give my Maglite a slap (or even a solid smack) and it will flicker on and off randomly.
Is my maglite repairable and if so, what is a good mod I can get for it?
I was thinking even a Mag Instrument factory standard LED, can anyone let me know if they are any good or not, otherwise, is there any good drop-in mods I could try out? I had also at the time purchased a "1 watt LED dropin" from Nite Ize for my Maglite 4D and in my honest opinion, it was pretty rubbish, and the flood mode was completely useless. I sold it and replaced it with a 3 Watt Maglite factory LED which seems to do a good enough job for me now.
I was recommended a Pelican Big-D drop in mod for the 4D, would this be a suitable replacement for the Maglite stock LED (I'm looking for something a bit brighter but with a good runtime as well).
As for the Mini, something that has a good runtime, won't cause flickering like the Nite-Ize did, and has a reasonably good lumen count. I'm not expecting 400 lumens or anything ridiclous X) but a little boost would certainly rock.
I was reading a story on the Mag-Lite website:
QUOTE:
[FONT=arial,helvetica]A quick story, on Sept 11, 2001, me and 35 of my fellow workers were working 6 levels under the World Trade Center in NYC. At approximately 8:55 AM that morning we were given a heads up that a plane had crashed into the adjacent North Tower (we had been previously involved in the 1993 bomb blast). We ran 7 stories up the fire exit to the street level and escaped with our lives. We were unaware that one of our coworkers was left in the bathroom. The lights went out. Totally black 7 stories underground, except for his Mag-Lite® The technician who has bad eyesight and bad hearing made his way up the stairs and out of the building as the second plane hit the south side of the south tower, directly above the fire exit. He barely made it across the street as the building began to collapse, steel, glass, people, raining down on him. Without his Mag-Lite® he would have been buried alive. Thank You. New York, NY
/QUOTE
[/FONT]This is my inspiration for wanting a good reliable light for my friends and family, and that is because I would not be able to live with myself if any were ever in a similar situation (even something simple and more likely to occur such as an arc flash causing power-failure in an underground complex). I'd feel awful if any of them had been using a dodgy Nite-Ize mod that puts out a dim white green light that would not penetrate the smoke, or worse, a dodgy Mini Maglite that doesn't even turn on.
Two years ago when I decided to get into flashlights, I bought my first Maglite AA.
I made two decisions I regret. The first was foolishly picking a "Camofluage" pattern instead of pure black or any colour. Since that day, all the paint has scratched off and some remains in the grooves of the grip (which looks quite silly).
The other is that I purchased a Nite-Ize 3 x LED mod and tailcap switch for it.
Whilst the tailcap switch seemed like a good addition, the LED mod was nothing special. It removed the ability to focus and the throw on the light was nowhere near that of what the original incan bulb would do.
Another problem is that in recent times, the light has been flickering like MAD, sometimes it will not even function or turn on unless I give my Maglite a slap (or even a solid smack) and it will flicker on and off randomly.
Is my maglite repairable and if so, what is a good mod I can get for it?
I was thinking even a Mag Instrument factory standard LED, can anyone let me know if they are any good or not, otherwise, is there any good drop-in mods I could try out? I had also at the time purchased a "1 watt LED dropin" from Nite Ize for my Maglite 4D and in my honest opinion, it was pretty rubbish, and the flood mode was completely useless. I sold it and replaced it with a 3 Watt Maglite factory LED which seems to do a good enough job for me now.
I was recommended a Pelican Big-D drop in mod for the 4D, would this be a suitable replacement for the Maglite stock LED (I'm looking for something a bit brighter but with a good runtime as well).
As for the Mini, something that has a good runtime, won't cause flickering like the Nite-Ize did, and has a reasonably good lumen count. I'm not expecting 400 lumens or anything ridiclous X) but a little boost would certainly rock.
I was reading a story on the Mag-Lite website:
QUOTE:
[FONT=arial,helvetica]A quick story, on Sept 11, 2001, me and 35 of my fellow workers were working 6 levels under the World Trade Center in NYC. At approximately 8:55 AM that morning we were given a heads up that a plane had crashed into the adjacent North Tower (we had been previously involved in the 1993 bomb blast). We ran 7 stories up the fire exit to the street level and escaped with our lives. We were unaware that one of our coworkers was left in the bathroom. The lights went out. Totally black 7 stories underground, except for his Mag-Lite® The technician who has bad eyesight and bad hearing made his way up the stairs and out of the building as the second plane hit the south side of the south tower, directly above the fire exit. He barely made it across the street as the building began to collapse, steel, glass, people, raining down on him. Without his Mag-Lite® he would have been buried alive. Thank You. New York, NY
/QUOTE
[/FONT]This is my inspiration for wanting a good reliable light for my friends and family, and that is because I would not be able to live with myself if any were ever in a similar situation (even something simple and more likely to occur such as an arc flash causing power-failure in an underground complex). I'd feel awful if any of them had been using a dodgy Nite-Ize mod that puts out a dim white green light that would not penetrate the smoke, or worse, a dodgy Mini Maglite that doesn't even turn on.