Which is better: a double A mini mag with mod, or a double A 3 watt LED mini mag?

[Cavelightchris]

I am wondering if the TerraLUX TLE-5EX MiniStar2 EXTREME with CREE XRE-7090 LED for Mini Maglite® 2AA Flashlights mod for a double A maglite, is brighter than maglites 3 watt store bought version?

I would love to see a comparison of photos of the two, or even a comparison of the mod verses a cree 100 lumen led flashlight. All of these minimag mods claim it will make your light 100 lumens, does anyone own one, can you say that statement is accurate? Or is it too far underpowered to actually produce 100 lumens.

I wonder if the minimag with mod is brighter than a 60 lumen apex headlamp, has anyone seen both? if so please let me know if the minimag with mod was brighter or darker in your opinion.

 

[Marduke]

The stock 3watt is dimmer than the dropin you linked.

 

[Cavelightchris]

I thought that I had read that it was, but the real question here I guess lies with value. A minimag 3 watt led costs $22, and for me to make this conversion one it would cost me $42, so is the modded version twice as bright as the store bought minimag 3 watt led?


also, does anyone think the modded version puts off 100 lumens of light?

 

[LedLad]

I've had the Magled Mini-mag 3-led conversion for about a year and my advice is....
DO NOT BOTHER.
This is the single most useless item I have ever purchased, far dimmer than the stock incan, horrible color and pretty much useless except as a
(weak) candle in case of a power failure. I'm guessing the output at less than 30 lumens and VERY diffuse. I bought a $3 throwaway led at Dollar General store about a month ago that outperforms it in EVERY way by a large margin...waste of money. As for the Terralux drop-ins, though I don't have one, I've heard good things about the latest Cree version.

to Magled conversion for the 2aa minimag!


A PS....I believe I've heard it said that the Terralux Cree version is 100 lums at the emitter that probably translates to 60-85 out the front depending.

 

[Wolf]

I've had the Magled Mini-mag 3-led conversion for about a year and my advice is....
DO NOT BOTHER.
This is the single most useless item I have ever purchased, far dimmer than the stock incan, horrible color and pretty much useless except as a
(weak) candle in case of a power failure. I'm guessing the output at less than 30 lumens and VERY diffuse. I bought a $3 throwaway led at Dollar General store about a month ago that outperforms it in EVERY way by a large margin...waste of money. As for the Terralux drop-ins, though I don't have one, I've heard good things about the latest Cree version.

to Magled conversion for the 2aa minimag!

Ummm, so what does the 3x 5mm led drop in have to do with the OP about the cree dropins vs the factory mag 3watter ?
For a guess (eyeball test of lod q4 cree on reg aaa vs mag-led 3xAA) the cree dropin should blow the mag-led out of the water, except maybe throw because the factory mag-leds seem to have deeper reflectors then the incan AA mags by over 0.5 inches... thats my 2 cents worth, I might have to pick up one of them terralux dropins with the amount of old incan AA mags i have laying around tho

 

[ACMarina]

Sheesh, give the poor guy a break! He probably only saw the title and thought he'd throw in his experience modding a Minimag..

That being said, I've got a few minimag-mods and a minimagLED, and I favor the mods for the brightness but the MMLED for the quality..

 

[Shreklight]

I have the Terralux in one of my AA minimags, I can't say much about throw because I haven't had it outside yet, It is probably more like 60 Lumens, nice white color and a whole lot brighter than the Nite Ize LED drop in that's in my other MM. Comparing it on the wall in my room, it is on par with the Nuwaii Q3.

 

[Spareair]

OK...let me get this straight.......

he wants to know the difference between the TRE-5EX and the standard AA ninmag LED?

well I have had both in the same dive light mod I did...and I tell you the TRE is by far the best in throw and beam.......

 

[LedLad]

Sheesh, give the poor guy a break! He probably only saw the title and thought he'd throw in his experience modding a Minimag..

That being said, I've got a few minimag-mods and a minimagLED, and I favor the mods for the brightness but the MMLED for the quality..

Umm...what AC said....check the title, it clearly asked about the 2AA magled conversion....notwithstanding the body of the thread I put in my comment due to the TITLE. If that is useful to the questioner...so much the better.:devil:

 

[Cavelightchris]

Well here is my question in more depth:

Should I walk in to Walmart and pay $23 for a mini mag LED

or

Should I buy a $10 minimag, and the TRE-5EX mod for $33(with shipping) totaling $43..

Is the TRE mod really twice as bright as the store bought?

If it is twice as bright then that is what I want, if it's not much brighter at all, then the $ to lumens ration will go way down, so therefor the value has also gone way down.

I really wish I could see pictures of the two side by side.-'



Spairair,

Can you post me a link to your diving light, I would love to see it, I just got done admiring this light last night:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=117739&highlight=caves&page=3

If anyone knows of any other amazing waterproof light posts, please post me a link to one, I am looking at all the designs and trying to figure out what makes a good waterproof light.

 

[Marduke]

Or, you could walk into Sams Club, and buy this. $30 for TWO lights, and they are brighter than the 3watt MagLED's, have the same form factor, and with forward clickies to boot!!

 

[Cydonia]

The OP asks a good question. I would go the extra mile... pay near double the price... for the TerraLux Cree drop in with a regular AA Mini Mag. This way, you can upgrade later on as more powerful LED's and upgrades come out.
Being able to swap out the emitter and plug in the variety of other color and UV modules for whatever situation makes regular Mini Mag a winner I think.

You can upgrade the regular old Mini Mag with a nice 22.6mm UCL lens for $5.25. I've read that the stock plastic MM mag lens is quite bad for light throughput... expect 10% more light out the front with a UCL. (Similar to the C and D Mag stock plastic lens upgrade improvement.)

But amazingly I don't own a mini mag yet. They are about $20 up here in Canada. Plus a UCL lens and TerraLux Cree and it is way over $50 :scowl: Hard to justify the expense :huh:

 

[Gunner12]

For $43, you will be much better served if you bump thew price up about $15 and buy a Fenix L2D-CE($57.50 shipped after using the 8% off coupon,"CPF8", an actual 150 something lumen out the front on turbo, and a 50+ hour runtme on low, which is around the same output as the stock Minimag). Or keeping the same price and getting a Fenix L2T V2.0.

The WF-606 is also an option at $20.30 shipped.

Remember, the Cree XR-E LED(Probably a P4 or bin used in the terralux drop-in) is twice as efficient as the Luxeon III used in the MinimagLED. Which means for the same power, the Cree will produce twice the amount of light.