why does everyone hate maglight?

[raggie33]

im wondering i bought a maglight tonight its was less then 20 bucks for a perty 3 d maglight has a awesume feel to it. seems it would be nice to have near ya bed incase ya have some burglers in the middle of the night.it would probaly hurt to get hit with it. and realy other then a ulgy beam color it wasnt to bad my ragmag blew it away .but the maglight aint near as bad as i would of thought

 

[JerryM]

some of us don't hate them, and if fact, I think they are good lights for the money, and the average person.

I have three and intend to keep them. I might even buy a couple more Mini-mags.

Jerry

 

[NeonLights]

Judging a Maglite flashlight on its merits alone (and not the policies of the company), there are several good things about the D-cell flashights I've found. The larger ones would seem to make a good self defense tool (a club). I've used a 3-D cell Maglite on several occasions to pound tent stakes into hard ground when I forgot a hammer while camping. They are cheap and can be found practically everywhere. They make great hosts for mods too.

Used as a light, they are only average, although the build quality is better than average. Most flashaholics seem to have started out with Mags and have moved on when they discovered all of the better products avaialble.

-Keith

 

[357]

I don't hate them either. And for the $10 (2AA) -$25 (6D) price, its a decent light for the average flashlight user. Unfortunately, Maglite is content to stay with outdated technology.

In fact, I have more Maglites than any other brand. That will change soon, as I won't buy anymore Maglites until they start updating their outdated incadescent line with LEDs (knowing how Maglite is so inclined to be stuck in the stone age of lighting, that might be a while). Even if Maglite insists on sticking with incadescent bulbs, a simple introduction of a better reflector can somewhat improve the beam quality (reduce the holes and rings). They don't seem to want to do that though.

Once you get LEDs you'll never go back. A good LED flashlight has such great beam quality. The problem with Maglite, as I see it, is that the beams suck. The beams they emit are full of holes, blotches, and rings. The beam starts out yellow and gets brown quickly. The Maglite flashlight itself is well made, durable, reliable, and has a nice switch. But, the beam quality and low brightness for the size (many flashlights are as bright or brighter than Maglites and are yet much smaller) are huge detractorants, IMO.

Conclusion:

Maglites are well made, reliable, durable, and a good value for the price. Its also a nice looking design.

However, their beams absolutely suck and they are too dim for their size (brightness to size ratio). Their reflector and bulb technology is outdated.

 

[raggie33]

i have a feeling and for some reason im usaly right in these things maglight is about to suprise us all.they have to to stay in it!i think they just want to have something thats of high quality. a kick but led light.its either that or they will go with the dinosour..hect around here ucan get a aa maglight with a case and 2 extra bulbs for around 8 bucks

 

[357]

[ QUOTE ]
raggie33 said:
i have a feeling and for some reason im usaly right in these things maglight is about to suprise us all.they have to to stay in it!i think they just want to have something thats of high quality. a kick but led light.its either that or they will go with the dinosour..hect around here ucan get a aa maglight with a case and 2 extra bulbs for around 8 bucks

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope you are right. Heck, if Maglite brings out good LEDs, I'll buy them! The overall design of the Maglite is GOOD. Their achilles heel is optics, but switching to LED and using better reflectors can probably quickly fix that.

 

[Josey]

Have you seen the commercial where an 18 wheeler runs over a Maglight, hitting it with every wheel on the driver's side? Driver stops, picks up the light and it works great.

I don't think that is honest. I don't think a good company keeps selling its customers out-of-date-technology lights just because most people aren't flashlight experts and don't know the difference.

I gave a high-quality LED to an elderly couple who needed a good light, and whose poor eyes couldn't quite see things well with their Maglight and its awful beam quality. They believed the marketing of Maglite and thought it was the best on the market.

That LED light I gave them made a big difference in their lives. Maglight could have made that big difference, but the company doesn't care.

Surefire and Streamlight and Pelican and EternaLight and others keep making lights better and better; and Peter at Arc really cares about his customers. I don't think Maglight cares.

We're not customers to Maglight, we're prey. So I don't intend to buy another of their lights, not that they make anything I care about.

 

[Stanley]

I think apart from the outdated products, its also the company that ppl dislike. But then that's /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif. That said, I would agree too that it is (was?) a great product... in its time. Improvements could only make it better. Do a search on CPF and you'll find MANY threads discussing this same matter...

 

[dano]

Yup...A search will reveal loads of info. about this topic.

And I'm closing this one, as it's a topic that has been exhausted.

--dan