minimag sensible mod?

I am thinking about what to do with my minimag AA for a sensible LED upgrade. There are decent LED flashlights like the River Rock 1.5watt AA for under $20. I like the size and shape of my minimag, but want something sensible and cost effective.

I took a look at the minimag faq here on this forum. If I understood correctly, the TLE5 costs more then a River Rock AA light, and may not perform as well. The smjled from lamda seems to be sold out / no longer available. I've read elsewhere that the drop in niteize commonly available in local retail stores is very dim.

So given the current state of the market, what's the best thing to do with a minimag now? The idea solution would be as bright or brighter then stock with new batteries, be able to go from flood to spot, and have good battery life using 2aa batteries.

Incidentally, I see that Mag is coming out with a new LED minimag rated at 3 watts. Wouldn't that be too bright for many normal uses of a minimag?

If you want a bright LED mod for the Minimag you'll probably have to go the sandwich route. Otherwise, I'd wait for the Mini MagLEDs and see how those turn out. They're supposed to be here any day now.

The SMJLED's look like they are still available here:

http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/product_info.php?products_id=754

Other than that, a sandwich.

Bill

lume said:

The smjled from lamda seems to be sold out / no longer available.

Click to expand...

Save yourself some money. I have those 4 die 5mm cut down from WahWang for $3.00 ea or 5 for $12.50 shipping included. PM for details.

Thurmond

lume said:

The idea solution would be as bright or brighter then stock with new batteries, be able to go from flood to spot, and have good battery life using 2aa batteries.

Incidentally, I see that Mag is coming out with a new LED minimag rated at 3 watts. Wouldn't that be too bright for many normal uses of a minimag?

Click to expand...

It's good that you defined "sensible". As much as people like to complain about the beam of the TLE-5, I find that it matches your "sensible" definition, and the requirements you are looking for. Sure, it'll cost you twice as much as the minimag host, but LED technology is more expensive.

The Shoppe will be offering a new SMJLED2 (or something like that) drop-in for the minimag. It's regulated, supposedly bright, cheap, etc., although the promoted specs are iffy at best right now. You may want to wait for that, or for the new miniMagLED.

A LuxIII will be much brighter than a stock minimag bulb, and it may be too bright. But "too bright" depends on what you're doing with your lights. With the minimag, you can always "defocus" the beam to dim it out.

Thank you for responding and giving me quite a few things to consider. One of the things that seems to work well in the RR 2aa is that its dc/dc driver keeps the beam nice and bright over the useful life of the batteries. But a solution with a dc/dc converter would probably cost about as much as whole light like the RR with the converter already built in.

I imagine that a direct drive drop in like the smjled or the Wahwang would not be nearly as bright as one with a dc/dc converter, though they are very inexpensive. Is this so?

I am amazed at how bright the RR AA is on partly used batteries - far brighter then the minimag, or a Brinkman 2aa LED on new batteries.

PS forgot to ask - how does the brightness of the wahwang compare to the smjled?

Anyone know what the pricing of the smjled2 is likely to be?

Or if the new maglite LED minimag is likely to be compatible with the existing minimag body - seems problematic getting an adequately heat sinked 3 watt led into a mini body drop in.

The SMJ and WahWang 4-die is propably the same led... and therefore the brightness are the same...