What's Your Thoughts on the MiniMag LED's....??

Hey all,

I was nosing around Wally World the other day and noticed the new AA size MiniMag LED flachlights. They were priced at over $25 and before I bought one I wanted to ask about it and get some opinions. I listened to you all the last time when I bought the Brinkmann at Wally and was very pleased. Since then I have bought 5 of them and gave a couple as gifts.

So does anyone care to give me their opinions on the new MiniMag LED Lights? Are they worth the money? What about the Home Depot price of $15 or so, are they worth that? What is the BEST choice for a nice BRITE LED in the $25 price range?

Thanks all for your help and advice.

Nala

I have one and I like it. A big improvement from the old incan minimag. Search around and you will find alot of posts about the new minimag LED. Here is a good review.

http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_minimagled.htm

I just got one for my mother for Christmas, my wife has a Gladius and my mother has been asking for a flashlight. I will post again when she gets it. She is not interested in anything fancy and I liked the fact that this is a 3 watt 2AA flashlight.
That way it is still small enough for her to carry in her pocket or purse.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

I recently bought one, more out of curiosity than actual need. I wasn't expecting it to challenge my Fenix or Surefire lights. In my opinion it is a middle-of-the-road light, well built, not terribly expensive, but I *still* hate (from previous Mag lights I've owned) the reverese twist head that must be focused every time you turn on the light. What a PITA. And it's a little large for a 2xAA light.

I like it, my father likes his too. It is more comfortable for him, and for me to use than any other flashlight. Familiarity, is why. Pick it up, it feels so natural in the hand and in its execution of operation/manipulation of the head because it is the light I used for close to 20 years in the AA and AAA versions. It is a "flashlight" by definition of years of touch and familiarity.

I personally trust twisties more than clickies, and I find them easier to manipulate even one handed, because of so much practice. The Minimag is perhaps the easiest twistie to manipulate one handed I find, perhaps because of so many years practice. I have started to even use the L2S and L1T as a twistie, the clickie started screwing up on the L1T and this solved it.

So far have had no problems with it whatsover, time will of course tell if it is as reliable as the old versions. For the price it is hard to beat I believe.

I like my Inovas, perhaps even more than the Minimag, but they are more generally more expensive also. I would probably choose it over the Fenixs I have, or the Surefire I have if I could only choose one. I trust it more than the Fenixs and it is easier to use, for me, and the battery life is much better than my incandescent Surefire.

For the price the Minimag is a good light from my experience so far.

I have a 2 AA and 3 AA MagLite Mini LED. The 3 AA model is definitely brighter than the 2 AA model, but it's definitely bigger. I agree with the other member who said its a middle of the line LED light. It blows the incandescent mini-mag models out of the water. I bought my 3 AA on sale for $19.99 two weeks ago, so the $15 price is the best yet. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I like 'em a lot.

I initially bought the 2AA thinking the 3AA would be too long, but then I bought a 3AA, and then ended up returning the 2AA and getting *another* 3AA...I guess that form factor grows on you.

I also like twisties more than clickies, so I suppose that part depends on preference. I have NEVER had a twistie on a MiniMag fail, and one of them I've had for 20 years (still used, upgraded with a NiteIze LED drop-in).

I'm hoping that, like the NiteIze stuff, these will be a good introduction for many people to the LED world.

There are a lot of people who will NEVER like Mag stuff or even *try* Mag stuff, so keep that in mind when you read "reviews" about them.

I think what Copper means is the 2 AA and 3 AA models, they do not yet make a AAA version like they used to.

I have both the 2AA and 3AA an like them both FWIW. I've only recently gotten into the LED flashlight "obsession," so don't have as much experience as some on this board. They're not small enough to really pocket, but they throw a decent amount of light out there, particularly the 3AA version--especially for the price. I'm waiting until a number of manufacturers come out with Cree LEDs for really powerful efficient lights before buying more, however.

You can put a clickie on the end of these by purchasing them from either Nite Ize or Terra Lux. As others have noted, all you need to do is pull the spring out a bit and it works just fine. I've done that on mine with the Terra Lux clickie and no longer have to twist them on and off each time.

Harvey

I like my pewter 3 AA for what I bought it for. Good beam color. Does focus. $15 and change for it would be a heck of a deal.

I don't have a Minimag LED but I have a Terralux 1 watt Luxeon drop-in for my mini-Maglite and I like that. How does that compare to the Minimag LED? Is the minimag LED regulated? For that matter, is the Terralux drop-in regulated?

jump on the deal. the minimags leds are good, they don't seem to have the heat issues of the c/d models since they didn't build bulbs to fit the old flashlights with all the size limits and stuff.

at 15 dollars its awesome, on fat wallet people claim they got price matches at lowes, so thats an option too if home depot is out of stock, others claim theres an additional sign of 20% off all mags, i didn't see this personally. its a bright flashlight with decent build quality, check out the review posted. even at its regular price you probably noticed its competition was 1 watters from dorcy or garrity. so its definetly a good deal. as for the aaa ones from garrity and such, not enough battery power to keep the lights going for long so thats also out of the picture.

and yes, buy the 3 aa version, its brighter and really isn't as unweildly as you'd think from first glance. its a big improvement on the incandescent models of the past which really werent good for more than paper weights these last couple years.

dunno about the terralux,
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/terralux_ministar2.htm
this the one? it seems dimmer than the mag led, esp the 3aa version. plus it doesn't seem to focus as well. probably good for its time 2-3 years ago, but now if it still costing 24bucks its just not worth it.

Lee1959 said:

I think what Copper means is the 2 AA and 3 AA models, they do not yet make a AAA version like they used to.

Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct, thanks for pointing it out. I modified my post to avoid any confusion

At that price you can't go wrong. I'd opt for the 2AA Led. Also consider the Inova XO2 that's on sale at a number of Costcos! A great deal!

Here's the throw with spot of the 3 AA led from about 7-8 feet away:

frasera said:

buy the 3 aa version, its brighter and really isn't as unweildly as you'd think from first glance.

Click to expand...

My mindset went from:

"Holy cow, that's a huge MiniMag!"

to...

"Holy cow, this is a lot easier to tote than my 2D!"

I bought the 3AA for my son. My take:

- as someone pointed out, middle of the road
- $25 is too much, Home Depot has them for less than $20. At $25 they are over priced (HD beats WW on these NOT on sale).
- This is our second MM LED, and they both have flicker problems. Personally this is a known issue and unacceptable. After all these years Mag can't fix this problem?
- I too am not a fan of the reverse twisty.

All that said, I still like the light. The output, side by side, is on a par with my P1, so it's quite bright. Compared to the P1, it's cheap. If it weren't for the flicker problem this would be a great light at $20 (even better at $15! ).

Look at these also, all better than the MM and about $30 ea.:

Huntlight
Nuwai
Fenix

I've never had a flicker problem on any of the *does quick calculation in my head so it might not be accurate* 20 or so Mags I've had.

Can someone post a link to an MPEG of one of them flickering?

I am a little disappointed that my 3AA Minimag is about the same brightness as my L2T... but I like the heft and runtime, so I carry it occasionally.

what flicker?

Vickers said:

My mindset went from:

"Holy cow, that's a huge MiniMag!"

to...

"Holy cow, this is a lot easier to tote than my 2D!"

Click to expand...

yea in hand it feels right, they extended the head portion so i guess its looks more proportional.