Mag Lite Upgrade, Not A Mod

I would first like to say hello. I love the site. I have a 2D magLite and would like to upgrade the bulb to a Mag-Num Star Xenon Lamp. Does this bulb make it brighter? Is it about the same brightness as a Surefire or similar tactical light? Is it worth it? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

Welcome to CPF and keep an eye on your wallet. To cut to the chase.

1) The bulb should make it brighter.
2) No way in h*** is it even close to a Surefire tactical light
3) It depends. But I would bet that an LED would outperform the Mag0Num Star lamp in many areas like brightness and runtime.

Hello and welcome to the forum! There are alot of people who like the LED upgrades for their maglites..brighter, smoother beam, and much longer runtime...

If you have a 2D Mag and are looking for a simple upgrade I would go for the MagLED rather than the Xenon bulb. The LED costs more but will be noticeably brighter than the xenon *and* give you better runtime. 2 alkaline batteries just don't put out enough juice to drive a real bright incandescent bulb.

Another option would be to go with the xenon bulb and add a couple of good NiMH D cells and a charger. That will also let you experiment with even brighter 2 cell bulbs than the Mag xenon. It would cost more than the MagLED upgrade but if you use the light frequently you would probably end up saving money overall because you could recharge instead of replace batteries.

It's all good.

CM said:

Welcome to CPF and keep an eye on your wallet. To cut to the chase.

1) The bulb should make it brighter.
2) No way in h*** is it even close to a Surefire tactical light
3) It depends. But I would bet that an LED would outperform the Mag0Num Star lamp in many areas like brightness and runtime.

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I Agree. I'm not trying to compare maters and melons. I was just trying to see if I could get a little more light out of it. I also agree that LEDs run longer but I wasnt really impressed with the cheaper ($8.95) LED drop in. I haven't tried the higher wattage one yet. Run time doesn't bother me all that much.

I will add to the broken record recommentaion of 'upgrade to a MagLED' or a TerraLux unit.

DEFINATELY more brightness, better runtime and reliability. Other than the freaky initial drop in output (which is more of a glitch in initial output than an actual drop) it basically runs for a day before dropping to a still usable amount of light. With the incand bulbs, you get a couple hours of the decent brightness and another 3 or 4 hours of sadly dimming output.

Look at it like this. If you use quality Duracell/Energizer batteries, the MagLED will pay for itself in about 3 or 4 battery changes while giving more output the entire time.

Smoke Eater said:

I Agree. I'm not trying to compare maters and melons. I was just trying to see if I could get a little more light out of it. I also agree that LEDs run longer but I wasnt really impressed with the cheaper ($8.95) LED drop in. I haven't tried the higher wattage one yet. Run time doesn't bother me all that much.

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Oh lord no. Don't even compare the cheaper Nite-Ize drop-in to The 3 Watt Mag. Pick The Mag one up, it's a whole new ballgame.

Thanks Guys,

I'll probably get the 3-Watt instead.

>>Oh lord no. Don't even compare the cheaper Nite-Ize drop-in to The 3 Watt Mag.

Amen. I have one of those NiteIze gathering dust on a shelf. I figure if the sun goes out and I have to live the rest of my life by flashlight it will come in handy.

mag has the output for their lights listed in the website here

switching to a xenon bulb increases the output from 36.5 lumens to 40.6, not much of an improvement

I have a few of the MagLed upgrade modules in the 2D and 2C Maglites. I really like them a lot - reasonable cost, nice brightness and easy to install. The other upgrade I like to do is to put a glass lens in, replacing the plastic.

Smoke Eater said:

I'll probably get the 3-Watt instead.

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Sears just came out with a Variable Power L.E.D. Upgrade (part no. 3493044) which works from 1.5-8V (1-5 alkaline cells), so it's more flexible than a Mag LED upgrade. Claimed to deliver 37 to 50 lumens, depending on the light you put it in. I got one and it works very well in my 2D Maglite -- much brighter than the Nite IZE upgrade, very few artifacts, nice white light. Only costs about $15.

DEFINATELY more brightness, better runtime and reliability. Other than the freaky initial drop in output (which is more of a glitch in initial output than an actual drop) it basically runs for a day before dropping to a still usable amount of light. With the incand bulbs, you get a couple hours of the decent brightness and another 3 or 4 hours of sadly dimming output.

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To give more detail about the dropping in output -- that's based on heating. The maglite body, since it consists of a spring-loaded pedestal surrounded by a plastic cammed reflector, there is no heatsinking path. In order for the LED to protect itself, it dims the output as the LED heats up. The LED driver is running the LED at lower power,it's not that the LED is getting less efficient. Nonetheless, even at its dimmed output, it will still be significantly brighter than the incandescent bulb by a fairly large margin.

Also, If you can find a module that is based on Seoul Semiconductor LEDs, those are double the efficiency of the Luxeons used in the MagLED with similar beam pattern, so they'll be even brighter still. Some on here have actually replaced the MagLED with a Seoul LED themselves and doubled the brightness (though this would take a fair amount of finesse to pull off without destroying the lamp) I think Terralux makes SSC emitters forr 3-4 cell maglights, I'm not sure if it's possibel to get one off the shelf for the 2 cell lights yet. SSC could give potentially give you greater brightness than the Xenon bulb for days straight.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to misrepresent anything concerning the drop. Just if someone just scans Quickbeam/Dougs review, it makes it look like the 2D module has abysmal runtime when in fact, the 50% runtime figure is just an effect of the drop.

GeorgePaul said:

Sears just came out with a Variable Power L.E.D. Upgrade (part no. 3493044) which works from 1.5-8V (1-5 alkaline cells), so it's more flexible than a Mag LED upgrade. Claimed to deliver 37 to 50 lumens, depending on the light you put it in. I got one and it works very well in my 2D Maglite -- much brighter than the Nite IZE upgrade, very few artifacts, nice white light. Only costs about $15.

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Does this have any polarity protection? The Dorcy website mentions that it can be used in most flashlights or lanterns when flashlights and lanterns generally have opposite polarities.

Does the packaging mention anything and/or have you tried the bulb in a lantern?

cratz2 said:

Yeah, I wasn't trying to misrepresent anything concerning the drop. Just if someone just scans Quickbeam/Dougs review, it makes it look like the 2D module has abysmal runtime when in fact, the 50% runtime figure is just an effect of the drop.

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No problem, I knew you weren't trying to misrepresent anything, I was just giving a bit more detailed explanation. If the light is mostly used for burst (as my mag is) then it will always start at top brightness -- I was actually pleasantly surprised when I found this out, I thought that the dropoff shown on flashlight reviews was due to battery rundown and was only achievable with fresh batteries. This sort of design is actually an advantage, rather than starting it off at a fixed low setting -- most who use Maglites only use them for a few minutes at a time, most of the time.

Designing a heatsinking path would have been better, but it wouldn't be possible without completely re-engineering the light, and even then, I can't think of a way to get both good heatsinking and cam-adjustable focus without driving the cost way up.

cratz2 said:

Does this have any polarity protection? The Dorcy website mentions that it can be used in most flashlights or lanterns when flashlights and lanterns generally have opposite polarities.

Does the packaging mention anything and/or have you tried the bulb in a lantern?

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I think one CPF'er mentioned that his fried when he tried it in a lantern. There's a thread in the LED forum.

I got the 2D MagLED upgrade and it's great compared to the original set-up. It throws farther, and you get much more total output which gives it a nice spill. The incan version was IMHO pretty useless at short ranges or indoors, but the LED lights up a whole room if tailstanded. The very annoying donuthole is still there when unfocused, so I used it focused all the time, the corona(spill?) is bright enought to light up the surroundings anyway. Regarding the drop in brightness, it's noticable, but not THAT big. And on top of all that, you get great runtimes.

However, you can go another route and order the new Terralux Ministar 5 SSC P4 ledupgrade for mags and get a MUCH brighter light. There is no 2D version yet, but you could use AA to D-cell adapters and get 6D output, not sure about the runtimes though. Or you could wait 4-6 weeks for the 2D version with booster circuit.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=154679

Hi Welcome to CPF,
Have you looked at some of the Led dropin replacements
I know that Terralux are bringing out some nice stuff