Recommend the *best* minimag drop-in?

Title says it all. What are your suggestions?

Oh, and running NiMH in it, not sure if that changes anything...

I don't know about NIMH, but if you were to use lithiums this is the brightest option available.

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

If you're not interested in Incan then I think this might be your next best bet.

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

My semi-informed opinion (does not include custom sandwiches etc):

- Brightest is the Terralux seoul drop-in, but it can get hot and is $25
- Good value is the Terralux Lux 1 drop in (stay away from the K2), $15. Can be upgraded to a very nice Seoul emmitter. Longer battery life than the one above.

Both the above are available at Battery Junction.

Another one I use is the SMJ upgrade from Sandwich shoppe. Beam is a bit bluer and not as bright as the ones above, but it's quite good, $11, and very long battery life (I think 11+ hours). I use one and like it. Getting the Luxeon drop-in for my second light.

I'm only getting the drop-ins to make use of old lights for fun or sentimental reasons. It's a lot better to spend the money on one of the many new cree/seoul lights, unless you just have a minimag you can't part with.

I second gunga's recommendations:

Recently I replaced the bulbs in two Minimags with Terrelux Seoul drop-ins; it took about five minutes to do both, and the results are wonderful. There is a slight difference in tint and overall brightness between them unrelated to power source, and they are not the equal of new Cree or Seoul lights, but still very useful. My estimate is about 25 torch lumens with 2 AA NiMH batteries. Heat is not a problem unless they are run a long time, such as over ten minutes continuous. On Eneloops, this became an ideal bedside light for me. (My daughter carries the other in her handbag.)

I do recommend using ProGold treatment of all contact surfaces before putting the light back together. This alone is worth a few more lumens/battery life.

Enjoy,

HAK

Homebrew Lambda converter with Cree XR-E and IMS20 i just finished
Bright little devil.
Mike

Define 'best'. To some that means bright as the sun but with 10 mins of runtime. To others it could mean 24 hours of dim but usable light.

sp5it said:

Homebrew Lambda converter with Cree XR-E and IMS20 i just finished
Bright little devil.
Mike

Click to expand...

Is that a "minimag drop-in"? Links?

knot said:

Is that a "minimag drop-in"? Links?

Click to expand...

I might be wrong but I think by "homebrew" he meant he made it, But maybe I'm wrong

BlackDecker said:

Define 'best'. To some that means bright as the sun but with 10 mins of runtime. To others it could mean 24 hours of dim but usable light.

Click to expand...

To me, "best" is a combination of the two, I will sacrifice one for the other in a pinch, but I really would like to even out the brightness/runtime.

So, something moderately bright with a moderately decent runtime.

I honestly haven't even had a chance to look at the suggestions made so far even, pretty hectic day/night, and I gotta be at work in *counts* 5 hours...eww

Hopefully Monday night is much less hectic and I can spare some time to exercise my AmEx Cya guys then, thanks for the tips!

I meant those mod: http://home.mchsi.com/~lambda_lights/miniprodc.htm
but with XR-E. Runtime over two hours of constant light.
Mike

I guess it all depends on what you want for brightness and runtimes.

SS SMJ I think is 11 hrs +
Terralux Lux 1 (or the SSC mod, which will make it much brighter) is 5.5-7.5 hrs
I think the Terralux SSC is less (say 4 hrs? I dunno).

Of course brightness is from low to high on the list above.

Best compromise would probably be Terralux Lux1, modded with SSC.