Should I or shouldn't I upgrade my minimag AA

737mechanic

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Messages
60
I am having a problem on wheather or not I should fork out 25 bucks to upgrade my minimag 2 AA with a TerraLUX TLE-5EX MiniStar2 EXTREME with CREE XRE-7090 LED. Or should I just buy a new 25 dollar flashlight from dealextreme.

Has anyone done this upgrade to their Minimag AA and was you happy with it. Will it be brighter than a stock minimag 3 AA LED.

If I would be better off buying a new light from dealextreme what would you guys recommend for a 25 dollar light.
 

Saiga

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
343
Location
Georgia, C.S.A.
I've got a mini-mag AA around here somewhere, and when i saw these drop-ins i also considered bringing this light into the 21st century. But $25 bucks plus shipping was too much denero when there are lots of cool lights ouit there for just a little bit more money.
 

BIGIRON

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,879
Location
South Texas
Depends on what you need. If you just need a little brighter flood for close work or such, the NiteIze $5 dropin is hard to beat. There might also be one of the SMJled/reflector kits around. That makes a seriously bright light for not much money.

The MM is tough with a great shape. And it's very common, so it might not be as desireable to a thief.
 

Sub_Umbra

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
4,748
Location
la bonne vie en Amérique
I dropped a TerraLUX into my wife's MM a couple years ago and it made a whole new light out of it. Brighter, whiter and no changing bulbs after each ~6 hours of runtime. The TerraLUX will pay for itself quickly in savings in batteries and bulbs if the light is used much at all.

I would also recommend the Kroll clickie tail switch (~$5). While I no longer use MMs anymore my wife really likes the fact that with the Kroll switch she may set the focus she wants just once and then it's always good to go with a single click.

I think that with the MM's build quality it makes one of the best hosts for dropins and the finished, modified light will be more improved than almost any other light I can think of.
 

pipspeak

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 4, 2007
Messages
569
Location
NYC
I'd rather spend $30 to upgrade the minimag with a terralux emitter and clickie switch than spend $30 on a "low end" fancy cree flashlight.

Maglites IMO are still some of the best lookers out there with only inova coming close and I've never busted a maglite in the decades I've owned and abused them (using a 3D light as a hammer, for example)
 

Buck91

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
1,760
Location
USA
I have 1 minimag with the 3x5 nite ize, hate it. Horrible tint and no throw AT ALL. Now, my arcmania SMJLED, another story totally. Not a cree by any means, but its quite nice. Much brighter than stock with supurb runtimes. Threw a terralux tail clicky on it with some broken in lithiums and its my go-to light for power outages and such. In fact, I'm tempted to pick up a PR-based SMJLED2 from the sandwich shoppe to throw in my angle head surplus light as well!

That said, I also have a spare MM laying around which I'm looking to upgrade. The TLE-5EX is a promising solution, but I want something with more power. If I can find the right sized parts I want to throw in a driver that will push a Q5 hard off 2 AA NiMH batts... Or a rebel... I'm not picky :)
 

copperfox

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
774
Location
RI
The NiteIze so-called "upgrade" for the AA minimag is comprised of three 5mm LEDs, hence 3x5; it's not very bright and not worth getting IMO. I have the SSC based Terralux TLE-5EX and it made a very nice light out of my minimag, especially combined with the terralux clickie. On the other hand, you can get lights of fine quality that are cheaper and brighter than this from kaidomain and dealextreme. I just received my 1xAAA SSC "buckle" flashlight. It's similar in brightness ato the SSC TLE-5EX, but at $15, it is easily $10 cheaper and it's much much smaller than a minimag. It's your call.

My SSC TLE-5EX is brighter and a cleaner white color than my minimagLED.
 

Khaytsus

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
648
Location
Kentucky, USA
My ancient Mag AA had an old Inretech (puke green) Lux drop-in... I bought a Terralux UV drop-in, and damned if the Mag didn't basically fall apart when I took the Inretech out of there. The innards were all loose and even a wheat bulb wouldn't light up in there anymore. Poked around on it, no joy.

Kind of sad, I've had the thing about 25 years perhaps..

So I did the obvious thing; went to Wal Mart and got a dark purple replacement (it is a UV light, after all!)
 

BIGIRON

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,879
Location
South Texas
I use a couple of the 3led NiteIze w/kroll for desk lights (looking for files and stuff in the drawers, etc). Mine are reasonably white and just about the right brightness for what I use them for. Luck of the draw, I guess.

I know it's heresy here on CPF, but there is such a thing as too bright!!!
 

Gaffle

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
552
Location
Garden City, MI
My father-in-laws girlfriend keeps buggin me about what I want for Christmas. He is already giving us gifts, apparently he has some sort of "Christmas quota". Well she asked again yesterday and I blurted out the MiniMag 2AA. I chose this light because I would like to purchase a BatteryJunction drop-in.

Back to topic :

737mechanic, what do you need the light for? Throw, flood, runtime? Are you going to use this light around the house or is this for work?
 
Top