Should Mag step it up?

So, I have been talking to my friends about flashlights a little bit. I told them that I was going to get a good one that was really bright. And guess what they said, "so like a 4D Mag?" And I say no, I want something really bright. And then the say "you can get a halogin bulb for it"
Its talked about here allot, to most people Maglite is a high end light. It is the only brand of light they buy.
So, what if Mag started making some even higher high end lights? Using high output LEDs, regulators, and heatsinks. Now, I have NO clue how hard all that is, but I would be willing to pay more for a mag that puts out 250 lumens, (please not a multi LED head!) even thou it is larger then say a DBS. And with their reflectors they should throw really well. Pulse there made in the USA, that may help them sell. Mag has a good sized fan base. Lots of LEOs I know use mags. Would this work?

To do that I would imagine the cost would go up a good bit; they may lose some of their "loyal" non-flashaholic followers. But on the other hand, if they could keep costs low, they would probably gain more customers if they up the performance.

The MagLEDs are not bad for the money and I believe they are regulated, tho not the latest/brightest emitter by far. My 3D MagLED performs admirably and there's always to option of a Terralux (or more powerful) drop-in if you need more power.

Maglite seems to have the same attitude as Surefire in that it's fairly conservative with embracing new technology, possibly for fear of sullying its reputation. Question is, will such an attitude send it the way of the dinosaurs? I suspect not because, let's face it, 98% of people out there really have no clue that Fenix, Lumapower, et al even exist. Most people are probably perfectly happy picking up a Maglite at their local Lowes and don't care how many lumens come out the end of it.

The only secret to Mag's success is "bang for the buck" commercialism - it's available everywhere they sell cheap flashlights, it's better than the other cheap flashlights they sell everywhere, and it's cheap at $20 or less. Your average Mag buyer is just browsing what's available on the shelf at the local Wal-Mart and can't see spending more than $20 for a flashlight, regardless of the engineering.

It's a testament to commercial success (not feats of engineering) when the only design revision your flashlight has had in 30 years is a recent LED version, yet shelves everywhere are overflowing with your product even to this day.

Tiny86 said:

So, I have been talking to my friends about flashlights a little bit. I told them that I was going to get a good one that was really bright. And guess what they said, "so like a 4D Mag?" And I say no, I want something really bright. And then the say "you can get a halogin bulb for it"
Its talked about here allot, to most people Maglite is a high end light. It is the only brand of light they buy.
So, what if Mag started making some even higher high end lights? Using high output LEDs, regulators, and heatsinks. Now, I have NO clue how hard all that is, but I would be willing to pay more for a mag that puts out 250 lumens, (please not a multi LED head!) even thou it is larger then say a DBS. And with their reflectors they should throw really well. Pulse there made in the USA, that may help them sell. Mag has a good sized fan base. Lots of LEOs I know use mags. Would this work?

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They do. It's called the magcharger and puts out close to 250 for about 2 hours. Not bad at all.

But what non-flashaholic is going to pay around $100 for a light. I believe the runtime on those is around 1 hour.

Considering that the ROV 4watt 3C sells for close to $30 and it is made overseas and from what I could see is not as good in quality I doubt Maglight will want to make a better LED light. I believe they would have to charge significantly more to maintain their quality level and offer better performance than what they already have.The Magled D cells already sell for just over $33 and they are just regular Mags with an LED upgrade.Even though the Magleds offer good performance for the money I only know one person outside of CPF that has actually purchased them.The Minimag LEDs don't seem to being flying off the store shelves either, I don't know anyone who has purchased one outside of CPF.

Flashlights over $20 are still a hard sell to the general public even though they are finally making it to store shelves.Just tell someone what you have paid for a Fenix or, gasp! a Surefire(I even have trouble spending that much) and watch the look on their face. :shakehead All that said I'd like to see updated LED lights from Mag as long as they are the same quality as the current offerings.Maybe the latest offerings from Energizer and ROV will push Maglight to be more innovative.

Nope, very very very nope

mags are classics i think. They already stepped it up with magleds,and thats enough, until the next big revolution in lighting.

and +1 to all the posts about the commercial sucess of the maglite.

Crenshaw

This is a timely question for me as I agreed to bring in my MiniMag collection for a co-worker to evaluate (play with) tomorrow night. Choosing between the stock version and the NiteIze, TerraLux TLE5, TerraLux Cree and the MiniMag LED, I believe he will choose the MiniMag LED. I say this because he is cost conscious and will value throw over total output. Also, like many, he will buy locally. Yet, I have no doubt that he would be willing to pay a bit for more a MiniMag with a Rebel 100 if it were available.

They better step up the reliability on their minimag MagLEDs. I've seen a lot of them flicker after less than a month of use, a LOT, not just my 3. On one of mine, the emitter even fell out of the socket from a >10 ft drop. HORRIBLE. Nice beam and focusability, but what good is it if it doesn't stay on and the bulb falls out?? I believe it has to do with the thin metal strips cocnnected to the leds leads that are simply shoved into two holes and epoxied with a weak adhesive, pretty bad design / engineering. I definitely prefer my stock incandescent 2AA Mag upgraded with a Terralux SSC drop in, FAR superior in every way to the MagLED line, as the stock incan is engineered pretty good, when it flickers all you have to do is clean all the points of contact and it works like a charm again, but with the MagLEDs, their reliability just degrades and you can't fix it due to the way the emitter is installed in the light.

StarHalo said:

The only secret to Mag's success is "bang for the buck" commercialism - it's available everywhere they sell cheap flashlights, it's better than the other cheap flashlights they sell everywhere, and it's cheap at $20 or less. Your average Mag buyer is just browsing what's available on the shelf at the local Wal-Mart and can't see spending more than $20 for a flashlight, regardless of the engineering.

It's a testament to commercial success (not feats of engineering) when the only design revision your flashlight has had in 30 years is a recent LED version, yet shelves everywhere are overflowing with your product even to this day.

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Over here in NZ Maglites are expensive!! For a 2D Maglite it costs around NZD$50-60 which equates to around USD$35-40, so over here Mag's aren't good bang for the buck lights...

Same here in Central Europe.
Minimag leds kost more than a Fenix (and the 3 AA costs € 10,-- more)

Its talked about here allot, to most people Maglite is a high end light. It is the only brand of light they buy.

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thats something MAG should think about!
Sure these ppl EVENTUALLY buy ONE light in their life, but we "crazy" guys buy quite several a year - ones that kick Mags in every aspect, except for mass and heft (when used as a baton)

Brozneo said:

so over here Mag's aren't good bang for the buck lights...

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Maybe the high prices help give them "the name". They are the light to have.

yellow said:

Same here in Central Europe.
Minimag leds kost more than a Fenix (and the 3 AA costs € 10,-- more)

thats something MAG should think about!
Sure these ppl EVENTUALLY buy ONE light in their life, but we "crazy" guys buy quite several a year - ones that kick Mags in every aspect, except for mass and heft (when used as a baton)

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Also the ability to get it back on the road easily if the led/bulb fails since it's not married to a circuit board.

:thinking:
You mean: being forced to change the burned out bulb (which lasts 5-6 hours, thats one set of batts + some time from the 2nd) is a Plus?

That keeped me from using these lights and was the reason to switch to led 2-3 years ago
(that time output was comparable)

yellow said:

:thinking:
You mean: being forced to change the burned out bulb (which lasts 5-6 hours, thats one set of batts + some time from the 2nd) is a Plus?

That keeped me from using these lights and was the reason to switch to led 2-3 years ago
(that time output was comparable)

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No, but the wide array of available LED drop-ins are.

Mag-lite should, and probably will, continue to do just what they have done for the past several years. They sell their lights at a price point that most folks consider to be high-end for a flashlight. They have a reputation for being well-made, solid and dependable lights among the average consumer. Most everyone has heard of Mags and that name recognition alone sells thousands of lights!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

BSCOTT1504 said:

Mag-lite should, and probably will, continue to do just what they have done for the past several years. They sell their lights at a price point that most folks consider to be high-end for a flashlight. They have a reputation for being well-made, solid and dependable lights among the average consumer. Most everyone has heard of Mags and that name recognition alone sells thousands of lights!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

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True. I still have my mini mag that I bought 15 years ago. It's not a great flashlight, but it is still in perfect working condition.

A bit jumpy there, yellow. Lit Up did say led/bulb.

BSCOTT1504 said:

Mag-lite should, and probably will, continue to do just what they have done for the past several years. They sell their lights at a price point that most folks consider to be high-end for a flashlight. They have a reputation for being well-made, solid and dependable lights among the average consumer. Most everyone has heard of Mags and that name recognition alone sells thousands of lights!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

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I agree. If they introduced a higher line of products I think it would undermine their own efforts to be the best commercial / consumer light available. All most people know is, does it make light, does it use a battery they can identify with and does it seem well made? When someone like that spends $20-$35 on a flashlight they think they bought the Mercedes. The LED really transforms the Mag into a bargain tool and they're often purchased more quickly than the stores can keep them on the shelf. Mag will probably never have to step things up until the next tech revolution comes around again.