2D Mag - TerraLux TLE-6EXB - Underwhelmed

Hi all :wave:,

Title pretty much says it all; I've put a TerraLux TLE-6EXB 140 Lumen into my 2D Mag and I am not impressed. It's not as bright as my £8($16) 2xAA 3W Luxeon torch, an impulse buy from Tesco (UK).

Do they run better in a 3D?

Thanks

LP

dim in my 4D

Hmmm, that's not great news...

glenda17 said:

dim in my 4D

Click to expand...

4D 's need the 6EX, not 6EXB, so your input seems off...

Anyway, the EXB is not driven to produce 140 lumens, although I think it is marketed that way unfortunately. But any amount of searching here would have revealed that the 6EX is brighter than the 6EXB.

And the 6EX is quite bright and in the 4D I have, very tight long-throwing light with lots of spill.

Ok, what I'm still not clear on is if the 6EXB will be brighter in a 3D?

The way I understand it is that the 6EX won't work in a 2D or 3D, so the only way for me to use the 6EX instead of the 6EXB is to buy a 6EX and a new 4D mag, which isn't financially viable at the moment.

My options are:

• Buy a 3D mag and use my existing 6EXB with it
• Stick with the 6EXB in my 2D and live with the suckiness
• Forget about the whole thing and stick with my cheapo Luxeon 3W 2xAA
• Buy a complete new flashlight like the Fenix L2D CE

Please keep in mind that I only found/joined this forum after buying the 2D Mag and the 6EXB. Due to my obvious naivety at the time, I thought that a honking great 2D Mag would be able to put out a decent amount of light compared with my cheapo 3W Luxeon 2xAA!

I'm seriously thinking of ditching the Mag and getting a Fenix L2D CE, but I really have no idea how bright the high 80 lumens setting is, as the "140 lumens" of the TerraLux is obviously optimistic...

My basic requirements are something that will run as bright as possible for 4-5 hours minimum, not too big (3D size is max really), white (or as close as possible) light. I want to use it for light painting in complete darkness.

Thanks

You can try the 3 C cells in a 2D trick. Should be a bit brigher. Go by the hardware store and pick up some plastic PVC pipe that the C cells fit in to take up the extra space. I think you have to sand the anodizing off the inside of the tailcap or something.

When that drop-in first came out, several months ago, i was very impressed, but then a lot more people started making lights/drop-ins with better emitters, and it fell by the wayside rather quickly....as does everything in this hobby.

NA8: Thanks for the suggestion, I am tempted to give it a go, but I'll see how I get on with my new flashie that should come on Monday before I butcher the spring. I may just keep the Mag in the glovebox as a handy break-down light. I suppose I can still hit people with it

scottaw: I think one of my problems is trying to run it in the 2D, so as NA8 suggested I may try it on 3C cells at some point.


For the time being though, I've orderd myself a P3D Premium Q5. If I don't get on with it, I can always put it on the bay...

The 6EXB is really meant for 3 cells. It's much dimmer on two. 3C's squeezed into your 2D should do the trick. Might have to reverse, or shorten the spring. A PVC pipe or split rubber hose will work as a sleeve for the cells.

I have the TerraLux TLE-6EXB dropin, as well as a Maglite 2D and 3D.
Yes, the dropin is around 30% brighter in the 3D, I measured the difference with my lux meter. That doesn't mean it's bad in the 2D.
The Terralux dropin is a great way to improve the performance a a Maglite 2D and 3D. The 3D will be brighter than the 2D, but the highest percentual improvement will be with the 2D. I am very satisfied with the TerraLux TLE-6EXB to the 2D!

Regards, Patric

Swedpat: I'm finding that the stock incan bulb is brighter than the 6EXB in the 2D. From your post I guess that's not your experience?

LargePig,

That sounds strange... Did you measured that? My test with the lux meter showed that the TerraLux TLE-6EXB with the 2D was about 4 times brighter than the standard krypton bulb and nearly twice as bright than the standard bulb with the 3D. I also ordered the Terralux to a friend who has the 2D. He is totally satisfied with the dropin and says that it provides a much brighter beam than the standard bulb.

Regards, Patric

I know this is a little late now but I have an update

I purchased a P3D Q3 Premium, which is awesome.

Today I finally tried 3xC cells in my 2D TeraLux and I'm pretty damned impressed at the difference it's made!

I've not done it 'properly' yet, I wrapped the cells in cardboard from the packaging they came in and used a rolled up Cadbury's Creme Egg wrapper as a 'spring'

Comparing this to my P3D, I guess it's a little brighter than high (120 lumens) but not as bright as turbo (215 lumens), so I think I now believe the 140 lumens advertised.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm planning to do a ROP mod at some point, but the bulbs are not so easy to come by in the UK :mecry:

Waiting for my TK10 now
..... All my friends think there's something wrong with me.

I guess this answers my question about 6EX or 6EXB in a 3D Maglite using 4C's. I should use the 6EX for best results.

Russell

The way I currently understand it is that the TLE-6EXB works with 2 cells and works properly with 3 cells.

Assuming the same is true of the TLE-6EX, I would assume that it would work with 4 cells and work properly with 6 cells.

Someone may want to correct me on this but it seems that they are optimised for 3 and 6 cells respectively and work underpowered on 2 and 4 cells (respectively)?

I did something similar with my 2D and a Malkoff Drop-in. Sanded down the Ano inside the tailcap, reversed the spring, cut a strip of foam rubber to prevent rattle. There was a real improvement in output going from 2D to 3C.

LargePig said:

The way I currently understand it is that the TLE-6EXB works with 2 cells and works properly with 3 cells.

Assuming the same is true of the TLE-6EX, I would assume that it would work with 4 cells and work properly with 6 cells.

Someone may want to correct me on this but it seems that they are optimised for 3 and 6 cells respectively and work underpowered on 2 and 4 cells (respectively)?

Click to expand...

No, the TLE-6EX is 4-6 cells. There are graphs around that show output vs input voltage, and the output is the same from 4-6v.

Khaytsus said:

No, the TLE-6EX is 4-6 cells. There are graphs around that show output vs input voltage, and the output is the same from 4-6v.

Click to expand...

So if I have a 3D Maglite with 4 C cells would the output be the same with both the TLE-6EX & TLE-6EXB?

Russell

toadman said:

So if I have a 3D Maglite with 4 C cells would the output be the same with both the TLE-6EX & TLE-6EXB?

Russell

Click to expand...

The 6EXB is only meant for 2-3. 4 cells would most likely burn it out.

Khaytsus said:

No, the TLE-6EX is 4-6 cells. There are graphs around that show output vs input voltage, and the output is the same from 4-6v.

Click to expand...

Glad to hear that!

I suppose that now I've got 3 cells in there it's not too big a deal but it still sucks that the TLE-6EXB doesn't have the same output from 2-3 cells (3-4.5v) :sick2: