Why are we all **ing?

OldNick

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Serious question. I keep seeing M*g Lite and other stuff.

But every now and then somebody gets it wrong and simply says "maglite" and the darkness does not encroach.....


Nick
 

CampingLED

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Serious question. I keep seeing M*g Lite and other stuff.

But every now and then somebody gets it wrong and simply says "maglite" and the darkness does not encroach.....


Nick

Would also like to know, what is the story behind this? Should your word "wrong" not be changed to "right". You do not see posts where people refer to s*refire, nor ult*fire, .......etc.
 

JamisonM

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From what I understand, it's their displeasure with the company who make maglites. Years ago, they were suing left and right because of products similar to theirs or with similar features. I don't know the fine details, you'll have to wait for someone that does know or do some digging around.
 

Carpe Diem

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Hi Guys...

Here is my take on the topic.

Over the years of my membership in the CPF, M*glite has demonstrated little apparent interest in advancing the flashlight technologies, and has rather been pretty satisfied with selling flashlights that may have nice host bodies but have pretty lousy beams of lght. And while doing so, always touting their products as state-of-art.

The fact that their motives are pretty pedestrian in that regard is OK, for that is their choice. They don`t have to provide any leadership for their industry. At the same time, though, M*g should not be surprised that CPF`ers in general have basically relegated them to the world of irrelevancy.

What is much worse, though, has been the willingness of M*g to file legal actions against small, innovative and state-of-the-art flashlight companies who are actually advancing the industry. They have done this with Peter Gransee`s original Arc Flashlight company, claiming that the Arc AAA`s that Peter was producing was unfair competition to the M*g Solataire.

The cost of this litigation was small as far as M*g was concerned, but huge for Peter and Merri. It essentially took its toll and helped put the original Arc Flashlight company out of business. This result undoubtedly pleased M*g.

SO...

In proverbial terms, M*g is viewd by those not charitable to it as the "Evil Empire" in the world of flashlights. The use of "M*g", etc. is basically in recognition of their past deeds and attitudes... as observed from the vantage of some of us long-time CPF`ers.
 
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jcvjcvjcvjcv

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Well, they DO make nice looking high-quality decent flashlights in multiple colors and high quality accessoires. They should just advance on the light itself a little faster.

But the Mag 2AA LED is a winner. No doubt. Decent output, small, durable and cheap (for the US citizens it is).
 

BIGIRON

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Couple of years ago I read an interview with the owner/founder of Mag. He specifically stated that aggressive legal actions to reduce competition were part of their business plan.

Legal? yes. Ethical? maybe. Chickens**t? absolutely.
 

drew2001

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Edit:

I [think] I do it to help make it easier on folks on this website when using the search functions to find buried posts, making searching forums for specific posts easier when otherwise looking for posts specific to actual M*glite type info or mods?

Since spelling out the brand name like this thread could potentially do and for that matter any brand mentioned over and over in name sake alone,

........creates tons of off subject search counts.

[Edit: I just tried searching "mag" by itself and got no results]

Chatting the full word without much substance just clogs the search function. So if left spelled correctly (like when a searched for "maglite" related subject actually needs to be addressed indepth) you end up searching through pages and pages ...lots o fluff.


As far as political bs...maybe it is a real factor here,

Edit: Thanks CD, I didn't know that background history...
 
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KeyGrip

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Two reasons I can see. One is that writing M*g is a joke, the point of which being that Maglite is so lawyer happy that they will sue you if you use their name on a public forum without their permission. The other is that Mag is considered a bad word and must be censored.
 

climberkid

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thats what i thought at first. that they said M*g joking around because they were afraid of getting in trouble. lol:thinking:
 

LuxLuthor

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Seems like ancient news, and having no effect on flashlight modifications/improvements as far as I can tell. I muist have over a hundred Maglites, most of which have been modded, and I like their basic, simple, predictable platform to start from and interchange with. I can't think of another flashlight product that is as heavily used for custom setups....so I salute Maglite.
 

OldNick

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Seems like ancient news, and having no effect on flashlight modifications/improvements as far as I can tell. .

Well it was not old hat to me, and while it may not be relevant to the actual modding, I was not sure if there was history to this that meant we as posters had to be careful.

To those that took the time to explain. Thank you

Nick
 

CampingLED

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Seems like ancient news, and having no effect on flashlight modifications/improvements as far as I can tell. I muist have over a hundred Maglites, most of which have been modded, and I like their basic, simple, predictable platform to start from and interchange with. I can't think of another flashlight product that is as heavily used for custom setups....so I salute Maglite.

Supported. Like the availability of mod parts. If you look at the mod parts that are either available through the CPF market place or other suppliers, just about everything is available/do-able. :)

A few months ago I purchased a 3D Cammo specifically for a mod. The guy at the shop could not believe it when I told them that the Mags are poor in light output and that I was gouing to remove the insides of the light to improve it. This ended up as a Quad CREE Q5.
 

TorchBoy

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And the use of "fauxton"? People just being smart***es or an attempt to avoid clogging searches?
 

ICUDoc

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Fauxton is a gentle play on words: French Faux meaning false or fake, and rhyming / identity with Photon, the high-quality coin cell light that is often imitated: hence Fauxton
 

LuxLuthor

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Well it was not old hat to me, and while it may not be relevant to the actual modding, I was not sure if there was history to this that meant we as posters had to be careful.

To those that took the time to explain. Thank you

Nick

Nick, you appear to have misunderstood me. I was referring my "ancient news" comment on it having been a long time since I have seen or heard about Maglite going after anyone legally, not about you asking about name spelling which is a good question.

Regarding Maglite hassling modders that you refer to as "darkness encroaching," I suspect there are other sides to that discussion, given the issues related to Bison Sportlights, and may have involved other trade secrets with cases like Arc flashlights...but many companies try to protect what they consider as their product. You have to find out the actual facts of each case to see if there are merits.

I never heard of them initiating any legal action for someone using their name "Maglite" in describing their actual light...unless a modder made a knock-off copy and sold it as a cheap Maglite brand. I don't consider the stock Maglite as anything other than a solid modding platform, and because they have remained relatively cheap and consistent quality, it doesn't bother me that they have not developed radical innovations.

Edit: This was an interesting general read on Maglite and its founder. Quite an accomplishment.
 
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CampingLED

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If you make your own (better or not) switch that fits a Maglite and you advertise and sell it as a Maglite switch you are looking for trouble. If you sell it as a switch to fit in a Maglite and you even state that you are not affiliated to Maglite I cannot see them doing anything to you. It all relates to protecting their registered trade name, for which they have worked hard to establish.

Probably 99% of all CPF members own a Maglite and most of them own at least one that is modified. I feel that Mag Instruments should applaud CPF for using their product to such an extent and also for the R&D and innovation that is shared with them and others.
 

Marduke

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And the use of "fauxton"? People just being smart***es or an attempt to avoid clogging searches?

"fauxton" isn't slang for "photon". It specifically describes the cheap knockoffs which DX (and others) sell for less than 47 cents each.
 
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Aluminous

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JamisonM said:
they were suing left and right because of products similar to theirs or with similar features.

Are Maglite knockoffs still being made, or did Mag put a stop to all of those? I think the last time I bought a Minimag clone was about 6 years or so ago (haven't looked since then). Even came with a clone of the Minimag belt pouch.
 

TorchBoy

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Thanks David and Marduke. I knew the French but from the context didn't pick up that it specifically refers to the inexpensive versions.
 

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