are the Maglite LED upgrade kits worth it?

I've got several 3D cell Maglites with Halogen bulbs.

Is the LED upgrade Kit worth it?

It alsmost seems that a new light is only a little more.



What about for the AA Maglites? It seems they put out a lot more power with the LED compared to their older counterparts?


anyone on either of these light setups?

See the reviews that I linked to here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2663068&postcount=29

I have the magled 4d and it makes an excellent emergency light. The long runtime is it's forte.It puts out enough light to light a large room during a power outage to see what your doing and walking.

I personally don't think the LED upgrade for the 3D is not worth it because it doesn't last longer(noticeably) and the regular bulb puts out a warner beam which makes it seem more affective.(just my thoughts) the minimag upgrades aren't the best(tend to break when dropped in my experience)...but the AA minimagLED is worth it. It is way brighter than the regular minimag and you can get the 3AA(Which I have) which is brighter and... cooler looking.(I like the long look)

I also have the stock bulb for the 4D, LONG run time, but it's blueish/purple tint makes it useless outside IMO. I am not that impressed and think I should have held out for a terralux or even a Malcov upgrade.

with the "LED bulb", how is the focusing of the light compared to the regular bulb?


like from flood to 'spot' ? etc.?

Bobpuvel said:

I personally don't think the LED upgrade for the 3D is not worth it because it doesn't last longer(noticeably) and the regular bulb puts out a warner beam which makes it seem more affective.(just my thoughts) the minimag upgrades aren't the best(tend to break when dropped in my experience)...but the AA minimagLED is worth it. It is way brighter than the regular minimag and you can get the 3AA(Which I have) which is brighter and... cooler looking.(I like the long look)

Click to expand...

If it doesn't last longer than the stock incandesent bulb something is wrong with it. See the reviews in the above post.

At full price I'm not sure they are worth it. But I've bought a few on closeouts and in the marketplace and at those prices they are well worth it. It is a pretty significant upgrade over the incandescent, much brighter, much longer running, better regulation and great as emergency lights. But they are subject to the Luxeon lottery moreso than a lot of lights we're used to here on CPF - I have two that are nice and decent tint and one cat urine green one. But they are still worth it but $19 is steep I think for what you're getting.

Yes. The beam is better then stock, it lasts a hell of a lot longer, is brighter and throws extremely well.

Is it a flashlight enthusiasts light, not at all. Is it a damn good working/around the house light yes.

My 2Ds will run for around 32-33 hours straight as bright or brighter then the incan on fresh batteries and then put out several hours of diminishing but useful light. I have tested this myself.

Focusing still works but still with the black hole in the middle. When properly focused though the beam is much better then stock IMO.

If you already have the Maglite and you really like it, maybe the MagLED upgrade is worth it.

However, there are other readily available complete lights for cheaper that are brighter. Two I can think of off the top of my head are the Husky 4 Watt LED light (uses 2 D cells, black body with silver head, looks like a lightsaber, can find it at Home Depot) and the Task Force 3 Watt LED light (2 C cells, silver body with black rubber grip, says 60X on the package, can buy from Lowes). Both lights are significantly brighter than the MagLED module, and are designed around the LED.

Then if you want to get into higher-end lights, shoot, there are tons! If you read around on the forum you'll see there are many many good lights, some affordable, some more expensive, whatever you are looking for. Almost any of the higher-end Cree or SSC P4 lights and even many of the cheap junk ones, will be brighter than the MagLED.

The MagLED has its charms though. I think personal preference is important here, if you love your Maglite then this is an easy drop-in way to make it run an LED.

Also, like another posted mentioned, the MagLED module has great runtime. You don't always need a super bright scorcher of a light, in some ways it might be better to just have a light that doesn't eat batteries and is reliable and there when you need it! I think the MagLED fits this bill, as do many well-built lights.

If you really want to have some fun, do what I did, I had a MagLED module that I took apart, removed the stock LED emitter from, and installed an SSC P4 emitter into. This made the light WAY brighter and it has worked out awesome!

If you are interested in that, you would have to buy the MagLED module and an SSC P4 emitter, and then use some thermal epoxy to affix the P4 onto the MagLED, being careful not to let the base of the P4 make electrical contact with the MagLED module case. I think there is a thread on here detailing how to do it.

Absolutely worth it. You'll get a better pattern of light, brighter output, and way more life from a set of batteries. Read this review that came out when the upgrade first hit the market. The graph really shows the difference between the original bulb and the LED:
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_mag-led.htm

I just upgraded my 2D Mag LED to a TerraLUX MiniStar5 TLE-6EX (from shiningbeam). I've been using it for almost a month now. To make the 2D a six cell I picked up some 3AA -> D cell (series) from KaiDomain. With some minor mods to make the battery holders connect to the mag springs it worked and it was considerably brighter than the Stock 2D mag LED. The runtime seems very decent too. (no scientific test just from my usage)

When tightly focussed I find that it's too intense at close range (say within 10 ft) so I have to de-focus the head to spread the beam out into more spill so I don't blind myself.

I would really like to try the TerraLUX Ministar30 300M or a build my own drop-in, or make a real thrower with an aspheric lens. But for now I am quite happy with my current terralus drop-in running of 6AA.

M@g LED upgrade? No not worth it at the normal price.
Minim@g upgrade, depends on which one.

I think the Maglite brand LED upgrades are "worth it", but so is a McDonalds hamburger "worth it".
However, when I want a really good hamburger, I don't go to McDonalds.

The best thing to happen to flashaholics is the Maglite brand of lights, not because of the quality of the lighting they emit, but because of the exceptional quality of their lights as hosts for a whole lot of better lighting alternatives.

People who have stock Maglites and are thinking of upgrading should first be looking at upgrade options from people like Malkoff or Elektrolumens and other really talented makers of drop-ins that fit the Maglites.
Even at two or three times the price of Maglite LED upgrades, drop-ins from companies such as those guys are way more "worth it".

My .02

A much brighter idea is to mod a Mag with a $22 P7 and an $11 HEAT SINK. I am very pleased with this mod.

If you're going for the cheaper options, Sears sells a 'universal' luxeon LED upgrade for PR bulbs for $10. It's noticably whiter and brighter than the Maglite replacement LEDs. They say universal because you can run it on anywhere from 2 to 6 cells, and it gets brighter the more cells you use. Quick, cheap, and it works.

I put a TERalux Drop in upgrade in my 3D mag and i love it. I always get guys at work asking why my mag lite puts out so much more light than theirs.
I am very glad i got my mag upgrade becasue of several reasons,
1. Mag light bodies are extremely durable and if need be you can use it as a hammer or club
2. The runtime is awsome, i grabbed a box of D batteries of the shelf at work thinking i was going to burn through batteries quicker with the drop in. I was pleasently pupprised in that i have not had to replace the batteries once and i have worked at night for nearly 2 months.
3. the increase of the light output is really really nice and it is more durabul becasue there is no glass bulb to break.

The only thing i wish i would have done is not been such a cheep a$$ and shelled out the extra cash for the Malikoff Drop in. It is much better.

I really liked the 3D MagLED for all the reasons mentioned above. I then went and got the Terralux drop in which is few dollars more and think its noticeably better. Probably not better enough to justify the upgrade, but if you are starting with the incan version, I'd go with the Terralux bulb for $25 instead of the Mag bulb for $18. I think the Malkoff is around $50 and I kinda wish I did that instead now....since I a, probably going to end up there anyway.

Well, IMO if you already purchased the MagLED module, you should buy an SSC P4 bare emitter (not star) and upgrade your MagLED module, you'll be surprised how much brighter the SSC P4 is compared to the emitter that comes on the MagLED!

To my very untrained eye it appears to be twice as bright!

Just upgraded my Maglite 3D with the Mag LED Upgrade, well worth it IMHO, as basically I was no longer using the old incan set up, just wasn't bright enough. The new LED is a lot whiter and on a tight focus throws a lot further and brighter.
Got mine here for $A20 as they are closing and with the exchange rate in your favour you should get a bargain http://www.southern-lights.com.au/