Best & easiest Mag upgrades

Ecko

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May 3, 2008
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121
I just bought a couple of 2D & 3D Mag 3w LED's at Lowes. What would be the brightest and easiest upgrades for these in terms of drop ins? I don't want to do any soldering or technical stuff.
 

mr.squatch

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Jun 2, 2007
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Planet Houston
"Artifacts" are imperfections in the light circle when shone upon a wall. True outside you won't notice. I have never even thought twice about it with a malkoff. He used to offer stippled reflectors, that makes a perfect circle of light, no artifacts. If you can't find one I'm sure somebody here could make you one out of a stock mag reflector or you could get an aluminum stippled one. You lose the cam, so the quick focus is gone, but I believe you can still focus the beam by turning the head. I'll have to go try, mine are perfect to me so I haven't messed with em. Haha. You're best to go with the highest number of cells the dropin is designed for. Some are 2-4 cells for example, on 2 they'll run lower power, at 4 they shine full strength. Gene is great about answering questions if you have any, plus he's sold a majillion of em here so there's plenty of experience to help you out.

edit: if you go with the triple, you won't worry about artifacts, it's a 3x flood monster. I've been waiting for one to come available when I have the money lol.

g
 

tx101

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May 17, 2008
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Never really noticed any artifacts with my Mag/Malkoff :thinking:
With a SMO reflector I saw a intense but warm hotspot.
Made my own OP reflector and now it looks like a warm version
of a Novatac beam ..... lovely :clap::clap::clap:

Another Mag dropin I like is the KD aspherical dropin ... a great "WOW"
light at a reasonable price :D
 

Zatoichi

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Does anyone have the [FONT=verdana,arial]TerraLUX TLE-300M for 4/5/6 D cell Maglites? It states 500 - 600 lumens (fixed focus). I found a little info about it on here, but can't find it now. That might be an option, I was considering it myself.
[/FONT]
 

BenjiBot

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Another Mag dropin I like is the KD aspherical dropin ... a great "WOW" light at a reasonable price :D

Got to give a +1 for this, best thing I ever did for my knackered 20+ year old 3D M*g. www.kaidomain.com does a combo aspherical lens and Q5 LED drop-in for around $40 (might be unavailable at the moment), amazing output for a less than $40 mod

EDIT: found the link http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1777 got to be worth a pop at $39.99

Choice of protective/decorative bezels here https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/201610 and here https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/201842
 
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Zatoichi

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Those aspherical upgrades look great. My only reservations are the lens looks a bit vulnrable to bangs and scrapes, and I like to stand my big mag's upright. Still, tempting... :drool:
 

tx101

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Those aspherical upgrades look great. My only reservations are the lens looks a bit vulnrable to bangs and scrapes, and I like to stand my big mag's upright. Still, tempting... :drool:

Get a 55mm stainless steel bezel from CPFer Download and screw a 55mm camera hood thingy onto that ..... looks ugly but protects your aspherical lens.
 

curlyfry562

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Sep 2, 2007
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Southern California
With the malkoff drop-in you can only adjust the focus a little bit. It is a thrower, with a very very tight hot spot and a good amount of flood. The only time you get artifacts in the beam is when you try adjusting the focus to make it flood, you get a nice donut shape in the center.
 

tx101

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With the malkoff drop-in you can only adjust the focus a little bit. It is a thrower, with a very very tight hot spot and a good amount of flood. The only time you get artifacts in the beam is when you try adjusting the focus to make it flood, you get a nice donut shape in the center.

That is very true BUT use a OP reflector = no donut :thumbsup:
 

Zatoichi

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Get a 55mm stainless steel bezel from CPFer Download and screw a 55mm camera hood thingy onto that ..... looks ugly but protects your aspherical lens.

Great suggestion! I don't mind what it looks like as long as it can take a knock, and stand up.
 

angelofwar

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Nov 17, 2007
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Try the Xenon White-Star Mag drop-in's...usually $6 and some change...and you could even overdrive them (say a 3 cell xenon in a 4 cell light).
 
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