What to do with 2 Mags - 3AA and 4D?

Okay I am new here everybody. Seems like quite a motley crew :thumbsup:
Anyhow, I made a trip to wally-world and picked up a 3aa minimag led and a 4d mag and then bought the mag drop in led 3watt... What kind of mods do ya'll think I should do? I wasn't really impressed with the mag instruments brand drop in for the big mag... I need a mix a of battery life and brightness... The 3aa was pretty bright but I haven't found many mods for it... Thanks for any input :wave:

minimag: throw away (means give it to someone). Not bright, lenght of a 4*AA light, no multilevel, ...
gat any of the better 2*AA lights instead: Fenix, Jetbeam, Quark, ...

big Mag: search for mods, but in general also skip it, if You dont have a need for a lighting baton.
Get a 1*18650 or 2*18650 light instead

Re: Opinions

Should've just gone to Costco and bought the 2AA and 3D Rebel l.e.d. Maglites for $25. The 3D is around 150 lumens. The 2AA is around 40 lumens and has high, low, strobe, and SOS. This combo is cheaper than getting a couple dropins. However, this requires a membership card.

Re: Opinions

Get a Malkoff for the 4D. :laughing:

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I have the 3AA Minimag LED and like it very much. It doesn't have the amazing quality of my SureFire flashlight, but for the price it is very nice. I recommend using it for a while to see how you like it.

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I've had two 3 watt l.e.d. Maglites basically fail due to poor heatsinking so far. A 3AA one had a fried l.e.d. and totally quit, and a 2AA that has lost over half it's brightness and on it's way to total failure. The newer Rebel mags seem to have a little better heatsinking or lessened overheating problems. The D Mags have some metal under the l.e.d. this time, and the AA ones have more efficient l.e.d.s while being run at a lower wattage and brightness. I'd still suggest using Deoxit on the contacts of any l.e.d. Mag. I've seen corrosion mess up the electrical contact in about a month.

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I have a 4D Maglite that originally came with the 3 Watt Luxeon LED bulb. I also wasn't impressed with its beam output or quality, so I just recently put in a Terralux TLE-300M-EX LED drop in upgrade. It increased the light output and improved (widened) the beam's flood pattern. I like a rather floody pattern in my lights and, as with many other people, one of the things that bugged me the most about Maglites is the awful dark center donut hole pattern that results when you adjust the head to anything but the tightest pencil beam.

The Terralux drop in does not have a perfect circular beam pattern though. It gives a strange looking star pattern that is jagged around its outer edge. It does not have a dark spot in the middle though, like the stock Maglite bulb does, which was exactly what I wanted to get rid of. The Terralux beam pattern also does not have any halos like the stock Maglite when set on its tightest beam setting. The Terralux is perfect for my needs. If I want an absolute perfect (for my needs) circular beam pattern, I simply reach straight for my Fenix TK40.

I don't know how long the batteries last with the TLE-300M-EX. Terralux claims one hour on the highest setting. (Unlike the previous TLE-300M, the new 300M-EX version has high, medium, and low setings.) I haven't used my Maglite continuously since I upgraded it so I don't really have an idea of how long the batteries last.

As for the suggestions for a Malkoff Devices drop in for your Maglite, those are really wonderful suggestions as everyone raves about Gene Malkoff's products. Good luck finding one of his Maglite drop in upgrades though. They've been out of stock on his website for quite some time. A long time ago I signed up to be notified by email when the drop in for the 4-6 D cell Maglite would be in stock again and nothing has yet arrived in my inbox.

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I forgot to mention that to help keep my TLE-300M-EX cooler, I put a nice thick coat of Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound on the inside of my Maglite's head and body tube right where the heat sink of the drop-in rests flush against. That really helps keep the LEDs nice and cool by transferring their heat to the Maglite's head and body.

Re: Opinions

Check this thread for Maglite drop-in and mods.

The Minimag 3AA and the Luxeon MagLED drop-ins have almost no heatsinking for the LED, so it is very possible for the LED overheat and fry itself.

:welcome:

Re: Opinions

If you don't want that 3aa any more feel free to send it to me. I like the size as it can double as somewhat of a SD weapon. The other nice thing about the 3AA is that it slowly dims to nothing vs. the 2AA which just suddenly dies when the batteries are spent.

Welcome to CPF, rangerxtrn.

I've changed your thread title to give a better idea of the topic. The title "opinions" could apply to practically every thread on CPF. Thread titles that are more specific encourage more people to read the them.

What to do with 2 Mags - 3AA and 4D?

They make great spare battery holders on canoe trips...and if all else fails they may actually be used as lights!

Re: Opinions

divine said:

Get a Malkoff for the 4D. :laughing:

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You have a link for whatever this is? Judging my the laughing emoticon it must be ridiculous...

Thanks everybody for the input!!!!:thumbsup:

DM51 said:

Welcome to CPF, rangerxtrn.

I've changed your thread title to give a better idea of the topic. The title "opinions" could apply to practically every thread on CPF. Thread titles that are more specific encourage more people to read the them.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I am really pleased with the replies in this post. CPF is awesome!

Okay so I traded my 3aa maglite for my friend's 4aa streamlight polypro led... I like it. I am also looking at the terralux 300 uber mega drop in for my 4d mag. Thanks for the input everybody! The maglite luxeons stink... no literally... if you leave them on too long :candle:

Re: Opinions

rangerxtrn said:

You have a link for whatever this is?

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They're referring to the Malkoff Devices drop in LED assembly for the 4 D cell Maglite:

http://www.malkoffdevices.com/shop/...ite-p-5.html?zenid=b85r3tbtlojis08q60iu68o1o3

I wish that people would also mention in their recommendations that this particular drop in has not been available on the Malkoff Devices website for quite some time. It seems like it has been discontinued, but it's still there on the site and listed as "Sold Out" for a while now.

Curious... can 3x NIMH-F cells fit in a 4D mag with a cut down spring?
http://www.all-battery.com/fsize12v14000mahnimhrechargeablebattery.aspx

Standard D is 34620
NIMH-F is 33910

If so, it would make a killer P7 direct drive build, IMHO.

kramer5150 said:

Curious... can 3x NIMH-F cells fit in a 4D mag with a cut down spring?
http://www.all-battery.com/fsize12v14000mahnimhrechargeablebattery.aspx
Standard D is 34620
NIMH-F is 33910
If so, it would make a killer P7 direct drive build, IMHO.

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Hey, that's a pretty good idea, thanks for the link on those. This reminds me of the thread Sgt. LED started earlier this year where he suggested there was a role for a 18990 LiIon.

kramer5150 said:

Curious... can 3x NIMH-F cells fit in a 4D mag with a cut down spring?
http://www.all-battery.com/fsize12v14000mahnimhrechargeablebattery.aspx

Standard D is 34620
NIMH-F is 33910

If so, it would make a killer P7 direct drive build, IMHO.

Click to expand...

I don't think a D cell is 62 mm long (3 mm shorter than an 18650).

I wonder how they do fit. :thinking:

Re: Opinions

cfromc said:

The other nice thing about the 3AA is that it slowly dims to nothing vs. the 2AA which just suddenly dies when the batteries are spent.

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+1; this is something I really like about my 3AA model.