Best batteries for a Borealis?

I just sold my Black Bear Borealis RR 1050 and wanted to give the new owner the latest info possible on the battery situation... so I've come to the fountain of knowledge.

The light was sent to me with 2500 mah Sanyos. I ended up sticking regular alkalines in it more often than not to make sure it was ready to go if I didn't pick it up for 2-3 months at a time.

I understand that you have to let the batteries sit for a couple hours after charging to prevent flashing the bulb... so that said...

Can he replace the aged 2500 mah with 2700 mah or greater, or will that flash the bulb?

What about the current crop of lithium AA batteries? Increased run time or too much of a good thing?

Thanks!!

2700 Mah cells have more capacity, not more voltage. In fact, the higher capacity NiMh cells tend to sag more under load, making them less likely to flash the bulb. Alkalines can't handle the current of a high output incan... I would imagine that the output with them was not anywhere near as high and the light should have been much yellower because of the lower voltage.

Depends on how the new owner will use the light. If he's going to use it a lot and recharge it frequently (say, every couple days or weekly), go with the best high capacity NiMH cells. The Sanyo 2700 mAh cells are generally well regarded. If the light is going to frequently sit unused, there are newer chemistry NiMH cells that have lower capacity but don't self-discharge as quickly as the older NiMH chemistry. Testing by members here have shown the Sanyo Eneloop (2000 mAh) to be the best of these newer LSD (Low Self-Discharge) NiMH cells.

Either NiMH option will be significantly brighter than alkaline. Lithium AA's will blow the bulb.

I'll leave it to someone else to comment on resting the cells. I don't know the Black Bear builds well enough to know if any resistance fixes are applied. (As I recall it has a Kiu socket, but I'm not sure about the state of the switch or tail spring.)

For general info on the Borealis 1050, it's more commonly referred to as a Mag85 (Maglite modded to use the Welch-Allyn WA01185 bulb), and you'll find lots of threads on it.