First post, and yet another enquiry re: Mag Solitares & LED's...

Well, I finally did it... my wife says I have too many torches, and my recent searches prompted me to register on this forum!

I don't have anything fancy- just an AA maglite with a nite-ize LED, with a few bits, an LED-lenser, a Photon II keyring (handy for showing up radiator fluid), as well as a few other randoms, including a Stanley tripod and an Energiser battery figure holding a football/ torch. Wouldn't mind getting a few more Photons and and Arc-AAA, budget allowing!

But what finally prompted me to log on was my enquiries re: solitaires, which kept on leading me here. I purchased one for my wife as something small and handy for when she was at the cinema. Then I wanted one for myself, and wanted to buy the night-ize mounts for them. I went to a shop to ask about it, but they had just warrantied all theirs due to battery leakage in the packages- of course, the fact that the batteries were all two years over their expiry dates didn't occur to the shop! lol

To cut a long story short, I got three solitaire torches with night-ize mounts for $0. Woo-hoo! Figure they will come in handy in the garage. Now, what to do? I need to:

1. Clean them all- baking soda or lemon juice should do the trick?
2. Replace with LEDs- like everyone else, them torches are rubbish, but I got them for free! Any opinions between these ones?
* Lamda http://home.mchsi.com/~lambda_lights/solit.htm Lamda is on this forum, yes? Sorry, done so much searching, I'm getting a bit lost lol
* TerraLUX http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J5WYPY/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (will this even fit?)
* AExpert http://www.aexpertsecurity.com/index.php?item=1474 (also on Facebook)
* Teklite LT-3 http://www.led-replacement.com/lt-3.html
* Unknown- thread down http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=172500
Only concerns I have are about the fitment- could be problems with the lens cap not closing fully after putting the LED in? I don't want to do any more re: battery mods, using AAA ones is easier for me at the mo.

3. Replace the lenses with Nikon clear ones- bit trickier, but I figure it'll be worth it:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=172500
Marketplace appears to be down at the mo, but there is a lens and LED combo on here.

Cliffs:
- I like torches
- Got three solitaires for free, using for avarage use, want to mod LEDs and lenses- opinions please?

Thanks for reading my first post!

Puppy,

Welcome to CPF.

Enjoy your entry into the world of "flashaholics", keep reading and use the search function [it really is your best friend when getting started].

Since you've settled on AAA based light I'm including a link to the AAA lights sold by CPF member Shining Beam. He carries really reasonable priced AAA lights that far surpass the M@G Solitare for only a bit more than the LED replacements you're considering.

http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-By-Batteries-cln-AAA/Categories

The A3 is considered one of the very best AAA lights, especially for the $.

The Mag Solitaire has horrible runtime - 11 minutes to 50% brightness. The various upgrades are fine 6 years ago but not worth the money today. They are only about 3 lumens roughly 2X as bright as the Solitaire. You can buy a brand new much brighter AAA flashlight for the same price.

The ITP A3, Maratec AAA or Fenix LD01 with the multimodes may be fine for you but I suggest The simpler single mode Fenix E01 for the wife.

Welcome to CPF, Dog. I've got to agree with the advice so far. Not much interest in Solitaire drop-ins any more.

Geoff

LEDninja said:

The various upgrades are fine 6 years ago but not worth the money today. They are only about 3 lumens roughly 2X as bright as the Solitaire. You can buy a brand new much brighter AAA flashlight for the same price.

The ITP A3, Maratec AAA or Fenix LD01 with the multimodes may be fine for you but I suggest The simpler single mode Fenix E01 for the wife.

Click to expand...

+1 on this.... for the cost of those LEDs for the solitare you could have an EO1 even that the solitares were free. i see them around in stores going for $5.00 or so and i still think they are not worth the money.... even if they are free

:welcome:

Have a look on fleabay you can get a dropin advertised as 13.5 lumen for $7 shipped. I know there are better and more economical lights about but I have a soft spot for the solitare.

yeah - we have a couple of Solitaires laying around and were thinking of getting the TLX dropin - but for a few bucks more we got the ITP A3 and they are great.....

samwise said:

Have a look on fleabay you can get a dropin advertised as 13.5 lumen for $7 shipped. I know there are better and more economical lights about but I have a soft spot for the solitare.

Click to expand...

I agree with this mod as the company that makes great drop in is
sinounionechnologyld



as they are cheap and have a great reputation on ebay. I can speak for the dcell maglite mod as I have ordered a handful from this seller and they are great quality and great prices with free shipping.

If you want to keep the solitare, i would advise this company as the lumens they advertise are very real.

It all depends if you want to keep your existing platform or go with another because these mods are the brightest out for that model.

Do not get me wrong as I love maglite but the solitaire is pretty much limited in design as far as making it brighter unless you want to spend time and money on designing a mod for it. As this will cost you more than existing one for 20bucks like a maratac or a fenix e01 for 10bucks.

Also its always nice to get something for free and then do an upgrade as its environmentally responsible and fun.:twothumbs

Thanks everyone for your advice!

Those that suggested alternative (and superior) models, thanks, I will have a look at them them (and probably buy them anyway!).

I'm sticking with buying the upgrades too though- firstly I have the nite ize mounts for them, as well as a bite thingy- I'll be working a fair bit on my BMW project (bought a E34 535 with lots of rust lol), so having similar spec small lights will come in handy, and like ama230 says, it is nice to recycle!

BTW, I'm based in New Zealand, so many of the lights stated are either not available here in NZ or considerably more expensive than in the US. On the other hand though, them 13.5 lumen LEDs are $7 a pop... hmmm! Figure I'll get some and a few of the 20 lumen ones from aexpertsecurity and try them out (unless someone tells me the 20-lumen ones are junk...).