Drop-in for Maglite 3D? No Malkoff, no Terralux.

I'm looking for a reliable drop-in for my father's Maglite 3D. I simply want to have an improvement over the old bulb.

I read a lot of bad things about Terralux and I can't afford the Malkoff drop-in (104 dollars with shipping are too much for a Maglite).

So which is the best alternative?

If you can not afford $104 then you need to be considering Terralux.
I have about a dozen different Maglites from Mini-mag to 6D nearly all with various Terralux drop ins. Only problem ever was from a breakage due to excessive force being applied. For the dollars Terralux is worth considering.

The fusion 36 led drop in for maglite, looks good, all flood but it's got 400 lumens I think

CarpentryHero said:

The fusion 36 led drop in for maglite, looks good, all flood but it's got 400 lumens I think

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I second this ... Mine is in a 2C Maglite and is amazing ... All flood , but bright.

Even with two C cells it is about 400 lumens ... With three D cells it will be slightly more ... With 9 volts it is about 600 lumens apparently.

I have two 18500 Li-Ions in mine and it is great ... It would be even better running on two 18650 Li-Ions with even longer runtime ... There is a thread on on CPF on this dropin.
.

Get the Mac Customs SST-50 Mag Drop-in here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/287161

wait in line I am sure its worth it.

Try the nite ize 1 watt led upgrade. Less than $20 bucks. I have it on my 2D oveready oops eveready I should say. Your dad gonna love it coz its a warm white led.

The Nite Ize 1-Watt drop-in (with the smaller globe) will give the discontinued 3-cell MagLED a good run for the money. The MagLED would be brighter initially, but would dim down in a few minutes as the module heats up and then be less bright than the Nite Ize drop-in. The Nite Ize drop-in would then provide more light for a longer time than the MagLED module would. Both of these modules would be far brighter than any incandescent bulb that MagLite sells for this light and is even brighter than some non-Mag bulbs that would work here but you gain about 3 times the battery life by converting to LED.

The old MagLED module has one advantage over the Nite Ize module, though: someone with a soldering iron can do an LED swap and make it more than twice as bright than the original version for the cost of an LED and about an hour of assembly time. An XP-G mounted to an 8mm board will fit. You just need to wire it up.

Hi, for around $ 50-60 you can buy your father a nice, new, smaller, brighter light.

veleno said:

I'm looking for a reliable drop-in for my father's Maglite 3D. I simply want to have an improvement over the old bulb.

I read a lot of bad things about Terralux and I can't afford the Malkoff drop-in (104 dollars with shipping are too much for a Maglite).

So which is the best alternative?

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If I was your father and I heard that I wasn't worth enough for you to get me a Malkoff module for my maglite I would cut you out of the will. Buy him one good Malkoff module for the Maglite and know that you did good by your ole man so he can be proud of you and you won't have to start all over again.

HarryN said:

Hi, for around $ 50-60 you can buy your father a nice, new, smaller, brighter light.

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+1, get him a TK20. He'll be blown away :thumbsup:

How about the DX 5xR2 drop-in for WF500?

$35 + a little grinding & soldering, 1200 lumens/5 modes.

well, if you would like to keep alkaline cells, you don't have many options, you can try dx drop ins, but it will run bright for minutes that it will began to fade fast. those 2-4-5 cree, or mc-e, p7 drop ins are great for the money, but need more power than alkaline cells can provide.
you will have more luck if you run 4c cells in your 3d mag (rechargeable cells, like nimh 1,2v cells).

btw i use terralux drop in for years (tle 300, 600lm) no problems, it worth every penny, thou you'd need min 6v for it,

Your father is still using an incan bulb? The Maglite LED conversion module does just fine - it'll still be miles above the incan performance.

-Trevor

Another vote for the Fusion 36. For $23 it can't be beat. I have a TerraLUX TLE-6EXB in one of my 2D mags and against the Fusion it's no contest. I own 2 of the fusions and just purchased a Fushion 48 for my 18v Makita.

I've got both the Fusion 36 and Mac's SST-50 drop-in. No guesses as to which one is the best, but the Fusion 36 is still a ripper of a drop-in that will transform any old mag light into a super flooder for $23 delivered. Mac's SST-50 ended up costing a little over $110 with shipping, but so very worth it.

For the money, the Fusion 36 won't disappoint.

Ozgeardo said:

If you can not afford $104 then you need to be considering Terralux.
I have about a dozen different Maglites from Mini-mag to 6D nearly all with various Terralux drop ins. Only problem ever was from a breakage due to excessive force being applied. For the dollars Terralux is worth considering.

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I have to agree to some extent. The TLE-6EXB is bright but heating may be a problem. Mine puts out a blueish light when it does. You can mod it by cutting off the base of the reflector and add some of your own heat sinking.

Mind you, the new one uses a Luxeon Rebel and I have the one prior to this, and it wasn't the K2 either! It's the SSC P4 U bin.

The TLE-1F doesn't suffer the heating issues but isn't that bright. It's ok but it's around the same as the Nite Ize upgrade.

The malkoff dropin is worth every cent in my opinion. Biggest problem is trying to get one.

The TLE-300M-EX is the only drop-in from Terralux that I like for D cell Maglites. It can be used in a 3D Maglite if you use some of the AA battery holders from CPF member Fivemega. They are listed for sale in the modified lights buy/sell/trade forum.

I bought one of his 6 AA to 2 D Maglite battery holders for my latest Maglite projects with a TLE-300M-EX and it works great! I *really* wanted to use one of the Malkoff Devices drop-ins for that project, but there were none to be bought.

CarpentryHero said:

The fusion 36 led drop in for maglite, looks good, all flood but it's got 400 lumens I think

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+1
Check the thread about this drop -in
Absolutely great bang for the buck

Velano:

What kind of budget are your working with?

The bad comments you have heard about the terralux dropins were mostly based on the older discontinued model that used a SSC P4. The newer models use a Luxeon Rebel that doesn't have the color-shift related overheating problems. I have both the TLE-6EXB (2-3 cell model, rebel emitter, 100 OTF lumens) and the TLE-300M-EX (4-6 cell tri-xre, 600 OTF lumens) and I have been very satisfied with them both. The TLE-300M-EX would be the brightest mass-produced "drop-in" and can be used in a 3D mag with either 4 C cells or 5 1/2 D cells. The TLE-6EXB can be run fine on 3 D cells.

If you absolutely insist on not buying a Terralux dropin you can also consider the already mentioned Nite Ize 1 watt dropin for around $12. If your willing to wait signup to be on the wait list for Mac's SST-50 as mentioned before.

Jash said:

I've got both the Fusion 36 and Mac's SST-50 drop-in. No guesses as to which one is the best, but the Fusion 36 is still a ripper of a drop-in that will transform any old mag light into a super flooder for $23 delivered. Mac's SST-50 ended up costing a little over $110 with shipping, but so very worth it.

For the money, the Fusion 36 won't disappoint.

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Im going to +5 on this fusion as its not going to get hot.

Also jash is there any way you could get some picks of your sst 50 as it would be awesome as you take great picks. Dont have the money but would like to stare and dream.