My friend uses a knock off Mini Mag

My friend has his own pressure washing business and I saw the light he uses. It was a knock off of a 2AA incandescent mini mag light. I turned that light on and I think my disposable $0.50 key chain led light had more light then that. I was speechless. Keep in mind that 100% of his work is done outdoors at night looking at surfaces to clean.

I couldn't believe he was using such a sad light. I want to get him a nicer one as a gift.

Curious to see what comments you guys have after reading this story.

Sounds like your typical uneducated non-flashaholic person Next time he's checking a car give him a blast of 200 lumens of light and "educate" him.

My suggestion would be an LD25. All around great light
>O-ring gasket seals everywhere (2x at the tailcap)
>Submersible to 2M depth (FL1)
>Simple bezel twist mode selection
>Hard rubberized grip
>Doesn't get terribly warm either even on the highest setting. So its not driving the XPG at its thermal limit
(which is a GOOD thing in my book for a constant-ON task light).
>THICK walls and robust materials throughout
>Great tint BIN. Of all my lights (including incan and my 5A drop-in) the LD25 most closely replicates 11:00 sunlight. Its a VERY close match.

Side note... Brinkmann used to market MAG-clones in the 1980s. They're pretty nice lights for the time, but clearly they ripped-off the MAG design.

Get him a neutral 2xAA one or two mode light, and he will be blown away by the output and impressed by your kindness.

LEDAdd1ct said:

Get him a neutral 2xAA one or two mode light, and he will be blown away by the output and impressed by your kindness.

Click to expand...

Maybe not, some people just don't understand the importance and usefulness of a good torch. I know people who would be happy with a 2aa incan even after seeing a high end led, because they just don't care, as long as they can see that's all that matters to them.

A mini mag is bad enough - a mini mag "knock off" is, well, unforgivable...

kramer5150,


That LD25 looks good. Will have to do some research on it. I was considering the Quark Mini 2AA and the Fenix E21 (a little less expensive then the LD25).

Too many great lights to choose from makes the decision difficult.

the quark mini 2AA is SUPER SMALL for a 2AA light, it's abolutely impressive and has three well spaced and easy to operate modes. Also has a very nice clip.
If you want to give him a nice and small quality light it's the way to go.
It also features impressive runtime on alkaline batteries on high. runtime on med and low isn't so great compared to the competition because it uses PWM, but that's about the only downside.

A good light to replace that is a proper led minimag, the latest one. Those are actually nice lights.

Sent from my Samsung Captivate using Tapatalk

ryaxnb said:

A good light to replace that is a proper led minimag, the latest one. Those are actually nice lights.

Sent from my Samsung Captivate using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

They are pretty nice indeed. For the price though (at least here in the Netherlands) you can buy much better lights for the same price. For a non-flashaholic a MagLED 2AA is pretty nice actually.

If he can't afford a good flashlight (as I cannot... yet) tell him to replace his knock off with a MM 2AA LED light. For ~$25 you get: same batteries, WAY more battery life and tons more lumens. I use mine on low mode most of the time and it's better than my old incan MM 2AA. On bright mode when I need it, it's awesome.

I'm in love with mine and most people here wouldn't take one for free because their flashlights are that much better. In fact if you do tell him any of this you might warn him that it will spoil him in less than 5 minutes, and learning how far flashlight technology has improved is potentially expensive. :devil:

Edit: and ryaxnb beat me to it.

hey NWLumenoob :welcome:

I would take a Minimag LED for free any day for the price you get them in the US it's a very good light.
sadly it costs like 40€ or even more depending on the store around here in germany, and most stores don't even have the new models with up to date LEDs, but charge the same price for the outdated ones

Does he uses a flashlight to clean up outdoors? How about a headlamp? That way he will have both hands free.

i'd get him a nice light only if i knew that he was going to use the right batteries and do whatever else minimal was required to take care of it.

if i knew that he didn't really take care of his stuff, i'd get him a Minimag LED. those things cost $15 or less at some places. and although they have their issues, they do a good job for the price.

don't pay more than $18 for a Minimag LED!

Yer' friend definately needs a Better flashlight !


How 'bout a 4Sevens Quark AAx2 tactical model ?


You set it up for him.

I suggest:

Head loose -- Low mode (not moon-mode)

Head tight -- High mode (not turbo mode)


This way, he can still be well-served by using plain ol' Alkaline batteries.


Take things just one step at a time.


Good Luck !

Sounds like he may be pretty tough on his lights. I would say get him a Solarforce L2r and a couple modules. My L2r has proven to be plenty waterproof and I also have the flat bezel just to make it pocket friendly because the assault crown it comes with is too pointy. L2r is my suggestion, that way he can use alkalines or nimh and if he breaks or shorts a module he has a backup.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. In response to some of your replies:

He does use the light outdoors at night only to pressure wash buildings and concrete. However, I can't imagine he would want to wear a headlamp, though.

The Quark tactical is a little pricey as a gift and more than what he needs. I might look at that for myself tho.

He is really hard on his stuff, not intentionally of course. Lots of things break around him and he's a big guy. So, a MM 2AA LED does sound pretty good, especially since it won't hurt my wallet too much

I will check out that Solarforce L2r. Thanks buddy.

L2r will serve his purpose, I have two an thinking of getting another for gift. Best flashlight for $24.

I think a Solorforce L2r is the best choice as well. I have many lights from surefires to ultra modded maglites and my go to flashlight is always my L2r because it is sjust simply my best over all light. I am often tempted to throw down over $100 for a surefire E2LAA but am never able to justify it because my solarforce L2r does actually performs much better than a Surefire E2LAA and cost me ony $25. The MiniMag LED is also a very good choice and one of my favorite lights as well. In the minimag LED I like my 3Xaa version the best, it a little brighter than the 2xaa and I like the length.

The Solarforce is a little too "tactical" for his needs. I ended up getting him a Streamlight Stylus Pro. It's not the brightest light, but it should work good for what he needs and easy to carry in his pen pocket while working, being thin, light, and with a pocket clip.

On a side note, I just bought myself a Streamlight Microstream, 4sevens AA2 tactical, 4sevens Titanium Preon 2, 4sevens blue Preon 1, and the free light from Coast. :X