Maglite XL 50 flashing/malfunctioning + bad battery life?

I bought a Maglite XL50 not long ago and I was super happy with it at first, but I've come across two problems and wanted to know if anyone else has the same issues:

* The Maglite XL-50 chews through batteries like an M-60 through a belt of bullets. I have to replace the batteries once or twice per week, and I don't use it very often, I also try and use the low-power setting as much as possible, and

* When turned on for around between 5-10 minutes, it begins to flash on it's own once every second. I have uploaded a video to youtube to show exactly what it does. The LED light dims at first, and then it begins to suddenly surge up to a maximum brightness, die down and remain dim for 1 second, then it surges up again and repeats. I've tried changing the batteries but this hasn't helped. Also, I'm probably stating the obvious here but it's not the strobe feature or anything, it does this when placed onto full or low power settings.

http://youtu.be/X6KwBk82wrg

Can anyone tell me what is going on? Do I have a faulty unit or is this some kind of feature for the XL-50 to say "Hey, you've left me on!!".

There is definately an issue with the light, see if you can get an exchange where you bought it, or send it back to Maglite.

I was wondering if I had a defective one also because it eats batteries so much. I haven't experienced the bright, dim problem you are having, but sometimes after I turn it on bright, it defers back to the low setting after being on for only 10 or 15 seconds. Most of the time it does it when the batteries drop down to 1.3 volts or so, but it has done it with freshly charged NiMH cells showing 1.4 volts straight off the charger. Not sure if this is a built in feature or if it's defective.

That's definately not normal, I've only used NiMH with my XL50 and haven't had drops in brightness like that.

Robin24k said:

There is definately an issue with the light, see if you can get an exchange where you bought it, or send it back to Maglite.

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Sadly I'm in Australia where the warranty is different. There's no life time warranty but instead the unit can only be sent to a factory here where they will exchange certain parts, however faulty units nor dead bulbs are covered down here. I might just have to buy another unit cheap from the USA.

What if you send it to the US? Try sending them an email.

Robin24k said:

What if you send it to the US? Try sending them an email.

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I already have however they have told me they won't cover international warranties or ones sent from overseas, and referred me to the place that does it here (Sheldon & Hammond)

rebelbayou said:

I was wondering if I had a defective one also because it eats batteries so much.

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Thanks, now I do not want one. They are on sale for 12.00 2D and 3D

rebelbayou said:

I haven't experienced the bright, dim problem you are having, but sometimes after I turn it on bright, it defers back to the low setting after being on for only 10 or 15 seconds.

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Voltage sag and the driver cant keep it on high.

rebelbayou said:

Most of the time it does it when the batteries drop down to 1.3 volts or so, but it has done it with freshly charged NiMH cells showing 1.4 volts straight off the charger. Not sure if this is a built in feature or if it's defective.

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The driver is not designed to use NiMH cells.........Designed-in-Defect.

Voltage sag is not that serious, and defaulting to low mode is not normal.

I have not had any problems with NiMH batteries in the XL50, XL100, or XL200, and I've been using them for more than a year now in the XL50 and XL100. Any light that works with alkaline will work fine on NiMH.

No problems with NiMH cells in my Mag XL50.

What type of batteries are you using? I have the exact same problem. I found that using lithium batteries in them causes the light to go haywire. Try switching to alkaline batteries, hope this helps!!