Retired an old friend today...

While browsing the aisles in Sears today I came across the new Mini Mag LED light. Picked it up and brought it home. Comparing the beams of both side by side was almost laughable. Over the last 25 years, that old mini mag has been with me on scores of hunting and camping trips, provided light during a few blackouts and countless tripped circuit breakers. It's found lost items under the seats of my last 4 cars and found the dog's toys under the living room furniture at least a hundred times.

When it was new it was the best pocket light you could buy, but its incan technology is "long in the tooth" now. So with great reverence I took the batteries out, screwed the tailcap back on and put it inside an ammo can in my closet with my retired pocket knives and Gillette safety razors (remember them?).

This may all sound sappy, but that light reminds me of a lot of happy moments with good friends that aren't around anymore. But, technology moves on and the mini-Mag LED is taking its rightful place in the kitchen drawer.

By the way, Sears has pretty good deal on Craftsman tool bags: two heavy-duty nylon bags (10 inch and 12 inch) for $15. The larger one is going in my car with a few tools and a pro-poly 4*AA light while the smaller one is becoming my new hunting gear bag for all the little odds and ends...like the new mini-mag LED

Congrats to your Minimag incan.
Retiring the Minimag incan is like a man 90 years old retiring today - probably should have retired many years ago. :thumbsup:

Nice to hear your story. I have quite a similar story. I also compared my old Mini Mag against its' newer Mini MagLED brother 1,5 years ago. Although I have much nicer lights nowadays, my Mini Mag was with me for at least twelve years (next to a Mag 3D) without any problem (other cheaper lights have all given up) and it reminds me of good times (camping, finding lost things around the house, et cetera). I upgraded my Mini Mag with a LED and it now serves as a nightstand light, besides my EDC of the day. It's been there for twelve years and it is good to know it will be there for many more years to remind me of all the fun moments I had with it.

I can certainly relate. Memories, floating through the pages of my mind..........Memories, sweetened with the ages just like wine.

Keith

I'm not old enough to remember safety razors, but I sure do use them. I think it's the only way to shave. I have a merkur hd razor, and numerous razors from around the globe. I also use a badger hair brush. You should get those blades out and use them! If I spend 20 dollars and order through amazon, I have enough blades to last me for 2 years. Not to mention they're quality. You have the astra's, 7 o'clocks, feathers, etc...

I like the story, but your friend could simply get a part-time job rather than just retire... do you keep a light in your car???

Cataract said:

I like the story, but your friend could simply get a part-time job rather than just retire... do you keep a light in your car???

Click to expand...

+1

My I upgraded (cough, cough.....if you would like to call it that) my mini mag with a nite ize drop-in and it now hangs on the wall in my workshop. Despite its somewhat blue beam and despite the fact I always have my two EDC's in my pocket, I still reach for it when tinkering with stuff. I don't have to worry about it getting beat up (cause it already is!), getting it greasy and grimmey and it always turns on.

Even though I have quite a few more expensive and brighter lights, I find myself wanting to pick up one of the new mini mags and even one of the new 3D or 4D led mags! I guess I pine for nostalgia!

Cataract said:

I like the story, but your friend could simply get a part-time job rather than just retire...

Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess I could upgrade it as suggested by a couple of you guys but I was really curious about the new version of the mini-mag and picked it up while at Sears. The difference is night and day. Didn't mean to get too sappy about it, it's just that as I was putting away in the ammo can with other "old school" items that I want to keep I started remembering things like the first time I went hunting and it lit my way to my spot, etc. I have no problem retiring it; in fact there are two more incan mags in the house: my son's mini-mag that WILL get one of those LED replacement lamps plus a very old, battle-scarred 3C that will also be retired when I get the new ML100.

There's nothing wrong with moving on...the LP's made way for the CD's, VHS was eagerly given up for DVD's, and now the last of my incans are stepping aside and my lights will be 100% LED.

By the way...it occured to me today that mag's prices on the incans have hardly changed in the past 30 years. In the very early 80's I got my first apartment and wanted a 2D, but at the time the cost was around $18. Doesn't sound like much, but compared to my take-home pay of $125 a week it was going to be a while before I got my first mag-lite. Most places today sell the very same 2D for very similar prices. I need to give Mag credit for that. :thumbsup:

Robert C said:

Yeah,[...] it's just that as I was putting away in the ammo can with other "old school" items that I want to keep I started remembering things like the first time I went hunting and it lit my way to my spot, etc.
[...]
There's nothing wrong with moving on...

Click to expand...

...or starting your personnal old-school tech museum sounds like a good idea as well... now you need a display case for those items

I was a little late to the flashlight game ...

Only got my hands on a Mini-Mag for the first time last year. (I've held them before, but they've never been mine).

I was so disgusted with the output that I took the batteries out and chucked it in the garbage!

This thread makes me regret doing so.

It was a black mini Mag that first lit my way to this addiction. The solid feel of quality machining and output that seemed to match much larger lights and would easily slip into a pocket. It was high tech (to me at least) in the early 80's and is retired with a nitize dropin and lithium AA's to my daughters glove box as she attends college. I usually give it a test when she's home between semesters.

Quiksilver said:

...I was so disgusted with the output that I took the batteries out and chucked it in the garbage!

This thread makes me regret doing so.

Click to expand...

If you were accustomed to the newer LED lights and then picked up an old incan mini-mag I can see why you would react that way...the incan mags were invented 30+ years ago and have changed little since. The newer LED mags are very competitive for a US-made light. Built tough, shine bright (at useful levels, don't expect any "light sabers" in the mag lineup) and are relatively inexpensive. I ordered a drop-in for my son's mini-mag; we'll have to see how that compares to a stock LED mini.

Robert C said:

While browsing the aisles in Sears today I came across the new Mini Mag LED light. Picked it up and brought it home. Comparing the beams of both side by side was almost laughable. Over the last 25 years, that old mini mag has been with me on scores of hunting and camping trips, provided light during a few blackouts and countless tripped circuit breakers. It's found lost items under the seats of my last 4 cars and found the dog's toys under the living room furniture at least a hundred times.

When it was new it was the best pocket light you could buy, but its incan technology is "long in the tooth" now. So with great reverence I took the batteries out, screwed the tailcap back on and put it inside an ammo can in my closet with my retired pocket knives and Gillette safety razors (remember them?).

Click to expand...

Remember them? I still shave with a Gillette long-handle adjustable with a black handle, a particularly rare variant of the popular Gillette Fatboy.

Also, I took my old beat up Mini Mag and put the reflector from a Nite Ize triple and a Terralux Cree module into it; for about $25 in parts, I got a three level Mule-type beam of staggering utility. I call it the "World's Cheapest Mule" and keep it by my bed or desk. :thumbsup:

Now get a LD20, ST20, Quark AA^2 and retire the Mag LED LOL

I have two black Mini-Mag Incan lights. One I upgraded with the Nite-Ize 3-led and tailcap switch which isn't that bright, and you lose the focus ability. So I upgraded the other one with the Terralux 140 lumen LED, and it's a great performer (very bright,good color, nice throw). I moved the tail cap switch to that one so that I can pre-focus the light and turn it on quickly. That's the one I typically use to check on things outside at night. The Nite-Ize upgraded light got the OEM tailcap back, and I use it at my workbench. It's a good light for close up work, and I can just twist it on - can't focus, but it provides a good short range flood, and IMO, focusing isn't that important.

Mags are well built and can take a lot of abuse. I hate throwing away functioning equipment and these simple upgrades made them usable again.

The first minimag I ever got was a gold-colored one. I've had it for over 30 years, and it looks it. Same as the OP, I pick up this light and think about all kinds of trips it has been on with me.

My scratched, scuffed, cracked-lens gold minimag lives in the kitchen drawer where it still gets some use. And every time I light it up I think "my we've come a long ways since then!"

Old flashlights don't retire, they just get stored for the next power outage..

I still have my first minimag - my first "good" light.
at the time it was the light to have, and was the envy of all the scouts in my troop.
it was never really EDCed, but was never too far away, and bears the battle scars of use (it started out silver though, so doesn't show them too much)

Good solid old tools become like friends after a while and have memories attached to them.
my Novatac was in my pocket the day I got married, and the SF L4 was on my hip the day I proposed.
i remember my father in law getting worked up about the "big" knife I was carrying one day (a spyderco with a 1"ish blade) and thinking I was glad he didn't see the 4" spyderco police i was carrying IWB.

My "old friends" that still work live in the display cabinet along with my spyderco collection.

Mini mags were my first quality flashlights and all I had for a long time. I still have my first one and several more. I upgraded all of them with the Nite Ize 3 5mm LED and then again to the UG2. Some day I'll put it in a box (without batteries) along with my first Swiss Army Knife but not just yet....