Maglites becoming a bunch of junk in my opinion -short review of the 2AA Mini Mag LED

I think I am going to get both types of responses here, both telling me I can go jump off a bridge and some telling me I am absoluetely right. These are just my opinions, so take it easy.

So here's the thing, I just got two 2AA LED mini maglites, this is the normal one, no pro or pro + or anything like that, this is just the basic 2AA minimag. They suck. Can I use that word on here? Ok they are terrible. I paid roughly $20 a light with shipping for these pieces of junk. I have a $14 Romisen that can do a lot better than these.

Let me breifly review my findings.

Quality of construction, generally good for maglites.
Beam: Terrible, they say 141M, I laugh, what a joke. More like 10-20M and that's pushing it.
Spot: Full of holes, as usual, this was common for incandy lights, but I was shocked to find this on LEDs now too. But only this one so far. I am shocked. Ok so the spot can light up a room I suppose so it's not that bad, but the Romisen (A Chinese made light, yep you heard me right, a Chinese made light) I have wow! The spot shines everywhere, there are no holes and that circle is tight!
Reflector: Terrible, the light isn't round, someone in their company needs a better geometry class.
Battery life, ok well, they claim, claim now, and based on the 141M claim, I wonder, but they claim this light on low power can last 31 hours. I'm trying not to choke on that as I type it, I highly doubht it's going to do that, but I don't feel like wasting 2 AA batteries to find out. We'll see what happens under normal usage.

I give this light a 2 out of 5. I don't think the price to what you get is actually fair value.

If the battery life lasts as long as they claim, these lights may be ok for emgerncies as they are contructed well, you could probably do somone some damage with it if you threw it at their head too. But that's about it....

Just really disappointed. Was expecting them to improve a few things, and now with an LED was expecting a much better light, boy what a disappointment. Will be spending a bit more money here soon on some LED LENSERS. Should be a good investment.

EDIT: One thing I should mention, perhaps some people will argue Maglite was never really that good. Well for their small lights they were the best that I could find 15 years ago, and their 6D cell mags, wow!! they were the bomb about 15 years ago.. But now.. yeah... probably not so much...

Their 3-4 D size were good in the day & cops even had them issued to them. I get my Romisens from Shining Beam & never had a problem with the beam or reliability issues.

Oh I agree with you, but back in the day was 15-20 years ago. They were great, the problem is they haven't advanced at all. It's just sad. I won't be buying anymore Maglites.

The Romisen lights are fantastic, the only problem is the battery life, I have an RC-29 that will drain in about 45 minutes. The life is short, but the light itself is fantasitic! I love it. Good quality, great features.

And I am now reading a forum about LED Lensers aren't all that good either... I'm starting to feel a little bit frustated.

lightyearsaway said:

Oh I agree with you, but back in the day was 15-20 years ago. They were great, the problem is they haven't advanced at all. It's just sad. I won't be buying anymore Maglites.

The Romisen lights are fantastic, the only problem is the battery life, I have an RC-29 that will drain in about 45 minutes. The life is short, but the light itself is fantasitic! I love it. Good quality, great features.

And I am now reading a forum about LED Lensers aren't all that good either... I'm starting to feel a little bit frustated.

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I adore my Romisen RC-29 II NW, but yeah.. not enough runtime for me.

I just wonder why they never came out with a 2AA version of the light


If they ever bump up the lumens and runtimes, Romisen could have some of the best lights on the market.
Sadly, my RC-29 has been replaced by a Hypetac P1A, which does just about everything better

Maglites are certainly playing off their past reputation rather than their present performance. Whenever I tell somebody that I collect high end flashlights, their response is always "ones like maglites?"

Pitched against a run of the mill LED flashlight, Maglites are pretty good and you could be fooled into thinking they're a premium product, but put them up against even an entry level Fenix, 4Sevens, Jetbeam etc and all of a sudden the Maglite is made to look like a piece of junk.


I do like the candle light feature on them though.

lightyearsaway said:

Just really disappointed. Was expecting them to improve a few things, and now with an LED was expecting a much better light, boy what a disappointment. Will be spending a bit more money here soon on some LED LENSERS. Should be a good investment.

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Yeah, once you get "enlightened" here on CPF you quickly see how much better a light can be. The mini mag was my first favorite light though back in the early 80s. In the mid 2000's I stumbled across an LED Lenser, and thought I'd found something really special. Then I discovered Fenix lights, Quarks, Zebralights, Sunwayman, Surefire, HDS, Olights, EagleTac, JetBeam, & others. Skip the LED Lenser and get one of these brands. You'll be glad you did.

Maglight had it, then lost it. Perfect example of what complacency can do to a company. See signature for further details.

Outdoorsman5 said:

Yeah, once you get "enlightened" here on CPF you quickly see how much better a light can be. The mini mag was my first favorite light though back in the early 80s. In the mid 2000's I stumbled across an LED Lenser, and thought I'd found something really special. Then I discovered Fenix lights, Quarks, Zebralights, Sunwayman, Surefire, HDS, Olights, EagleTac, JetBeam, & others. Skip the LED Lenser and get one of these brands. You'll be glad you did.

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You are correct, but almost all of the lights you mention also cost a lot more than a Maglite. You cannot compare a $25.00 light to a $50 to $200.00+ flashlight. Maglites are marketed to the mass majority of people that buy flashlights. These are people that want an inexpensive flashlight to help them see in the dark in case of an emergency, use around the house, security, etc. These people look for lights that are reliable and use standard batteries, cells that also do not turn the flashlight into a pipe bomb if they are not treated correctly, easy to find, and inexpensive. They want a simple flashlight that does not have 20 brighness modes, 6 strobe modes, etc. It just needs to work when they want it to work. I am sorry, but Maglite does that very well, and even though I do not have sales figures, I would bet they sell more lights than all those others combined! They also make the lights here in the USA and help keep folks in this country employed. Do not get me wrong, I own lights of all types, and I own many if the brands you mention, and they are great lights, but you cannot compare a low cost tool like a Maglite to high end lights. I just thought I would stick up for Maglites since I fear this thread could become a Mag bashing thread here real soon!!;p;0).

mikekoz said:

You are correct, but almost all of the lights you mention also cost a lot more than a Maglite. You cannot compare a $25.00 light to a $50 to $200.00+ flashlight. Maglites are marketed to the mass majority of people that buy flashlights. These are people that want an inexpensive flashlight to help them see in the dark in case of an emergency, use around the house, security, etc. These people look for lights that are reliable and use standard batteries, cells that also do not turn the flashlight into a pipe bomb if they are not treated correctly, easy to find, and inexpensive. They want a simple flashlight that does not have 20 brighness modes, 6 strobe modes, etc. It just needs to work when they want it to work. I am sorry, but Maglite does that very well, and even though I do not have sales figures, I would bet they sell more lights than all those others combined! They also make the lights here in the USA and help keep folks in this country employed. Do not get me wrong, I own lights of all types, and I own many if the brands you mention, and they are great lights, but you cannot compare a low cost tool like a Maglite to high end lights. I just thought I would stick up for Maglites since I fear this thread could become a Mag bashing thread here real soon!!;p;0).

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Wasn't tryin to steam anybody, and I wasn't comparing that list of lights to maglights. I was comparing them to LED Lenser lights....which are in the same price range as many (not all) of the lights on the list....

Outdoorsman5 said:

In the mid 2000's I stumbled across an LED Lenser, and thought I'd found something really special. Then I discovered Fenix lights, Quarks, Zebralights, Sunwayman, Surefire, HDS, Olights, EagleTac, JetBeam, & others. Skip the LED Lenser and get one of these brands. You'll be glad you did.

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I am offering advice to the OP. He didn't like the the Maglite, and is about to buy a LED Lenser. I believe he should skip the Lenser and move on to a better quality light from one of the companies that I listed. Most would be happier.

Maglite is only competing with the other lights on the store shelf, not the vast galaxy of quality lights that store shoppers have never heard of. If you compare the MagLED to whatever plastic $5 Energizer Craplight, it does well: a heavy metal body, lots of stark white light, and it even says Made In The USA on it - all very impressive features to the store flashlight shopper.

My Quark Mini Neutral has replaced every version of every Maglite I've ever owned. The one Mag I still own has a 600 lumen drop-in stuffed in it.

Outdoorsman5 said:

Wasn't tryin to steam anybody, and I wasn't comparing that list of lights to maglights. I was comparing them to LED Lenser lights....which are in the same price range as many (not all) of the lights on the list....



I am offering advice to the OP. He didn't like the the Maglite, and is about to buy a LED Lenser. I believe he should skip the Lenser and move on to a better quality light from one of the companies that I listed. Most would be happier.

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I hear you! I am not steamed about anything you wrote as it is good information. I also understand why a lot of people on this forum do not like Maglites. They are not my favorite brand also, but I like them for what they are. I have just seen threads like this, and also lately Led Lenser threads, go downhill real quickly! The title of this thread also will not help matters! ;p).

I still have a couple of modded mini mags and one 4D cell with a Cyan Luxeon Star in it for my "things go bump in the night" light:candle: I guarantee that an intruder will not be able to see to take a shot at me when that beam hits his eyes! Well, that and a .45 ACP slug center mass

They do serve the general public very well though, and are a better choice than some cheap plastic 2 D cell POS

One thing that is cool about mag lites is all of the drop-in replacements that are available for them. I put a 140lumen LED in my 5D for about $15 that I found at brightguy. Makes it a bit more acceptable. I know there are way brighter ones... but, hey, taking it from stock to 140lumens for $15 isn't too bad.

Maglite "C" is my Number One favorite form factor light, tied with some 18650 lights.

Just needs a little modding, that's all.

Now, I won't touch a Maglite manufactured after 1999, but that's another story.

I agree to a point, the 2 aa mag light I had as a kid was a great thing to have and was well made, but not the greatest output. When I started buying mini mag leds I was expecting only a little better light output then the old ones. Their output is much better than the little xenon bulb. They aren't "becoming" anything, they are what they are and sell well to the general public. I have 2 XL50's and like them for what they are, they have decent beam patterns and output for around the house. One stays on the work bench, another on the table next to the kitchen table, I use them often. The 3D led is a much better light then my incan 3D was. The Mag-Tac looks very promising.

Hmmmm..... On Black Friday Lowes had the AA & 2C, LED Maglights for 50% off. I bought 4 of each size, 10.97 * 14.97* ea..

I haven't opened them yet.. I guess I should take them back ? Any upgrades woth doing to these that would be worth the $$ invested ?

the 2aa can be modded to take a P60 drop in, that's a fun mod, just did one with a nite ize tail clicky. Then there is the Fusion 36 drop in for the C or D mags that are great to have $26 on Ebay. I have one in a 2 C it is nice and floody

I have two incan AAs, which I upgraded with tail cap switches and LEDs. I also have a Mini AAA LED, XL200 (which is an excellent light), a Luxeon III 2d, and a Cree 2D, which throws nicely. The regular (69-77 lumen) AA LED never interested me much though. They may not have fancy features (except the XL200), but they work. You can get lots of custom stuff for them, like the aforementioned tail cap switches, glass lenses, roll preventers, etc. The Mag Charger and MagTac are also good lights, but more expensive.

They could use some improvement, but they are made in America, have lifetime guarantees, and are easy to find. High end collectible/custom lights are not their target, but the Pro and XL series along with the Tac are steps in the right direction.

If you don't think they've advanced over the years, then you haven't compared the original incan Minimag with each successive generation of LED Minimags. Each generation got better than the last generation. Each generation got noticably brighter, and I found the beams to be smoother than the original incan versions,as well as having wider spill light, and whiter tint. I sense the op might be a bit biased against Maglite from the get-go. Compare the original incan Minimag to the current one, and you will see they are very much improved. You call them your "findings"? You didn't even do an actual runtime test, just said you doubted it would make the claimed runtime. Not much of a "finding", just speculation. Put your money where your mouth is and run an actual test to see if it's true or not. The claims of lumens and runtime are a set of standards (I believe it's called the FL-1 standard) that have been developed and agreed upon by various groups/manufacturers, so I don't believe they are just making up numbers, they actually have to live up to them.

A little surprised at how much discussion this created, but I love it.

I should have learned my lessen last year when I bought two XL50s last year, oh my gosh what a bunch of garbage! You have to twist your wrist or some crap like that and they don't work like their supposed to. They have like 6-7 different functions, it's a complicated light that doesn't work well. I regretted that purchase and should have learned that Maglite just isn't on par with some of those other brands.

The 2AA minimags have 4 settings, high, low, stobe, and sos, it's not just a flashlight, the problem is the output and reflector is just garbage. They never changed it, they are using the same design from the 80's and 90's, and this is the problem.

I'd love to get rid of all four of these actually, a big waste of money. I can understand the whole Made in the USA concept and such, but these companies need to make two different styles of lights, once like the two above I mention are fine for the general public, and then they need to make a better flashlight that can compete and compare to those we have mentioned in this forum. To be honest I had no idea of most of these other brands, never heard of them, because Maglite does such a great job in marketing their produce, i.e. they spend a lot of money getting their name out rather than on the quality and design of the light, so they make more money and that's why we see them everwhere. Of course they created a household name for themselves during the 80's and 90's as well.

mikekoz said:

You are correct, but almost all of the lights you mention also cost a lot more than a Maglite. You cannot compare a $25.00 light to a $50 to $200.00+ flashlight. Maglites are marketed to the mass majority of people that buy flashlights. These are people that want an inexpensive flashlight to help them see in the dark in case of an emergency, use around the house, security, etc. These people look for lights that are reliable and use standard batteries, cells that also do not turn the flashlight into a pipe bomb if they are not treated correctly, easy to find, and inexpensive. They want a simple flashlight that does not have 20 brighness modes, 6 strobe modes, etc. It just needs to work when they want it to work. I am sorry, but Maglite does that very well, and even though I do not have sales figures, I would bet they sell more lights than all those others combined! They also make the lights here in the USA and help keep folks in this country employed. Do not get me wrong, I own lights of all types, and I own many if the brands you mention, and they are great lights, but you cannot compare a low cost tool like a Maglite to high end lights. I just thought I would stick up for Maglites since I fear this thread could become a Mag bashing thread here real soon!!;p;0).

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the XL50 has at least 6 modes, but it doesn't work well, it's complicated to be honest and it doesn't work all that great, I think I paid 15-20 per one of these. I don't think one needs to fork over $200 bucks to get a decent flashlight, but certainly these $15 models like maglites just don't cut it anymore. $50 is reasonable, you get a really bright light that throws and spots well and with 2-3 brightness modes, it's enough for most purposes, I am figuring that out. Now these big $200 lights, I have no idea what I would personal do with them. I'm not a cop, I don't camp, but I do see a great use for strobe and SOS though regardless.

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to bash Maglite, but I do think I need to warn other newbies that there lots of other lights out there, I am learning this myself. I probably have 7 Maglites in my home now. I have two 2AA minimag halogens, 10 years ago, two XL50s, 2 LED mini mags, and one 4D cell incandy. But I won't be buying anymore Maglites, I have enough of them, and will be giving a few of them away as gifts shortly. I need better lights, these just are not going to cut it anymore.

Outdoorsman5 said:

Yeah, once you get "enlightened" here on CPF you quickly see how much better a light can be. The mini mag was my first favorite light though back in the early 80s. In the mid 2000's I stumbled across an LED Lenser, and thought I'd found something really special. Then I discovered Fenix lights, Quarks, Zebralights, Sunwayman, Surefire, HDS, Olights, EagleTac, JetBeam, & others. Skip the LED Lenser and get one of these brands. You'll be glad you did.

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Appreciate the list bro. After reading this forum a bit, I did see some of these already like Jetbeam, surefire, zebralights and fenix lights, and will be doing more research. I am probably going to stay away from LED LENSERS now because I do not think they are worth the money according to the LED LENSER bashing thread. haha. I would be interested though in a light similar to the P7 and M7, and I think that I won't find something because according to someone in that thread LED LENSER has a patent on the technology that makes those lights so zoomable, and this is the feature I am looking for in at least one flashlight. So I might buy one LED LENSER just for that feature, I need to finish reading that thread.

Anyway, Maglites are good for the general public, but I am looking for stuff that I can use in emergencies and other things, I am sure the maglites will be a great backup light, but I don't want anymore of them.