MiniMag Pro

I don't believe that any of the currently made "clicky" tail caps made for the Mini Mags work on the LED models. I seem to remember reading that someone had stretched the spring on one of these caps and made it work, but I don't know how reliable it was. That being said, the PolyTac should perform better between the two, as it was designed to be a "tactical" light - the Mini Mag was not.

I could not get any of my tailcap switches to work with my minimag Pro or Pro+. I'm back to twisting the head.

Darn. This is along the lines of my question. Years ago, before the rush of bright LED lights, maybe even before SureFire, I bought a weaponlight setup for a 1911 that was stamped sheet steel, the "anchor" being a flat that slipped under the right grip panel (this was before pistols with mounting rails on the dustcover), and the light being a mini-mag that extended along the right side of the pistol above the hand but lower than the ejection port. The metal was stamped to fit the curve of the mini-mag, then a tube of heat shrink held the light in place. There was an aftermaket endcap switch that had enough wire to let me choose the location for my pad switch.

Even back then, a standard mini-mag wasn't a lot of light. I ended up taking it apart, using the mini-mag with a stock cap, but keeping the rest of the assembly. Now that the Mini-mag Pro is out there with 226 lumens, I've been thinking about grabbing piece of heat shrink tubing from work and reassembling my weaponlight with a light source that has plenty of output.

From what I'm seeing here, it looks as if my original switched endcap will not do the job. I'm disappointed. Sure, Brightguy has a sale on the mini-mag pro and pro+, but I'll have to find an endcap with pad switch on a wire, that fits the mini-mag pro, then add in that cost. Darn. I wonder if there's a suitable switched endcap available yet, and what it might cost.

Perhaps a call or email to Maglite would help. Maybe someone there might know of a remote switch set-up that would work with their lights.

POLYTAC is better for me because .........
1...better to grip it, mag is kinda slippery, too smooth
2....the body of the PT is so much better in cold temps, and lighter
3.....the batteries in the PT will never leak
4.....the click switch on my maglite never really works right with the twist head.

the perfect (my fav) is the Polytac HP---a tight long thrower

Mike 208 said:

Perhaps a call or email to Maglite would help. Maybe someone there might know of a remote switch set-up that would work with their lights.

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I disagree,
they even made their - much too long awaited - led models unnecessary longer to fight the users putting aftermarket switches and parts on the lights.
It surely is an idea to try, but I would really be surprised to get anything back from them.


PS: if the old tailcap fits the new bodies physically, then "enlarging" the spring will surely work. Try this, try using a longer spring, put a (short) spacer inside ...
You "only" have to fight that "almost single battery cell"-length that they unnecessarily added

So I guess for now, there is no good way to incorporate a tail switch for the mini. Does anyone have an opinion as to the 130 lumen output of the Poly Tac vs. the 226 lumen output of the mini pro? With my limited knowledge, I am finding that stated lumens doesn't always mean brighter.

KZMAN said:

So I guess for now, there is no good way to incorporate a tail switch for the mini. Does anyone have an opinion as to the 130 lumen output of the Poly Tac vs. the 226 lumen output of the mini pro? With my limited knowledge, I am finding that stated lumens doesn't always mean brighter.

Click to expand...

There is more to a nice light beam than the amount of lumens

Hamilton Felix said:

From what I'm seeing here, it looks as if my original switched endcap will not do the job. I'm disappointed.

Click to expand...

The reason the 3rd party switches do not work with the LED Minimags is because Mag has anodized the threads (they were bare metal in the old days). So if you de-anodize the threads the click switches should work.
I vaguely remember some posts/threads on how to de-anodize flashlights. It might be worthwhile searching for them.

I sorta got my Minimag Pro to work with a switch after I rubbed the threads on the mag with some sandpaper. But after I changed batteries I could not get contact again. No workee, I gave up and went back to twisting the head,

The old minimags make contact through the threads. The minimag Pro makes contact at the back of the tube. So your other option is to modify the switch so electrical contact is made there.
Just now I wrapped some aluminum foil around the threads of a switch with some sticking out at the back end to make contact with the battery tube. The switch now works. But the foil fell off when I unscrewed the switch to return it to the original light. You will need a more permanent solution.

If the threads match, I should think I could clean/abrade the surface sufficiently to make contact. Using one of those little "toothbrush" wire brushes might help. At work (electrical power industry) we have various kinds of contact past and corrosion inhibitors. Some that are intended for crimped splices actually include rough "grains" of metal to improve contact.

If the threads match, I'm willing to clean, stretch springs, etc. Maybe it's worth jumping on the sale and getting a MiniMag Pro to try this out. If it doesn't work well enough for me to resurrect my old weapon light, it will at least be another decent flashlight.