Malkoff Maglite mod versus LED Maglites?

I have four old Maglites and my wife just got the "tidying" book, so I've been infected and I have decided they either need to become usable or go away.

I have already ordered a Malkoff 2-D drop-in but I'm also interested in having a C size flashlight. The cost of a new LED Maglite like the ML50L is not much more than the Malkoff drop-in. The Maglites are rated for higher output. I'm conflicted because I've had such good experience with Malkoff's M60L for my Surefire P60 and with their excellent service.

Has anyone compared the Maglite LED flashlights to the Malkoff drop-ins for incandescent Maglites? Are there benefits to one or the other in terms of regulation, battery life, compatibility with multiple battery options etc.? I've found some threads with positive evals of the Maglites but no direct comparisons.

Thanks for any input.

With a Mag led you have the entire spot to spill thing like with an incan version. In that you generally get one or the other with uglyness in between. Just a lot brighter.
The Malkoff drop in is camless so you never change the spill while adjusting the spot, not much anyway.

It turns your incan into a flood light with an adjustable spot. Kinda odd when you first assemble it and turn it on. But when it's dark out you do not miss the Mag way where in order to get to flood your spot disappears, along with it the throw of a Mag Lite.
Nope, you keep the flood, you keep the spot and get to decide whether you want a pencil spot to throw to Mars or fat spot to light the owl in a tall tree 200' away... or the whole tree 100' away.

If you go with a 3C, 6 hours regulated on 3 alkalines... even longer with 4. Long taper after that. It makes a 4C come to life like you'd never imagined.
Once you get your 2D drop in you'll know what I mean. I can't speak for the 2 cell drop ins but folks say it's a goody too.

It seems you are trying to justify keeping a couple of dust collectors. Well buying a 50 will add to a herd you are thinking of thinning.
Adding a Malkoff to an existing will cause you to wonder how you lived without it so long. Like I said, when that 2 cell unit arrives you'll see it's unlike the old Mag way...but I predict you'll like the change.

I own close to 30 D cell Mags. Most are home built mods. But Ive got both the new 3rd Gen LED D cells and they are both out freaking standing. That being said I also have all 3 D cell Malkoff drop ins. The Malkoff drop in for a D Mag that is a must have is the 700+ OTF lumen XML2 unit. Putting together a 4 D cell Mag with that specific drop in can be expensive though. Malkoff states the best run times and performance are off high MaH NiMH D cells and that gets expensive once you figure in having to buy a charger that fits D NiMHs. Performance wise the top of the line Malkoff drop in smokes the new 3rd Gens in output and throw and especially heat sinking it just does not get hot.

You can indeed still change from spot to spill with all the Malkoff D cell Mag drop ins you just have to do more twisting of the head to make it work. My XML2 Malkoff drop in conversion was done on an incan 4 D cell I bought in 1996. Talk about a difference! Still in the end the conversion cost over $100. I bought a camless orange peel aluminum reflector to take care of the artifacts inherent in the incan Mags, bought the highest quality AR coated glass lens I could for it and 4 11000mah Powerex D NiMHs and a big MAHA charger that fits D cells. I have the focus set pretty well to spot oriented the beam profile is freaking massive.

There are cheap decent simple LED drop ins you can get on evilbay. They max at 180-225 lumens I believe which is alot better than what the incans did. They cost like 25 bucks. The better of the two cheaper Malkoffs is the 325 lumen XPG2 drop in it throws surprisingly well. Run it off alkalines whichever etc..

So value and performance wise Id just go get the new C or D LED Mag. Keep one or two of the old Mags around for your incoming drop in and who knows maybe youll want to shoot for the XML2 drop in one day.

bykfixer said:

With a Mag led you have the entire spot to spill thing like with an incan version. In that you generally get one or the other with uglyness in between.
The Malkoff drop in is camless so you never change the spill while adjusting the spot.

It turns your incan into a flood light with an adjustable spot. Kinda odd when you first assemble it and turn it on. But when it's dark out you do not miss the Mag way where in order to get to flood your spot disappears, along with it the throw of a Mag Lite.
Nope, you keep the flood, you keep the spot and decide pencil spot to throw to Mars or fat spot to light the owl in a tall tree 200' away... or the whole tree.

6 hours regulated on 3 alkalines... even longer with 4. Long taper after that.

It seems you are trying to justify keeping a couple of dust collectors. Well buying a 50 will add to a herd you are thinking of thinning.
Adding a Malkoff to an existing will cause you to wonder how you lived without it so long.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the description. I think I'll like the Malkoff. My plan is to upgrade one D-cell Maglite, replace or upgrade one C Maglite, and give away the rest. That gives me one for each car, which is all the big flashlights I need. I'm trying not to be a collector.

For brief, short term use, the aa eneloop hold much of their charge several years and with C or D adapters make the light nice n lightweight while providing piece of mind your alkalines didn't leak.
You can top them up when time for say, tire rotations or annual inspections.

Takes a tough person to thin the flashlight herd... permanently. Most thin the herd to make room for new stock.

CelticCross74 said:

I own close to 30 D cell Mags. Most are home built mods. But Ive got both the new 3rd Gen LED D cells and they are both out freaking standing. That being said I also have all 3 D cell Malkoff drop ins. The Malkoff drop in for a D Mag that is a must have is the 700+ OTF lumen XML2 unit. Putting together a 4 D cell Mag with that specific drop in can be expensive though. Malkoff states the best run times and performance are off high MaH NiMH D cells and that gets expensive once you figure in having to buy a charger that fits D NiMHs. Performance wise the top of the line Malkoff drop in smokes the new 3rd Gens in output and throw and especially heat sinking it just does not get hot.

You can indeed still change from spot to spill with all the Malkoff D cell Mag drop ins you just have to do more twisting of the head to make it work. My XML2 Malkoff drop in conversion was done on an incan 4 D cell I bought in 1996. Talk about a difference! Still in the end the conversion cost over $100. I bought a camless orange peel aluminum reflector to take care of the artifacts inherent in the incan Mags, bought the highest quality AR coated glass lens I could for it and 4 11000mah Powerex D NiMHs and a big MAHA charger that fits D cells. I have the focus set pretty well to spot oriented the beam profile is freaking massive.

There are cheap decent simple LED drop ins you can get on evilbay. They max at 180-225 lumens I believe which is alot better than what the incans did. They cost like 25 bucks. The better of the two cheaper Malkoffs is the 325 lumen XPG2 drop in it throws surprisingly well. Run it off alkalines whichever etc..

So value and performance wise Id just go get the new C or D LED Mag. Keep one or two of the old Mags around for your incoming drop in and who knows maybe youll want to shoot for the XML2 drop in one day.

Click to expand...

Good post, thank you. The XML2 is pricey but looks cool. And it comes in C as well as D size.

It gives me a bit of pause that the Maglite LEDs are close in claimed lumens, and cost less for a whole new flashlight. But I don't understand why Maglite says to use only alkalines while Malkoff recommends NiMH. I hate alkalines. And Malkoff says you get 2+H runtime at full output with NiMH, while Maglite claims 16H at higher lumens. Is Malkoff behind the times? Is Maglite over-promising?

Maglite also has multiple modes while Malkoff only does high. That's not a big deal to me, but I do like the momentary option, which is only available from Maglite.

My priorities are (1) reliability (2) brightness (3) use NiMH (4) reasonable battery life (5) cost. I'm wavering between the XML2 C upgrade from Malkoff ($90 plus $6 adapter sleeve) and the Maglite ML50L/LX. Is anyone using rechargeables in the Maglite LED flashlights?

Maglites are designed around the voltage and flow of alkalines applied inside for decades of service.

When folks start sending other than that via rechargeables Mag can't be to blame for resulting failures. That's why they still plug alkalines.

I use a $30 pair of IMEDIONS in a 2C ML25LT and a pair of $8 (w/C adapters) eneloops in another without issue.
And mini mags fueled by eneloop are so far so good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-bulb-Dr...732944?hash=item2c9c5a6d50:g:CfkAAOSwv0tVfPtN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOspTPig3N8&feature=youtu.be

I use Eneloops whenever possible in my Mags which include:

AAA Solitaire LED

2AAA Mini Mag LED

old 3 AA Mini Mag LED

2AA Mini Mag multimode LED

2AA Mini Mag Pro/Pro + LED

2C & 3 C ML25LT's (with homemade spacer)

3C ML50 (with home made spacer)

ML125 (using it's own NiMH battery and also AA Eneloops in a spacer).

2nd Gen. 3D LED Mag (using adapters).

3D ML300 (using 3 AA to D adapters).

2D & 4D Mags with Rayovac LED drop ins (using adapters).

All work great with Eneloops!

I have also used them in Xenon AA Mini Mags with no issues, though it is possible that NiMH may shorten bulb life because they can deliver more current in a unregulated light.

Just guessing but as has been said before, Maglite is probably simply being cautious about rechargeables. Many years ago in the days before LED's I tried nicads (I said it was years ago) and nimh batteries in an incan minimag. It blew bulbs in a matter of minutes. I'm sure I wasn't the only one so it doesn't surprise me that they stick with what's worked for decades and still works today. Run alkalines if you want if only because they're available everywhere but rechargeables shouldn't be a problem with these lights.

When it comes to the longer runtimes and higher lumens stated by Mag for their LED lights vs the Malkoff drop-in, I'm guessing that the Mag LEDs step down at some point. And here lies the advantage of the Malkoff. The Malkoff drop-ins DON'T step down. They produce maximum output until the batteries can no longer sustain it.

the new 3rd Gens are specifically designed to run off of alkalines. There are some graphs floating about the forum that show alkalines giving longer run times than NiMH D's although the NiMH D's power delivery is much smoother. Somebody correct me if I am wrong but D cell alkies have a ton of capacity. The Energizer D alkie I believe is 13-15000mah something like that. Still either power source gives crazy good run times due to the new driver design etc. of the 3rd Gens. NiMH D's work just fine in the 3rd Gens and in the end save money over having to keep buying alkies. That being said alkies do actually drive them for longer.

Malkoff-100 percent designed to reach its max potential with high quality NiMH D's they are totally different animals than the 3rd Gens. You can use alkies but the Malkoff drop ins just dont run as well on alkies as on NiMH's. Also what is stated above is true the Malkoff's do not drop down they only drop down when battery power drops enough. Once again I cannot say it enough. The Malkoff drop ins are stellar quality through and through the heat sinking is I believe about as good as it can get. True the Malkoff's are one mode units. Dont for a second think Gene Malkoff is not finishing up setting up the tooling for a new range of Mag drop ins with all sorts of features.

I used to use Eneloops in my D Mags but then I just thought what was the point other than saving a bit of weight? You lose run time. If you run 1xAA to D adapter set up you lose a LOT of run time.

once again all things Malkoff are usually top shelf but you are going to pay for it. The new 3rd Gens right off the rack are incredible and to me the best stock Mags ever. The 3rd Gens run alkies and NiMH's all up to you. Reliability and brightness. There is a YT video by user oldlumens where he takes apart a new 3rd Gen to take a look and it was pretty impressive. Reliability is just as good if not better than the old Mags. Brightness seems to be about dead on as advertised. I actually prefer the 524 lumen 2 D 3rd Gen because it just balances in my hand better. It is more than bright enough, throws like crazy and has a massively wide beam profile. The 3 D does look a touch brighter and cooler in tint.

Bump.

I've had both newer Mags and the older Malkoff modules, they are both nice. The newer Mags have caught up lumens wise but not quality-wise with regards to heat sinking.

etc said:

Bump.

I've had both newer Mags and the older Malkoff modules, they are both nice. The newer Mags have caught up lumens wise but not quality-wise with regards to heat sinking.

Click to expand...

What's wrong with the heat sink on the 3rd gen Mags?