I bought a Ray-O-Vac Indestructible and a MagLite (overview)

I bought a Ray-O-Vac Indestructible and a MagLite (overview)

I was looking for a good "house, Kitchen drawer light" for my wife and kids to use. Currently all that is in the drawer is a Ozark trail 50 lumen (3xaaa) light. Not a bad light, but doesn't have much reach. And given that we live on an acre of land, I wanted something that they could use to illuminate the barn and the camper from the back porch, without having to leave the safety of the house. I wanted something with a long batter life, that preferably took 'D' cells, or maybe 'C' cells, and had a simple UI. So I bought 2 lights this weekend to try out.

1) Ray-O-Vac Indestructible

All of the Indestructibles in this family type like look like this:



Initially I wanted to buy the 2D cell version of this light (DIY2D-B) but when I saw it in the store, I realized that it was HUGE and HEAVY. There is no way my wife would have used it because of its size and weight. What I liked about the 2D version was the run times:

320L - 16h - 302m
75L - 160 - 148m

Next to it was the 3aa version (OT3AA-BC) which has the following specs:

330L - 3h - 271m
25L - 70h -

And at the back of that row was a older 3aa version (OT3AA-B) of the same light with the following specs:

180L - 7h - 313m
25L - 100h - 113m

Since I had ruled out the 'D' version of the light, I decided to go with the older version of the 'C' light because it had better run times, which I think is beneficial in a house light. Plus 180 lumens is sufficient for most general tasks.

Verdict:
I am quite happy with this light.
It has a fairly focused beam with some spill. The hot spot is OK, but not as well defined as you would find on something like my old (R5) Fenix TK15. A little blurry around the edges. But then I'm probably spoiled by all of the nicer lights I have!

The tint is pure white. No green, yellow or blue. Taking it outside at night it does really have some good throw, easily lighting up some objects that I know are 200 meters away.

The UI is very simple and a person would pick it up in seconds.
Off -> High -> Low -> Off

There is NO momentary capability.

Over all it is a nice house light. Especially if the users are not into flashlights and just need something easy to use.

I paid $29

2) MagLite LED 3C

This is 3 'C' cell light. I saw this in a local store so I picked it up without examining it very closely (big mistake).

At home I already have a 3C and a 3D MagLite, both which were converted with some el-cheepo LED drop-ins. Neither puts out much light, but they focus OK and the beams are very pure white.

So after removing the new 3C light from the package the first thing I noticed was that it was smaller than my old 3C light. A quick check showed it to be about two inches shorter. But the real change was the head. My two old MagLights have heads that are ~2-1/4 inch in diameter. The head on the new 3C light was only ~1-5/8 inch in diameter.

Second thing I noticed was that there was no side switch. It ends up it is a twisty!  I have to take the blame for that since I really should have noticed this fact in the store. Still, it feels like buying an economy car and discovering that the seats have been replace with lawn chairs. I just didn't expect a larger light to not have a switch!

The specs on this light are:
173L - 18h - 309m
No low mode

Third thing was the beam. The tiny was more creamy/yellowish which may or may not be a bad thing based on your preference. But the hot spot was horrible. The hot spot on my old Maglites are not great , but this one was just a muddy blob. Changing the focus to flood I could only obtain a small amount of flood before the dark doughnut hole of death appeared in the center. Moving even further to the floody side caused many many rings to appear. Kinda looked like Saturn on my wall.

I took it outside and tried it while walking the dog. It does OK on a tight focus, but because of the tint the Ray-O-Vac Indestructible appeared to provide much better illumination. I think this light will be tossed it the trunk of my car as an emergency light as that's about all I would want to use it for. Plus I really hate the fact that it is a twisty, given its size.

I think that instead of buying any more MagLites, I will instead invest in some TerraLux drop in's, along with some new reflectors and lenses for my old MagLites. Those are built like tanks and you can see and feel that they are far better quality that the new MagLite I bought.

In the MagLite's defense I will say that I only paid $20 for the light so it is probably the economy version. But I have bought other lights for $20 that runs circles around this one. And for a few bucks more, I feel the Ray-O-Vac Indestructible is a far better choice for a house light, especially since it has a real switch; two easy to access levels; a pure white beam; a much better hot spot than the MagLite.

Thanks for the write up on those two, I've been wondering about those Raovacs. You may be disappointed, Terralux to my knowledge doesn't have any drop ins for the newer models of Maglite.

I got the VARTA branded version AAA keychain version for my nephew, I have the VARTA 3D lanter version myself, I which the glass was opaque as the light hurts my eye`s

Some Amazon buyers have reported splitting of the rubber on the flashlight version, so keep and eye-out for it happening.

John.

Good input wj.

The only qualm you may encounter with the Rayovac is switch failure. Not all fail, but some do. Watch for that and if it does big box stores like Home Depot will swap it out for a new one.
The website is riddled with complaints of switch failures but... the only people adding reviews are ones whose switch failed it seems. In fairness not that many fail, but enough do to note the issue does exist.

Maglite decided to make a mid sized light and used the mini mag as a platform. If you look at it as a large mini mag it's a winner. You can use the tail cap to turn it on/off. They did a 2 cell for rock solid output for 2 hours and a 3 cell for 18 hours of dimming little by little over time.
They were trying to draw in sales from the D sized light crowd. For the most part it was met with success as it is a solid light in a smaller platform.

I set the beam how I want it and use the tailcap to switch it.

I picked up a rayovac indestructible for my wife a couple months ago.I wanted something simple for her.Worked out and its holding up well.

Tribull said:

Thanks for the write up on those two, I've been wondering about those Raovacs. You may be disappointed, Terralux to my knowledge doesn't have any drop ins for the newer models of Maglite.

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Fortunately both of my Mags are 20 or so years old!

bykfixer said:

I set the beam how I want it and use the tailcap to switch it.

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Great Idea! I hate having to refocus it to where I want every time I turn it on.

Thanks.

The maglite ml50l is the 3c magled with a side switch. Multiple mode groups, ~40lm low ~100lm med ~600lm high.

Mine was just over $30, I think you'd like it more than the ml25lt. (Unless you're only using alkaline, in which case it's a toss up as high will kill them in short order in the 50)

Need a Light? said:

The maglite ml50l is the 3c magled with a side switch. Multiple mode groups, ~40lm low ~100lm med ~600lm high.

Mine was just over $30, I think you'd like it more than the ml25lt. (Unless you're only using alkaline, in which case it's a toss up as high will kill them in short order in the 50)

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+1.

I think the ML50 is more what you are looking for than the ML25. Both these lights will run on AA Eneloops in simple home made adapters if you want to go rechargeable and don't have proper NiMH C cells.

I currently have 3 ROV indestructibles, a old 100 lumen 2AA, a new 300 lumen 2AA and a 3D lantern.

The 2AA's are great! The 300 lumen puts out plenty of power on eneloops (more than the rated 300 lumens I am sure) and the old 100 lumen has a better 18 lumen low mode (vs 60 + on the 300 lumen). The downside that I have noticed is that the tail cap is plastic and can be cross threaded if you are not careful, but they have a good warranty and you can exchange them at HD as Byk said. I like that these have forward clickies for momentary activation.

The 3D lantern is pretty good too, reasonably bright and very rugged. Too heavy to take on a hike, but great for power outages at home or car camping.

I also had a 3C indestructible, that I didn't much like because of the forward clicky tail cap that needed to cycle through all 3 modes before you could turn it off. The 3C is currently listed at 200 lumens, which seems a little strange to me given the current 2AA puts out 300 +.

good write up OP! A twisty C cell Mag? Thats a new one to me. I have close to 30 Mags of all types including the new 2 C cell and 3 C cell ML50LX. I cannot say enough good things about them the value factor is off the charts. They are very powerful and boy can they throoooow! I highly suggest one...

CelticCross74 said:

good write up OP! A twisty C cell Mag? Thats a new one to me. I have close to 30 Mags of all types including the new 2 C cell and 3 C cell ML50LX. I cannot say enough good things about them the value factor is off the charts. They are very powerful and boy can they throoooow! I highly suggest one...

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Which one is a better value the 2c or 3c one and which one one has more throw?
Thank You

irongate personally I prefer the 3 C ML50LX. Reasons being the higher output and a touch more throw. As for value they cost about the same it comes down to lets see here...they are both amazing values being the new design C cell Mags with XML2 emitters. They both have stellar performance especially when it comes to run times. They are a definite improvement from the older design. I went as far as getting custom glass lenses for them. You cannot really go wrong either way but if you want the most output and throw its the 3 C ML50LX.

Note that I am referring to the ML50LX not the standard ML50L. They have the same performance but the LX have thicker battery tubes with a great grenade pattern grip and very nice thicker anodizing. Regardless when it comes down to it I feel the new ML Mags C cell and D cell to be the best value high output LED general purpose lights on the market due to their low price and stellar performance.