Mag ML LX and More...

January 2018. What a long month it was! I would have never made it through it without all pictured below. All lights pictured are full size C and D cell Mags. All lights pictured have custom ground borofloat lenses without smeary AR coating. They do just fine without the anti-glare to my eyes. The older Mags are on the ML300L box or to the left of it. The older incan Mags have had their LED's, electronics and reflectors upgraded.

Attempting to fit the HUGE ML300L new XML2 6D Mag with the rest was pretty difficult in the space I had to work with. Apologies for the bit of blur in a couple pics. Was precariously standing half off a chair most of the time in order to fit the 6D in.

Group-

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Hopefully a bit sharper-
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Attempting to begin from the left with a certain Vesture's awesome 800 lumen 3 output mode drop in incan upgrade. There are 3 of these same drop in upgraded Mags. The pewter on the left, BOTH blue's and the 3D camo. Oops that makes 4. Oh well they work extremely well.
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Never ever forget the great full on 700+ OTF lumen XML2 Malkoff 4D Mag drop in either. This was my first totally awesome "to another level in my opinion" Mag upgrade. Had it for years. Still runs as good as the day I got it. Powered by 4x11,000mah Powerex D NiMH's.
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Before anyone out there with just a few bucks and an old incan Mag loses hope for a solid cheap drop in upgrade the black 3D incan features a simple evilbae $20 XPG2 225 lumen well made "LED bulb". The 225 lumen drop in still manages to cut the night quite well out of the huge reflector.

Now onto the ML L and ML LX XML2 "grenade grips". The NON "grenade grip" ML is yup the new XML2 6D. It is a beast! I do not have testing equipment to do any kind of measured output tests as my gear always winds up getting snagged without my permission whenever I do get it. With 6 fresh alkaline Energizer D cells in it I would say it easily pushes 800 OTF. Run time on the new 6D is near forever when it comes to high output high value LED lights.
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Black ML300L, Forest Green ML300LX, Urban Gray 3 C cell ML50LX and burgundy 2 C cell ML50LX. These are the highest value long run time high output "full size" LED lights there are currently on the market in my opinion. Last shots are my attempt at "beam shots" indoors. Either one of the ML50LX lights pictured is always with me.
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Smart phone with awesome camera broke. Had to use an old digital for all these. ML L and ML LX "full on" beginning with the burgundy 2 C cell ML50LX on the right.
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3 C cell Urban Gray
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3 D cell Forrest Green ML300LX
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The bonkers 6 D cell XML2. Unless otherwise noted I use fresh Energizer alkaline batteries in everything pictured.
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Just taking a photo of the new 6D ML300L at even just past arms length was a challenge with my old digital. Would be cool if there was a full up 6D ML300LX!

Wow awesome Mag collection CC! Appreciate you sharing and taking all the pics. I'm having a Mag renaissance although I only have one, an ML50L 2C. Great light. Now the question....if you could only keep ONE of those which would it be and why??

Very nice collection.
Got a comparison question...
How does the base ML300L body compare it its "grenade grip" counterpart? Ive read that the grenade body has thicker walls and a larger diameter than the standard base and Ive been wondering if thats true.

Wow! There actually still are folks out there that appreciate high value lights. That is less than half the Mags that I have. From Mini Mags of all kinds etc. they have just kept piling up over the years cause they are so cheap and make the best full size host for mods there really is out there. These are just the ones I had closest over the month.

If I had to keep only ONE? Yikes...um..most likely the new black ML300LX 3D with also inbound custom glass lens with it. Just like or very close to just like the green ML300LX 3D in the photos above. The flat thick anodizing on the outstanding yes, thicker "grenade grip" aluminum body being matte black this time around gives it a good bit more realistic "security purpose" uses.

Despite the size of the ML300LX 3D or even 2D(I do not have one of those)the overall performance and value of them as a package, they are still more than worth making "room" for EDC wise somehow. Run-time out of these things is astonishing! THEN add a quality glass lens. These ML LX full size D cell Mags make quite a statement. The fact Mag specifically designed their 3rd Gen XML2 LED full size lights to run this well off readily available cheap alkaline cells is a stellar home run.

The "standard" new ML50L and ML300L XML2's are still far better values than arguably anything else in their price range. Save for the next step up the ML LX. series that are what? Just $5-$10 more. I have indeed noticed, slight but yes there, tint variation among the ML L and LX lights I have. Not to much but it is there. Would be pretty interesting to see one with a touch warmer of a tint.

A full up 6D ML300LX would still get Mag yet even more of my money. Will hopefully have my smart phone with the great cam in it back from repair soon. Will take more shots and add them here.

I like how (at least in my area anyway) you can leave a 2 cell ML300 on the seat of your car and "smash n grab" types think it's just one of those old dull flashlights from the 1970's.


Do you see noteable difference with glass lenses CC74?

Great collection - thanks for the pics!

Mag really did an outstanding job with the 3rd gen Mags.....some of the best values out there right now for sure.

New gen mags are really great for what you pay for them. I have many expensive lights. I also have many kids so I have mag lights all around the house 6-7 of them.my kids are always in need of a flashlight for some reason and the final straw was when my daughter grabbed my hds U60 XRGT! Now they all have mag lights of there own.

Actually yes I do indeed notice a visible difference with a quality glass lens. The borofloat lenses I have in them all(non AR coated)are an actual positive step. This is visible to the user as these are big lights. The beam out of either ML50LX both my 2C and 3C is just "clearer" with a touch less artifacts. With any of the D cell Mags I have especially the new ML300L and LX's I have oh heck yes the borofloat lenses make a clearer difference. Everything is just much "crisper" and well defined out of the big new D cell XML2's with them.

Putting quality glass in all my old incan upgraded to LED etc big Mags the glass made just as much as an improvement. Only thing with the incan big Mags is the reflector design is still on the original for incan use side. With the incan upgrades I struggle a LOT in order to get the beam profiles as clean as they are now due to the reflectors.

Reverse that with the new 3rd Gen XML2's. Much easier to work with. Looking forward to getting my inbound flat black ML300LX 3D this coming week. The flat black 3D LX with glass is security purpose only. Getting a leather belt loop to drop it through if needed when I do my frequent checks on my large but rough property at night.

Will post up more pics in a couple of days. Oh yeah...RUN TIME...the new XML2's have it. Lots of it.

Cool.

I did notice a gain in output from a 2D with a flashlight lens dot com glass lens. Not in a brightness standpoint, but like you said, a bit crisper.

Where do you get uncoated borofloat? Optometrist perhaps?

yup! "Crisper and clearer". The index of refraction for quality borofloat glass is FAR superior to the cheap polycarbonate or plastic lenses that come standard in Mags. I do say that yes, in many of my Mags there is not just a visual improvement to the end user but actually do increase output and throw a measurable amount.

I get my glass from wherever I can find it ground to the correct no less than 52mm in diameter, 2mm thick dimensions for the D cell Mags. Had a hard time finding them lately. My old source vanished for some reason.

I could get straight up the greatest glass ever WITH the greatest Teflon based non-smeary anti-reflective coatings there currently are through the office sure. But..that would be ludicrously expensive. Say $50 per finished lens.

The glass and AR coating that Armytek, yup AT, uses is thus far still the highest quality used by any light maker I have seen. That is some expensive glass and AR they put into their lights.

How hard is it to remove the AR coatings? Would something like carb cleaner or paint stripper take them off?

Nice Maglites. Glad to hear that you like the new gen ones. I have older ones, and have been wanting an ML50LX 3 cell. Can't yet decide on black or green.

JT

The green is actually pretty good! Just got my new black ML300LX 3 D cell today. Already has new glass and fresh Energizer alaklines in it. Of course it is awesome just like the green one. The flat black finish is just a bit better for actual security on my own property. Will upload new pics when I can over the next couple days. Black vs green LX? For actual security use the flat black is a better option in my opinion. The flat green finish is still quite well done though.

Lets see the only color I am missing is the tan. The tan I am sure is quite good just like the other LX colors but would stand out a bit to much for how I actually use them all which is all basic straight up security.

Never attempt to REMOVE an anti-reflective coating. You run the risk of an unknown chemical reaction. Let alone destroying the lens completely. Non AR coated lenses are indeed out there. Mag sells a non AR glass lens for their D Mags. They fit the new ML L and LX's fine.

Sounds good Celtic. I probably would have an LX by now, but I keep running onto good deals on older Mags.

I'm evenly on the fence about green or black ... they both look cool with the lug grip to me.

I use my lights a lot for Real Estate too, although not always the Mags ... inspecting houses, and walking around town to my rental houses & buildings.