Best drop in for a 2D/2AA Mag lite?

I recently uncovered a box with my old Mag Lite collection. I always loved them when I was younger but today...well...they make good paper weights. I have a bunch of mostly 2D and 2AA lights....I'd really like to make them relevant in an age where a single AAA light will probably blow them away. What is the best drop in LED I can buy for these? I could probably convert the batteries to AA or something lithium with various adapters.

I know some people have put some pretty radical super bright lights in Mags over the years...but what would be practical today to compete with your average 18650 light?

I still remember when the first 1 watt LED conversions came out...such a big deal. Like a candle today...

IMO you are wasting your money putting drop in LEDs in old incan maglites they cannot compete at all with lights that cost less than the price of a drop in and especially nowhere near as bright as an 18650 light can do you would have to invest more money in them than a decent light would cost new. Save your money and invest in a nice LED light and move on retiring the incans for good.

I dropped a Terralux TLE-310M-EX in a 2D Maglite and was really pleasantly surprised. Impressive output. Although the packaging says it's for the 4-6D maglites, this is assuming you're staying with alkaline cells. Convert to 2x26650's (or 2x18650's) and it'll work fine in a 2D. See the following video for more info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7NbWqvB-k

https://malkoff-devices.myshopify.com/collections/types?q=D-Cell to Fit Maglite

Well respected and well known. Gene does nice work.

Also check out Adventure Sport under the custom maker section here , Member Vestureofblood here does nice work as well.

Lynx_Arc said:

IMO you are wasting your money putting drop in LEDs in old incan maglites they cannot compete at all with lights that cost less than the price of a drop in and especially nowhere near as bright as an 18650 light can do you would have to invest more money in them than a decent light would cost new. Save your money and invest in a nice LED light and move on retiring the incans for good.

Click to expand...

That's kind of like saying I should take a 1967 Mustang down to the crusher because it isn't as fast as a new one and uses more gas. It set the precedent. It was the trailblazer. And they just look cool. When I was a kid that was THE flashlight to have.

Mag lites have the extra advantage that they are good standby lights - with high capacity and cheap wall hangers, and if you're walking around at night, they make a good beatin' stick should you encounter the need. Try fending off an attacker or a wild animal with an 18650 light!

Really with the right mods it can far exceed the common pocket size light - you can really stuff them with batteries and the heatsinking ability is unmatched. I don't really want to go that far with the several I have, but I'd like to make them relevant again.

Go to your local home depot and (at least in my area) they have drop in modules shaped similar to the bulb for your 2D for about $8. They also have a bipin bulb replacement for the minimag, again for about $8.

Neither will compete with an automobiles headlights, but will breath new life into your old Maglites and, well your 67 Mustang will go from 9mpg to about 99mpg.

While you are there, grab a new 2x AAA minimag for about $15.... but toss the supplied batteries and buy some Rayovacs or ultimate lithiums. Perhaps a 2C ML25 for about $20 is a big ole minimag type of light that is a ton brighter in real life than the numbers suggest.

Amazon and eBay have sellers who sell D size adapters with eneloop batteries. If you look up eneloop batteries, some sellers include the adapters.
An eneloop'd D Mag with a drop in LED "bulb" aint a bad flashlight to have around when the lights go out.

Maglites can make tremendous throwers due to the ability to focus the beam. I have a 55 lumen NiteIze dropin in my old 4D maglite and it beats everything else in my collection.

Malkoff makes a module for the 2D maglite that produces 270 lumens and provides a good thermal path to the body so that it won't get dimmer if you use it for more than a couple of minutes.

That's where I'd start.

--flatline

Times have changed on CPF when the first reply to a thread like this says: "Don't mod a Maglite".

For those saying don't do it I disagree. An LED Maglite provides many advantages over all of these lithium ions lights out there. EDC'in is not going to be great but as far as run time and durability go both are very high and is why I as well as so many other professionals still carry them. Of course it will likely be cheaper to buy a new ML300L rather than mod yours but if you're like me you might have a sentimental attachment to them in which case go ahead ad upgrade it! It's not much more expensive to upgrade yours than it is to buy a new one and it's fun.

The Malkoff XP-G module is my favorite upgrade and I use an XP-G Malkoff 3D Mag every day. The run time is insane, more than you'll get out of any 18650 and 300 lumens is likely all you'll really need. Skip the 600+ lumen lights they are mostly novelties. Here are some great educational links to check out:

Vesture of Blood's Drop In Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7NbWqvB-k

My personal favorite mod combination from my blog
http://maglitehistory.blogspot.com/2017/05/whats-old-is-new.html

And my personal opinion on why I think Maglite's are still the best
http://maglitehistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/why-maglite-faq.html

I have a 2D and a 3D with Niteize dropins, i also got battery holders/cages/whateveryouwannacallthem for them as well that hold 3 AA batteries in the dimensions of a D battery, effectively giving me a way cheaper option than using actual D batteries for them.

I also have a 2xAA minimag that i've put a single 3mm LED into the other day and a pair of depleted AA alkaleaks to see how far it'll last, so far it's been running continuously for 4 days with no perceivable brightness drop. In case of an emergency it can be used as a stationary light with a red filter on and probably last a good while on just a single pair of otherwise pretty useless batteries.

The 55 lumen Nite Ize C/D cell dropins, which are now selling for around $5 at home depot, are great for old D cell Mags! Nite Ize also has a new 74 lumen drop in, but these are more expensive. The 30 lumen Nite Ize drop in for the AA Mini Mag is OK with lots of runtime, but the clicky tail switch that comes with it is kind of cheap.

Also check out some of the newer LED Mags such as the ML25 (2 or 3 C cell twisty with a great beam pattern) for around $20 or the ML50 (2 or 3 C cell) or ML300 (2, 3 or 6 D cell) - both have programmable function sets and multi mode electronic side switches, cost is around $35 for the 2-3 cell ML50L or $40 for the 2-3 cell ML300L.

Number21, slightly off topic but old Minimag AA's are fun to mod, it you want to try your hand at something slightly more involved than a drop-in.

Working off the instructions from some old Minimag mod threads I re-purposed an old AA incan.

Brass Pill from P60 Style Drop-in, 20mm TIR optic, clear glass lens



2xAA 3-mode Driver, also takes 1x14500 with dummy spacer


XP-L V5 neutral (est. ~250 lumens on High)


The entire mod ran less than $15 in parts. No extra cost for the fun modding or the joy from upcycling the Minimag.

pc_light said:

Number21, slightly off topic but old Minimag AA's are fun to mod, it you want to try your hand at something slightly more involved than a drop-in.

Working off the instructions from some old Minimag mod threads I re-purposed an old AA incan.


The entire mod ran less than $15 in parts. No extra cost for the fun modding or the joy from upcycling the Minimag.

Click to expand...

Very nice!! Any links or guide son these? I'd love to put one together.