Just got a Maglite XL50 WARM tinted LED. Me like!!!

This little light has a very good throw and great tint. Plenty bright too. They are a bit pricey, but I'm very happy with the purchase and I love that it runs on simple AAA's. I'm a little concerned about the build quality, but we'll see how it holds up. Anyone else got one and what has been your experience? It seems to be just a tiny bit warmer than my Malkoff HCRI, but less warm than my HCRI2. Again, throw is really good for a light this size.

No warm XL50 here but my 2014-ish model is like a Timex watch. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
Pretty bright compared to the stated numbers too. But, that is a Maglite tradition.

Don't forget to loosen the tailcap a wee bit when not in use. They drain the batteries if you don't.

I have a warm Solitaire and yeah, it's got a nice golden beam.

Some solitaire beam pix:




My camera made it look a lot closer to neutral when compared with a light bulb. But the top photo is more like what you really see.

ampdude said:

This little light has a very good throw and great tint. Plenty bright too. They are a bit pricey, but I'm very happy with the purchase and I love that it runs on simple AAA's. I'm a little concerned about the build quality, but we'll see how it holds up. Anyone else got one and what has been your experience? It seems to be just a tiny bit warmer than my Malkoff HCRI, but less warm than my HCRI2. Again, throw is really good for a light this size.

Click to expand...

And where did you get one?

Nevermind,I see they are all over the place.
I am happy they are at long last actually trying to build things some of us might like!

I EDC's an XL50 for a long time before sticking them in the drawer for retirement.
They chewed through batteries like crazy back then but I could also just go to HD and get new ones as they died too which was pretty important to me at the time too.

I switched to the ZL which are a much nicer light to me and I have never had one die either and this is part of what dragged me into this Forum from which I do not plan on retreating just yet.

I am eager to see how you like it after using it for a while!

Mag has tint choices now?
Now I really want a 625 lumen 2 or 3D Mag.

Loosening the tailcap does not work for a lockout on mine. I take the battery carrier all the way out after use. Mine is 8 years old though, still working fine. They do good with eneloops.

Hey Robert! No D cell Mags (at least not yet). But if you go on their website it can be a bit tricky to find them. If you go to the menu at the top of the page, they are under "specialty" even though Maglite calls them "spectrum series".
Your options are Solitaire, MiniMag AAA (which is the same size as the incandescent), MiniMag AA (which is the size of the other LED offerings. Longer than the incandescent AA), and an XL50.
I have the Solitaire and it is awesome. It's one of my favorite lights ever. I've realized tint and color rendering have become major factors in the user experience of a light. Just like how I hate cool lights in house lighting.

Z Battery sells them for less than Maglite.
They're called "Spectrum Series" as they can also be had with a red or a green beam.

ZBattery is a good seller btw. When the ML25 came out I ordered a few and got serial numbers below 100. My blue one was SN 0000017

hsa said:

Loosening the tailcap does not work for a lockout on mine. I take the battery carrier all the way out after use. Mine is 8 years old though, still working fine. They do good with eneloops.

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I have the same issue. I need to take the entire battery carrier out otherwise it eats the batteries even if twisted almost all the way off. Otherwise the xl 50 is a great light

At least it is very easy to do. The threads are smooth and it doesn't have the usual Maglite gorilla spring. Yes, a very good light.

If your XL 50 won't lockout you can turn the battery carrier over and pop it back in without worry of reverse polority issues.

Where the + and - meet


No - when upside down.

Not exactly convenient though?

bykfixer said:

If your XL 50 won't lockout you can turn the battery carrier over and pop it back in without worry of reverse polority issues.

Where the + and - meet

No - when upside down.

Click to expand...

bykfixer said:

If your XL 50 won't lockout you can turn the battery carrier over and pop it back in without worry of reverse polority issues.

Where the + and - meet

No - when upside down.

Click to expand...

I'll give that a try , thanks!

AVService said:

Not exactly convenient though?

Click to expand...

Agreed, but when some said they just remove the carrier I thought "well it is easier to store upside down than keeping it separate"....

bykfixer said:

Agreed, but when some said they just remove the carrier I thought "well it is easier to store upside down than keeping it separate"....

Click to expand...

I can see that.

For me though this is why I put the light in the drawer.

Just terrible battery life.

Ah funny I just found my first gen and wanted a thread. This is better than expected, and I may have to get a third one now the tint is better.

I have a rebel 104 lumen (found in a jacket with eneloops after 2 years in storage, still lit but batts only had 50-100mah left, hi was higher than low still) with pwm, and a 200 lumen xp-e2 without. I have 3 sets of 3 NiMH aaa's, so have plenty of use for 3aaa lights and these are my favorite option (vs 5mm junk or the terrible zoomies). Regardless I enjoy them and really like the UI though I wish low was 10%

My 200lm version has better tint with far less shift and slightly smaller hotspot. The XL50 is for household or temporary usage, less outdoors or camping. But it does okay for what it is, it doesn't have the spill width, runtime, or throw of the bigger maglites but it's narrow and I love the switch and UI.

Woof sorry I'm just getting back into lights and over time while my zebralights are still king my day to day usage favors what it does. These lights get a lot of use.

Still liking this light a lot after a few days. I really like they got rid of the dumb focus feature and just have the one focus like most Surefire incans. Again, the build quality is a little suspect, but we'll see how that goes. I'm mostly leery of the thinness of the aluminum and possibly the switch and battery carrier quality. The thin aluminum might prove to be an asset over time though as it makes it very light weight.