No more Mags at my local Home Depot

I was really surprised to find that my local Home Depot has sold out of Mags and won't be getting any more in. Looks like they have been replaced with loads of cheaper/higher profit margin lights.

The HDs by me sold out of all of their Mags and Rayovac Indestructibles and replaced with a bunch of cr@p defiant/husky/coast/Milwaukee junk – a lot of it priced about as much (or more) than what Maglites sold for. Mag can still be ordered site to store but it sucks that you can't walk into the local home depot and buy a decent flashlight.


Walmart seems to be closing out a lot of their Mags as well.

Without knowing what really happened I speculate Maglite has seen sales drop enough to not re-enter into contracts with the big box stores. Perhaps big box stores have not invited Maglite back due to slumping sales too. But at my local Wally World, big orange store and Lowes flashlights in general collect dust these days. Bushnell, Rayovac, Coast no longer fly off the shelves either.

It does make me wonder why they liquidated Rayovacs and Maglites but not Ozark Trails and Coasts.

The LED flashlight craze has likely peeked across America and everybody who wants one has one. But I do miss having the opportunity to snag yet another triple a minimag each time I go to buy nails or paint.

They have got to be making higher profits on stuff like coasts - looks good on the outside but cheaply made. Store brands like ozark, defiant and husky I would guess have even higher mark ups.

Seem like many people just use their phones or get one of those atomic Navy SEAL lights. If they buy from a big box store, they probably look for something cheap that (supposedly) has the highest lumens.

Maglite has done a great job keeping prices down, build quality up while still making Mags in the USA, but it must be getting harder for them to compete for the shrinking flashlight self space in big box stores.

Even as a hardcore incandescent guy, I continually scratch my head at the fact that Maglite still sells several incandescent lights. And scratch my head even further wondering why people still buy them, considering there are floods of tiny LED lights that are 5 times brighter and run 10 times longer, for the same money, or less in most cases right there on the same shelf.

I of course do not have any evidence of this but it's POSSIBLE that Maglite increased its profit margin at Walmart's expense OR would not adjust their profit margins and Walmart might have decided to go with manufacuturers whose lights customers will buy while maintaining the same profit margin.

Maglite needs to rethink its decision unless Walmart was quite unreasonable.

Once WallMart buckeled and stopped selling pistol ammo and 5.56 i have not set foot in one. Don't care what they sell for flashlights since they gave in to the bloomberg crowd.
They are going after a new type of customer these days.

Not a Maglite to be had in person anywhere in my area, none at HD, Tractor Supply, or Walmart. LED or incan...

LetThereBeLight! said:

I of course do not have any evidence of this but it's POSSIBLE that Maglite increased its profit margin at Walmart's expense OR would not adjust their profit margins and Walmart might have decided to go with manufacuturers whose lights customers will buy while maintaining the same profit margin.

Maglite needs to rethink its decision unless Walmart was quite unreasonable.

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More likely the other way around. Every year the big box stores put the squeeze on manufactures to give them lower prices.

^^ that was my thought too.
And perhaps the clearance sales were the box stores having a tantrum.

+

I have two (2)D-cell Mags w/ led emitter setups, if anyone's interested.

also: they were stock incans that I put drop-ins' into
1: SSC
2: Luxeon Rebel, I think

Granger is selling Maglite products now. They are where I found the updated 2D classic two setting light (after learning about it here). They are an industrial supplier who sell all kinds of work gear like bicycles trucks for factories and reflective clothing for tow truck drivers…… stuff like that, so it kinda makes sense they'd be selling Maglite products.

A lot of folks did not like the so-called low setting being nearly as bright as the high on the new classic 2D but if/when duty calls for all night use or extended underground use it really makes sense. Nearly the same brightness to provide a typical Maglite S&R/duty light with 10x the runtime.

I still don't see those at Maglite or any other Maglite online seller.

bykfixer said:

Granger is selling Maglite products now. They are where I found the updated 2D classic two setting light (after learning about it here). They are an industrial supplier who sell all kinds of work gear like bicycles trucks for factories and reflective clothing for tow truck drivers…… stuff like that, so it kinda makes sense they'd be selling Maglite products.

A lot of folks did not like the so-called low setting being nearly as bright as the high on the new classic 2D but if/when duty calls for all night use or extended underground use it really makes sense. Nearly the same brightness to provide a typical Maglite S&R/duty light with 10x the runtime.

I still don't see those at Maglite or any other Maglite online seller.

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In my opinion, one of the most interesting products we've seen from Maglite is the anomaly called the ML25IT, I believe you posted a thread about it. How strange for a company to actually develop an incandescent from the group up in this day and age.

DayofReckoning said:

In my opinion, one of the most interesting products we've seen from Maglite is the anomaly called the ML25IT, I believe you posted a thread about it. How strange for a company to actually develop an incandescent from the group up in this day and age.

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Don't think it's ground up. Light is incan version of their led model. Good light in either case.

The ML25IT, the maxi-mini-mig.
Actually somebody else started the IT version thread where he enquired about hot wiring one. Later he actually modified (iirc) a Streamlight Stinger incan reflector to fit one and used high power batteries to make miniature ROP of sorts. All I did was experiment with achieving a brighter output that wouldn't melt the stock lens and reflector. 6 volts from LifePo batteries in a 2 cell version with a 4 cell bulb is about as bright as the LED version. And 1amp 18650's in a 3 cell version with a Streamlight TL3 bulb was pretty good too. But op's with metal reflector, high output batteries and glass lens was much brighter.

Vesture of Blood milled a 2 cell body into a 1 cell size and added a custom LED in a one of a kind. That one was pretty cool.

I used to wonder if Tony and the gang built the incan version first or the LED version. Both versions were available in 2 or 3 cell platforms when they first arrived. Heck Maglite even updated the IT in 2018 saying "even brighter". But now their website is absent of any incan lights.

I kinda figured perhaps there were a million light bulbs leftover from production and clever Tony decided to sell them instead of trashing them so he had an incan version of the ML25 built. Then one of his lab coat wearing minions said "boss, we gotta do it in LED Too".
At one point I pondered if it were an experiment to see how the market would react to the warm beam versus cool beam in the ML25 in 2016/17. Hard to know what really happened.
Either way, I grabbed a few ML25IT lights back then. My blue one is SN 0000000017.

Anyway, yeah it's going to be a drag not being able to find Maglite products in the big box stores anymore. Sign of the times I suppose.

bykfixer said:

Without knowing what really happened I speculate Maglite has seen sales drop enough to not re-enter into contracts with the big box stores. Perhaps big box stores have not invited Maglite back due to slumping sales too. But at my local Wally World, big orange store and Lowes flashlights in general collect dust these days. Bushnell, Rayovac, Coast no longer fly off the shelves either.

It does make me wonder why they liquidated Rayovacs and Maglites but not Ozark Trails and Coasts.

The LED flashlight craze has likely peeked across America and everybody who wants one has one. But I do miss having the opportunity to snag yet another triple a minimag each time I go to buy nails or paint.

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Regarding Ozark trails,
First of all it is a Walmart brand, probably made to their specs, and as cheaply as possible (leading to better profit margins).
I took one of their 3D cell lanterns apart. It was direct drive with two different resistors, switch selectable, to give a high and a low. Certainly cheaper than an actual driver. Also, IIRC, nothing was screwed together, but rather the metal backing plate for the LED had little holes in it, and was laid over a few, molded in, plastic posts, that were melted to secure it in place, probably by a robot. The other components were glued together. one would have to break it to get it apart. So it is not serviceable. It wasn't poorly made, but certainly not maglite quality.

Years ago when shopping for a BBQ grill, I discovered that a home and garden center carried a particular brand of grill, with stainless steel cooking surface grill. The HD had the same model grill at a lower price, but it had a non-coated cast iron cooking surface grill. I wanted stainless, and I paid a bit more at the garden center. There the man told me that the cast grills were custom made for the HD so that they could come in at the price point that HD wanted. That Garden center closed its doors three years ago.

Yeah... the big box stores are putting the little shops, and not so little shops, out of business.

Yup sign of the times for sure. I sort of noticed when we no longer saw MagLED lights on Black Fridays on sale wondering if either they couldn't generate enough interest or profit from them. I think Mag should have made a clicky 2AA and 1AA LED light and an 18650 built in rechargeable light line in stores plus maybe even a 3 or 4AA side by side short light instead of multiple AAA lights which are not impressive over time smart people who buy these lights replace them with ones with more respectable runtimes and output.
I think one big unexpected competitor that helped fuel Mags demise is the Smart Phone Light App. I haven't had a Smart Phone very long in fact I rarely use it for a flashlight as I'm so used to dragging my keychain light out of my pocket even when I have my phone one me but I've noticed most people who are a lot younger than me when in the dark grab their phone light very very few reach for a flashlight so I'm guessing a lot of these folks who decide they do need a light to preserve phone batteries may grab a cheap light instead of investing in a higher priced minimag that doesn't have a touch switch (or even clicky) do these folks even know how to twist a light on?

I've also noticed a dearth of Maglites in my area. Luckily, I managed to score 3D incandescent before they vanished completely. Of course, I know I could order one if I wanted. Echoing what Bykfixer said, there's just something about grabbing one off the rack while you're shopping for other things. I'm not a fan of the Defiant brand they sell now. I bought one a few years ago but it failed within a week of gentle use.

I wonder why Maglite has never done a 1aa. A Solitaire with better runtime.

Probably too little too late now but I'm just pondering.

bykfixer said:

I wonder why Maglite has never done a 1aa. A Solitaire with better runtime.

Probably too little too late now but I'm just pondering.

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I'd like to see that, but like you said... probably too late.

I've noticed most people who are a lot younger than me when in the dark grab their phone light very very few reach for a flashlight

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I noticed the same. Once in a walmart, there was a brief power outage, and I was stunned at how quickly people were able to reach for their phone and turn on the flashlight app.