What is the best LED for AA Maglights?

Does anyone know what is the brightest/best LED replacement for mini-mag AA lights? Either one that will fit in the pin mount or one that replaces the guts. I would prefer the guts replacement LED. I would like it to have good spot spot capability. Please advise.

for a spot beam

i have a madmax wo LuxIII 3W with a (i think it is) Faren LP.

Just got a Mr. Bulk AA maglite mod. He potted a custom board from the front in instead of using a sammie. Very tight bright beam.

The reflector used is the original, cut down to fit the luxeon. From what I can tell the luxeon used is an R2H. The person I purchased it from claimed it was pure white, I see it as slightly yellow. goes to show you everyone sees tints slightly different.

How about considering the nice light that Lambda is making available for the Min*mag? The HD Pill sounds real nice and different. But there is a waiting list for the Pill.

LAMBA HIGH DOME FOR MIN*MAG

My R2H also looked like warm white.

[ QUOTE ]
haveblue said:
How about considering the nice light that Lambda is making available for the Min*mag? The HD Pill sounds real nice and different. But there is a waiting list for the Pill.

Ya just have to get on the list

LAMBA HIGH DOME FOR MIN*MAG

[/ QUOTE ]

Welcome to CPF! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Apart from the Lambda mod, which is very impressive, if you don't want to wait I recommend the sandwich. A sandwich (not the grilled cheese kind) is a Luxeon LED emitter, emitter support board, connectors and control electronics 'sandwiched' together. Removing the guts of the MiniMag allows the sandwich to drop in directly. You will also have to change the reflector. While you're at it, change the easily scratched lens to a mineral glass lens.

I just built a BB500 sandwich with a Luxeon 3 TV1K emitter, and it is indeed bright for something of the MiniMag's size. Pictures of the SO17XA reflector at work can be found here. The SO17XA combines spill and hotspot, but if you are going for a very concentrated spot they tell me the Fraen LP optic (instead of a reflector) works well.

Don't let my talk of having to roll the sandwich by hand put you off. People with far more time than money like me will do it by hand but you can buy them professionally made in a variety of configurations rather than as a DIY kit from the Sandwich Shoppe./

The only problem I find with a Sandwich or a Pill is not the operation but supply. There is not much selection to buy from. The Sandwich Shoppe has been extremely lean with the drop ins lately. I don't know if anymore are being built. There is not much of a selection and what is left could be a mystery lunch. Oh the products are good but the only sandwich left are the 1-watt Luxeon drop ins. 1-watt emitters have worse quality control than the 3-watt emitters. Who know what the emitter color would be-white, green, yellow, blue or puke. There does seem to be one MadMax Lite left at the Shoppe and those are decent. But if that one gets bought then who knows when it will be replaced. The Shoppe is basically empty on drop in item selections.

The Lambda MiniPro Pill is a good bet but he is overwhelmed with orders and a very long waiting list. Plus the Pill has run into a minor setback. I was lucky enough to be #5 or #6 on the first list of receivers of the MiniPro Pill but the Pill is delayed. A delay means the light is not available.

So a Terra Lux MiniStar would be an option for a Min*mag. I haven't tried one but I've read the beams are not good with lots of rings in the beam.

Lambda does have another drop in pill called the SMD+ and is currently available for $25.00 and can be found ..... here.

I have one of these and like it quite a bit. It's way brighter than the stock mini-mag even with the regular old alkalines I use, slight blue'ish tint but plenty nice by my estimation.

Now, it's not going to light up your driveway with a solid wall of light, or put a spot of light 100 yards away. But it will give you plenty of light to walk down pitch black trail at night by, look 30-50 feet up a tree to see what's going "bump" and/or use as a task light (computer work, under the sink type stuff).

If I wasn't waiting for his MiniPro and miniminimag, I'd probably get another one. For $25.00 and the fact that they are available now, makes it a decent option in my opinion. A UCL lense and kroll switch would be nice additions, but not critically necessary.

Mike

Hmm.. there is one MadMax with a GREEN Lux3. The entry level MadMax WO 1W HD is restocked often, there are 17 of them now. You could always use the BK sandwich assembly or talk to dat2zip.

Custom stuff such as the sandwich and Lambda's excellent creations are always hard to come by. That they're custom usually means that their creators have an opportunity to really push the envelope, but because they're custom also means they're limited editions by nature. I rolled my own kit in part to avoid the wait and partly because I wanted to customize lots of stuff - no NX05/Fraen for me, I wanted to try the SO17XA I've heard so much about.

If I needed to issue a bunch of lights quickly right here, right NOW, I'd probably go with the Streamlight Jr Luxeon, or even the Streamlight 3AA Luxeon, the latter being too big and unregulated but I can obtain it locally.