NewBeam MiniMag upgrade

Has anyone tried the NewBeam MiniMag upgrade? Is it brighter than the original bulb? Besides the fact that it's cool, is it better? Just curious.

Dale

Lots of CPF'ers use them. They are nice. They are NOT brighter than the original bulb--that's not their goal. Rather, they run for a lot longer on a set of batteries, and they don't burn out.

These days though, I'd get a Gerber Trio rather than a Minimag/Newbeam combo. I'd rather have something designed from scratch for a specific task, than something retrofitted to a light designed for another task, even if the retrofit is a nice one.

Hello wreck. I have the Opalec NewBeam module and I love it. To answer your questions: NO, it is not brighter than the incandescent bulb and worse, it does not have the ability to focus its light into a tight beam. However,
IMHO, I still think it is worth every penny spent. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gifThe 'white' light makes a big difference to me for up close work and the constant output for 10 hrs just /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif. I lent a friend of mine my Opalec moded mag and if by chance it is lost or destroyed, I will gladly replace it with another.

I have 2 (both with extra battery extensions on them) they're difinitely not bright but as said above they just keep going, perfect around the house setup for the next big blackout!

I have one and like it! It is not usefull to me as a day to day light for work. I usually need BRIGHT to overcome ambient light.

But the Newbeam excells in around the house use! It's very very nice for close up work such as inside a computer.

In a total absence of light, you will be amazed how bright a single 5MM led can be, much less an Opalec!!!

Even to this day, the NewBeam has one of the most effecient circuits available. I've never seen such a flat-line like that before.

I have not tried the NewBeam yet but I have tried the Tektite LT-1 and am very impressed with it. I think it's brighter than the original bulb and much whiter. Also the LT-1 is a ground down Nichia led which can focus the beam in a mini-mag. It also requires no modification to the mini-mag and is a direct led replacement and does not void the warranty. See Beam shot comparison at http://www.led-replacement.com/lt-1_shots.html
led_replacement
http://store.led-replacement.com/lt1.html

The only problem I noticed with the Newbeam is that it is fragile...I broke mine replacing the battery!

You must not have a tail switch on that light!

I never have to exert force on my Opalec or my Madmax.

How did you break it anyhow?

Been meaning to repond to this query for a while, and keep putting it off.

The Newbeam is a very nice upgrade. As indicated, it isn't exactly brighter than the original bulb, but it is much more usable IMO. It gives a broad, even, fairly white beam and runs flat regulated for about 10 hrs I recall. While upgrading my Minimag, I would also upgrade to a glass lens and a Kroll tailcap switch. Worth it? Yes!

However...

As much as I really like the Newbeam, I fell in love with the sandwich upgrades that Wayne produces. While you don't get the 10 hr runtime, after seeing that bright white light with decent beam come out of your Minimag, you'll have a hard time paying a similar amount for the Newbeam (assuming one of Wayne's lower end sandwiches). Not only that, but if you get one that is adjustable, you can pick your own tradeoff.

Double however...

For the price of Wayne's sandwiches, you could just buy yourself a Streamlight Jr Luxeon. You get the light, the LED, the tailcap. Not only that, but it sounds like the tailcap is physically better than the Kroll. And everything was designed to work together so it should be more robust. The only downside is I think it still has a lexan lens.

Man, it's a great time to be a flashaholic!

-john

I'll throw in more positives for the Newbeam. In power outages, its extremely useful. When its pitch dark, it really does throw a lot of light out. And 10 hours of regulated output is very useful.


Another very good long running flashlight is the UK 4aa eLED. Its NOT an upgrade to a Maglite, but is a completely different flashlight made by Underwater Kinetics. The beam is much whiter than the Opalec (the Opalec is tinted blue), and the UK is also brighter and runs for 11 hours with near constant regulation (something like a 6% drop, which wouldn't be noticable to human eyes).

I have this and the Terra lux drop in, both are excellent, but the runtime on the Opalec is great, and the flood style beam is perfect for navigating around in the dark, plus it has a red led that glows when the batteries are almost dead--- I use this thing a lot more than expected--- that and my Surefire 6P with KL3 LED module... Have fun!!!

I wouldn't let all the talk about Newbeams being less bright than a standard Minimag fool you. They may put out measurably less light when you first fire them up and definitely throw less (I referenced flashlightreviews output/throw charts), but after 5 or 10 minutes of use, my money is on the Newbeam being the champ (just an educated guess). The Opalec Newbeam may not be the brightest or the best bang for the buck (depending on how you measure that), but it offers a lot of fully regulated run time and is just a rock solid product.

Talking about alternatives, how about Lambda's
mini-pill 3w luxeon which converts the minimag
into a 1200 lux for 2 hours flashlight!

Check out the thread on Custom Mods B/S/T

Lambda has a long list of people in line for the MiniPro AA drop-in and if he is making the lghts in batches of 25 is could be quite a while before a light becomes available for everyone. I would imagine he has about 250 to 300 people on the list. I was at the right place at the right time when MiniPro became available so I'm #4 on his MiniPro list. He will be shipping most of the first batch today so I should have the drop-in in a couple of days. But for other people it could be a long wait for the MiniPro.

I'm one of the lucky ones too...

Sometimes it really pays to hit "Latest Threads" !!!!