MicoStar1+MiniMag-AAA

Over the weekend I installed a MicroStar LED drop-in into a MiniMag-AAA. Not bad, slight green tint to it and a bit off center. But all in all, not bad.

chiphead

chiphead said:

Over the weekend I installed a MicroStar LED drop-in into a MiniMag-AAA. Not bad, slight green tint to it and a bit off center. But all in all, not bad.

chiphead

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I put one in a AA mag a while ago and I found the beam colour a real distraction, to the point that I only use that particular torch rarely. It's a pity since the battery life and brightness are pretty good with this drop-in (and the price too).

I found the yellow corona around the white center very annoying in my microstar AAA minimag. Finally I cut out a piece of textured clear plastic and sandwiched it between the lens and reflector. Now I have a wide flood with no throw. I use it for close in tasks. I do not mind the 'warm white' colour as it is now quite even. It was the yellow-white-yellow that was driving me crazy.

Yep I did the same a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be a good upgrade for my lads AAA but ended up moding it with a MJLED and difuser which is better IMHO, I'm thinking about using the Microstar in a UK 2AAA eLED just to make use of it, the yellow ring arround the centre is very distracting. but as has been said output and run time are very good

Mark

Mine's used primarily in the "candle-mode" for power outages. Perfect!

I have to agree it works very well like that .

I bought one as a gift because I was getting it at a good price. The yellow colour was almost torturous in my eyes. :sick2: After much trial and error, I ended up sputtering the reflector. This 'diluted' the sick yellow colour and reduced throw by about 30%. I also had problems with the head of the maglite shaking too much due to too low tolerances. Wrapping thread seal (white pipe tape) arround the threads helped significantly.

In the end, I didn't feel too horrible giving away the light with the improvements made.

I couldn't stand the beam pattern also & wound up putting the Microstar in a solitaire powered by a AAA size Li-Ion + resistors (i think it was two 4.7 ohms in parallel - wrapped in electrical tape and small piece from a ball point pen spring). Sanded down the reflector quite a bit so the hole could accept the Microstar. The beam pattern with the sanded down solitaire reflector is not too bad - very wide beam, with lighter center spot than the 2xAAA minimag and much thinner & lighter yellow ring surround by a soft, wide + usable sidespill.

For the 2xAAA, used a AAA size Li-ion with a 15 ohm resistor in a tube and MJLED + drilled mag reflector. Not as bright as the Microstar, but nice sustained white beam. I originally tried 2 alkaline AAA's, but not as bright as the Li-Ion even with fresh alkalines and the brightness dropped off very quickly.