Maglite Bulb Died, replace with Xenon or LED Upgrade?

[kartracer55]

Ok well Let me just start off by saying I like my 3D cell Maglite. I like the size, shape, feel and weight of it, as well as the quality, so I really don't want to buy a streamlight or other light. They don't feel "right" in my hands.

Anyway, stock bulb is a krypton bulb. It's pretty bright, definitely adequate for what I need as I don't use it daily, just around the house. Bulb burnt out after a couple years, so I popped in the spare from the cap for now.

They offer an upgraded Xenon bulb I can get for 3$ that will probably serve me well for several more years,

Or, for roughly $20, I can get the 3watt LED upgrade for my Mag-lite. Any thoughts on the LED upgrade? I am a bit skeptical of LED lights because of the light they give off. Anybody give either one a shot? How well is the beam adjustable with the LED bulb?

 

[Roadsters.com]

Here's a forum for flashlight enthusiasts: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

[dougcoug]

I have the 3D Maglite and upgraded to the LED bulb and was so happy that I did. The light is much brighter and the color is MUCH whiter (is that a word, "whiter?"). My friend has the same flashlight and we compared both brightness and color and he bought the LED upgrade the next day after he saw what it did on mine. I was quite happy with it.

 

[superautobacs]

I've replaced my small Maglite with the LED upgrade--it rendered the beam adjustment useless. Lumen output is on par, if not better. I don't know if this applies to all models though.

Edit: I forgot to mention that a 3-watt LED is bright. I have a Petzl headlamp that has a 3-watt LED and it's blindingly bright.

 

[bmwguru]

I installed the Maglite brand LED upgrade bulb in my 3D cell. It is much better than the Krypton IMHO. I feel it's brighter and the batteries will last nearly forever. I also installed a non Maglite LED upgrade in my Minimag and it's ****. I think Maglite offers an upgrade LED for the Minimag, maybe it's better than the off brand.

 

[gotmud13613]

+ another for the led upgrade. Worth every penny.

 

[tdkkart]

I did the genuine magLite LED "upgrade" in one of my 2AA Maglites. I hate it.
Yes, the light is brigter, and the batteries last forever, but the usefulness of the light has gone to hell. The beam adjustment is gone, the light is not focused at all. I like a beam of light in a flashlight, and this just ain't doing it.
I've yet to see an LED flashlight that I like, there's still work to do before they make a decent one.

 

[kartracer55]

For you guys that like the LED kits, how is the adjustability of it? Is it focused or is it more "broad"? Also, does it still project far like the traditional Bulbs do? I have found that a lot of LED lights I have used (while cheap ones) don't seem to through light very far.

Dave, thanks for the link

Jim

 

[Chief]

Here's a forum for flashlight enthusiasts: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

I did not know flashlight enthusiasts existed.

 

[1320stang]

While I find LEDs are brighter in total darkness, their effectiveness in a partial light environment is pretty worthless. Working for an engineering firm, I frequently have to pop ceiling tile and observe the layout of piping or ductwork above a ceiling and the maglight with the stock bulb did a better job than a LED flashlite. I got a Cyclops Xenon light from Sam's a couple years ago and find that it's light output is comperable to the regular maglight bulb in partial light and more on line with a LED in total darkness. This was based on general observation, no scientific tests were done.

 

[PSU Engineer]

Besides the LED upgrade, you may want to investigate replacing the polycarbonate lens with a glass one. I have two Maglites that I replaced the bulbs with LED upgrades. At the same time, I upgraded the lens to a 52.1 mm UCL (98-99%) light transmission. The stock plastic lens will not transmit this much light through it. This is especially true when the lens gets scratched.

The one Maglite has a LED Dynamics EverLED bulb. This is real nice in the fact that it fits in the stock housing with no modifications. This also allows the Maglite's focus function to work.

The other Maglite has a TerraLUX 3Watt Luxeon bulb. This is VERY bright but it eats D batteries rather quickly.

I also put Opalec LED conversions into my Mini 2AA cell maglites. They also got 22mm Boroscope glass lens upgrades.

Two other sites with good information:
http://www.Flashlightlens.com <<<Glass flashlight lenses
http://www.flashlightreviews.com <<<LED bulb reviews and information.

Tony

 

[Bustawrench]

Get the LED and you won't be sorry.

 

[WVU Tuba Dale]

I did the genuine magLite LED "upgrade" in one of my 2AA Maglites. I hate it.
Yes, the light is brigter, and the batteries last forever, but the usefulness of the light has gone to hell. The beam adjustment is gone, the light is not focused at all. I like a beam of light in a flashlight, and this just ain't doing it.
I've yet to see an LED flashlight that I like, there's still work to do before they make a decent one.

I find the durability of the LED 2AA Maglites to be sub-par. I dropped it maybe 8-9 times during the course of a month and it was a gonner. My regular bulb 2AA Maglite has been dropped so many times, I think its more scratched than not.

 

[Stuey]

I'm not sure how to advise you, but what I would do is pop in the spare Krypton bulb in, put the maglite aside, and buy a 3D LED Maglite. I bought an upgrade for my 2D Maglite, but in hindsight, it just would have made better sense to throw a few extra $$ into the mix for a second flashlight entirely.

I am a huge fan of Maglite's 3AA LEDs since they entire headpiece is reengineered to maximize utility of the flashlight. The 2D and 3D units are identical to the older versions, which means they might not be quite as optimized for an LED element.

Edit: I'm working on a quick video comparison for you...

 

[81Seca]

Most of the guys that get into LED flashlights seem to start out looking for more throw. And the LED technologies seem to advance fairly rapidly (check out a P7 light). I like having a nice throw, but have found for general use that a good flood is much more practical. I like the fact that LED's rarely if ever have to be replaced, and seem to last longer on a set of cells. Some can have a slight tint to them, but for the most part they are much whiter than incans. Got rid of the few maglites I had awhile back when I realized I could find a brighter, smaller, lighter (and cheaper) flashlight by going LED. I guess maglites still make a decent baton : )
There are adjustable beam LED flashlights, as well as multi-stage lights (Fenix's are nice).
I have a few incans (Princeton Tec's) that I like, but mostly for their waterproof/shockproof qualities.

 

[Stuey]

While I'm waiting for youtube to upload and process the videos, I'll say that I have no idea what you guys are talking about the lack of adjustment.

I made a quick comparison from 5 feet away from a white painted ceiling, in a completely dark room. To keep things fair, the same batteries were swapped between two flashlights - one with a Krypton bulb, and one with an LED bulb. The batteries were NOT fresh, but were reasonably new.

One thing I noticed was that of course, the Krypton emission has a string yellow tint to it, and the LED emission was much brighter.

 

[Stuey]

3D Maglite with Krypton Bulb

3D Maglite with LED Bulb

If I have time, I might be able to produce a better looking video with a more realistic usage depiction - 5 ft isn't too accurate of a throw distance for testing.

When viewing the images and videos, consider the illumination of the obstructing lamp, which is at a distance of about 16" from the flashlight, and 44" from the ceiling/target.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Here's a forum for flashlight enthusiasts: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

I did not know flashlight enthusiasts existed.

You must've missed our flashlight thread:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18958

 

[KnightFire]

Thought ya'll would find this site useful for this topic:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_mag-led.htm

and if your REALLY serious about it:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=119665&highlight=mag-led

 

[Stuey]

I highly advise that anyone intending to check out candlepower forums leave their credit card far, far away from immediate reach!

 

[kartracer55]

Stuey, thanks for the videos!

Im still a bit torn after reading those threads, its the throw that gets me. I might just try out the xenon bulb, Can't seem to find any reviews on them. I figure, for 2$, if I don't like it, I can always upgrade to the LED.

Jim

 

[Stuey]

Stuey, thanks for the videos!

Im still a bit torn after reading those threads, its the throw that gets me. I might just try out the xenon bulb, Can't seem to find any reviews on them. I figure, for 2$, if I don't like it, I can always upgrade to the LED.

Jim

That's a pretty good way of looking at it.

Actually, I just realized something - I can probably give you a real-life demo if you'd like; I would just need a day or two's notice.

 

[mkdive]

comming from a guy who has +10 surefire lights....I also have a maglite with a led lamp. It's my Goto light in my tool box/work bench. Much brighter light than the oem bulb. Get one!

 

[Chamkila]

just buy a fenix ld20 i have a stinger and both aa and dd maglights (the cost of a holder and batteries make the fenix worth every penny

 

[FNFS2000]

if you like the ultra "cool" (as in color of the light), go with led, you'll love the battery life.

 

[a390st]

I broke down and bought a LED bulb for my 3D Maglite after a lot of debate. I'm glad I did. The light is good, but the battery life is what has me sold. It stays brighter for a LOT longer than my old bulb did.

 

[mylesc]

The genuine MagLED bulbs are decent. They do have thermal regulation built in to the circuit to cut back on the output as heat rises. In other words, it gets dimmer as it gets hotter. They have poor heat sinking so there's no real way to get rid of the heat.

This is widely regarded as one of the best drop in LED modules for the Mag and it comes with a massive heatsink to deal with heat:

http://www.malkoffdevices.com/shop2/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_2&products_id=2