Maglites-Old school bulbs

[alinc100]

Got a drawer full of Maglite bulbs in a cabinet I won at auction. Is there any market for these anymore now that LEDs are dominating the market? I hate to throw them away but have not accessed them in the 3-4 years I've owned 'em.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Boomers love maglites everybody under 50 hates them so if you find the old farts that still use them that’s the market.

 

[Dave455]

Still perfectly viable.

I’ll admit the bigger C and D cell Mag Lite’s have generally been replaced by lights with either more power or less weight, but the “classic” incandescent lights don’t have any circuitry to fail, and will still work after decades, which you can’t necessarily say about the LED’s.

The Mini Maglite‘s are a classic design, but the LED versions seem to be particularly fault prone. I think the switch contacts get dirty, then the LED’s start flickering, and then work only intermittently.

If you like the design, you pretty much have to stick with the incandescent.

 

[RedneckWelder]

but the “classic” incandescent lights don’t have any circuitry to fail

instead the circuit just looses continuity and the bulb flickers out on you when you need it most. it’s also an excellent dead battery holder.

if you want a bombproof light, Surefire is the name.

 

[Kuma601]

Some old school flashlight user will enjoy them somewhere. My suggestion would be to put them into a box/bag for next donation that goes out.

Those Mags of days past were great. I have those incan D sizes from 3-6 cells. I have not used one in over 18 years. The incan mini and Solitaire were ok. The LED Solitaire as Dave455 mentions about the contacts getting dirty is frustrating. Have sprayed electrical contact cleaner through the bodies with no improvement.

Surefire and Streamlight have been good. Picked up an O-light recently, so far been good.

 

[Bubba Fett]

As someone who has collected lights, and modified Maglites, I think incandescent lights still have their place. 100% color rendering index, and Mags tend to throw really well. Super-bright LED's can be too much for close up work.

I have an Incandescent Mag-Charger that's one of my favorite lights. It out-throws lights several times as bright. They have since discontinued it, and replaced it with LED models that are also quite good.

These are fairly basic bulbs, but I'm sure you can sell them on Ebay since there are still plenty of enthusiasts.

 

[darkzero]

Not to me. I used to mod Maglites back in the early 2000s removing these & converting to LED. But that doesn't mean they are useless, I wouldn't trash em.

Put em up on ebay as a BIN & forget about them. Someday they may sell. When I converted my machine lights to LEDs, I thought the same about all the replacement 24V 50W halogen bulb replacements I had. I put em up on ebay & one day someone bought all of them.

 

[KnurledNut]

Could always put them in the classifieds here and see what happens...

 

[Professional Tool User]

Unless you happen to have any incandescent maglites that you still use, I would just toss them out. If you can't find someone to take all of them off you in one transaction, it's not worth the time it takes to sell them, even if doing so online only requires you to package them and take them to the post office.

 

[Rinspeed]

but the “classic” incandescent lights don’t have any circuitry to fail, and will still work after decades, which you can’t necessarily say about the LED’s.

Lol, a bulb filament is the most delicate "circuit" there is.

 

[southalabama]

Boomers love maglites everybody under 50 hates them so if you find the old farts that still use them that’s the market.

Spent half an afternoon with a boomer with him hunting bulbs. He refused to convert to led. When he found them after about six stores and three hours he bought one bulb. I was wtf. Buy at least two.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

I carry a 4-D-cell LED converted Mag-Lite under the seat in my truck. Decent light that will run forever on the four batteries. Handy as a bit of a defensive weapon that doesn’t draw any scrutiny when you go places where weapons are frowned upon.

 

[MadMechMaster]

Boomers love maglites everybody under 50 hates them so if you find the old farts that still use them that’s the market.

I'm 50, right on your dividing line, and keep a 4D next to the bed. I use LED for illumination everywhere else. I guess the 4D doesn't need a working bulb, or good batteries for that matter.

 

[F-22]

I'm sure someone will buy them.
But if you want to use a mglite as a flashlight, there are so many way better options.
A popular cheap Wurkkos FC11 is the baseline, high CRI, lots of brightness, and glows for days on most medium settings (around 9 days on minimum). Then, for more enthusiastic folk, there's Hanks light D4V2. Or Zebralight for crazy efficient lights - there's a guy who kept it on for over a year on a single charge!

 

[guitarbutt]

I really like maglites and completely acknowledge that there are better flashlights. You could probably find a lot of cheap, barely used ones and put those bulbs in them. Nothing wrong with Maglites, in spite of what millennials know it all's who are obsessed with flashlights they'll never actually use might say about them

 

[Bubba Fett]

Mag-Lite has a newer 4D LED model that can be left on for 18 days on low mode. In high mode it's over 1000 lumens. Real, ANSI-certified lumens, not the Amazon/Ebay bullsh*t. They have several rechargeable models including tactical lights that are popular among law enforcement and military. All USA-made.

 

[ItsNemo]

I thought the only reason people carried maglites was because they were basically big metal clubs?

 

[RivennHewn]

Try knocking a tweaker down with a double AA LED.

My 4D mag is dual purpose

 

[redwrench60]

When I was a kid everyone’s parents had crappy plastic flashlights that barely worked, flickered constantly, had the performance of a BIC lighter and would explode like a claymore mine if dropped from higher than a foot.

Mag lights really were badass in their day. Bright, tough, reliable, waterproof and attractive. Even a storage place for a couple spare bulbs in the end cap. They’re just outclassed by all the modern stuff. They had their time in the top spot.

 

[F-22]

Mag-Lite has a newer 4D LED model that can be left on for 18 days on low mode. In high mode it's over 1000 lumens. Real, ANSI-certified lumens, not the Amazon/Ebay bullsh*t. They have several rechargeable models including tactical lights that are popular among law enforcement and military. All USA-made.

Yep, I still keep one in my car and I really like the classic design. But I keep a FC11 too, because sometimes I need light. I even have a diffusor for it so it can be used as a table lamp.

But Maglites sell on reputation. They used to be the best but didn't go forward at all. All of their emitters are ancient tech by now. But they advertise it as more "reliable" - but the real reason is it costs them nothing. No R&D, no modern emitters just the old cheap ones, they don't even use lithium batteries. Try using one of those ******** lights and they'll simply blow the Maglite away. For example, a Convoy L6 compares well to the 4D. But its 2/3rds of the price, at least twice as bright, high CRI (I think Maglite is around 80, not terrible but high is considered above 90 - CRI is one of the most important specifications, it tells you how correct the LED light is so you actually see the right colors, I think it is considered in comparison to incandescent which would be 100 CRI). It throws light further...

But most of these things are just because the Maglite does not use lithium batteries. Alkaline batteries just can't compare, they can't supply the current and they store way less energy. If you fit a lithium battery in that same maglite, it'd already perform a lot better. Then put in a 10$ emitter instead of a 2$ one and it'd be comparable and they'd still have a massive profit. It's a shame they're not going forward...

 

[WWheeler]

Boomers love maglites everybody under 50 hates them so if you find the old farts that still use them that’s the market.

I'm no Boomer BUT I'm over 50 and I switched all my old-school maglites over to LED replacement bulbs several years ago.
Luv the maglites. I have 3-4 of them I bought in the 80s and 90s and they are all still like new. SUPER dependable flashlights.

[...] Maglite does not use lithium batteries. [..]

FWIW I use Eneloop Pros in my maglites. I haven't bought a disposable battery since well before this GJ discussion back in 2017. They are Ni-MH, not lithium, but they hold a charge a really long time and can be recharged thousands of times.

 

[KnurledNut]

Because of this thread, I dug out my old Mini Mag that I had converted to LED with the Nite-eyez kit.
The battery touching the tail cap switch leaked and made a corroded mess, making it difficult to remove the cap and batteries.
I had to use my cobras to get the cap off.
I finally got the batteries out and tried some new ones, but I guess it damaged the switch.
It went into the circular file. :-(
Decent flashlight when I first converted it.

 

[Bubba Fett]

Yep, I still keep one in my car and I really like the classic design. But I keep a FC11 too, because sometimes I need light. I even have a diffusor for it so it can be used as a table lamp.

But Maglites sell on reputation. They used to be the best but didn't go forward at all. All of their emitters are ancient tech by now. But they advertise it as more "reliable" - but the real reason is it costs them nothing. No R&D, no modern emitters just the old cheap ones, they don't even use lithium batteries. Try using one of those ******** lights and they'll simply blow the Maglite away. For example, a Convoy L6 compares well to the 4D. But its 2/3rds of the price, at least twice as bright, high CRI (I think Maglite is around 80, not terrible but high is considered above 90 - CRI is one of the most important specifications, it tells you how correct the LED light is so you actually see the right colors, I think it is considered in comparison to incandescent which would be 100 CRI). It throws light further...

But most of these things are just because the Maglite does not use lithium batteries. Alkaline batteries just can't compare, they can't supply the current and they store way less energy. If you fit a lithium battery in that same maglite, it'd already perform a lot better. Then put in a 10$ emitter instead of a 2$ one and it'd be comparable and they'd still have a massive profit. It's a shame they're not going forward...

They have several models that use lithium batteries.

 

[GrantCee]

FWIW I use Eneloop Pros in my maglites. I haven't bought a disposable battery since well before this GJ discussion back in 2017. They are Ni-MH, not lithium, but they hold a charge a really long time and can be recharged thousands of times.

Where did you get those adapters? They look like just the ticket for converting from D to AA power.

 

[yeldogt]

I was such a flash light nerd ......... I'm old enough to remember what a "thing" mag lights were.

Converted a big one over to LED ... have no idea where it is. The LED conversion bulbs were bright but the beam was poor. I still have a couple smaller Mag around and Princeton Tec incandescent around. For some things my eyes like the incandescent. I'm sure there is some one who wants them

For LED -- the stuff from harbor freight is hard to match for the $$. The only reason for the bigger C and D today is they are hard to misplace --- the Mag knock off from china are under $ 10

 

[Bubba Fett]

The newer Mag LED models like the ML series have extremely good throws, and much better beam profiles. Most of them have programmable mode sets, as well. I have an ML100 that is "only" 130 lumens, but it out-throws 600-lumen lights easily. The ML150 is over 1000 lumens, and is rechargeable. Again, these are ANSI certified lumens, whereas Amazon/Ebay lights typically only provide around 1% of their advertised lumens, according to TTC.

The Mag-Tac and Mag-Tac 2 lights use CR123 batteries, but I use rechargeable 3v batteries. They have a rechargeable version of the Mag-Tac as well.

People have complained about alkaline batteries corroding, but this is a battery problem, not a light problem. I no longer use Rayovac or Duracell batteries in anything because of corrosion. I've seen Rayovac batteries leaking while in the package at the store. For Alkalines, I now only use Energizer, but prefer their Lithium batteries. Otherwise, I use Eneloops, which work just fine.

The original D-cell Mags were designed to be clubs with lights on one end. The designer pretty much admitted it. For that, there is no substitute. I have a 6D with a Terralux drop-in that's around 1000 lumens. That's my "heard something outside and need to check it out" light. It is very bright, but more flood than throw, whereas the new LED version is much more throwy, still adjustable, but without the donut effect.

The 2-AAA Minimag simply destroys the 2-AAA Quantum. The Quantum has a nicer clip though, and I don't care for the Mini-Mag twist-switch. Most of my 2AA and 2AAA have been upgraded with tailcap switches.

I also really like Streamlight and Surefire lights, but the later tends to be overpriced. I used to build Solarforce lights, and still EDC one. It has taken a beating, but still works. Hell, I still have several Rayovac industrial lights. I love those black/yellow plastic lights.

 

[F-22]

I have an ML100 that is "only" 130 lumens, but it out-throws 600-lumen lights easily. The ML150 is over 1000 lumens, and is rechargeable. Again, these are ANSI certified lumens, whereas Amazon/Ebay lights typically only provide around 1% of their advertised lumens, according to TTC.

Yeah lots of those lamps are falsely advertised. Though if you do the research there are also definitely lots of cheap gems out there. And how cool it is to have a nice titanium or copper D4V2, with the new 519a emitters...