RARE MAGLITES

[bykfixer]

Pretty cool... as usual.

More epic epic-ness.

Somebody should tell Tony about your collection. He would probably be honored to see it.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Pretty cool... as usual.

More epic epic-ness.

Somebody should tell Tony about your collection. He would probably be honored to see it.

Thanks, lol, I've been at it for a while. Fun fun collecting. Have ya picked up anything new lately? I don't know how ya stay away from the temptation.

I don't if he'd be honored or if he'd sue me.

I've been lucky enough to talk to a few folks from the early days of Mag but not Tony. I've always wanted to and I wrote him a letter a while back. I did not receive a response but I wasn't surprised. He's near 90 now and from what I hear is that he's pretty well checked out of the day to day business. I think that Mag will ultimately be bought by a large conglomerate after Tony's gone and like most other brands the history will likely be lost aside from a few small footnotes here and there. Mag hasn't been a small, family company for quite some time.

 

[quinlag]

I don't know anything about maglites or collecting them.
I saw some that looked old on a website called KSL; just go to classifieds and type in flashlights.
They were asking $3 each.
Pictured below.

 

[bykfixer]

Tony sue somebody Lift'd? Say it aint so. lol.

I've kinda been going back to the future with an occasional purchase here n there. A few 70's/80's type of double a dime store numbers with 2016+ LED's in them by Rayovac, Eveready and such. And a few LED Solitaires while my local box stores still have them.

$3 ea is pretty good quinlag, even if only for parts. :thumbsup:

 

[LiftdT4R]

Lol, I've only had my blog up for a year and I kicked around not putting it up at all. I'm surprised I haven't seen a cease and desist letter yet. I try not to post anything that might be a trade secret but it seems like everything winds up being a trade secret to Mag somehow. I figure most of the tech is now so old it shouldn't really be a loss to anyone to have it posted. We'll see...

Nice! No new Surefires? I've been working on a G2. I had one in the early 2000s for about a week before I lost it so the nostalgia factor is high. I'm sure you're the same though, can't buy just one. Got to be a NIB, a yellow, an OD and a black, lol.

Those Mags sure are nice especially for $3 a piece. If it weren't for the shipping cost I'd snatch them up all day long. They aren't especially rare. You can tell they're 1990+ by the shortened grips. They don't appear to be a unique finish so they're worth about $15 to $18 each assuming they work.

 

[Crumbly]

Great work on the gold 2D, LiftdT4R I didn't think it would clean up so nice.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Thanks!! I finally had a chance to put the switch all back together tonight and she lit up really nice! I know it's still a rough light but the gold lights are so rare I'm just happy to have it at all. The light functions flawlessly so I'm just going to say: "function over form", lol.

And I think this 2D feels right at home with the rest of my gold lights. The other 2D is a 1984, the 2C and 3D are 1988 models and the mini Mag is from 1986-1991.

 

[Toohotruk]

WOW! oo:

 

[Guitar Guy]

Nice batch of gold Mags, Liftd. That 2D cleaned up pretty nicely.

Guit

 

[Icarus]

Nice batch of gold Mags, Liftd. That 2D cleaned up pretty nicely.

Guit

+1 :thumbsup:

 

[LiftdT4R]

Thanks guys!! I recently received a 4D Vari-Beam for restoration from a contact on my blog. When I got the light it wasn't it terrible shape. It turns out it just had some minor corrosion in the switch and barrel from a bad battery. Fortunately the leak wasn't all that bad and it cleaned up easily. These lights are always a surprise.

The light came with and old Osram Halogen PR Base. These aren't much brighter than a Krypton but they are more expensive. They were made in Germany and they throw a heck of a nice beam when paired with a clean reflector and lens. The quality is very very high and they are one of my favorite PR base bulbs. I believe they were made for medical use originally. They were expensive in their day and an aftermarket bulb which I think shows someone cared a lot for this light when they owned it. After all they were one of the most expensive lights in their day.

Also, I took a pic with my like new 4D Vari-Beam. You can see the one I restored has quite a few miles on it but still has many left to go. Mine is a 1980 ~50,000 serial "Paten Pending". The one I restored is a 1982 ~123,000 serial. It is stamped "Patented Made in U.S.A." because it was made after Mag's patent was approved in mid 1981.

 

[bykfixer]

Osram is possibly the oldest bulb maker. Renowned for quality for about 100 years. Medical equipment often came with them due to outstanding durability.

Back in the 1920's some manufacturers decided to reduce runtime and durability of light bulbs. There were also production quotas in place to cause prices to rise.

Osram was a player in the cartel but later changed their ways and became the premeir bulb maker while 'the big boys' sourced cheaper products. That was a factor in them becoming the go-to bulb for when it mattered.

 

[turbodog]

Thanks guys!! I recently received a 4D Vari-Beam for restoration from a contact on my blog. When I got the light it wasn't it terrible shape. It turns out it just had some minor corrosion in the switch and barrel from a bad battery. Fortunately the leak wasn't all that bad and it cleaned up easily. These lights are always a surprise.

The light came with and old Osram Halogen PR Base...

My 2d mag from 1980-something came with bulbs like that from the factory. Main bulb and spare. Did not say osram, but are spot-on identical.

 

[LiftdT4R]

I've seen those in some of the older lights I've picked up too. I don't think they are Osrams but it's possible because early on Mag sub contracted production of a lot of their parts. They didn't move production in house until the late 80s when the sales really took off. They are likely Argon/Vacuum if they are form 1980. I don't think the Kryptons came in until around 1983 or so.

I never really understood the Halogen bulbs. I like them and the beam is very pleasing, not too warm, and not too cool, a really nice neutral but compared to Krypton and Xenon bulbs I don't see a huge difference. For example for 4 cell lights you have the choice of the following bulbs:

Halogen - HPR50 - 85 lumens - 25 hour rated life - 19.2 lumen / watt efficiency
Krypton - KPR113 - 51 lumens - 20 hour rated life - 14.2 lumen / watt efficency
Xenon LMSA401 - 81 lumens - 25 hour rated life - 19.2 lumen /watt efficiency

I didn't bother listing Argon/Vacuum because the specs are lousy and you really don't see too many any more. The specs for Xenon and Halogen are nearly identical but the Halogens are much more expensive and much harder to find. Always been curious about this.

 

[bykfixer]

Halogen were over rated in my view Lift'd. So much heat without that much more output.
Perhaps they were more drop friendly? Perhaps it was just hype?

Never studied SureFire's retina scorchers like the M6 or HellFighter, but their typical stuff was a xenon based mixture long after halogen were popular.

Didn't the MagCharger use halogen bulbs?

 

[turbodog]

I've seen those in some of the older lights I've picked up too. I don't think they are Osrams but it's possible because early on Mag sub contracted production of a lot of their parts. They didn't move production house until the late 80s when the sales really took off. They are likely Argon/Vacuum if they are form 1980. I don't think the Kryptons came in until around 1983 or so.

I never really understood the Halogen bulbs. I like them and the beam is very pleasing, not too warm, and not too cool, a really nice neutral but compared to Krypton and Xenon bulbs I don't see a huge difference. For example for 4 cell lights you have the choice of the following bulbs:

Halogen - HPR50 - 85 lumens - 25 hour rated life - 19.2 lumen / watt efficiency
Krypton - KPR113 - 51 lumens - 20 hour rated life - 14.2 lumen / watt efficency
Xenon LMSA401 - 81 lumens - 25 hour rated life - 19.2 lumen /watt efficiency

I didn't bother listing Argon/Vacuum because the specs are lousy and you really don;t see too many any more. The specs for Xenon and Halogen are nearly identical but the Halogens are much more expensive and much harder to find. Always been curious about this.

You could see the inside of the bulb glow white where the gas was, all the way to the tip.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Thanks to Freddy for the great 5C with TM bezel, pictured below, and for shipping it around the globe.

A big thumbs up to Mag Instrument, Inc. for the cool Maglite Nation stickers that came in the mail last week. Cool surprise. You folks probably got them too.

Now with this new 5C, the last model I need to complete my collection of pre-letter C and D cell Mags is the 7C.

Pictured are my 2 through 6C lights. I don't have a group shot of my 2 – 7 Ds yet.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Very nice!!! The 5Cs can be tougher to find than the 7Cs are 6Cs because not a lot of folks know that they're discontinued. I haven't seen a 7C on flea bay for a while so one is due, they do show up from time to time.

I didn't get any stickers. :ironic:

Did ya get them because you've order stuff from Mag? I don't know that I'm on their mailing list but I've ordered a bunch of stuff from them.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Thanks Liftd.

About the stickers, at first I thought I got put on the list because I ordered parts a couple times, but I think I joined the "Maglite Nation" through the website somehow. It would have been a while ago, like last year. Check the website and you can probably find out how to sign up.

 

[Icarus]

Thanks to Freddy for the great 5C with TM bezel, pictured below, and for shipping it around the globe.

A big thumbs up to Mag Instrument, Inc. for the cool Maglite Nation stickers that came in the mail last week. Cool surprise. You folks probably got them too.

Now with this new 5C, the last model I need to complete my collection of pre-letter C and D cell Mags is the 7C.

Pictured are my 2 through 6C lights. I don't have a group shot of my 2 – 7 Ds yet.

Nice collection & pictures! :twothumbs