Replace my Maglite 2AA EDC X 40 years

[chillinn]

This Merican made light

I thought it was made in Alabama.

 

[TD-Horne]

Not quite. I put several LED conversions in it from since they first came out. I got my first one from Niteize. The increased run time was the biggest draw. I also added a white cone for area lighting when suspended by it's tail.

My grandson helped my loose that. What is it with toddlers and flash lights. They cannot get enough time with them. The bigger they are the more the child wants it. It takes them days to get bored with one even though they usually have the attention span of a hummingbird.

I bought a tail cap from I don't remember who. It had that step through all the exotic patterns thing and I ditched it after one day. A fella at work thought it was cool and I gave it to him the next show-up since I had returned to the stock tail cap. Niteize has an upgrade kit to LED with an on-off tail cap now so when I find my spare flashlight I'll convert it with that or maybe with something a little nicer like that German one that someone here referred me to.

Now to the question I'm nearly afraid to ask. What is it people keep mentioning about the color hue of the LED modules?
Is there such a thing as a dual brightness level with the Mini Maglite 2AA without the SOS and strobe modes?
Is there a led drop in that would give me a truly even flood pattern?
I don't want much I know.

I may save up and buy another Leatherman Raptor medical shears and it's all you folks fault. Your giving me a case of the gimmies.

Tom Horne

 

[xxo]

Now to the question I'm nearly afraid to ask. What is it people keep mentioning about the color hue of the LED modules?
Is there such a thing as a dual brightness level with the Mini Maglite 2AA without the SOS and strobe modes?
Is there a led drop in that would give me a truly even flood pattern?
I don't want much I know.

Tom Horne

The Maglite Pro PLUS - has a low mode that comes on when you twist the head on with the light pointing down, point iy up or sideways and it comes on in high.

 

[chillinn]

What is it people keep mentioning about the color hue of the LED modules?

Incandescent light is like the sun, which is also an incandescent light source. It has a color spectrum ranging from UV throughout visible light and deep into IR, but the effect of the atmosphere is that it scatters the shorter wavelengths, so at ground level there is less blue light. which is a good thing. The light we evolved in and were all raised in is very different from the LED color spectrum profile, which has a much narrower color profile, but it isn't so much the narrow profile that matters as much. It does, but the big issue is all LEDs are blue LEDs, and they peak in the blue spectrum. Blue light literally blinds us. And that's not the only bad news about LED lighting.

Advanced High CRI LEDs will use phosphors that allow us to see red better than other LEDs, but even these LEDs have a peak in the blue spectrum at neutral color temperatures above 4100K. If you're like most folks in your generation, you found the LED upgrade to your Maglite novel and brighter than the original bipin lamp. But the general idea is that the brightness is fooling you into thinking you can see more, but what it showed you, the color rendition, was not as good as the original bulb, which provided perfect color rendition. It may sound unlikely, but it is very possible that as dim as the original bulb is, that it may have shown you more than you could see with poor color rendition in much cooler and much brighter LED light. But, again, most old-timers insist on cool white LEDs even though it is slowly blinding them for the unnatural amount of blue they use.

You really can't do better than the Malkoff MDC HA 2AA with the 4000K High CRI emitter. The clip could very well be the best there is, as it is nothing short of phenomenal, as flashlight pocket clips go. But it is not reversible, and the light is heavy. The switch is a soft press McClicky, and nearly indestructible, as is the entire flashlight package. Though the MDC is $136, everything else in comparison is pretty much disposable. Because it is E Series compatible, you can even convert it back to a bright incan using a Lumens Factory incan head bezel and lamp, or drop in a LED assembly, or run a different single LED head unit, or a triple LED head unit, or a Valiant Concepts head along with a Malkoff M Series LED drop in. It is highly configurable to whatever specific task is needed, whether that be a bright single mode incan with perfect color rendition or bright LED with lower modes and acceptable color rendition. Though it is an investment, and not cheap, it is a very high quality product, but it isn't for everyone.

If a Maglite Mini without blinkies will satisfy you, I can find no indication or evidence that either the Spectrum Series Warm White model nor the Pro Plus model has blinky beacon and SOS modes. It would seem only the original LED Maglite has blinky modes. And if you get one and it does have blinky modes, you can give it away and it won't bankrupt you, and then you can try something else. But honestly, you can get feedback and try to understand everything, look at something from all possible angles, but you're never really going to know if you like something until you try it.

 

[scalpel_ninja]

Here's a size comparison between the Mag and T4.

 

[E=mAh²]

I

Yes Sir. You have that right. I'm retired on a craft pension as an electrician. I worked in so many different aspects of the craft, because the stuff fascinated me and still does, that my pension is not as high as if I had stayed in construction with the IBEW. I just kept reaching out to do new things and that took me into some self employed contracting work with no benefits at all. I was young. I didn't think it through. If it weren't for a small county pension from 40 years as a volunteer firefighter rescuer I'd be strapped all the time. I'm not doing terribly and I'm certainly not impoverished like some of the folks I saw on ambulance calls but I'm not sitting in the lap of luxury either.

Tom Horne

Yes Sir. You have that right. I'm retired on a craft pension as an electrician. I worked in so many different aspects of the craft, because the stuff fascinated me and still does, that my pension is not as high as if I had stayed in construction with the IBEW. I just kept reaching out to do new things and that took me into some self employed contracting work with no benefits at all. I was young. I didn't think it through. If it weren't for a small county pension from 40 years as a volunteer firefighter rescuer I'd be strapped all the time. I'm not doing terribly and I'm certainly not impoverished like some of the folks I saw on ambulance calls but I'm not sitting in the lap of luxury either.

Tom Horne

I can appreciate that. Well malkoff has 20% off for 1st time customers and I am almost positive you would get another discount on top for your service as first responder whether you're active or retired shouldn't matter. The light I suggested is listed at $138.00 right now -20% =$108 and then potentially even less than a hundred dollar bill if he does offer additional discount for 1st responder.

I know even in this day and age a hundred bucks is still not just mindless pocket change, or at least not for me. That said, unfortunately now a days you have to pay a bit of a premium to get a premium product which sounds logical but the thing is as you go back in history (specifically US) of industry and manufacturing, there were many products being made to the highest standards with top materials for reasonable price. Especially before EVERYTHING was made in China, not that every single thing made comes from China but rather every single thing being made in the world chances are if China didn't make that particular one they certainly are making it and. Selling it somewhere to someone... Anyways lol off topic oops. Point is fast forward thru half a century of Chinese manufacturing, inflations, and all the other economical influences and put that into perspective of service lifetime and warranty of a product, it really all boils down to how often you plan on using the light cuz as long as it's even once or twice a week, for 100$ or less I would say that's a pretty good deal if not just for the best warranty in the entire industry alone, but also it is a tool that you can count on working every single time you need it to which I definitely don't feel comfortable saying the same about modern maglites (led).

It's also worth noting that malkoff has a line of maglite upgrades/mods on his site and I believe that is what he actually started off doing before eventually making his own in house designs. Be sure to update in this thread whenever you pull the trigger on whatever you end up pulling it on!

-Good day.

 

[TD-Horne]

now a days you have to pay a bit of a premium to get a premium product

Quality can be illustrated in the purchase of oats. If you want clean, nutritious, fresh oats you must pay a fair price. If you can be content with oats that have already been through a horse you can pay slightly less.

Tom Horne

 

[TD-Horne]

Hey Guys & Gals. Guess what I found? I was searching for something in the attic with my back up Mini mag and my hand slipped right into the insulation. My hand came to rest on my 40+ year old Mini Maglite. That's the good news. Even with a pair of pliers I cannot get the tail cap off. I'm hoping that using 2 pliers I can get the tail cap off of it. My guess is that one of the Alkileak batteries has leaked and swollen. Does anyone know a good technique to extract the swollen corroded batteries from a Mini Maglite flashlight?

Tom Horne

 

[bykfixer]

A drill can get out the core of the cell(s) and right angle dental pick can pluck out the shell part.