# Maglite question



## Skydog6653 (Mar 7, 2016)

So, what's the differences between my 30 some year old Maglite and this identical looking one at Amazon for <$30? They even have a red one for $22! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IXAJVY/?tag=cpf0b6-20


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## FRITZHID (Mar 7, 2016)

Well, if your 30y/o mag is unmodified, 1st thing will be many more lumens, 2nd is much "whiter" almost bluish tint, 3rd longer runtime.
No bulb to replace.
No filament to break when dropped.


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## bykfixer (Mar 7, 2016)

Stick a magnet on your 30 year old light. Is it a steel one?

New ones are lighter as well. Mag has been making them noticeably lighter these days. At some point they began using alluminum. And these days the walls are slightly thinner thus saving even more grams of weight.


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## Skydog6653 (Mar 7, 2016)

Mine appears to be non-magnetic aluminum, but does have a filament bulb.


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## bykfixer (Mar 7, 2016)

What fritz said. 

I have the 2D version of the one you linked. 
It's a noticeable improvement in brightness over the filament bulb. 
The 3D still feel pretty solid when you insert batteries. Not saying it's not solid. Just feels a lot lighter when empty. 
It's a good flashlight and that's a good price. The red one is an even better price.


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## torchsarecool (Mar 7, 2016)

bykfixer said:


> Stick a magnet on your 30 year old light. Is it a steel one?
> 
> New ones are lighter as well. Mag has been making them noticeably lighter these days. At some point they began using alluminum. And these days the walls are slightly thinner thus saving even more grams of weight.



It must of been a very early move. I have a 1982 mag which is aluminium. 
Skydog what model have you got? Anything interesting being 30 odd years old?

Lol I just realised it's a 3 D cell. It's been a long day. Keep hold of it though it's nice to have a piece of flashlight history being an early one


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## FRITZHID (Mar 7, 2016)

There are some decent dropins available for your light, should you desire to upgrade it to solid state! Lol


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## monkeyboy (Mar 21, 2016)

bykfixer said:


> Stick a magnet on your 30 year old light. Is it a steel one?
> 
> New ones are lighter as well. Mag has been making them noticeably lighter these days. At some point they began using alluminum. And these days the walls are slightly thinner thus saving even more grams of weight.



To my knowledge Maglites have always been made of aluminium. A new head design was introduced about 15 years ago, but the weight has remained roughly the same. The only major redesign has been the introduction of the new ML models.


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## bykfixer (Mar 21, 2016)

I'm prrrrrritty sure I read an interview where Mr. Mag himself stated what I said. It was not some redesign that was touted in all the history books but a slow process whereby they learned how to save grams here n there and still end up with a quality product.

Now maybe the steel tube was pre-1979 stuff, but somewhere along the way he produced a steel flashlight. Apparently his flashlight making prowess goes back to 1955.


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