Flashlight recommendations?

Industrial Toys · Sep 1, 2015

I have an old Mag Lite 4 D cell in the compartment of my truck door. It's in a old long sock, so it doesn't rattle. It is there as a club, if need be. Iv'e used it in the past when I came accross a critically injured animal on the road. Now, that's a flashlight! I would like to change out that krypton bulb for LED.

I have some stupid LED flashlights that have a sequence. White, Red, Green, flashing red and Off, all by pressing a button repeatedly. How terribly annoying, and useless.

Variable brightness is much more usefull, for battery life and easier on the eyes.

dmccarty · Sep 1, 2015

A few years ago I installed these LED replacements into my old Maglites.

Terralux(TM) TLE-310M-EX MiniStar31M-EX LED Conversion Kit for 4-6 D Cell MagLite® - - Amazon.com
TerraLUX TLE-6EXB MiniStar5 140 Lumens, Led Conversion Kit for 2-3 Cell C&D MagLites - Led Household Light Bulbs - Amazon.com
TerraLUX TLE-6EX MiniStar5 140 Lumens Extreme LED Replacement Bulb for 4-6 C&D Cell MagLites - Led Household Light Bulbs - Amazon.com

Seems like you had to be careful on which bulbs/assembly to get depending on the age of the Maglite. I had a couple of Maglites that were from 1990ish and 1995ish that differ from newer Maglites. The bulbs/assembly worked but you had to get ones that matched the flashlite model.

Two of the links are just replacement LEDs that work well. The other, TLE-310, is a $70 replacement assembly that throws out a light that is unreal. The performance difference of the replacement LEDs compared to the original bulbs is, pun intended, night and day. The difference between the LEDs and the assembly replace is again night and day. The LED assembly throws out an amazing amount of light. I tested it on our private road, and we ran out of road before running out of light. The road curved hundreds of feet away from me and was well lit up. Guessing about 400-500 feet of the road was lit up. The LED replacement bulbs allow the batteries to last a very long time but with bright light. Much better than the old bulbs. The LED assembly has great run time with incredible light but the batteries will run out quicker compared to the LED replacements.

Later,
Dan

ultrarunner · Sep 1, 2015

I like Maglites... my problem has been when batteries leak and become near impossible to remove...

Industrial Toys · Sep 1, 2015

My four D cell light is from the mid 80s! One red, two D cell maglite model I bought for my Mom, I could not get open, no way, no how. Seems finely machined aluminium threads and leaking batteries do not go well together!

gsganzer · Sep 1, 2015

ultrarunner said:
I like Maglites... my problem has been when batteries leak and become near impossible to remove...

That's the problem I had with my twintask streamlite. That's one of the good things about the CR123 batteries, although more expensive, they don't seem to leak or discharge as easily during non-use.

ultrarunner · Sep 1, 2015

I noticed in Europe the Duracell flashlight battery packaging boldly states "No Leak"

Can't recall seeing the same here.

Industrial Toys · Sep 1, 2015

Everready always had a policy of replacing or repairing damaged equipment from leakage. I had some batteries of theirs leak on some wood furniture. The people in Walkerton Ontario really tried to help, but in the end just gave me a yellow 2 D cell plastic flashlight. It just has a dim yellow light. I should find an LED bulb for that. The spot on the furniture is still there!

tallyho8 · Sep 1, 2015

I've been reading about all these large heavy mag lights and these D batteries that cost over $1 each and last a couple of hours and I'm thinking how antiquated these all are.

I have several modern 1000 lumen led flashlights that I bought on Amazon when they were on sale for about $5 each. I put one in the glove compartment of every car and truck, on my tractor, in my barn, by my bed, in the closet, etc.'

These are way smaller than a 2 D cell mag lite, way lighter, way cheaper, way brighter and they last a lot longer without the battery going dead while laid up. Many police departments are using these now because they are so bright they can temporarily blind someone and are light and easy to carry. Most of them have high, low and strobe features.

They use one 18650 battery that is rechargeable. I have never seen a better flashlight battery. They are larger than AA batteries but smaller than C batteries. They last for years. I have only had them for 3 years now and they are all still just like new. I get the chargers for about $2.50 each and I found the 5000 mAh batteries on sale on Amazon for 10 for $15. Do not buy the cheap 2000 or 3000 mAh batteries.

Why spend $50 or $100 for a flashlight that isn't as good as these when you can get 10 of these with 5 chargers and 10 batteries for about $80?
Check out this one, 2000 lumens for $6.24 and free shipping. (Prices vary often) Order your charger and battery from other places on Amazon.
UltraFireｮ NEW 5 Modes CREE XM-L T6 LED Bright 2000 Lumens Adjustable Focus Flashlight Torch Lamp Torch (Set 1: Flashlight Only) - Basic Handheld Flashlights - Amazon.com

Industrial Toys · Sep 1, 2015

I keep saying, that I am holding off buying any substantial LED technology until it gets better and comes down in price.

When I bought that 4 cell mag lite in the 80s, I bought four Radio Shack D Nicads and a charger. The cells felt very light! I found out they just repackaged them with the equiv. of C cells inside! I was not impressed!