Small LED Flashlight Recommendations

[gblj]

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Gl

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

I bought a rechargeable Olight from the jungle store (Amazon) pricy but the brightest small light I've seen.

 

[gblj]

https://a.co/d/4HuKsof

These went up $20.00 since I bought mine, pricy but nice and bright, rechargeable plus you can use to charge your cell ohone

 

[Watthour]

I have a Mag XL200. It's handy, and bright. I'm not sure if they still offer that model.

Of course, I didn't toss any of the older multi-cell Mags with incandescents, but that mini LED is pretty useful.

 

[DoubleR]

I have a trusty mini Maglite I have been considering converting to LED. The conversion kit costs about $9.00. The converted light will be only 30 lumens. I see modern lights are 75 or more. Would you convert an old mini Mag or buy a new light? I am not looking to spend a great deal but don’t want a throw away light either. Rechargeable would be nice but not critical as light will not see a great deal of use.

What recommendations do you have for me?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

If you do decide to throw your mag lite away just send it to me. I've used the small mag lite converted to led for years, I have the one that takes two AA batteries. I have two sets of rechargeable batteries and just switch them out every couple days. I carry it in the small case that hangs on my belt. I stick it in my pocket of my dress pants and never leave home without it along with my Swiss Knife.

 

[buickanddeere]

Pelican with the lifetime warranty

 

[WIFarmKid]

My personal opinion only here, but I never thought the LED conversions were very good. They tend to give you more lifetime as well as far more battery runtime, but don't expect them to be much brighter than the incandescent. If you want an LED light, just buy an LED light. I'd recommend a Mini Maglite 2xAA LED. Mine has worked very well, and I carry it all the time, they go for $24 on Amazon (I can't find Maglite products in any of our local stores anymore).

With an incandescent bulb, light is emitted in all directions from the filament. LEDs are usually SMD (Surface Mount Device) and only emit light on one side. That means the reflector won't be shaped correctly for an LED, and you won't get a nice beam pattern (that's why LED car headlight bulb replacements are usually illegal, they can blind other drivers. Whole headlight, including reflector, replacements are ok though.). If your kit comes with a new reflector, that solves those problems.

Also, the lumen count can be misleading. I have a Maglite 2xAA LED and a Maglite 2xD LED. They both use the same LED (the chip itself, not the replaceable component of the flashlight), and if you screw the end off the flashlight they do appear to be the same brightness. But the 2xD will shine MUCH further, it has a bigger reflector and can focus that same amount of light into a much smaller circle.

As far as batteries, (also my personal opinion) go with rechargeable AAs or AAAs. That way you can have spare batteries that are interchangeable with a lot of other electronics, if you have any. Panasonic Eneloop batteries have always worked well for me. They were made in Japan when we last got some, might be made in USA now from what I see on Amazon, those go for about $3 per AA battery. They're rated for 2100 charge cycles, and that could be true, the oldest batteries we have are pushing 12 years old and none hold low charge yet (keep in mind we use those batteries regularly, they don't sit unused for very long). You can get adapters from AA to C or D batteries, again so everything can use interchangeable batteries.

Don't know how useful this is to anyone, but that's my 2 cents.

 

[chuckthin]

Im a recovering flashaholic. I have a 35000 Lumens smaller than a pop can show off light that lights up everything within 500 feet
but will burn your hand in only a few sec. Then I have a 2000 lumens light that will throw a spot over 5000 feet.
The one I use the most is 150 lumen light that shares the same battery as my cordless drill. It lasts days and runs cool.

 

[sammydwm]

picked up something made by Police Security at Fleet Farm, it's been a pretty good little flashlight. Batteries last well and light output is good without being overpowering. Also is only on/off, I much prefer that to one with several settings and the stupid flasher.
I bought A MIwaukee that uses AAA batteries but found it to be overlarge when compared to others and the rubber over the on/off switch broke soon after I got it.
I also picked a Milwaukee that recharges and has a laser pointer built in. So far it has been an ok light. A bit long but with the laser I can accept that.

 

[Hobo,NC]

picked up something made by Police Security at Fleet Farm, it's been a pretty good little flashlight. Batteries last well and light output is good without being overpowering. Also is only on/off, I much prefer that to one with several settings and the stupid flasher.
I bought A MIwaukee that uses AAA batteries but found it to be overlarge when compared to others and the rubber over the on/off switch broke soon after I got it.
I also picked a Milwaukee that recharges and has a laser pointer built in. So far it has been an ok light. A bit long but with the laser I can accept that.

Just a on/off switch whoda thunk it. : )