Quickdraw Spotlight - MagCharger LED upgrade?

fourstringfletch

Adventurer
I would consider this support equipment, but without a sub-forum for "stuff within reach while driving" I'll post here.

I've always kept a maglite shoved between my seat and console (fits great there in my taco ) for whipping out quickly to ID an animal, street sign, etc.

These days though, the battery in my magcharger doesn't light up the halogen bulb so well and I'm looking for a better solution. I upgraded my wife's 2D maglite with a terralux bulb and I'm stoked - $15 well spent. So my first thought was to do the same with my magcharger, and get a new battery. However, the terralux upgrade for the magcharger is $70, and you lose the adjustment that makes it a maglite. Anyone have experience with this upgrade??

SO ... do I drop $90 on a 1000 lumen terralux and a new battery, or 35 on an LED maglite and rechargeable D's, or something else entirely? Seems like a waste to ditch the well built light and charger I have already.

Cheers and thanks for your thoughts!
 

NikonRon

Adventurer
Get the LED maglite, it is way ahead of the old light. I just use non- rechargeable batteries, they last a long time with the LED bulb light. Ron
 

RHINO

Expedition Leader
i dont have exp. with the magcharger, but, i converted my regular maglights over to LED a long time ago and i am totally happy with them.
 

java

Expedition Leader
I found a drop in replacement LED buld at ace hardware a few years ago. $12 iirc, works great, haven't changed my batteries since. Wouldn't hesitate to get another
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Well, drop-in LED "conversions" work okay but not great. The parabola is rarely oriented correctly to the light source to work right...
It doesn't matter all that much with a Maglight though. The better the light, the more it matters.
 

java

Expedition Leader
Thanks Java - Was this for a MagCharger or just a D-cell maglite? Bulbs are very different.

maglight, sorry didn't realize they used such different bulbs.

Well, drop-in LED "conversions" work okay but not great. The parabola is rarely oriented correctly to the light source to work right...
It doesn't matter all that much with a Maglight though. The better the light, the more it matters.

Fair enough, mine works well enough that im pretty happy with it, but yes the reflector isn't designed for a LED.
 
I recently bought a LED Mini Mag-Lite when I finally burned out my last bulb on my regular one. I debated just upgrading that but the cost was nearly the same for the conversion as it was for the new light, so I got the new one. I can tell you for me, that was a mistake. The new one is WAY too bright on full power (which is the first setting) and overly complicated with it's multiple "modes". The twist on-off combinations needed to get to even the second setting (low) are tricky to get used too, at best, when your mind set is just to turn on a light for a second.

If it started out at low, then high and any other modes it would be better but I was annoyed with it's operation so I packed it away for rare emergency use and went and bough some $3 replacement bulbs for the original. lol
 

timmothy

New member
New upgrade for maglite Magcharger. 1300 lumen home-made!

Hi Guys,

I just saw this new led magcharger from maglite. I must say that I am a bit disappointed. Plastic lens, plastic reflector, no spare or replaceable bulb?, no interchangeable charging cradle and all the prices of all parts went up a lot lately.

3 years ago I designed and started making and selling led upgrades for the magcharger.
I am selling a lot of led's to costumers in the USA, Canada, Australia Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany. The Dutch police force is using them, as are; Transavia (Airline), Lifeboat crew, ambulance services, firefighters, security companies, the Dutch air-force and so on.
The brightest and best selling one is a 1300 lumen SST-50 model with 1 or 5 modes. Full aluminium and brass for excellent heat dissipation. Fixed focus and a nice beam.
There are 3 different magcharger-led models. A 240 lumen upgrade with adjusable focus and 20h+ battery-lifetime, 900 lumen fixed focus 1 or 5 mode with a wide beam and the 1300 lumen I just mentioned.
st50kopk.jpg

1300 lumen ST-50 1 or 5 mode
p7kopk.jpg

900 lumen P7/Z7 1 or 5 mode
m5kopk.jpg

M5 240 lumen 1 mode


verschilterra.jpg


I know all about the quality issues with with terralux upgrade's. I have about 8 defect units here that where given to my by costumers who ended up buying one of my led's.
As you can see on the picture, the plastic breaks very easy. Furthermore are the connection pins to fragile, they bent or brake to easily when you twist the head of the Magcharger.
The electronics in the Terralux will dim the led's when they become to hot, but my led's are all metal, will therefore absorb and dissipate more heat and not overheat.
The Terralux led's are however faster conversion kits, my led's take about 5 minutes and the Terralux about 2.

0


Let me know what you think is the best upgrade and how I can improve my products even more.
www.ledmag.nl
 

luckyjoe

Adventurer
I recently bought a LED Mini Mag-Lite ... that was a mistake.

I would caution anyone from buying a mini-maglight product. About 3-4 years ago I bought one for each of my extended family members, thinking they would be a great emergency accessory. Every one of them failed - utter garbage! The twist bezel switch stops functioning with minimal use - like less than the occasional use a "back-up" flashlight sees. Sad to see a once reputable company turn to junk.

Back on subject: I do have an old 3 D-cell Mag, with a big box store LED conversion bulb that I love. The original reflector is nothing special, so the cost effective $15 conversion was both a performance and power conversion upgrade.

Aside from this old Mag I'll never spend a penny on their current junk.
 

Stumpalump

Expedition Leader
I've throw at least 10 mag lights in the trash. All the other high end brands hit the deep six in a year as well. I need them for work and can expense all the tools I need. I buy the sealed disposable lights that you throw away when dead. My job depends on reliable good light and ones that take replaceable batteries can't take the heat and altitude of flying past a few months. The batts leak and they are done. Buy the cheap disposable lights and have reliable light. I keep an 1156 bulb on a mag mount with a cig plug for the bad times on the trail. High end flashlights are only a toy.
 

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