Mini
Maglite with LED
Mini Mag Lite path
to LED,
AA and AAA upgrade issues. About the durability and versatility of the
Mag Lite Mini.
Find important facts, products and prices from name
brand merchants.
Original
Problems with the Mini
When
the Mini
was
first introduced back in 1980s it had a serious downside - the on-off
switching...
The mechanism
was badly resolved.
Back then it
was controlled by
the
rotating motion of the lens housing. Problem was that after some use
they could
easily switch on
by
themselves as a result of twisting and turning in your
pocket.
If left uncheked, this would suck clean the batteries.
And because the Miini Mag Lite is so very durable,
they would likely not be checked in
obscure pockets for
months on end. And of course, Murphy's rule is that those are the kinds
of places you
usually
leave such precious little items. But the case was not closed on the
dubious switching design just yet.
The
other downside was also somewhat obscure:- It showed up only on hot
days when temperatures
rised too quickly or in an environment with unusual heat
conditions - such that happens to firefighters for instance.
Because as
a result of that sudden heat
expansion the flashlight body got swollen and stuck against the
threading of the
head which apparently expanded just a bit less. But that made it plenty
hard if not impossible to turn on the flash light as you can imagine.
Luckily, both these problems have been successfully resolved in
subsequent model upgrades.
Except
for one...
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Belated
LED Conversion - Starts with the Minis
For a long time, MAG was actually reluctant to go with the
flow and
upgrade to LED. But when the company finally decided to begin
convertingthe old models it had, it is a historical fact that
the
process started on
the Minis --ahead of all other
Mag lite
flashlight classes.
Could it be because the body of the Mini was arguably the mostdurable
in the market?
Well, it's hard to say. But what points in this same direction was not
quite happy news for MAG. Precisely for the same reason - Mini fans
could own
their product over generations and MAG was slow to upgrade to
LED -
folks started to take matters in their own hands. Mag has tried to put
up a fight citing that many of those upgrades will void the warranty.
And only at this point has Mag decided to release upgrade kits
on its own.
Jump to review of 3rd party (OEM and non-OEM grade) and original
Mag Lite
upgrade
and
conversion kits
for all
Mag classes. >>
The
LED version
of the original Mini comes in two sizes built for 2 or 3 AA alkaline
battery cells. Accordingly the models are called
AA or
AAA
Mini
Maglite LED Cell flashlights.
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Versatility
of the Mini Mag lite
With
a
good ol' mini, for the price of one you could get many functions
and a lot of flexibility. Those include the
key-chain and the candle modes. (
So
far the
Mini
Mag Lite series is the only one with a 'built in' candle mode.) And as
said, you could also convert a Mini to LED. But once upgraded you could
also and still keep the candle
function.
How the candle mode works
Unscrew
the head part and place it down on a table or other such flat surface.
Next you set the flashlight barrel (rest of the body) into the
head part sitting flat. And there you go you have an electric candle.
pros
- The Mini had this practical and handy function for
a long
time. And after the official upgrade the Mini mag lite
LED version retained it also.
- If you are bothered by the sight of a cool white candle you
can
convert it back with a standard lamp and get a 'warmer' candle.
cons
- It
does not utilise even the simplest additional functionalities -
such as flickering for example - a LED candle could
easily achieve.
- The sight of a laser
white candle may bother some.
So if you want a real LED candle
- flickering
and all - consider
these
options.
Related Articles,
Resources:
These LED
candles even
change
colors
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