[Closed] anyone upgraded an old Maglite torch to LED?

I did it years ago when the upgrade was first available befor all the Chinese cree torches.
Don't bother a £2.99 e bay Cree Chinese torch beats it hands down.

Not quite the same but I 'upgraded' my old AA Maglite a few years ago with a similar kit. Dead easy swap and is still working well. Beam is also hugely brighter.
It was pointed out to me it would have been cheaper to buy a new 'cheap' LED torch but I like fiddling with stuff and don't like to throw things away unnecessarily!

EDIT - LOL - cross post with Chris!

haha! Thanks for the heads up.

🙂

Don't bother a £2.99 e bay Cree Chinese torch beats it hands down

Only for illuminating stuff. I am led to believe by members of the constabulary that a D cell Maglite is a way of carrying a club around while investigating suspicious noises.

I agree, not worth bothering. Battery life improves but brightness not that much.

I've got an old 3-cell Mag, which I put a Niteize LED conversion in, and while the light is brighter, it's totally overshadowed by proper LED flashlights costing a fraction of the price, for the initial torch, the batteries it requires, and the LED conversion.
Just carrying the damned thing is a PITA, a flashlight with a 18650 Li-ion is easily carried in a pocket, will give vastly better output and will be cheaper.
I've got flashlights that use AA/14500 Li-ion rechargeables that knock spots off most Maglites.
You couldn't beat someone unconscious with one, though...

As a member of said constabulary, I can confirm my maglite gets nicknamed the second baton. (never used it as such tho).

As for the upgrade, I think I paid for one of the more expensive LED bulbs a good number of years ago .... as in £12 ish rather than £4 !

Its been brilliant to date. I dont use it every shift, but when I do, its perfectly bright enough to create a bright focussed beam that will reach 50metres comfortably, and will light up rooms when pointed up against the ceiling or in unlit common closes. I cant remember when I last changed the batteries in it (as in years)

Of course its not as bright as those mega-lumen chinese torches ... but i've actually found them to be a poor substitute to the maglite. They dont last anywhere near as long ( less than an hour run time sometimes in the cold), and i've rarely found that the stupidly excessive brightness has overly helped compared to the brightness offered by the maglite.

The maglite is one of those things that is chucked in the bag, and works everytime you need it. Simples.

I have two D cell Maglites.
The four cell has a cheap Chinese LED and it's pretty good, my two cell has the genuine Maglite LED in it and it's in a different league, so much brighter.
They are worth the money as the batteries last for ages.

I've done this and though as mentioned it's not as bright as the Chinese torches but it's hell of a lot sturdier. I converted mine about 3 years ago and I still haven't changed the batteries. That's 3 years on one set of D cells..!

I always have it with me on nights; has a reassuring feel & weight to it as I'm out and about...

No but wouldn't such an upgrade (say, on an older Mini Maglight also remove the 'candle-light' option (a warm mini-table-lamp glow) that I used to love about the old one?

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OT - I did ugrade old-style Petzl headlight to LED bulb. Messed up the focused beam a bit but was a totally different much brighter beast) and that big battery then went on for years before changing. I then put brown packing tape over the lens in order to dim it down so to have a warmer tone reading light whilst camping!

I've converted a 2AA maglite and a 3D maglite. They may not have the mega lumens of the cheapies on eBay but they have a very useable beam and more than enough lumens. Also very long battery life and far superior build quality to the cheap stuff. The 3D sits in the car boot as an emergency torch at the moment. Seemed a shame and a waste to throw them away.

If I were buying new I'd be looking at LED Lenser or similar which have decent build quality.

I converted a AA maglite using the niteize kit, it was brighter but it died. Easy enough to convert.
I had an original 3D maglite and a 4d led maglite. The 3D was binned, not worth upgrading. The 4d is in the van. It's a nice torch, but the bulk for the majority of its use counts against it. The torch I use the most is a 18650 powered solarforce, way brighter than any of the mags

I've not seen them in the flesh, but I think the [url= https://malkoff-devices.myshopify.com/collections/maglite-drop-ins-and-accessories ]Malkoff[/url] drop-in conversions will be really good.

Those Malkoff drop-in conversions look far better than the rather dim Niteize one I used, but they almost double the price I paid for the original torch!
Still, the torch is years old, and still working, so it might be a worthwhile investment to keep it up and running.
Cheers for the link.