Stanley Tripod Flashlight

Take a look at and you'll find reviews on several mini-maglite conversions (and numerous other flashlights as well). I have one with the Opalec and one with the Terralux--both work fine, the Terralux is brighter but with shorter battery life, the Opalec is not quite as bright, but runs a long time and holds full brightness until the batteries are pretty well gone. The Opalec also seems to give a somewhat smoother light field.

has both and I've done enough business with them to feel that they are a reliable outfit--the only time I've ever had a problem was right after Katrina--I didn't realize they were in Louisiana--anyway that order was slow but I can't really fault them for it.

You can find the Nite-Ize conversion at many sporting goods stores and the like--it's cheap and it works but it leaves a bit to be desired when compared with the others--the flashlightreviews discussion of it will give you the details.

Someone mentioned Surfire. Surefire makes good flashlights, there's no question of that, and if your life may depend on the thing working then that's t he one to go for, but you can get a whole collection of converted Maglites for the price of one Surefire and as for "purpose made bulbs" they use the same Luxeon LEDs as the Terralux Maglite conversion. There's also the battery issue--Surefires use CR-123 lithium cells that are hard to find and quite expensive compared to the standard AAA, AA, C, or D cells that the Maglites use.

Reply to
J. Clarke
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Actually the upgrades I've seen for the AA are just 3 little LED's. I bought the model that comes with the single bright LED. How much is a Surefire? How much for the battery? The military uses something like that but cost is no object for them.

Reply to
Gerald Ross

Uh, Andy, there's only one manufacturer of Luxeon LEDs, the people who do the Maglite conversions get them from the same place that Surefire does and there's nothing special about the ones that they sell to Surefire except maybe that they get picked for color match.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Obviously a YMMV ... My Surefire cost $110, the latest Nite Ize upgrade for the 15 year old MagLite was $8 ... I am not disappointed in either for the price.

Reply to
Swingman

:-) I wasn't disappointed by the price, only by the light output or lack thereof. The mini-mag LED upgrade is fine if you don't need lots of light.

Reply to
Doug Payne

The two I have are both very recent "upgrades" (late Nov 06), and yours and Andy's comments make me wonder if there's been a recent improvement? I do know that my SIL tried one that was disappointing, then returned it for another, but I wasn't paying much attention at the time.

I've got two identical AA Maglites on my desk as we speak. One with, and one without, the "upgrade". There is no comparison as to the light output. The upgrade LED is much brighter, not even close.

The one in my the truck is a much larger 3 cell, and it too is far more powerful with the LED. Very noticeable difference, as I use it nightly when I close up houses that are under construction after the subs leave.

When he embarked on this project while visiting from the UK, of the two, the latter was the one I was worried about him messing with ... needlessly as it turned out.

My experiences, and yours and Andy's comments, make me suspect that there are upgrades, and then there are "upgrades". ;)

Reply to
Swingman

Yep, I think so. I value my time (highly), and and just couldn't be bothered trying to find endless variations of upgrade, so I went whole hog and bought the Surefire. Haven't been sorry.

Reply to
Doug Payne

Over $ 100.00 for a wee flashlight! Who knew?

Reply to
Robatoy

Swingman, did you SIL get the upgrade parts here or in England? If here, where? I have a 3 cell mag light that I would like to upgrade.

Thanks.

Reply to
Leon

Look at this one

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used to have one called The Beast for around $2900, the page is missing but the internet archive comes through again
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the line wrap or paste
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Reply to
Joe Gorman

Here, by all means. Judging from the amount of "stuff" he brings back, and because of the highly favorable exchange rate, I'd say that he comes strictly to buy gadgets like that.

AAMOF, on the return flight they checked in with _exactly_ 342 lbs of luggage (maglites and multi-tools?) between the three of them ... I didn't even know you could do that!

As I indicated earlier, I wasn't paying too much attention to this flashlight business until it was an accomplished fact. It may been Academy, but it could just as easily been Wal-Mart ... hell, it felt like we hit every store in two states.

I'll ask when I call this week to see if they've yet been able to teach my grandson another word besides "COW!" ... (that's what they get for coming to Texas!) ;)

ITMT, and before you leap, you're welcome to stop by and swap 3 cells for a couple of days to see if it suits you.

Reply to
Swingman

LOL. I recall years ago selling 12 new tape decks to a guy from Mexico. He also bought a piece of luggage and loaded it with those unboxed tape decks to take back with him, loose parts and all.

Was there a moving van waithing at the air port? ;~)

I was slow to pick up on that. I'll check um out. Seems like Fry's or Radio Shack would be a good place to look.

Cow. ;~) Wouldn't it be a hoot had he gone back with "y'all". Maybe if they visit again in 2 or 3 more years or sooner Grandpa can work on that.

I may do that. Too nasty to work out side and I am getting bored quickly. With our kids back in school it is kinda quiet. If I get the urge I'll call before I come.

Reply to
Leon

I asked that ... apparently SIL's father has a "people van" and met them at the airport ... whatever that is, but probably exactly what it sounds like.

I tried ... lord, how I tried!

Any time ... the granite, but not the backsplash, is in in that last kitchen we did. Although it looks like all the others, you may want to check out your handiwork.

Reply to
Swingman

Mmmmm... one would have thought it would have been "BULL!"

...as it was too easy, I decided not to send this reply, but I had already hit the 'send' button.

*smirks*

r

Reply to
Robatoy

LOL ... I was trying to keep it to one syllable at a time.

Reply to
Swingman

I view it the same way I view good hand tools. I rely on a flashlight, so I buy something that's gonna work well for me. Same as buying a good quality hand plane or chisel instead of an el-cheapo. Everyone has their own economies :-)

Reply to
Doug Payne

There is all kinds of evidence around my house which will show that I subscribe to that way of thinking. I just never gave any thought to the fact that a flashlight could be engineered to the point where they could ask $375.00 for one...with a straight face. As a reformed audiophile, I have seen people's sphincters getting reamed by the likes of MonsterCable. 'Interconnects' for audio equipment for a few hundred dollars which sounded the same in blind-fold situations as their 20 dollar competition....even with a gun to the head OR the threat of being shown a nude picture of Bea Arthur! I always thought a flashlight was just that. Now I'm finding out that some flashlights will show the molecular structure of moose-snot in the middle of the night! (

Reply to
Robatoy

Hey, I'm from up here too, and I've been close enough to check out that structure; it ain't purty (neither is Bea Arthur :-)

Reply to
Doug Payne

Hey, there is high technology engineered into every one of those Monster cables.

The technology is in the insulation!

How else could they make that teeny tiny cable look so big between the ends?

Bigger cable works better than door bell wire but Monster is selling a "Look" not any significant improvement in signal quality.

Reply to
Leon

Too much information.

Reply to
J. Clarke

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