Sunday, December 02, 2007

Maglite LED Replacement Bulb

I had to make a trip to Lowe's today for some lightbulbs and a new step ladder, and saw that they had the LED upgrade for 3-cell Maglites. This is been something I've been looking for, as we have a 3-D cell Maglite at the house, so I added it to my cart.

The upgrade from the old krypton bulb to the new LED was easy. Just unscrew the head, unscrew the bulb retainer, remove the bulb, and reassemble with the LED. It took just a couple minutes.

Maglite doesn't make specific claims on their website or the packaging about how much longer the light should run with the LED, nor any specific claims about improved brightness. However, it should increase battery life, and it is quite a bit brighter (I checked brightness with the room lights off before swapping out the old bulb).

Like the krypton bulb, the illumination pattern with the LED can be changed by focusing the flashlight. The light color is different. While the krypton bulb provides a yellowish light, the LED emits a very white light.

Lowe's has the old fashioned 3 D-cell Maglites for about $18 - $20. The same light with an LED goes for about $39. The LED conversion bulb sells for about $19. I think it's a worthwhile upgrade for non-LED Maglites.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Walmart sells 2 different conversions. One is by Maglite. The other is some offbrand. The one by Maglite is nearly twice as bright as the generic one. Here you get what you pay for.Almost a year after I installed it, it is still as bright and still on the first set of batteries. It has seen use 3-4 times a week.

Dave Markowitz said...

Excellent, thanks for the data point. In case it wasn't clear in my post, the LED unit I got was made by Maglite.

chrisb said...

Excellent news. I have been fence-sitting on the upgrade for a while. Sounds very worthwhile.

Ryan said...

If the new bulb makes them last that much longer it is definintely a good investment if you use a mag light regularly. Mine just sits in the trunk so I will probably not bother but if I get another one it will be an LED.

Unknown said...

The ultimate maglite is the five cell D upgraded with a Terralux TLE300M-EX. A Xcapecap and talon bezel are also nice additions for escape and self defense. The Terralux is rated at 700 lumens with 3 dimming levels built into the head. Great upgardes and all made in the USA!