LED bulbs for old Maglites?
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: Kurt
06-Nov-16
I have three old Maglites that are perfectly good yet.....a small two-cell AA, a medium three-C cell, and a heavy twin-D cell that get used around truck camps and home. They all have original filament bulbs with spares in the cap. Does anyone have experience with changing out the incandescent bulbs for a brighter, longer lasting LED bulb? Any recommendations on which bulbs to buy? I've looked in town (none available) and online (some out there), just looking to see if anyone even thinks it is worthwhile to upgrade the bulbs? Thanks!
From: mgmicky
06-Nov-16
I don't have any experience with the Maglight replacement, but I did the LED conversion for an old Surefire. After replacing the old style Zenon $30 bulb twice in 1year, I was frustrated and to wanted to upgrade. The brand named LED conversion was more than I paid for the whole unit, so looked online. Ebay had several vendors that had LED conversions for around $15 so I thought WTH? I'm really pleased so far. The LED is much brighter and batteries last longer than with the original Zenon bulb...
From: greenmountain
06-Nov-16
I got a replacement years ago at Walmart. I think it was $5 and has worked well for a long time.
From: drycreek
06-Nov-16
I replaced one years ago. Made it much better, but I use it as a backup. I have a Browning branded light with red, blue, and two stages of white light that just fits in the light pocket of my Cabelas fanny pack. I use the red more than anything.
From: Fields
06-Nov-16
I changed mine. Easy to do.. I only used maglight bulbs and am not sure about other makes.. Definite improvement, but I think there are much better lights being sold. With that said, maglights cost @$10, not much worry if you lose/misplace it, compared to the $40+++ lights..
From: Buffalo1
06-Nov-16
I think I saw some replacement bulbs for maglites last year at Lowe's.
From: Kurt
06-Nov-16
Thanks for the info. I'll order the bulbs online. The maglites are too good yet to throw away.
From: Kurt
28-Jan-17
Got a 200 lumen TerraLUX LED conversion bulb for my 3-C cell Mag-Lites. It is a heck of an upgrade for brightness over the stock bulb and still focuses to a wide or narrow beam. I picked it up in a lighting store in Reno a week ago after not finding it locally in Canada. Did not order on-line as it was nice to talk to someone in a store about the bulb.
From: tradi-doerr
28-Jan-17
Replaced all 4 of my mags. 1 3-c cell, 3 2-c AA mags, saved a bunch $ and there brighter than ever, and they don't eat up the batteries any where near as fast as standard bulbs. But! be very careful when putting them in, if you scrape off the coating they won't work at all, and you have to go buy another one.
From: Jaquomo
28-Jan-17
Dennis, where did you find the ones for your AA models? I want to do this too.
From: Meat Grinder
28-Jan-17
Jaquomo--Lowe's has them. Lowes.com, search for item #205287. For some reason, I can't include the URL in the space below.
From: Jaquomo
28-Jan-17
Cool- thanks!
From: tradi-doerr
28-Jan-17
Hey Lou, Lowe's, Home depot, Bass pro, Cabelas, Walmart (if you can find where they put them in wally world), I believe JAX has them as well. For the big mag I ordered them online, can't remember off hand who though.
From: ben yehuda
28-Jan-17
I replaced mine (AA model) with the LED upgrade. I purchased it at Home Depot. No complaints.
From: stagetek
30-Jan-17
I put the LED conversion in my AA Mag when they first came on the market many years ago, and it is awful. First, you cannot adjust the beam size, and second, the beam is so flooded out, it's useless. Perhaps the newer ones are better, more of a pin spot, with more distance. I bought, and still use a Fenix LD25. 100% improvement.
From: Charlie Rehor
30-Jan-17
Those Maglites may be worth a fortune to collectors:)
