Maglite MAG-TAC flashlight

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

A year ago I reviewed the Princeton Tec Remix flashlight. I like having a flashlight that you can strap to your forehead, as it leaves your hands free for working on the bike or loading/unloading luggage. I also like bright flashlights - it seems you can never have too much light - but compactness is also important for motorcycling, and the Remix was a good compromise between brightness and compactness for a head-mounted flashlight.

 

But I also wanted a really bright handheld flashlight. Compactness still mattered, but for handhelds, "compact" meant something different from head-mounted flashlights. For a good compromise between compactness and brightness, I recently bought the Maglite MAG-TAC LED flashlight. It's just over five inches long, an inch in diameter, and spits out 320 lumens, compared to 125 lumens for the Remix. It's far brighter than my older incandescent D-cell Maglite flashlight. Like other Maglite products, the beam has an adjustable focus. I can confirm that it is pretty damn bright.

 

Battery life is said to be four hours. Battery life is much less important to me than compactness and brightness; it's extraordinarily rare that one would need to operate a flashlight for much more than four hours without having access to new batteries.

 

If you're working on your bike and need both hands free, the Remix is great. If you drop something on the ground and need a ton of light over a wider area, check out the MAG-TAC. Either one (preferably both) would also be good to have in your car's emergency tool kit.

[na1g]

You mean I don't have to hold the flashlight in my mouth while I fix some gizmo in the pitch dark?

 

I'm not familiar with the Maglite MAG-TAC but will check it out. They have been making quality products for years.

 

pete

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

You mean I don't have to hold the flashlight in my mouth while I fix some gizmo in the pitch dark?

 

Headlight flashlights look undeniably dorky:

 

 

But they look far less dorky than someone trying to dig through their sidecase with one hand, or hold a bigger flashlight in their mouth.

 

 

[g_frey]

You mean I don't have to hold the flashlight in my mouth while I fix some gizmo in the pitch dark?

 

I'm not familiar with the Maglite MAG-TAC but will check it out. They have been making quality products for years.

 

pete

 

 

I always tried the hold the light between the shoulder and neck option with poor results. Plus it gives you a good chance to cuss and look for your light after it falls on the ground. Just an hour or so of doing this guarantees a sore neck and a frustration level that measure on the Richter scale.

There is also the option of the clip on the bill of a baseball cap flashlight. Very small, work well, batteries a pain in the **** to find.

[racer7]

Am a fan of lights using the 123 batt which I buy in bulk. Best energy density storage. This looks like a good one though I'd prefer an added lower output mode to the 12Hz flasher.

 

See also the Fenix UC40 for another option- there are many now.

 

Years ago I modded some traditional 3 and 4 cell D cell maglites to run LEDs. Their run times are ludicrously long (days) at substantial output- with the reflectors screwed off they make great hurricane emergency stuff..

 

My favorite light is a little Fenix using a single 123 cell- so small its always in my pocket- so gets more use by far than anything else.

[Rocer]

Mitch, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what the rating is for the bulb of your D cell Mag-Lite if it's a 3 cell unit. I managed to break mine and the replacement I bought is rated 4.8 V .75A and it doesn't seem to put out as much light. I've lost the old bulb so I'm not sure what I should be looking for. Based on your write-up of the Mag-Tac I should just get one of them instead. A guy just can't have enough flashlights.

[Blind Squirrel]

...It's far brighter than my older incandescent D-cell Maglite flashlight. Like other Maglite products, the beam has an adjustable focus. I can confirm that it is pretty damn bright.

 

From the site: "a dazzling, 320-lumen beam that can light up an object two football fields away"

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

...It's far brighter than my older incandescent D-cell Maglite flashlight. Like other Maglite products, the beam has an adjustable focus. I can confirm that it is pretty damn bright.

 

From the site: "a dazzling, 320-lumen beam that can light up an object two football fields away"

 

Fundamentally it's a flood beam, with a pretty broad distribution. Although it has an adjustable focus, it doesn't focus to a point nearly as well as the big D-cell units, which have a lower lumen rating but claim to reach farther. Which is fine: I'm not trying to spot a B-29 on the horizon, I just want to light up the area around my bike, so I'll take big lumens with big spread.

[Rocer]

Mitch, FYI: I found my way to the Mag-Lite website where their products are well supported. I found my D3 model parts list and was surprised to learn that a spare bulb is nested behind a foam insert under the spring in the base cap. While I'm happy to have the proper bulb I'm no further ahead in identifying its' rating as the bulb is stamped with a proprietary code which means if I manage to break the second bulb I'll be faced with ordering a bulb directly from Mag-Lite.

 

Again, thanks for the wite-up on the Mag-Tak unit. Your description of it being a good flood light as compared to the 'reach' ability of the D units was pertinent as I now better understand the pros and cons of each unit.

[lkraus]

THIS CHART lists the Krypton bulb number for the 3D, as well as specs on an LED upgrade. You have lots of options besides going the factory route.

[elkroeger]

I've been looking at LED LENSER. I'm told they are tops, although I have no first hand experience. They seem to be owned by Leatherman. Might be worth a look.

 

http://www.ledlenser.com/

 

Here's a review by Andrew St Pierre White - a guy with a tv show in South Africa. It's likely to be a paid endorsement...

 

[elkroeger]

Here's a flashlight review website some guy put together. Seems very thorough, although perhaps a wee bit out of date. Good discussions on batteries, LEDs, and the like.

 

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews_index/reviews_by_mfgrs.htm