Maglite LED upgrade

Kicking around at the back of a cupboard was an old 2D Maglite (uses two D type batteries) that my Dad gave me; it’s been used for popping out to the shed in the dark and not much else. The main reason for this is that as a torch, it’s not very bright and so of limited use.

Vintage wise it’s probably late 80’s early 90’s in age and other than being a bit scuffed is still in good working order. It would be easy enough to buy a new LED torch and these old halogen bulb Maglite torches are not that expensive; but I don’t like the idea of throwing away something that ultimately still works.

Looking around online I found several options for LED bulb upgrades, and settled on a bulb upgrade from UpLED which has a claimed 300 lumen output. I purchased the bulb off Amazon as there were a lot of positive reviews, it was compatible and had some reasonable looking beam shots. At around £12 for the bulb it seemed a reasonable gamble for a torch that had lasted for 25 years already. In the LED arms race, 300 Lumen is not that much, but as someone who has been mountain biking during the evolution of LED technology, it’s not just about the stated output; beam pattern and run time are also key to getting the best out of a torch.

Given the beam pattern is fixed (as I’m not changing the reflector in the Maglite; though the beam is adjustable), I was hoping to get a better amount of light and a decent run time from the torch. Some cheap torches I have tried have a horrible beam pattern, very bright but also very focused and so have limited visibility as a result.

Fitting the new bulb was simple, just unscrew the main reflector, remove the bub holding ring and replace the bulb with the new one. Reverse the process to reassemble the torch (I did give things a clean and a spot of vaseline on the seals as I was there).

A quick test in the house showed that the upgrade had been worthwhile as there was a big jump in output and the torch was immediately more usable. The first opportunity for a real world test was at the weekend and so I took the torch into the woods for my planned overnighter.

For this test I switched the bulb back and then used the torch to light up some trees. The furthest tree in the brightest photo is around 15 meters (approx. 50ft away). Its worth mentioning that my camera couldn't take a good photo of this so I used my phone, in reality both beams were actually brighter.



Before Upgrade - Trees? what trees



After upgrade - much better

The original bulb just about lit the tree but not clearly with very poor flooding of the surrounding area. With the new bulb it easily lit the tree and beyond and also provided a better flood of the surrounding ground. I think it’s pretty clear from the photos the huge improvement. As the Maglite has a focusable beam, this is the most focus option that leaves no hole in the beam pattern. The beam can be spread more if desired.

I'll have to wait and see how the torch holds up on run time with the new bulb, so more on that later.

Overall a very worthy upgrade that's given a new lease of life to an old classic.