MAGLITE S4D016 Heavy-Duty 4-D Cell Flashlight, Black Reviews

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I've owned one of these for almost 10 years now. It is the best flashlight I ever purchased. I bought it when I was in college and worked as a Student Auxiliary for the college Police Department. My flashlight has suffered a great deal more then most flashlights can handle. It's been dropped, run over, used as a hammer, used to pound in tent stakes, constantly taken on road trips, I can't even remember all of the things I've done to it. All I can tell you is it still works.

To keep it working well you should occasionally apply a small amount of Vaseline to the threads to keep the threads and O-rings lubricated. If you do this it should last you a long time.

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Maybe you're a cop or security guard, maybe you're a guy who lives in a place where you can't carry a firearm, maybe you're just someone looking to fill the 'use of force' void that exists between shooting someone the bird and shooting them between the eyes. Any way you look at it, lets not beat around the bush here... Anyone buying this light is doing so for one reason only, the 'light' aspect being totally secondary to that one reason. It's a club that doubles as a flashlight.

So, how do we judge it on the objective criteria?

As a whuppin' stick, it definitely worksso well that some 'kinder, gentler' Police Departments don't even allow it anymore. Kind of a bummer that they discontinued the thinner 6C; barring finding one second hand and paying a real scalpers price for it, the 5D/6D is the pretty much the only 'in production' option in the Mag line for a "big defensive flashlight" but that's OK. Unless you have very small hands, the 6D is perfectly controllable.

It's big. Really, really big. The light itself is about 19.5" longa foot and a halfin total. When weighted down with cels, it's heavy, too.

You will want to tread lightly with this, as it definitely would generate enough striking force to fracture a skull, break bones. Be damn sure you're legally justified to use it, if you ever do use it. You can hurt someone with it. It's does cut a pretty intimidating profile. Walking around with one, it's almost as if you're carrying a bat. In some situations, this is OK. In other situations, where drawing attention to yourself isn't the desired outcome, you'd definitely want to leave this one home (in this regard, probably worth noting that given its weight, this is essentially a two handed club. I'm a large guy who has decent enough working strengthswinging a six D-cel flashlight with one hand is pretty slow going. Slow enough that you might risk your adversary grabbing on to it)

As far as brightness, it's bright by 'bright enough' standards. Not bright enough to impress flashlight geeks who obsess over marginally relevant technical details on internet forums, plenty bright for Average Joe to use for real world stuff. Unless something has changed, these are still shipping with incandescent bulbs, which aren't anywhere near as bright as a good LED (for example, the Maglite 3d LED torch is significantly brighter)... of course, let us not forget the reason we bought this in the first place. The 'flashlight' part is a secondary consideration, or, a primary consideration inasmuch as it allows us to carry it around in places where the same thing absent the flashlight function would be considered an unlawful bludgeon or club.

If you want to juice the light aspect up to balls-out bright, terralux makes an upgrade that turns the thing into a portable sun... It's priceythree times the cost of the light itselfbut it does add a monumental upgrade in brightness (700 lumens), which can be quite practical. If you shine that into someones face, they're either turning away, or, if they're really determined to keep advancing, they'll be doing so blinded and/or with their eyes closed, at which point we option the 'club' functionality.

I don't throw around the five star rating too often, but this is a five star piece. Right now, as of October 2010, with Amazon free shipping on purchases over 25, you can get one shipped to your door for right at 25 bucks. Is this worth 25 bucks? Hell yeah.

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I have three of these flashlights and they are fantastic. I keep one in the garage (see accessory section for mounting bracket), one on the fireplace mantle, and one in my car. They all work perfectly, project a bright, adjustable beam, and feel great in your hand. Not only does it work in normal conditions, but the gaskets and buttons do a great job keeping water out I live in the Pacific Northwest and use it in the rain frequently with no problems.

This is the same model that many of our local law enforcement types use day-in / day-out. I'd image that may a miscreant has received a "bop" on the head with one of these babies and will think twice before resuming their layabout ways.

Get one of these with three fresh Duracell's and you're set. This flashlight will last you a lifetime!

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Maglight flashlights are the best you can buy! I pulled mine from my totalled car and worked without a hitch. If you use a flashlight a lot or hardly ever, this is the one to buy. (and no I don't work for the company!)

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Once in a while you'll encounter a product that's so far out front that the others should pick up their marbles and go home. Mag-Lites are the standard bearer in the flashlight category. (Were it not for the picture, you would hardly know from the product description up there that we're talking about a 4-cell flashlight.)

The primary job of a flashlight is, not surprisingly, to create light. Mag gets more light out of their flashlights than anybody. Maybe it's the bulb, or the reflector. But NO flashlight will come close to putting out as much light as a Mag.

Another quality we hope to find in any product is functionality -does it work every time, or mainly when you don't need it? I can't recall more than a time or two that a Mag failed to come on. I've dropped them from heights that would have destroyed anything less and they still worked.

I have an old black AA-size Mini-Mag here that spent about a decade in the cockpits of airplanes -the poorest lighted places this side of the Black Forest - so it got a world of use. The place on the end cap for attaching a lanyard or hanging ring is worn completely through. But the little guy still works like a charm.

The switch on this D-cell model is under live rubber; it has a solid click on and off. The beam is adjustible to a sharp spot. You'll probably want to set it there and leave it alone.

I am certain that batteries last longer in a Mag-lite. The only explanation for this would seem to be that a tiny bit of battery drain occurs on some others. Before I became 100% converted to Mags I would too often pick up a flashlight that was full of dead batteries. I can go for years without changing the batteries in a Mag-lite.

All Mags are rugged. The barrels are sturdy aluminum extrusions -not plastic or stamped metal. Both end caps have O rings to keep the case waterproof. And who else would be so thoughtful as to put an extra bulb in the bottom endcap?

A reviewer below had a legitimate gripe about tubular things not staying put on anything but a level surface. Of course, that has been a complaint for years about pens and all kinds of tubular devices. This can be cured for the Mag-Lite with a very small bungee cord. Tie several knots in it until it is shortened enough to fit tight around the barrel. The knots will keep the light from rolling around.

I like the new hot red Mag-Lites. Anybody with any sense at all would know a pretty red flashlight would throw more light than a black one. It just stands to reason.