Buy Nite Ize Inc LUC-07 Combo Upgrade Kit-led

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I own at least 5 mini mag lites. Scattered in my toolbox, cars, and home. I've been happily using them for years without any problems. They are just about perfect. But, last week, I stumbled across an ad for the NITEIZE LED upgrade and tailcap change. The NITEIZE LED upgrade (or more accurately DOWNgrade) replaces the mini mag OEM bulb with a tiny circuit card with three LED's. The tailcap turns the mini-mag into an on/off switch, and pretty much does nothing else. The main reason I thought this was a waste of money was that once I changed out the OEM bulb for the 3 LED's and checked the actual lumens output (how bright the flashlight was) I was very disappointed. I walked into a toolroom at work and closed the door. The room was pitch black and I could not see my hand in front of my face. Across the room from me approximately 15 feet away on the opposite wall was a poster showing the days of the month. The poster was large enough that with the light on, you could easily read the days of the week and the dates on each individual day from 15 feet away. With the original OEM lightbulb, I could illuminate the calendar and read any given day, or the whole calendar at once by adjusting the focal point of the OEM bulb. With the LED mod, the illumination was less than HALF of what the OEM bulb put out, and I could barely see that a calendar was on the opposite wall. The OEM bulb puts out a bright white light, the LED's put out a weak blue tinted light.

The tailcap is machined out of aluminum, and galled the first time I tried to screw it on the tube. There is no provision for a spare bulb (in this case a spare OEM bulb would be pointless since you can't carry spare LED assemblies, its too big) and there is no provision for a lanyard (the OEM tailcap has a machined hole for a lanyard). Yeah, I know that with the 3 LED's, the two AA batteries will last a lot longer. But I would rather have bright usuable light for two hours with AA batteries than 6 hours of dim light that I could outperform with a candle.

I wasted $9.99 on this conversion. I should have stuck with the OEM bulb. Hard to improve perfection. And for $24.00 you can buy two NEW mini-mag flashlights! I see mini-mags for sale everywhere I go for $9.99 + tax, what in tarnation was I thinking?

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I had been kicking around buying one of these kits for some time to upgrade one of the 8 or so AA cell maglights. The LED's are pretty cool, long battery life, decent light output (less than the standard bulb though). The tail switch is weak and flimsy, feels like I am going to break it. The button sorta flops around in the base. Nothing like the switch on my SureFire, but its also a lot less expensive. So LED's Good (4 stars), Tail switch could be better (2-3) stars.

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Bought mine from Ace Hardware and I was glad to have bought locally so that I could easily return it which I did w/ in one day of buying it. I first just replaced the tailcap piece. It would only stay on after I let go of the button about 20% of the time. Otherwise it would only be on when you were pushing the switch in with your finger to turn it on or off. So far not good. Then tried the LED light. Things did not get better, unfortunately. The wire legs from the base of the light where not quite spaced correctly so that I had to really force it down into the light bulb base on my MagLite. Which then when I tried to remove it popped the light bulb base cover off, revealing the mechanism underneath which if you read the text on the cover MagLite says "Do not remove". The bulb had pulled so hard at the metal "L" braket that provided the spring-loaded ground connection to turn the bulb on and off got bent up. So I took the batteries out and tried to bend that back, except that it's such a fragile piece of metal that it broke, rendering the MagLite completely useless except for spare parts. (The bulb fit a little better in my newer MagLite from circa 1996 the original one I tried was from the early 90s but it was still a pretty tight fit). In summary, tail switch doesn't work well and the LED light installs so tightly that you might wind up breaking your MagLite in the process. Just go and by the real LED MagLite from Sears and be done with it.

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At $9 delivered, I am quite satisfied. I chortle at the reviews that slag this product for its weak light output and lack of solidity. Well, yeah, it's not quite a Surefire but then it cost 15 or 20 times less, right?

I had no problems installing the module and tailcap in my light, bought in the late 90s. I visually compared brightness from a brand new stock bulb to the 3-led module. The LED focus is non-adjustable and the central hotspot is significantly dimmer than the tightly-focused incandescent. So if maximum range from your light is important, this upgrade will be a downgrade.

The LED is basically a floodlight, and puts out significantly more light overall than the incadescent bulb focused as a flood. It's good for walking down the street at night, searching for things under your desk, or finding your way around when the power goes off, etc. But if you are a tactical flashlight ninja looking to melt the eyeballs of your many assailants, you will be unsatisfied. If you are a house or aircraft inspector peering into distant corners of dark attics or aircraft wheel wells, get something stronger.

Overall, I find my upgraded flashlight significantly more useful than when it was stock. It's brighter and there's no fooling with focus. The clicker switch is handy and effective, if cheap feeling. Battery life seems excellent.

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I've bought the nite-ize LED upgrade, tail switch and IQ switch for a mini-mag 2xAA flashlight.

I've thrown it all away. What a disappointment. I was hoping to get a reliable flashlight that would go easy on cheap batteries.

The IQ switch worked for about 5 minutes before it broke.

The (non-IQ) tail switch didn't fit my older mini-mag. Plus it is not sealed. I bought a new mini-mag light to try this on. After a few weeks, it quit working too.

The LED "upgrade" was very dim compared to my original bulb. Then after a few months, one of the three LEDs quit working.

Terralux is much better. Their TLE-5EX is brighter than the original bulb and it rocks.

Their tail switch fits properly and works great. Plus it is sealed and still allows for a wrist strap, if desired.

I need a reliable flashlight in my job. I emailed Nite-ize outlining the problems I've had with their gear. No response.

They have obvious quality control issues. Buyer beware.

Go get Terralux instead.