MGC-Flashlights

[redrider]

Walmart store brand- Ozark Trail OT-300L. Great pattern, two power levels and CREE tech. Feels good and solid in the hand. The 225-L makes a nice bag item for the Guzzi. (That was the MGC part)

[Triple Jim]

It looks like a nice flashlight, but I'm not crazy about the four AA cell requirement.

[redrider]

I use Ni-Cd double and triple in most portable gear. Eveready fast charger and spares keep me going, well, forever.

[Triple Jim]

That helps, although having to charge four at a time is still not ideal to me.  I've been using a single AA flashlight that's very bright, and has three settings.  The AA cell lasts a long time in the low or medium setting.  It's this one:  http://www.dx.com/p/trustfire-f20-cree-q5-wc-5-mode-230-lumen-memory-led-flashlight-1-aa-1-14500-28544#.VkvM-nriseM     Although the sales company is overseas, I've received several orders from them with good results.

By the way, I highly recommend Panasonic "Eneloop" rechargeables.  The price is reasonable, and they are spectacular compared to all the others I've used over the years, both in capacity and ability to hold a charge if left off the charger for months.  Maybe you've already found them.

[Moto Fugazzi]

I recently bought a Slyde flashlight. It has a very bright beam, and the side also slides open into a very useable work light. Magnetic on the butt end (hehe), so it can be attached to something metal so that it doesn't roll away.
Ken

http://www.amazon.com/Nebo-Lumens-Flashlight-Batteries-Included/dp/B00XLUX6O8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447811969&sr=8-1&keywords=slyde+flashlight

[Chuck in Indiana]

Flashlight technology is amazing. I thought I'd bought my last flashlight when I coughed up the big bux and bought a 3 D cell Mag light. It *eats* those expensive D cells, and won't hold a candle  to a AA cell Cree.
That Slyde looks like a good camping light, too, Ken.. I'll give it a look.

[Bonafide Bob]

Flashlight technology is amazing. I thought I'd bought my last flashlight when I coughed up the big bux and bought a 3 D cell Mag light. It *eats* those expensive D cells, and won't hold a candle  to a AA cell Cree.
That Slyde looks like a good camping light, too, Ken.. I'll give it a look.

3 D Mag lights are not as bright as some of the flashlights, but they are a good self defense tool in the right hands.

Bob

[redrider]

Nice equipment Folks. I purchased a Redline multi-mode 310 lumen variable focus unit and it lasted about six months before the logic went stupid. My Lightning power pack is doing the same thing and the case is swollen. Chinese QC may be a bit sketchy. The Eneloop batteries were my top pick many years ago when I went digital, camera wise. I opted to try the Harbor Freight NiMH offering and those have been outstanding. They last forever at rest and power the VIO-POV with DVR at 1080p for about 4 hours. The Eveready rapid charger takes about 45 minutes to fully charge 4 AA or AAA. That slide light may show up here around Xmas. I mentioned Ni-Cd earlier, I was confused. NiMH is what I use.

[charlie b]

I bought a few 3 packs of flashlights at Costco a while ago.  They worked so well that I converted two of them to aux lights on the motorcycle.  They have survived quite a bit in the last three years.  Duracell took up that 'brand' but they don't seem to offer the simple 3 pack anymore.

The led technology is getting there.  A little cheaper and I will start changing out all the lights in the house.  I already changed most of the ones in the RV.  Extended battery life by a lot.

[Tobit]

Flashlight technology is amazing. I thought I'd bought my last flashlight when I coughed up the big bux and bought a 3 D cell Mag light. It *eats* those expensive D cells, and won't hold a candle  to a AA cell Cree.
That Slyde looks like a good camping light, too, Ken.. I'll give it a look.

+1.  I've thrown perfectly good C and D cell incandescent Mags in the trash.  No point in carrying something that bulky except for possible use as a club.  LED technology made dinosaurs out of them.

Tobit

[Triple Jim]

+1.  I've thrown perfectly good C and D cell incandescent Mags in the trash.  No point in carrying something that bulky except for possible use as a club.  LED technology made dinosaurs out of them.

There are LED bulbs for old flashlights like Maglites.  Many are not very good.  A few are very good and you end up with a big flashlight with a good adjustable beam, that will run years before the cells need changing.  We keep them in places like by the exterior house doors so you can grab one quickly, and the large size make them harder to lose.

Like Kodak and Polaroid when digital photography arrived, Mag and probably other flashlight companies almost put themselves out of business when LEDs came along.  It was only a few years ago that the Mag web site proclaimed that their incandescent bulbs made a better, more usable beams than LEDs, so they were sticking to those.  When I first heard of digital photography, I thought that Kodak should have attached itself to the new technology and been a leader.  Instead they kept selling film and film cameras and ended up chasing the leaders.  Oh well, the same thing happened to our auto industry, so I guess there's consistency.

[charlie b]

There was a board meeting at Kodak when digital first came out (late 80's?).

They calculated how much memory it would take to store a high resolution 35mm SLR type picture.  Then determined how much that cost.  Their conclusion was that it would take 50 years to get to the point that digital was a viable competitor to film.  They were off by a few decades :)

Of course, they were also faced with the huge environmental cleanup bill for their big film production and processing plant.  IIRC they figured it would bankrupt the company to have to shut it down and clean up the mess.