Maglite Mini Mag AA

It's durable. It works all the time. When it stopped working, I took it in, Maglite gave me a brand new one. No questions asked. I think Maglite are the only company that can boast such fantastic customer service!

The Maglite Mini Mag AA is a great torch and has a great construction of metal, very strong and good quality, mine has finally died on me and im quite annoyed about it.overall ok torch, remove batteries after handling, because my batteries leaked and now it doesn't work now.

These torches are superb when you've upgraded the bulbs and reflectors,

I've been using Terralux parts and the amount of light they give out is impressive.

I had seen the Mini Maglite for sale for some time but was never sold on the idea of any penlight powered torch being worth considering. Durability, brightness and battery life were traditionally poor in the area of penlight torches, something more associated with Christmas stockings than a serious tool.

Some ten years back my wife gave me one for my birthday in a smart black box with a small Victorinox pocket-knife. Back then, in Zimbabwe certainly, it represented a huge step forward and was then a winner. That particular one has been long stolen and I have replaced it with a black one for everyday carry and I have one in each car, matching colours for ease.

Both of my son's have a Mini-Mag as torches have a tendency to gravitate to baths despite a parent's best efforts and the supermarket specials are prone to immediate warranty nullification. After going through a few supermarket D-Cell specials the maths soon weighed in favour of Mini-Mags.

The Mini-Mag's performance has been long passed by other tactical lithium powered torches in the race to reach ever-increasing lumen output. I have a few of these powerful compact torches and they are extremely bright and tough. Most are not suitable for children, and batteries difficult to source. I do carry one performance torch in my kit bag at all times.

Maglite is the only brand that has readily available spares where I travel to in Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and where I live, Botswana. So many things run on AA batteries that they can be scavenged from other kit or bought in virtually any location in Africa. With a spare bulb in the tail cap I have yet to be anything more than momentarily inconvenienced. A small spare bulb resides in a side pocket of my Filofax. The Mini-Mag is a great asset in the constant cycle of blackouts in much of Africa.

They do need to be checked every few months, especially if you have children. O-rings need to be lubed (as with all twist function torches) when batteries are replaced, Vaseline does the job. Habit dictates that I replace the lamp at Christmas time as they do darken with use, they are inexpensive and using them in candle mode can bend the pins.

Alkaline provide an excellent balance of performance and price. The performance M3Duracell and Ti-Energisers are pricey for a torch but give excellent performance and duration. I avoid acid batteries like the plague as they don't match my requirements of durability. Alkaline Grand Cell has an excellent niche when you have children.

The biggest liability owning the Mini-Mag is casual theft. It is a most useful everyday tool.

I found my Mini Mag Lite torch to be very reliable and of good solid construction. It is a nice bright light.

Maglite Torches are excellent quality and value for money, except you need more than a couple if you have sons and find torches go missing and migrate to their ownership. Solitaire is handy for putting on your keyring, makes losing your keys less likely! I bought mine from www.7-sins.com who have a large range of them including camo ones which are handy gifts for outdoor loving kids of all ages!

I love my AA mini Mag Lite torch! :-) Living in a rural area, I often have to walk down to the pub at night and brave a dark road on the way home. My Mini Mag Lite has served me well. Its small size makes it easy to cart around the pub and its powerful beam means that I have no problem seeing where I am going on dark footpaths or being seen by drivers.

The torch is also excellent for keeping in a car glove compartment when travelling.

I guess it is is pretty much watertight - the battery compartment has an 'O' ring in the thread. Battery life is good with Duracells and there is a spare bulb inside the battery compartment cover.

The sound construction of the torch (aluminium machined body with a machined grip) makes it one of those gadgets that is really tactile and desirable.

Highly recommended.