Has anybody ever tried putting an LED upgrade in an old Brinkmann Legend ?

[Hickory n steel]

About 5 years ago or so I was shopping at this local discount tool store down the street from my mom's house which gets lots of NOS / Closeout tools.
Anyways they had a bin full of these NOS ( but out of the package ) American made incandescent AA flashlights for $5 so I bought one intending to maybe put an LED upgrade in it.

I never got around to trying that and eventually lost the flashlight, I've identified the light as a Brinkmann legend and now I'm thinking I'd like to acquire another one if an LED upgrade can be installed.

Call me crazy but I think the old school flashlights are cool, and I'm still curious as to whether this flashlight could beat a minimag with an LED upgrade.
It has the tail switch which is cool, but I've heard that these had a better reflector than Maglite too.


maybe it's a long shot, and maybe nobody has even heard of these let alone tried an LED upgrade but I figured I'd ask.

 

[bdmicarta]

I'm not up on the latest stuff but LED upgrades for mini maglites used to be available. They might or might not fit into a Brinkman which is sort of a mini maglite clone. It probably isn't worth the cost unless you just want to resurrect your light.
The mini maglite uses a small bulb with 2 wires that plug straight into a socket. I've bought LEDs that you could plug into the socket instead of the bulb and the light would work like normal including the focus function. Not as bright as a dedicated LED light but with a long runtime.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I'm not up on the latest stuff but LED upgrades for mini maglites used to be available. They might or might not fit into a Brinkman which is sort of a mini maglite clone. It probably isn't worth the cost unless you just want to resurrect your light.
The mini maglite uses a small bulb with 2 wires that plug straight into a socket. I've bought LEDs that you could plug into the socket instead of the bulb and the light would work like normal including the focus function. Not as bright as a dedicated LED light but with a long runtime.

Yeah I know it's not really worth it, but I think the old flashlights are cool.
I already have an LED upgrade in my 3D Maglite ( a decent one from Litt industries) and a couple old rayovac sportsman and eveready flashlights with the crappy Nite-ize upgrade in them.
I'm pretty sure the AAA minimag and LED AA minimag pro probably bloe this thing out of the water, but this is just something I want to do for fun.

I just ordered a NOS 1988 legend off Ebay for $5 ( a closeout distributor has a bunch of them ).
I didn't realize till after that it's a little AAA version, but I didn't know there was one so that's cool.
I'm interested to see if this thing is any brighter than the incandescent Maglite Solitaire.

 

[Sharp Steel]

I was just using my really old 2 C cell Maglite, with LED bulb in it, last night. Bought different LED replacement bulbs for the ones I have and they are well worth the upgrade. Much lower chance of the bulb burning out when I need the light.

 

[Guy McVer]

I'm not up on the latest stuff but LED upgrades for mini maglites used to be available. They might or might not fit into a Brinkman which is sort of a mini maglite clone. It probably isn't worth the cost unless you just want to resurrect your light.
The mini maglite uses a small bulb with 2 wires that plug straight into a socket. I've bought LEDs that you could plug into the socket instead of the bulb and the light would work like normal including the focus function. Not as bright as a dedicated LED light but with a long runtime.

They still sell the nite ize LED upgrades at home depot. I found an old 3 D cell maglite at a thrift store yesterday. It has to be around 20 years old. Perfect condition, no scuffs or scratches, and it still had the original incandescent bulb in the head and a spare bulb in the butt cap. It looks like it has never been used. I bought it for 5 bucks, and then I went down to home depot today and bought the nite ize LED bulb. It's a drop-in replacement. It's brighter, but not by a huge amount. You definitely can see the difference though. It also puts off a whiter colored light. The focus still functions about the same.

 

[Hickory n steel]

They still sell the nite ize LED upgrades at home depot.

And in my experience those kind of suck.
I have 3 of them and they just seem like quite a ripoff for the performance they offer.
Maybe if it was a 2 pack for the money I'd be happier with them, but for just 1 it's not worth the money.

 

[Guy McVer]

And in my experience those kind of suck.
I have 3 of them and they just seem like quite a ripoff for the performance they offer.
Maybe if it was a 2 pack for the money I'd be happier with them, but for just 1 it's not worth the money.

Yeah they're not the greatest of all the third party upgrade options and they're probably on par with some of the ones you could get on amazon for about half the price, but the convenience of being able to go to local home depot and grab one off the shelf is nice. Last night I went outside and tested it, and the useful distance I got out of it was amazing for something that's supposed to be only around 55 lumens. Somehow it's more than enough to make me happy, but I'm sure that if I was a big flashlight geek I would find plenty of reasons to be disappointed with the nite ize bulb. But if I was that kind of person then I probably would have gone with a significantly more expensive kit that replaces the lens too.

Anyway, the old maglites were impressively engineered and if they are well taken care of they will last forever. The next thing I'm going to do is take it apart and put a little silicone grease on the threads, and maybe polish up the lens a little even though I don't think it needs it. I was also thinking I might try fitting the old bulb from the head inside the spring on the tail cap above the existing backup bulb. I don't know if it will fit, but I thought I would try it. I searched but couldn't find any information about whether or not anyone had managed to fit two bulbs in the tail.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Maybe if Maglite didn't make LED models that I'm perfectly satisfied with I wouldn't be so unimpressed with the Nite-ize bulbs.

 

[Guy McVer]

Maybe if Maglite didn't make LED models that I'm perfectly satisfied with I wouldn't be so unimpressed with the Nite-ize bulbs.

Eh, if you've got an old one laying around or you're like me and found one for 5 bucks, then it's not terrible.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Eh, if you've got an old one laying around or you're like me and found one for 5 bucks, then it's not terrible.

I found one for $2 and put one it in and did find it terrible.
Then I bought a better quality LED upgrade from Litt industries and have been quite satisfied with it.
That is until I got my Maglite Ml150 which is smaller , lighter weight, far brighter, and rechargeable via wall mounted charging cradle which I lives in 24/7.

I still like the Litt upgraded 4D Maglite but find it much less practical than I did previously.

 

[Guy McVer]

I found one for $2 and put one it in and did find it terrible.
Then I bought a better quality LED upgrade from Litt industries and have been quite satisfied with it.
That is until I got my Maglite Ml150 which is smaller , lighter weight, far brighter, and rechargeable via wall mounted charging cradle which I lives in 24/7.

I still like the Litt upgraded 4D Maglite but find it much less practical than I did previously.

Well I definitely think there is something to be said for the value of simplicity. The classic style maglites are solidly built and very easy to maintain or repair. I now have one in great shape, freshly greased and with a brand new LED bulb which should significantly extend the battery runtime. Maglites have been so ubiquitous for so long that if I ever need replacement parts then I can probably find another old maglite at a yard sale or a thrift store, and I can easily swap out the part(s) I need.

One thing I like about the nite ize replacement bulb is that it is advertised a "shock resistant". I don't know how true the claim is, but I can tell you that I tested it. I can smack the head of the flashlight all I want and it won't even flicker. I did read about flickering issues with some of the other options out there.

 

[Hickory n steel]

My Litt led upgrade seems to be pretty shock resistant too

Recently I bought my dad a USGI Fulton which came with a cheap LED upgrade ( I thought it would be a genuine Fulton LED ) which was terrible and flickered so I put one of my Nite-ize bulbs in it which works much much better.
I still don't really like them, but it did seem to work better in the Fulton than it did in any of the old Eveready Captain or Rayovac Sportsman flashlights I had bought them for so maybe the reflector in whatever flashlight you have makes a huge difference?

 

[Guy McVer]

I still don't really like them, but it did seem to work better in the Fulton than it did in any of the old Eveready Captain or Rayovac Sportsman flashlights I had bought them for so maybe the reflector in whatever flashlight you have makes a huge difference?

I imagine that's a significant factor, but nite ize states specifically that the brightness of the bulb should be affected by multiple factors including the batteries in your flashlight. I believe that at least in the case of maglites, the number of batteries you have in the flashlight has the biggest effect on the output of the bulb. More batteries = more lumens. So theoretically if you had a 6 D cell maglite it should be brighter than if you used the nite ize bulb in a 2 D cell maglite. This is based on what other people have said in videos and posts.

On the back of the package, it says "Estimated max lumen output only - actual performance based on operating conditions, cells used, and flashlight".

So at the very least you can say that the flashlight you use will affect the performance of the bulb. Maybe it's true that if your flashlight holds more batteries then you wilkl get more brightness, at least when it comes to maglites, and maybe it is also true that better more powerful batteries will have an effect on the brightness as well, assuming your flashlight can accept more powerful batteries and make use of their higher output, I guess?

I think the classic maglites only work with standard 1.5v batteries. I have also seen videos where people use plastic housing adapters to put 3 AA batteries in place of each D cell battery, but I don't know if that has any real benefits. And I believe the output of those are 1.5v too, so I'm not quite sure if you're getting much additional battery life or brightness by doing that. It is easier to get rechargable AA batteries, so maybe that's the reason. I couldn't find any rechargeable D cell batteries in stores.

 

[Guy McVer]

Here's an old video, but from looking at it, I'm positive that it's still the exact same product:

When he shines the old bulb next to the LED one, you can really see the difference. It's a very obvious contrast. The nite ize is a significant upgrade over the old bulb.

Now, since it's an old video, he says he got the bulb for 6 dollars. It's roughly doubled in price since then. And he says he got it at harbor freight. I don't know if they still sell it there, but like I said in an earlier post, I got mine off the shelf at a local home depot.

He also shows off one of the main advantages of the maglite: beam focus. Compared to a smaller keychain light without a focus, it's a winner in terms of how clear the maglite is vs how fuzzy the keychain light is. Beam focus is perhaps more important than total lumens, and it is something I think manufacturers should be adding to more of the newer flashlights.

Then again, I'm not a flashlight geek, so I could just be talking out of my butt.

 

[bdmicarta]

The advantage of a low-lumen LED in a D-cell maglite is it will run for a very long time.

 

[Guy McVer]

The advantage of a low-lumen LED in a D-cell maglite is it will run for a very long time.

It's not just that. I tested the bulb again tonight in a parking lot. The amount of usable distance you can get out this old maglite design is insane. You would never think a bulb estimated at 55 lumins would give you such a crazy long range. I attribute it to the large reflector and the beam focus. Maglite's newer stuff must be off the charts if this what you can do with such a low lumin LED bulb. It's nuts.

 

[Hickory n steel]

It's not just that. I tested the bulb again tonight in a parking lot. The amount of usable distance you can get out this old maglite design is insane. You would never think a bulb estimated at 55 lumins would give you such a crazy long range. I attribute it to the large reflector and the beam focus. Maglite's newer stuff must be off the charts if this what you can do with such a low lumin LED bulb. It's nuts.

My ML150 tops out at 800 lumens I believe, and yeah it does extremely well.

 

[Sharp Steel]

I imagine that's a significant factor, but nite ize states specifically that the brightness of the bulb should be affected by multiple factors including the batteries in your flashlight. I believe that at least in the case of maglites, the number of batteries you have in the flashlight has the biggest effect on the output of the bulb. More batteries = more lumens. So theoretically if you had a 6 D cell maglite it should be brighter than if you used the nite ize bulb in a 2 D cell maglite. This is based on what other people have said in videos and posts.

On the back of the package, it says "Estimated max lumen output only - actual performance based on operating conditions, cells used, and flashlight".

I thought the one LED replacement I bought a long time ago at the hardware chain store (may have been NiteIze LED) said "for 2 C-cell or 2 D-cell" flashlights. There may have been another one which said for 4 cell flashlights. Packaging is long gone but that is what I recall when I first saw the 'LED upgrade' on the blister pack.

 

[Guy McVer]

I thought the one LED replacement I bought a long time ago at the hardware chain store (may have been NiteIze LED) said "for 2 C-cell or 2 D-cell" flashlights. There may have been another one which said for 4 cell flashlights. Packaging is long gone but that is what I recall when I first saw the 'LED upgrade' on the blister pack.

I still have the package. It says "Fits most D + C cell flashlights." and "Operates 2 to 6 cell flashlights."

It's a cardboard slip with a small cube shaped transparent plastic blister containing the bulb.

By the way, I learned that a lot of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries are only 1.2v instead of the usual 1.5v for regular batteries, so that might be one of the things that is meant when they say that the batteries can affect the performance of the bulb.

 

[Hickory n steel]

The LED upgrade that's made in the USA by Fulton industries includes 2 plastic adapter capsules so you can run AA batteries instead of D cells.
From what I've seen performance appeared the same, but of course runtime would certainly be much lower.
of course you can always carry spare batteries.