LED lighting, and a small ranty rant,

[Hammerskjold]

I won't lie, some of the LED Hand Held Units we have go....... Overboard.

You might have to give more detail, unless for obvious diplomatic reasons that's the most you can say on the matter.

I'll just say one of my pet peeves (which may or may not apply to what you just said :whistles: ) are LED flashlights that has too many modes and becomes too gimmicky. There were more than a few models that I would've bought, that I wound up passing over because I personally only need a LED flashlight. Not a handheld disco strobe.

The maglite may win out on the metal quality (Because the side of the LED slides, which will probably wear out at some point), but it isn't by a lot.

Yep, for sure. The bang for your buck factor has improved quite a lot in recent years.

Now I actually like Mags myself, and I own IIRC 3 generations of their LED models.

But IMO they're an example of how after a certain size, a company can get too big to move quickly. Or maybe they got entrenched, or got a bit lazy.

IMO it took Mag 3-4 revisions of their Magled line to finally get it better. Even then, IMO they didn't really capture the classic Mag, decent quality, no frills 'I just want it to work' until they came out with the 'Mag-Pro Led' models. Unfortunately those are still not available at most brick and mortar stores in Canuckistania.

And although I still like maglites in general, I bought a just slightly sub- 20$ Rayovac LED that pretty much became my benchmark light. As in, before I buy a new light, does it offer any significant improvement\feature over this 20$ rayovac I already have, for a similar price range? And most of the time the answer for me is 'nope'.

If a similar light with a higher CRI LED comes out at the same price, I'd definitely buy it. I may still buy the 2 AA Magled Pro, maybe. Though with each cycle of 'no show\not available yet' on some their newer lines, IMO they're increasing their risk of getting left in the dust.

That'd be a shame since I actually do like most of their stuff. But the retail market is increasingly becoming faster paced, and if any company don't bring their stuff to market in time, the competition will eat their lunch.

In any case, that 20$ rayovac has pretty much ended my upgrade-itis and collecting streak for a long while yet. The irrational collector side of me is somewhat sad. The practical penny pincher side of me however is much happier.