Lanyard Ring End Caps

Summary: Lanyard ring end caps used to be a standard option on most flashlights. Maglite used to produce them for their non-letter serial D cells. They are now discontinued but can still be found as New Old Stock NOS.

Mag Instrument used to produce some interesting accessories for their lights too. One rare accessory is the lanyard ring end cap, also known as a D-ring end cap. This end cap was an option offered on a lot of early professional lights like Kel-Lites for police use. As these lights started to fade from police use in favor of smaller, lighter lights that were easier for officers to carry so did this option. Lanyards are still popular with outdoorsmen and hikers but most hikers will find a Maglite too heavy for most treks. I have a few lanyard ring end cap Kel-Lites that I've covered on my other blog.

These end caps are Mag Instrument part number 108-000-009 and were discontinued in the mid to late 90s. They were never heavily promoted by Mag Instrument and as far as I can tell they were only available for order from the parts department or service centers. They never came standard on any light. They also weren't advertised well because I've never seen them in any Maglite literature. They only fit D cell non-letter serial lights and were only made in black. They will not fit the 1992+ Maglites with a letter in the serial and the panther logo.

I got these with the NIB (new in box) light find from a closed down police supply shop. As of this post date these end caps can still be found as NOS (new old stock) from some online retailers. The cost is about $20 which is almost as expensive as an entire incandescent Maglite. I imagine that's part of the reason why they didn't sell too well. Also, the only lights they fit are from before 1992 so I don't think too many people are rushing out to buy these. The end cap comes with a spring and bulb holder. These are both identical to the spring and bulb holder for a standard end cap. It appears that at least for a little while they were also finished in silver. Other than that I haven't seen any other finishes.

I tried these end caps on a number of different size lights and they only seem to work well with the 2D. The light is small enough where you don't need a super long lanyard and if dropped it won't fall to the ground before the lanyard catches. The end cap also works well for hanging the light on a wall but make sure you have a pretty sturdy hook if you're hanging a larger cell light.

For those interested I made the lanyard myself. It's a fun project and I have these on my Surefires that I use for hiking as well. The instructions can be found at: http://stormdrane.blogspot.com/2011/05/adjustable-paracord-wrist-lanyard.html The paracord is very inexpensive so there's no need to spend $20 on a fancy lanyard when you can make your own for $1.

The light is the same one from the thread I did about the best mods for vintage lights. This was one of the NIB (new in box) 2Ds I found recently and it's my favorite Maglite. There isn't much of a need for lights larger than 2 cell since LEDs came out. I love collecting the large lights but I stopped using them years ago. New LEDs have awesome run times. I can get 4+ hours out of this light and it's 600 lumens to boot. Sure some incans will run longer but most won't touch 100 lumens so they're not super bright. I still use incans here and there but for work I'm all LED. Anyway, here's another pic of the business end for good measure with the super high quality Malkoff LED drop in.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

1981 to 2003 5C and 6C Lights

Summary: 5C and 6C lights are very desirable among collectors now but like most C cells they were slow sellers when they were originally produced. They were made from 1981 to 2003.

5C and 6C cell lights are pretty well sought after by a lot of collectors although they were never popular until after they were discontinued. There are rarer, more interesting lights but for some reason collectors gravitate towards large cell discontinued lights. Maglite at one time made up to a 7C cell light. The 7Cs can sell for upwards of $200 but 5 and 6Cs don't usually fetch that much. They can be found from $40 or $50 all the way up to $100 for an older light in better shape. Here's my 5 and 6 C cell collection. Many of them are new in box, NIB, from the various Maglite package generations which I'll detail below. The 6C in the middle has a very rare ASP Baton end cap.

Like all other C cell lights production started in 1981. Unlike 7Cs though production continued much longer and many more were produced even though they sold only marginally better. It should be noted that C cell sales were slow altogether compared to D cells. Maglite dropped 7Cs in 1989 because they were only moving around 4,000 units a year. Maglite continued to produce 5Cs and 6Cs until 2003 when C cells were modernized, almost 10 years after D cells.

The last 6C serials are around 620,000 and are from 2003. The last 20,000 or so were produced as the modernized "Letter Serials" before they were discontinued. 5Cs sold even poorer and the final serials were around 550,000. This translates into about 22,000 units per year. Maglites most popular model, the 3D, sold almost 4,000,000 units a year during the late 90s and most other D cells sold around 1,000,000 units per year so these lights were far less popular. I have heard that when Maglite moves less than 10,000 units per year a light is almost guaranteed to be discontinued.

Shown below is a final run, modernized, 5C light. They are easily distinguished because they have the C in front of the serial.(see pic below with old vs. new.) They also have the newer style switch with the retaining clip instead of the retaining ring and the o-ring on the barrel instead of in the head.

Most of these lights came from a now defunct distributor from California who did business  with Maglite since their early days. I was able to purchase a small cache of 5Cs, a 6C and a few recently discontinued 4Cs along with a fair amount of service center parts.

2 of my newer 6Cs came from a fellow collector who bought them from a hardware store that had them sitting around and wasn't able to sell them. A lot of finds happen like this at small local retailers. These retailers will sometimes not realize what inventory has been sitting for 15+ years so there is a better chance for this kind of find than at a big box retailer. One is in a chipboard, cardboard box, the other is in a plastic clam shell package. Both are marked 1996 and are only about 700 units apart. The serials are 60560337 and 60561061.

I also have a NIB 6C from 1988. The plastic display boxes don't hold up too well because they get brittle but this one is in pretty good shape. The bezel is stamped instead of laser etched and lacks the Panther logo so it's easier to tell that it's older. I have a C Cell Quick Dating Guide for those who are interested in the differences throughout the years. The light is in perfect condition and was purchased as new old stock from a hardware store as well. It was found at a different store than the ones above.

I found a small lot of 5Cs a year or so ago but aside from that 5Cs are usually tougher to come by than 6Cs. I hardly ever see 5Cs up for sale. I don't think a lot of folks know these are discontinued. The 5C on top is from my NIB find. The 5C in the middle is personalized and was carried by a Massachusetts police officer. The well used Panther light above it came from a yard sale of a local plumber who recently converted to LED. The bottom modernized 5C is from the find I detailed above and has become a regular user for me.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

1980 Prototype Mag Charger and Rechargeable Flashlight History

Summary: Shown below is a prototype of the Mag Charger rechargeable flash light. Maglite wasn't the first company to make a rechargeable light but they were one of the best selling and most reliable.

I've covered the early history of rechargeable flashlights on my other flashlight blog. That story continues here with the introduction of the Maglite Mag Charger.

Maglites sales were not strong in the early days and were subject to relentless competition from newly developed rechargeable flashlights. Maglite knew that most professional users, the majority of the market at the time, wanted rechargeable lights. Maglite started developing their own rechargeable flashlight in 1980 just after production was underway on their original incandescent lights.

In 1982 Maglite introduced their rechargeable flashlight. Patent # 4388673. Mag Instrument further refined the existing charging designs by introducing external contacts on the barrel just above the switch. The end cap chargers and switch chargers at the time were not as reliable and subject to wear over time. Like most other rechargeables Mag also used a more powerful Halogen bulb as opposed to the regular vacuum PR based bulbs in their standard models. While run time was decreased, the light was exceptionally brighter. The brighter beam also made the light considerable hotter and required glass lenses and metal reflectors to be used.

Shown below is an ad sent to dealers in 1980 in anticipation of the  January 1981 release of the Mag Charger. Unfortunately the release was delayed until 1982 due to production issues. The claimed run time is 1 1/2 hours vs. the 8+ hours of a standard 3D. The Mag Charger was 10 times as bright though.

Shown below is the rarest light in my collection and likely the rarest Maglite in existence. It is a prototype of the Mag Charger that was hand assembled and tooled by Don Keller and Tony Maglica as a proof of concept in 1980. It houses a standard PR based vacuum bulb and unfortunately did not come with a charger. It also has a plastic OEM Maglite reflector and plastic lens. Many stock incandescent parts were used in this prototype light. An aluminum dot with adhesive was affixed to the lens to try to minimize the black hole effect however it did not work. This can be seen on the lens in the pics below. The end cap is not knurled like all other Maglites because this was a working concept so the extra step in the machining process was not taken. There is no serial number or other stamping on the light.

Another interesting fact about the Mag Charger is that it was the first D cell flashlight to be designed as a flashlight. What I mean by this is prior to it's adoption all D cell flashlights were made from 1 1/4" Schedule 40 aluminum irrigation pipe. The standard spec for this pipe is shown below. The wall thickness, ID, and OD will all match exactly to any early D cell Kel-Lite, Maglite, etc.. The reason batteries have extra space in older D cell lights has nothing to do with cardboard cells or anything like that it was simply due to the fact that they were being produced from relatively inexpensive, already available aluminum irrigation pipe. It was not until Mag Instrument introduced the Mag Charger that any flashlight company invested in aluminum extrusion to make a more optimized tube shape for the D cell aluminum light. In 1992 this was then transitioned into the now current, panther style Maglite. Many other companies would also follow suit with their own optimized, extruded flashlight barrels in the 80s.

Ironically after the rechargeable Maglite was introduced sales to general consumers started to dominate the market. These household users did not want to spend the extra money on a rechargeable system for the little use the lights saw. As such the swing in the market was back to alkaline powered incandescent lights once again. The light Mag Instrument hoped to be one of their biggest sellers still sold favorably but lagged in sales compared to the ever popular Streamlight SL-20. Even to this day Streamlight Stingers, along with a multitude of Surefires, are hands down the most popular flashlight choices among police officers.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

Gold Lights

Summary: Maglite occasionally produces special gold anodized lights. These lights were mainly produced in the 1980s. They are very rare and highly desired among collectors.

Currently Mag Instrument produces Maglites in a variety of finishes but this was not always the case. In my prior post about non-letter serial colors I made reference to 2 very rare finishes, gold and camo. I covered the camo in an earlier post, here. This post is about the rare gold anodizing. It seems like up until 1989 Mag Instrument produced the four standard finishes, black, blue, silver, and red with silver starting a little after 1980 and the rest starting regular production in 1980. It's worth noting that Mag Instrument also experimented with some odd colors very early on and in extremely small quantities as detailed here. Mag Instrument started trying different finishes to appeal to the civilian market. The unique finishes would eventually go on to become part of Maglite's success in tapping into the previous unrecognized civilian and trade market so it's interesting to see where and how it all started.

The 3D shown below is a 1,800,000 serial which puts it right at 1989. It's interesting in that this is only 100,000 away from the camo light I have. At the time Maglite had been in business 10 years but had barely sold 2,000,000 3D lights. Whereas now, based on the serials and years I have, Mag easily moves 2,000,000 3D incans a year. This is obviously huge growth and the type of sales numbers Mag Instrument was always looking for. The 3D also came with a 2nd gen gold Mini Mag that ran from late 1986 to 1991. This Mini Maglite is gold anodized. Maglite also made a gold plated Mini Maglite which I've covered here. The gold plated version is far more rare and expensive. The owner told me he purchased the 3D and the Mini Maglite at the same time but in separate packages. Nothing says 1989 like a pair of gold Maglites!!!

C cells are much rarer in general because they sold poorly compared to D cells. That makes finishes even rarer on C cells especially from the early days. The 2C shown below has a 335,089 serial and is also from 1989. I e-mailed Mag Instrument to find out the dates of production and this is just months apart from the 3D so it must have been done in the same anodizing batch as the 3D. Maglite has not produced a letter serial in a gold finish so I doubt these were done again after 1989 because the letter serials came out in 1992 on D cells. Other gold lights also have similar serials.

Shown below is my like new 1982 gold 2D. There must have been a small batch made then as well. It has the TM bezel instead of the R bezel like the above lights. For those interested these differences are detailed in my D Cell Quick Dating Guide. This 2D is serial 364,026.

I also have a 1992 2D. This Maglite is serial number 4,218,918 and is one of the first 2Ds made after the lights changed over to the newer style, Panther lights, in 1992. The prior owner told me that this light was done in gold as a special marketing effort to promote the updated Maglite. It must be very rare because it's the only one of a couple gold Panther style lights I've ever seen or heard of. It was well used over the years but when I received it, it didn't take much to get in running in tip top shape.

I'm not much of a collector of modern Maglites but I had to pick up one of these. Maglite made a batch of gold full size lights for the 2018 Oscars. They are shown in the pic below from Maglite's Twitter feed. Mag also sold a handful of these too in retail packaging around the same time. I was lucky enough to pick one up and pics of it are below. I'd love to get a 2nd one to take out of the package and use. My guess is that Mag had a run of these done as giveaways and sold the extras. It is an LED model and I bought the light from Mag's website. It was $39.99, the same as the other finishes.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

Non-Letter Serial C Cell Lights

I made a post earlier about Non-Letter Serial D cell lights and the differences between these earlier lights and the later, 1992+, lights that are almost an entirely different light. That post can be found here. Well, I've been saying for sometime I would do a similar post for C cells and here it is.

C cell lights haven't sold as well as D cells and I've done some early history on them here along with sales numbers to back this up. C cells started in 1981 after Mag Instrument was in business for 2 years. Maglite didn't modernize the C cells until 2003. More than 10 years after Mag modernized the D cells. So, what changed and why?

Shown in the above pic are a 2C letter serial (top) from around 2013 and a non-letter serial 3C from around 1988 (bottom). The leading digit, 3, specifies the cell size in the non-letter and the leading C and 2 in the letter serial specifies the cell type and number of cells. The rest of the digits specify the number of the light in the production sequence. All lights started at number 1 and worked their way up. So, the earliest 3 cell light would be 30000001. The non-letter light is serial 30279664 so it is the 279,664th 3C cell light produced. This numbering carried over in 2003 and did not reset when the letter serials came out. Mag Instrument will actually tell you the date a light was produced based on this serial number although I have a Quick Dating Guide that will give you a rough idea without having to go through Mag. Older lights did not differentiate between the cell type in the serial. Newer LED lights will also have other letters on the prefix side as well.

The main update was to the switch. From 1981 until 2003 Mag Instrument used a retaining ring switch which was a sized down version of their D cell light. The retaining ring is very thin and as such it could never be changed over to plastic like the D cells. This resulted in more difficult maintenance as the retaining ring gets stuck when dirt or corrosion get into it. The ring also results in higher production costs as the aluminum is more expensive to produce than the plastic. The new style switches use a snap ring instead of a retaining ring which also results in less machining and a lower production cost. Shown below is a 1981 to 2003 switch on the left and a 2003+ switch on the right with the retaining clip removed from the barrel.

The secondary update was the relocation of the o-ring from the head to the barrel. Early C cells had the o-ring located in the head. This was troublesome as the o-ring would wear when the light was focused as it past over the threads. This would cause water to get inside the light. I believe this was an oversight during the original design and was rectified after numerous service center complaints during the run of the C cells up until 2003. Shown below is an example of the o-ring placement on a 1981 to 2003 light on the right and a 2003+ light on the left.

Unlike the D cell lights the addition of the panther logo did not signify any design changes. Maglite simply started using the bezel in 1992 when the D cells change over and has used that same bezel ever since. 1992 to 1995 bezels will have a TM next to the Panther as the trademark was still pending and 1996+ lights will have an R with a circle next to the panther. Bezels, lenses, and reflectors always interchanged between C and D cells. The only way to tell the new and old lights apart is from the serial number.

All parts will interchange between old and new lights with the exception of the heads and switches. A new style head will go on an old light but because no seals exist the light will not be waterproof. Old style heads won't even thread on to new style lights. The switches, with the exception of the retaining ring vs. clip, are identical but Maglite doesn't sell retaining rings or clips by themselves so you'll likely have to buy a new switch instead of interchanging them.

I should also mention that the barrels are marginally thicker on the new lights by just about a tenth of an inch or so. A lot of the early C cells I've seen are dented so I'm guessing the aluminum extrusion thickness was increased just slightly when the changeover happened to increase durability. This is the opposite of D cell lights which saw both outside and inside diameter reduced. This is because C cell lights were always extruded whereas D cell lights were originally made from aluminum pipe.  

Also in 2003 5C and 6C lights were discontinued. Only a very small handful of the last 5Cs and 6Cs had letter serials. I did a post about these here but basically they were such slow sellers that they were discontinued. Like other discontinued lights they are popular among collectors and often sell for 2 or 3 times their original price. 

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

1992 to 2000 2C Chevy Trucks Lights

Summary: Maglite partnered with many 3rd parties over the years to produce licensed lights. One such example is a light they made for Chevrolet which came in a tool kit with their trucks and SUVs.

Starting in 1992 Maglite partnered with GM to include a special light in service kits of higher trim level Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans. Similar to the Ferrari Mini Maglites, but produced in much higher quantities, these lights were intended to assist with roadside maintenance of the vehicles. The lights were packaged in a canvas service kit shown below and were all of the 2C variety with a laser etched Chevy Trucks logo over the grip. The service kit also included various other items like a leatherman's tool, disposable camera for accident documentation, and a first aid kit. Maglite chose to include a 2C due to the C cells very slow sales. As such, Maglite was able to offer Chevrolet a much lower price per light in order to help move some C cells.

Most of these lights are non-letter serial C cells and they all have the 1992 and later bezel with the panther logo. C cells were not modernized until 2003, nearly 10 years after D cells. This particular light has a TM designation after the panther logo which means it is from between 1992 and 1995. In 1995 the trademark on the Panther head logo was approved and the TM was removed and an R with a circle was added. For those interested I have a Quick Dating Guide for C Cells. The Chevy Trucks logo was laser etched and I've done a little bit of history on that in my earlier post about the Chevron 3D I have. That post can be found here.

These lights are fairly common and aren't worth much more than $20 or so. Most of the lights went unused and batteries were stored separate from the lights so they're relatively easy to find in good shape. All of the ones I've seen for sale were from auto scrap yards and folks parting out or getting rid of these trucks. These lights were produced for later Chevy trucks too. I've seen LED versions of the lights too but I'm not entirely sure which other models they came with. Shown below is the body style Tahoe and Suburban this light was included with. GM and Maglite would continue their collaboration to include a silver 2D light in the service kit of the Hummer H2 from 2002 to 2009. I don't own one yet but hope to in the future.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags especially a 7D. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

1979 First Year Lights

Summary: 1979 lights were the first produced by Maglite and the lowest serial numbers. These lights had many differences from later lights like their low focus grip and larger, bulbous switch cover. They are very rare today.

I've previously covered the early history of Maglite, but most may not know that the 1979 Maglites from the first year of production have some very interesting differences from later Maglites because the design was still a work in progress. These lights are specifically the first batches produced from March of 1979 to early (February or March) 1980. Two key features that differ from the rest of the early no letter serial Mags are:

- The low grip on the head. There is a space of about 1/4" between the bezel and the focus grip. This can be seen in the photos below when compared to a 1988 Maglite. This makes spotting these models on online auction sites very easy for those interested in collecting them.

- The bulbous switch cover. The switch hole diameter on the 1979 lights is 0.725" vs. 0.650" on all other D Cells Mags. The switch cover is therefore larger and lacks the flat, flanged edge that holds the seal into the lights on the earlier models. The covers were instead held in with a small circlip that went inside the cover but these are almost never found on old lights and are impossible to find as parts. For this reason most lights found for sale are missing the switch cover. Old covers will stay in place just fine without the circlip but the new style covers just fall right out of the light. Mag Instrument no longer produces replacements for the larger switch cover. Pictures of the switch covers for comparison are shown in the photos below.

These photos also show a TM bezel vs. and R bezel. Immediately after the Maglite logo earlier lights have a TM and later lights have the R with the circle. This signifies the difference between a regular trademark which anyone can claim and a registered trademark that is on file with the patent office. Even though this trademark was approved in 1981 the changeover didn't happen until 1987 when Mag Instrument stepped up the protection of their designs. I posted a Quick Dating Guide that is an easy way to date lights. 

A while back I was able to purchase a small lot of new old stock (NOS) original switch covers. I have several of these that I use for restorations and replacements on 1979 lights. I'm running low though and seeing as how Mag Instrument doesn't sell them I was thinking about have some made up from a rubber supplier. Below is some of the lot that I bought from an old Maglite service center.

Most of these very early lights I've bought were from owners in California which makes sense as the first year of production was likely shipped and sold near the factory. They are commonly referred to as 1979 lights or first year lights among collectors. Production serials vary but it looks like somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 of these early models were produced during the first year. This is a far cry from the million or so of each model currently produced per year. Based on how many survived it's a real testament to the durability of Maglites. I have a full collection of these early models, a 2D through 7D. The 2D is a ~18,000 serial, the 3D is a ~22,000 serial, the 4D is a ~11,000 serial, the 5D is a ~14,000 serial, the 6D is a ~3,200 serial, and the 7D is a ~4,400 serial. The 14,000th 5D Maglite ever made may not seem like a big deal but a current serial is something like 508000000. There have been over 8,000,000 produced so 14,000 is very early in the production run, like the first 0.1 % made with few surviving.

It's also worthwhile to note that all of these lights are stamped "Paten Pending" and all of them have patent misspelled so you do see collectors try to pass this off as an error light and even though it is they all technically had the same error. Lights were stamped "Paten Pending" until early 1981 so you'll see this on non-1979 lights too but only on a very small amount of C cells as C cell production started when the patent was almost approved. I should also note that 1979 first year production lights were mostly black although Mag instrument did a couple very small test batches of blue, red, and gold that they did offer for sale. Colors really started full production in early 1980 and I've covered those here. Shown below is my complete collection of 2D through 7D 1979 first year Maglites.

I got a great backstory on some of the lights when I purchased them. The 6D was bought by a trucker on a trip to California in the summer of 1979. He carried it with him for many years before having a battery get stuck inside. He sold it to another collector I deal with and that collector restored it. It is serial # 3,207 which is from one of the earliest batches of Maglites. I have heard of only 4 or 5 lights that are possibly older and owned outside of Mag Instrument. Mag Instrument owns several extremely low serial lights that were retained by the factory. The original owner had this one engraved with his name right above the serial. I've covered this light in another post as well as some other personalized lights I have too.

The 2D shown is the lowest serial D cell Maglite I've ever seen in all of my years of collecting. It could very possibly be the oldest Maglite still in existence today outside of Maglite's factory. It is a 422 serial so it is the 422nd 2D Maglite ever produced. That's astonishingly low considering new 2021 2D lights are around serial number 37,900,000. This light came from an estate sale in Arizona and its original owner was from California like owners of most other early lights that were distributed near the factory. It only saw light use and is in excellent condition today. It has all the other features of extremely early lights like very sharp tooling and the "Patent Pending" stamp instead of the later mis-spelled "Paten Pending" stamp. It is likely these extremely early lights were hand tooled and as such their fit and finish is extremely high compared with later mass produced lights. If you've seen a lower serial light please shoot me an e-mail. My contact info is at the right. The light is shown below with a 2021 Purple 2D.

The 4D shown below was purchased as part of a used lot of Maglites from a large concrete manufacturer in California. The concrete manufacturer bought lights for every truck since they started their business in the early 70s. This one survived all the way from 1979 until 2009 when it was replaced by a newer LED light. The light has an awesome patina to it from years of use and has held up very well. The light was used very frequently and batteries were changed once a month so it never had a battery get stuck in it. You just can't recreate the way these lights fade and wear so this is one of my favorite lights in my collection. It's hard to capture on camera but I've also tried to take a pic with a brand new 1980 light to show the difference in finish.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.