Why a Maglite? FAQ

Why a Maglite?

I get this question a lot. There are tons of flashlights on the market right now. Some much more expensive and some much fancier than a Maglite. So why go with a Maglite and not one of these "higher end" models? Better yet why bother spending any money at all when you can pickup "budget" LED flashlights for $5 a pop? I'll answer all of these questions and more in this post!

In short Maglites are the best bang for your buck, period! They will never let you down and will provide all the light you could ever need or want.

What is the best light to buy right now?

Hands down the Maglite ML300L.

The ML300L has 3 brightness settings, going up to 625 lumens and awesome run times:

16 Hours on High (675 lumens)
77 Hours on Medium
117 Hours on Low (115 lumens)

Try and find any light with better run times. Guaranteed there aren't many out there.

Throw in a few NiMH rechargables that will never leak and you have yourself the best flashlight on the market that will last a lifetime. The light will run you $40 on Amazon and the batteries about $20 plus a charger if you need it. $100 gets you the whole shebang.

Are these fancy lights really that much brighter?

Yes, but do you really need all that light? I've had these lights and I don't think so. In fact sometimes the extra brightness is a disadvantage.

Most higher end lights out now will easily put out 5,000 to 10,000 lumens which is a startling amount. I reviewed a high end Adventure Sport Maglite that puts out 4,000 lumens. I've had it for over a year and I use a flashlight every night for work and weekends when I'm having fun. I probably use one far more than the average user does. How many times have I needed 4,000 lumens? None. I also have a Malkoff 800 lumen drop in in an old beat up 4D. How many times have I used it? None. Not only do they go unused but I couldn't use them if I wanted to. They are actually difficult to use because of the amount of light that bounces back to your eye. They will temporarily blind you in close quarters like a house or working on a car. If you're using them around co-workers or buddies you'll definitely blind them. About the only use I could see for these lights are impressing your friends or if you were employed on a search and rescue team.

I'll also warn the folks that are reading that no one checks or verifies lumen ratings on lights. Many many manufacturers will print any lumen rating they want on a light and there is no real recourse you can take if it is not accurate. Tools to measure lumens are not cheap so most consumers rely solely on how bright they perceive the light to be and unfortunately sometimes how good the marketing of the light is. I have seen $5 and $10 lights at Lowe's that advertise 1,000 lumens and having owned several 1,000+ lumen lights and seeing how much light they throw this is simply not true. Most large manufacturers have their name to stand behind when publishing lumen ratings and for Maglite this is no exception.

So, what amount of light do you need?

300 to 600 lumen LEDs seem to be the sweet spot. Having multiple brightness modes also makes the light more versatile too.

Let's be honest, incans aren't going to do it anymore. I love incan lights and I use them a lot mainly because I'm nostalgic though. 150 lumens is the max a big light is going to put out with any reasonable run time and that's just not enough for most situations. I have found that around 300 to 400 lumens is just the right amount. To get that you're going to need to go to LED. I personally use a Malkoff XP-G drop in that puts our around 350 lumens. Unlike other lights the Malkoff is heat sinked so it's going to put out 350 lumens for a long long time. Other lights are rated for 350 lumens or more but only for the first few seconds when the temp increases and the brightness decreases.

For most folks it doesn't make sense to upgrade an old incan light unless you're really attached to it. But have no fear Maglite makes several brand new lights that fit comfortably into this lumen range and even have multiple brightness levels to increase their versatility.

What kind of batteries do you need? Is lithium ion worth all of the hype?

Rechargeable D cells or high quality Alkalines are your best bets. Fancy lithium ion batteries have more power but are high maintenance and cannot be replaced by inexpensive Alkalines in a pinch. They also don't have the capacity and run time of a D cell.

For most average users lithium ion batteries are not going to worth the extra money or effort. Do they throw more current and volts from a smaller package? Yes, but there is special care involved in maintaining the cells and they are significantly more expensive than rechargeable D cells. I highly recommend NiMH rechargeable D cells or high quality Alkaline D cells like Energizer or Duracell. As with any alkaline cells though keep a close eye on them or better yet store them separate from the light if it isn't used very often. Skip the 18650s, 26650s and all the like as you won't find those at a gas station at 2AM if they die. Rechargeable Ds can always be replaced by cheap Alkalines in a pinch whereas lithium ion cells cannot. The run time is also worth mentioning and is another huge advantage. The highest capacity batteries you can get today are likely 18650s. There are some higher capacity lithium ions but they are fairly uncommon sizes. You'll need at least 3 18650s until you get to the run time of a 2D Maglite.

What about tint?

LED Maglites may not have the best beam color (tint) but it won't make much of a difference to the average user.

Ok ok, so tint might be a spot where a Maglite could use some improvement. However, most folks don't even know what tint is or probably care to know. Malkoffs have a much nicer tint than stock Maglites but stock Mags really aren't that bad. The average user is not going to see an increase or decrease in the red spectrum at night and will likely never appreciate a "warmer" beam of an expensive light. I use my light every night and the Malkoff renders colors just fine for me.

For those wondering tint is the color of the beam. Incan lights throw a beam that is very close to natural sunlight and renders all colors the same as they are in the daytime. LEDs cannot match that but more expensive lights get close. Less expensive lights have a blueish or greenish tint to the beam and as such they will skew colors at night.

If Maglite or Malkoff is reading this I think they could go far with a "warm" LED. It isn't much more expensive to produce and if the benefits are marketed correctly I could see users paying a small premium for the light. Please find a pic of incan beam color (tint) vs. LED beam color. The LED is on the left and the incan is on the right.

How much do I need to spend?

$50 gets you a good light. $100 gets you a better light. $170 gets you an awesome restomod light.

As I priced out above if you want a good off the shelf light plan on spending $50 or so for an ML3000L. If you really want to go all out for rechargeable batteries and a charger $100 tops and you have a light that's good for life and won't ever be obsolete.

If you want to piece together a vintage beauty with some real authentic scuffs and nicks my breakdown is as follows:

- Ebay TM or R bezel D Cell Maglite $30 shipped
- Malkoff D Cell Drop In and Adapter Sleeve $60 shipped
- KAIDomain.com Aluminum Reflector $10 shipped
- FlashlightLens.com Glass Lens $15 shipped
- 4 Pack Tenergy Centura LSD Rechargeable NIMH D cell - $25 shipped
- Battery Charger - $30 shipped

Total - $170

I'll also build these to order for a small premium from my stock of old lights. If you're interested my contact info is at the right. I did a more detailed post about these restomods a couple months back.

What light do you carry every day?

A 2001 3D Incan Maglite with a Malkoff XP-G LED upgrade and rechargeable batteries.

Shown below is the 3D I've carried day in and day out for the last 16 years as of this post date. I'm pretty attached to this Maglite because my dad and I bought a bunch of Maglites when we went into business together and this was the one I ended up with. It's been upgraded to an aluminum reflector, glass lens, with a Malkoff drop in and I use rechargeable batteries but otherwise it's the same light. This option is for the folks that would rather drive a Grand Wagoneer or a Ford Bronco rather than any of these bland looking crossovers.

What are the reasons to own a Maglite?

There are many great reasons to own a Maglite. They are American made and wonderfully reliable. They are as American as apple pie and really are a part of American heritage and history. Despite what many folks in the flashlight community and elsewhere say, they are extremely relevant today and are the best tool to get the job done. Speaking from experience I've had zero failures in thousands of hours of service. Every failure I've ever seen on any of the lights I've worked on has been from battery corrosion from cheap alkaline cells left in the light for far too long. Overall it's very satisfying to carry such a well worn, trusted tool with me that I know will be around long after I'm gone.

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

C Cell Quick Dating Guide

On to Part 2, for those wondering: How old is my C cell Maglite?

The D Cell Quick Dating Guide can be found here.
The Mini Maglite Quick Dating Guide can be found here.

C cells are far less popular than D cells. Even now, aside from 5C and 6C lights, there isn't much collector interest in them. A lot of it is likely due to lesser variety vs. the D cells. This guide pieces together the little information I have on them. My contact information is on the right if anyone needs assistance too. Parts are sometimes switched making the lights difficult to identify.

Below is a checklist of which features are found on which age range lights. Below this checklist I'll go into detail and provide pictures of the features in each age range.

Early 1981 - Late 1981
1981 was the first year of manufacture for C cell Maglites. The early production was already hammered out on the D cells so there are less early differences on the C cells. I did a post on early C cell history here. Only a handful of the very lowest serials are stamped "Paten Pending"opposite the serial. These early 1981 C cells are extremely rare.

TM Bezel
TM is stamped after the Maglite logo as the trademark was claimed but not registered.

Paten Pending Stamped Barrel
Only serials 1 - ~3,000 of each model are stamped "Paten Pending" as production started in early 1981 and the patent was approved by August. They are so rare I only have one example. A 5C Vari-Beam.

1982 - 1986
In August of 1981 the Maglite Patent was approved. Going forward all C cells were stamped "Patented Made in U.S.A." opposite the serial number.

TM Bezel
TM is stamped after the Maglite logo. The trademark was registered at this point but the bezel wasn't updated until later 1987.

Patented Made in U.S.A. Stamped Barrel
Barrels are now stamped "Patented Made in U.S.A." as the patent for the light was approved early into production.

1987 - 1989
An R with a circle replaced the TM after the Maglite logo.

R Bezel
The Maglite trademark was registered in 1981 but it wasn't until 1987 that Maglite decided to update the bezel and step up enforcement of their trademarks due to competition from other manufacturers.

Store-A-Bulb End Cap

Starting in 1987 C cell Maglites come with an extended end cap that had room to store an extra bulb. A store-a-bulb end cap is shown on top and a standard end cap on the bottom.

1990 - 1991
1990 marked a minor change. The bezel is laser etched instead of stamped. Also, 7Cs are discontinued.

Laser Etched Bezel
In order to save on production costs bezels are now laser etched. 1987 - 1989 stamped bezel (left) vs. 1990 -1991 laser etched bezel (right).

1992 - 1995
In 1992 the panther logo is added to the bezel.

Panther Logo Added
The panther logo is added to the bezel. The trademark of the panther logo wasn't approved until late 1995 so 1992 - 1995 models have a TM after the logo.

1996 - 2002
R Panther Bezel
The trademark of the panther logo was registered in late 1995 so starting in 1996 the TM was replaced by an R with a circle after the panther logo.

2003 - 2009
In 2003 the C cell lights were modernized into the model that's currently available today. I've detailed these differences here. These lights are typically referred to as New C Cells, Panther C Cells, or Letter Serial C Cells. 5Cs and 6Cs are discontinued shortly after the changeover.

Letter Added to Serial
C was placed at the beginning of serial to designate the cell size and to avoid confusion when ordering parts. 2003+ Letter Serial (top) vs. a 1981 -2002 Non-Letter Serial (bottom).

Patented in U.S.A. Stamped Barrel
In Late 2003 the barrel stamping was changed. Some early 2003 lights are Letter Serials and are stamped "Patented Made in the U.S.A." but are few and far between.

After 23 years of being "Made in the U.S.A." Maglite could no longer source enough parts made in America to meet the California definition. As such the barrels are stamped "Patented in U.S.A." instead of "Patented Made in U.S.A." as shown below. Please find more info in the following article: http://maglite.com/maglab/made-in-california-but-not-the-usa

O-Ring Moved
The O-ring was moved from being placed in the head to on the barrel. Shown below is a 2003+ light on the left and a pre-2003 light on the right.

Barrel Wall Thickness Increased
The wall thickness was increased slightly and as such the inside diameter is a little less.

R Panther Bezel
The trademark of the panther logo was registered so this carries over from the prior year.

Switch Redesigned
The retaining ring on the switch is replaced by a retaining clip. Examples of each are shown below with the retaining ring on the right and the retaining clip on the right..

2010 - 2017
The "Patented in U.S.A." stamping is abandoned all together. Lights now carry no stamping opposite the serial. All other features of the 2003 to 2009 lights remain.

2018 - 2020
The bezel logo is updated to look more like Maglites LED offerings. The remaining C Cell incandescent product line, 2C, 3C and 4C is discontinued in early 2020 after a 39 year run.

2018 Bezel
The Maglite logo on the bezel is updated to conform with Maglite's new lights. The text is now wider to make the branding easier to identify and the dash has been dropped between Mag and Lite. All other features of the 2010-2017 lights remain. All of the 2018+ lights I've seen are now bi-pin bulbs where as 2017 and earlier lights were a mix of bi-pins and PR base.

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

Special Order Colors and Panther Maglite Colors

Maglite has produced a seemingly endless variety of finishes on their lights. Full size D and C cell lights have less variety than the smaller lights like the Mini Maglite and Solitaire. One of the reasons for the large number of finishes is that Maglite will make special runs of lights for orders of around 10,000 units or more. This type of order is far less expensive when done on the smaller lights which contributes to their larger variety.

This post will only cover special order finishes on Panther (Letter Serial) Incandescent D cells. I've covered finishes on "Non-Letter" Serials in an earlier post. Finishes on the C cells were even rarer and I've never been able to put together a full list. I've only ever seen Lime Green 2Cs done as special orders in the C cells and they are extremely rare. It's likely due to the C cells being such slow sellers. All special orders were done after 1996 because I've never seen any lights with markings as identified on my Quick Dating Guide. I've also never seen any 5D or 6D special order lights. This is usually because they're slow sellers when compared to other D cells. 4Ds are especially rare in special order finishes but they do exist as I'll detail below.

One piece of information I'm missing is who placed these special orders. I have heard they were from Walmart, Target, and Home Depot. It would make sense because all 3 of these retailers were some of the largest Maglite vendors in the late 1990s and early 2000s during Maglite's heyday. Below is a list of standard finishes and light sizes produced in each of these finishes.

Standard
Black
Color Code 01 (BLACK)
2D, 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D

Red
Color Code 03 (RED)
2D, 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D

Blue
Color Code 11, GU, DZ (BLUE)
2D, 3D, 4D

Silver
Color Code 10
2D, 3D, 4D (Discontinued)

Gray
Color Code 09 (GRAY)
2D, 3D, 4D (Discontinued)

Dark Green (Discontinued in 2018)
Color Code 39
2D, 3D

Purple (Discontinued in 2018)
Color Code 98
2D, 3D

Woodland Camo (Discontinued in 2018)
Color Code 02
3D

UCP Camo (Digital Camo)
Color Code MR
3D (Discontinued)

Below is a list of special order finishes and light sizes produced in each of these finishes.

Special Order
Lime Green
Color Code CZ (LM GRN)
2D, 3D

Jade (Target Special Order)
Color Code IS (JADE)
2D, 3D, 4D

Orange (Sometimes also called Amber, Home Depot Special Order)
Color Code AU (ORANGE)
3D

Midnight Blue
Color Code FD
2D, 3D, 4D

Copper / Bronze (Looks exactly like a new copper penny)
Color Code JY (COPPER)
2D, 3D, 4D

Shimmer Blue (A light Blue)
Color Code DK (BLUE SH)
2D, 3D

Pewter (A lighter Copper)
Color Code 94 (PEWTER)
2D, 3D

Matte (Stealth) Black (From Australia, Big W Special Order)
Color Code 17 (AST)
3D

Special Promotion
Gold
Color Code 04
2D, 3D?

I have most of the lights in the Special Order finishes in some of the sizes. I was originally looking for the 4Ds as they are much tougher to find. These lights were mainly produced in the late 90s and early 2000s in small numbers and there aren't many left. Jade, Copper, and Midnight Blue do show up occasionally but almost never in 4Ds. Lime Green, Orange, and Matte (Stealth) Black are extremely difficult to find.

Gold finishes are done very sparingly as I've detailed in a prior post. There was a gold 2D produced to commemorate the introduction of the updated, Panther style, Maglites. I have one and it's in the link above with the rest of my gold lights. They are super rare and I don't think Maglite intended them to be a standard or special finish rather a one off.

Shown below is a photo of all of the special order finishes. The ones below from left to right and top to bottom are a 2D Lime Green, 2D Pewter, 2D Shimmer Blue. 3D Matte (Stealth) Black, 3D Orange, 3D Jade, 4D Copper, and a 4D Midnight Blue. Some of these lights I've only paid $20 or so for. I doubt many people know how rare they are so they can usually be had on the cheap when they show up on the large auction site. Orange, Lime Green, and Matte Black though hardly ever show up for sale and usually command high prices.

The Orange 3D is a ~24,000,000 serial, the Midnight Blue 4D is a ~10,000,000 serial, the Pewter 2D is a ~15,000,000 serial, the Copper 4D is an ~11,000,000 serial, the Jade 4D is a ~9,000,000 serial, and the Lime Green 2D is a 12,000,000 serial. All are stamped "Patented Made in U.S.A." opposite the serial and have an R with a circle after the Panther logo which puts them after 1996 but before 2003 as I've detailed in my D Cell Quick Dating Guide. The Shimmer Blue 2D is a ~25,000,000 serial and is stamped "Patented in U.S.A." so it is from between 2003 and 2009. The Matte Black 3D is a ~47,000,000 and has no patent stamping so it is from 2009 to 2017.

The special order lights can be tough to tell apart in photos from other colors. I've posted some photos of the green lights below for comparison. Lime Green is on the left and top followed by standard (Dark) Green and Jade. I've also included a photo below of some of the other Lime Green lights I own as well.

Shown below from left to right are Silver, Gray, Pewter and Copper/Bronze. Only the Copper/Bronze and Pewter are special order finishes but the Silver and Gray are often confused for Copper/Bronze and Pewter. I've never been able to differentiate Copper and Bronze so I think they may be the same finish. I've also never seen separate color codes for them. I am able to confirm Pewter because I have a NIB one and the serial is very close to the loose one and they are identical colors. This series of lights is the most disputed and confused one but I am 100% confident in the colors I've identified.

Shown below are the blue lights too. I have 2 Shimmer Blues and they are both on the right/bottom followed by standard Blue and Midnight Blue on top.

I think it's also interesting that the shimmer blue is the same color as Maglite's old standard blue from before 1992. In the bottom picture you can see a 1980 3D compared to a Vari-Beam and my 2D shimmer blue. The colors all match exactly. The old blue lights were much lighter than the current blue Maglite offers.

Matte (Stealth) Black is one of the newer special order finishes I've come across. I believe there was a small batch of these done in 2009 or so when the ML300LX lights made their debut because the finish is identical and the color code is the same. I've only seen a handful and all of them that I've seen came from Big W, a chain store similar to Walmart, in Australia. Shown below is a comparison of my Stealth 3D and AA Mini Maglite to standard Black 3D and AA Mini Maglite have a gloss finish. I also included a shot with a cool Maglite Security Officer patch that was given to me by another collector. I think it goes well with the stealth motif.

Maglites, especially full size D and C cell models, are not as popular as they once were. Accordingly, it is doubtful many special order finishes will be produced again. The heyday for Maglite's sales department really was in the late 1990s and early 2000s when they were moving 5,000,000 units of some models per year. Due to the introduction of very inexpensive, imported, small LED lights Maglite's sales of full size lights have significantly slowed. In recent years they have started to discontinue certain incan finishes and at some point I imagine they'll discontinue all but a few incan models and significantly reduce their D and C cell offerings. I could see C cells being phased out all together. These are pretty rare lights at a really decent price point which makes them nice for a future collectible.

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

2017 Discontinued 4D and 3D Lights and Recent Maglite History

This year, 2017, Maglite has discontinued some long produced finishes on their incandescent lights. Maglite sometimes produces special finishes for only a short time and I've covered 2 of those here and here. They have also produced special order finishes with a large enough order. This time though it looks to be an overall reduction in their standard incan offering as most consumers switch to LED. The lights being discontinued are:

4D in Silver
4D in Grey
3D in Digital Camo

Most retailers, including Z Battery, Maglite's main online distributor, have already de-listed these lights. Maglite is currently in the process of selling any old stock on these through the Outlet section of their web site at http://maglite.com/shop/flashlights/maglite.html. A snap shot is shown below for future reference when they are sold out. Maglite usually lists lights for well over the price of other retailers on their web site in order to direct consumers to distributors instead. However, these lights are listed for around $28 each which is in line with normal retail prices. Mag has free shipping on orders over $75 so if you buy all 3 or some extra gear it's easy to get there.

I picked up one each of these lights in display (chipboard) boxes that I'll hang onto and add to my collection. I don't expect them to rise much in value but they should always be worth at least the retail price. 4Ds never had much variety in finishes and didn't sell as well as 2 and 3Ds so I'm not too surprised they were discontinued. 5 and 6Ds had almost no variety in finishes aside from blue and red with only red remaining. The camo finishes are painted on and don't wear well so it's not surprising the digital camo was discontinued either. If more finishes or lights are discontinued I'll post those as well.

The grey 4D is a 15,594,703 serial, the silver 4D is a 15,559,375 serial and the 3D is a 49,967,802 serial. It's crazy to think that these high volumes of lights have been produced but Maglite has been in business for almost 40 years now. It's also neat to show how much more popular the 3Ds are. In fact 2Ds and 3Ds are Maglites best sellers. 3Ds have outsold 4Ds 3 to 1.

It's interesting to note too that on all 2012+ lights the patented text has been removed from the lights. This text originally started out as "Paten Pending" in 1979 and 1980 then went to "Patented Made in U.S.A" from 1981 to 2002, then just "Patented in U.S.A." due to Maglite's inability to source enough American made parts to satisfy California Law. It's an interesting law and details can be found here. Starting in 2012 the stamping was dropped all together. It's likely not needed due to the mentioning of the patent info on the package and would save a little production cost. More info about the evolution of the D cells can be found in my Quick Dating Guide.

If you order lights directly from Mag Instrument they come packaged as shown below. The tamper proof tape is neat and mostly meant for large orders and retailers. Each display box was also packaged inside its own cardboard box. I should also note that the incan D cells, especially camo, must be slow movers these days because the 3D digital camo still had a flange base bulb whereas most other models already switched over to the bi-pin setup in 2012. Shown below are the business ends of these lights so you can see the bulbs.

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

1979 New In Box NIB 6D Light

Summary: The is the oldest New In Box (NIB) light I have ever seen and is likely one of the only NIB lights left from 1979, the first year of Maglite production. This is also one of the lowest serial numbers I've seen.

I've been collecting since 2010 and I ran across what I believe is the oldest new in box (NIB) Maglite that is owned outside of Mag Instrument. Before I ran into this light I'd actually never seen a NIB light this old. So, what is it? It's a 6D light from 1979 serial 60001056 so it is the 1,056th 6D Maglite off of the production line. It is the third lowest serial D cell I've ever seen. The other 2 are a ~900 serial 4D I own and a ~400 serial 2D. Maglite ran a contest a while back to find the oldest Maglite and this light was not entered but the lowest D cell serials were in the 3,000 range. I've seen various other D cell Maglites in the 1,000 or so range but I've never seen any other lights lower than serial #1,000.

I've also heard of C cells with lower serials but C cells didn't start until 1981 so any D cell that's stamped "Paten Pending", which this one is, is going to be older. In fact Mag Instrument had produced something like 100,000 of most lights before the C cells even started. It's pretty common knowledge that Mag Instrument and its employees will retain low and interesting serial numbers. Mag Instrument owns serial 1 of each light with only a couple exceptions. A few years ago serial numbers 1 and 2 of  a few C cell models came up for sale on a large auction site. Unfortunately I didn't purchase it but from what I hear they were sold by an ex-Mag Instrument employee.

Other than the low serial what makes this light so interesting? Well for starters it has all of the features of other 1979 lights covered here. However the light has some interesting differences even from those lights. For starters the focus grip is even lower and most knurling, including the focus grip, appears to be much finer. Please find a pic below with the 6D on the left and a standard 1979 lightly used light on the right. compared to a standard 1979 light. I have several NIB 1980 and later lights and the grip feels much different. This grip is much sharper. It feels much better but was likely dulled later due to wear it would produce on holsters for the policemen it was designed for. It could also be that the tooling itself dulled as production went on.

The package is also very interesting too. In Maglite's very early days there was a lot to do and only 2 full time folks to do it, Tony Maglica and Don Keller. As such the first packages went out without any kind of snazzy logos. What's also interesting is price which is hand written and is $29.40. This is $105 in 2017 which was a large sum of money for a flashlight. I've covered some of Maglite's pricing model in my post about the gold lights I have.

This light helped me complete a set of Maglite chipboard (display) boxes. In 1985 Maglite also started offering hang (clam shell) packages. The chipboard boxes are less expensive to produce but the hang packages are much favored by retail stores. The chipboard boxes were primarily used to ship to bulk customers like police departments and industrial suppliers as well as for mail order catalogs. Shown below is my full collection of chipboard boxes and below it is a description of each. 

Top to bottom they are:

1979 

One of the first ones off the production line. No printing aside from ML-6 model number on end. This is the only 1979 box I know of.

1980 to 1984

These boxes added the early rounded Maglite logo as well as the model number on end. These still pop up for sale once in a while.

1985 to 1991

These were clear so buyers could more easily see the light. They aged poorly. Both the glue and plastic became very brittle over time. Maglite used their "horizon" logo during this time.

1992 to 2002

These used the current logo and again went back to grey cardboard. They had a printed picture of the light on the side instead of being clear.

2003 to current

In 2003 Maglite switched to blue but otherwise they remained similar to the 1992 to 2002 style.

What do you do with a NIB Maglite you think is one of the oldest? If you're a flashaholic you take it apart! Even though this light was NIB the light had been removed from the packaging before but never used. It has some minor scratches here and there so I wasn't too worried about taking it apart. Shown below are the innards of the light. The switch is very early and different in appearance than any other I've seen although it functions and looks exactly the same on the inside. The reflector also has a red base plastic instead of blue like the new ones and is completely chromed instead of just the inside surface. 

This is all likely because Maglite was in the process of either bringing parts production in house or standardizing their suppliers depending on the part. When most manufacturers start out they bring their sketches to large machine shops and production facilities and have small batches of components made to test production and quality of the components. Along the line improvements and efficiencies are found to help lower costs and improve quality. Maglite is no different and this early light is a good example of that.

The switch cover is also unique too. It is the larger style found on 1979 lights but is the only example I've seen that has the original circlip intact. Because these covers lacked the flat flange to old the cover in like the newer seals they used a circlip to apply outward pressure on the switch for a better fit. The whole system didn't work and by 1980 they were gone in favor of the current style switch cover. Shown below is the circlip hiding inside the switch cover.

There's one more interesting thing to note about this light. The instruction sheet, like other early packaging makes reference to a large head model. Shown below is the parts list which shows a breakout of the parts needed for a large head. I've covered this topic, here. As far as I know this planned model was never produced mainly because since the light focused it's beam into a spot or flood it wasn't needed. I just think it's a neat insight into how the product we all know today was still evolving. The instruction sheet was very brittle and has mostly fallen apart but is shown below in it's entirety. I've also covered package inserts here.

I did not grab a pic but I could not resist trying the light out. I put in 6 D cells and the light did not light. I was pretty disappointed because Maglites have a legendary reputation for durability. I changed the bulb with a brand new Krypton one and the light did work! The old bulbs are under a vacuum inside the glass so that the filament won't burn. I think over the last 38 years the vacuum likely depleted and the bulb was no good. I didn't try the spare and I put the original bulb back in the light before adding it to my collection.

Like most lights I enjoy getting a good backstory with the light. This light is no different and the story I got is that a tradesman purchased a few of these lights in California in 1979 for his business. Because the flashlights he had in the past were so unreliable he purchased a few so that he would always have one that worked. As time went on he, or his employees, used most of them. This one was forgotten about in the back of the shop until recently. Most folks would probably not know what a light like this is worth or even how historical it is so it went for a fairly low price on a large auction site. 

In general 1979 lights are not expensive and there is no way to prove this light is the oldest and even if I could it's tough to determine what it's worth because it's one of a kind. Because different models were produced first they could have a higher serial and still be older. The 3D was the first light Maglite produced so a 2,000 serial 3D could be older. If anyone has a light they think is older please let me know and I would be happy to post it or give my humble opinion. Thanks for reading guys!!!

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