Maglight MicroMag by kyfishguy Flashlight Review

The Maglight MicroMag by kyfishguy from budgetlightforum is an incredible mod on a standard style flashlight. This triple is a nice upgrade!

---

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Maglight MicroMag by kyfishguy product page where I bought my light. Future iterations will be on the same forum, but on new posts.

Versions

Every iteration of this light will likely be a little different. The copy I borrowed was a Nichia 219b light, and mine isn’t. So there are many versions, but generally any Micromag color is available (“generally”), and the internals all use the same driver, and accept only 14500 cells.

Price

I paid $73 (in 2019) shipped for this item, but price is subject to change.

---

Short Review

This is quite a fun little light! There are two things I could like more, and that is if it had a pocket clip, and if it wasn’t a twisty. But twistys are not my thing; that’s completely personal preference.

Long Review

The Big Table

Maglite MicroMag
Emitter:	Samsung LH351d triple (4000k 90+CRI, Narrow Clear Optic)
Price in USD at publication time:	$73.00
Cell:	14500
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes, claimed
Switch Type:	Twist
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	2400
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	755 (31.5% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	114lux @ 4.542m = 2352cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	97.0^
All my Maglite reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable. Remember that output will be extremely dependent on the cell being used! If you have a good 14500 cell, you’ll likely get over 2000 lumens as claimed.

What’s Included

• kyfishguy Maglite Modded MiniMag

That’s it, nothing else. Any other information you have will be had from the page on BLF.

Package and Manual

The package was so generic that I didn’t even keep it. Basically it’s just safe transport, which is fine! Also there is no manual, aside from what’s written on the BLF page. The BLF page is thorough, though.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The external build is exactly like a Maglite Micromag. The finish is very good in hand, and the anodizing has held up rather well. I have only soft carried it though – in pockets, and alone.

Aside from being shortened, there are no external indicators (aside from the head-on view, which shows the triple optic) that this light has been changed.

The color I chose is a stunning, deep red. I didn’t confirm this with kyfishguy, but I believe I’ve seen elsewhere that he’ll build out a light of your choosing if you send it. There’s a blaze orange Micromag out there!

Once you dig into the light, you’ll begin to see differences. The tailcap has a thick stainless spring, which has been bypassed. There’s a nice big solder blob on the tip of the spring, too.

These threads are unanodized and very little if any lube is used. They’re a little rough.

I recommend changing the cell by removing the tailcap, and not the head. The head end has an o-ring, and you’ll unnecessarily wear this o-ring by removing the head a bunch. (Removing the head is much easier, though.)

These threads on the body are the stock threads. In fact, kyfishguy’s mod doesn’t replace any threading – all that is completely stock. He has a full mod guide which you may hunt down if you wish, describing exactly how this mod is done!

Here you can see where the work is done. The threads at left are the normal “twisty UI” threads and are as-stock. The body at right is also as-stock. The difference is just to the right of the o-ring. The cell tube has been cut at that point, bored a bit, and the thread end (to the left) has been fitted into the body. That’s how the end pieces are kept, while still shortening the tube. IE, the length is removed from the middle of the tube!!

The work is flawless, too.

Of course, the driver has been replaced, but the positive terminal has a bit of copper added, too. The driver is the MTN-17DDm.

I find these twisty (for the UI) threads quite interesting. I don’t have a stock Maglite for testing the UI, but I suppose the user interface is different on it. In any case, these are quite unusual, having a much sharper slope than most flashlight threads (even the threads on the tailcap). They make for very easy twisting.

Size and Comps

I measure this light at 97.39mm long (when off). 96.67mm when on. The tail diameter is 18.1mm, and at it’s thickest, the head is 25.39mm.

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple. A very nice 18650 light.

And here’s the light beside my custom-engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light. I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

Retention and Carry

This is one of the big flys-in-the-ointment for this light, but it’s certainly no fault of the modder. There is no pocket clip included, nor is it an option for the Micromag. That’s unfortunate.

What is included is a hole for a lanyard. It’s a good attachment point, yes. But who really uses lanyards?

Power and Runtime

The only power option for this light is Li-ion, sized at 14500. I tested (and use) a Vapcell flat top 14500, though a button top is probably an ever so slightly better choice (see: positive contact point on head). But I had zero issues with the flat top.

There’s plenty of room in the cell tube, too, though the spring on the tailcap has little travel.

I performed two runtimes. Since Turbo is a FET mode, the output will be completely dependent on the cell you’re using. If you have a cell that can churn out 10A, then this light will take it. So my output of 755 measured lumens is not necessarily indicative of what you’ll see. Also the stepdown really kills that measurement. before the stepdown is over 1400 lumens. The UI/product page indicates a 60-second Turbo timer, but I didn’t experience that. Again, probably due to the cell I’m using.

(Reading up on this light and seeing my results, I think I’ll try to find my best 14500 and test the light again with that cell. I’m not at all satisfied with this cell for this light.)

High is much more stable, and 466 lumens more reasonable as a measurement.

In neither case did the light shut off. But once the stepdown happened, the output was so low I didn’t want to wait to drain the cell down on moonlight.

The product literature (the BLF post) states that there is LVP, but I didn’t observe that with the bench power. As stated, I did see such a drop in output that it’d be impossible to miss.

Pulse Width Modulation

This is a four-mode light, and all but Turbo use PWM for controlling output. There are 5 pictures here, though. Why? Picture 3 and 4 are all of mode 3 (second highest mode). The part displaying PWM is when the light isn’t shined directly at the sensor. When shined directly at the sensor, the PWM appears to disappear. It’s not noticeable of course, but it’s there.

To be honest, PWM isn’t even visible on the lowest mode, but these graphs are still interesting to demonstrate PWM.

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

The user interface is of course, twisty. There’s ample grip on the body and a very tiny amount of reeding on the head. But really the action is so smooth that extra grip isn’t really necessary. If the light was wet or whatever, then it would probably be a slippery little booger.

The MTN driver mentioned above has many user interface options, but I believe the one used is a custom version of the choices (that is an option at MTN).

This is a simple 4 mode light. Moon, Medium, High, and Turbo. I can’t find any hidden modes, and there’s nothing unexpected about the UI. There is mode memory, for when the light has been on in a mode for more than a few seconds. Advancing through the modes requires twisting and loosening the head in under a second, repeatedly.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	2400	–	755	[FET]
High	–	–	466	???^
Medium	–	–	–	0.05
Low	–	–	–	0.01

^ Testing current on the High mode showed some weird results. Every time I put the light in mode 3, it’d stay there for a few seconds, then flip over to the full FET output. That was just a result of using bench power and doesn’t happen with cells. But because of this, I wasn’t able to test current on that mode. It’s fairly high, though. (Between 1 and 3 amps.)

LED and Beam

This particular copy of the Micromag Mod has Samsung LH35 4000k 90+CRI emitters. The optic on mine is a narrow clear, which is perfect since that’s my favorite beam profile!

These beamshots always have the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• Update of an icon is fantastic
• Available in flashlight-unusual colors
• Mod work is well done, and smart

What I don’t like

• Twisty. I just don’t love a twisty
• Lack of pocket clip
• I want the 219b version instead of the LH351d version. 😛

---

Notes

• This light was provided by me for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
• Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!
• Please support me on Patreon! I deeply appreciate your support!