Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Light output, build quality |
| Disadvantages: |
If I was to be really picky, then I would say its a little heavy |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I have owned and still do own two Maglite torches. I have used Maglite torches for well over 10 years and have never had any problems whatsoever with them. Prior to me owning the 4 cell Maglite, I had owned the 6 cell, but due to the Energiser batteries leaking out (even though they were guaranteed not to) and ruining the 6 cell Maglite, although Energiser guaranteed to repair/replace any item that was ruined through using their batteries. Disappointingly though, Energiser sent me the 4 cell
Maglite in place of the 6 cell (as they said the "6 cell was temporarily unavailable"?) and gave me some extra packs of the batteries to make up the cost.
The 4 cell and the 6 cell are identical in terms of battery life (approx 15 hours continuous use) but the 6 cell has a light output of 20000 candlepower and the 4 cell has 15000 candlepower, but in real life terms the only difference I noticed was that the 6 cell had a noticeably longer light beam than the 4 cell, but in terms of light output at close range the difference wasn't noticeable in my experience. Anyway this review is about the 4 cell Maglite, and this is what I have owned for the last 7 years or so.
Has you will probably know, the Maglite range of
torches are made of Aluminium so as not to corrode or rust. Starting at the bulb end of the torch I will explain what features and what each part of the torch does.
Most of the Maglite range have a feature on which gives the user the option to have either a wide beam of light or a narrow but long reaching beam of light, so for example, my main use of my Maglite torches (as I have another smaller Maglite AA which I sometimes use, I will review this one later) is this. Me and the girlfriend on our way home, need to walk a bit off the beaten track, which as you can imagine with been away from the street lights and also with been in a mostly rural location, that this is very dark. How I normally use my Maglite is this. I normally have the Maglite on its wide beam setting, using the Maglite on this provides a wide beam of light, that more than adequately lights the full width of the path for me and the girlfriend. The other setting on the Maglite is the narrow but longer reaching beam of light, with this, I can easily spot light something that is approx 200 feet away over the other side of the river. The variable light beam is operated by rotating the bulb end of the torch in either a clockwise or anti clockwise direction, this in turn adjusts the light beam from narrow to wide.
Next thing that you come to is the on/off button, I can't say a lot about this apart from its made of rubber, press this once the torch turns on, press it again and the torch turns off. The on/off button seems to be of a high quality and has never caused me any problems.
Next, has I have mentioned earlier, the Maglite is made of Aluminium, the Maglite has a grooved/machined hand grip area, I have always found that this provides a good non slip grip on the torch.
The next thing (which is right at the other end of the torch) is the screw off cap, this comes off to allow you to put the batteries in the torch, the screw off cap is made of Aluminium. If you look inside of this screw off cap, you will see a spare bulb, which is the norm for all Maglite's.
There is not a lot else I can say about the torch apart from they are water resistant and I can confirm that I have never experienced any problems with my Maglite, even when I have been caught in the heaviest of downpours. One last thing, the 4 cell Maglite is approximately 374mm long and 40mm in diameter.
All in all the Maglite is arguable one of the best torches out there. Granted they are not cheap (I paid around £25 for mine at Halfords) but like anything else in life, "you only get what you pay for" and this certainly is the case with the Maglite.
