Hi all, I'm new to THR (actually to any forum for that matter) and I'm writing to post a review on my recently purchased (from Black Bear go to:http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=125447&page=5) MAG 951 Gen II with the bi pin bulb.
I live in Australia and I do a bit of missionary work in the South Pacific Islands, we go to the interior of these small island nations and visit the remote villages. Often there is no electricity or any form of artificial lighting and we are trekking through thick jungle in mountainous regions. Powerful, portable illumination is not an option for us but a necessity. Large lanterns like the Thor, and other rechargeable spotlights are far too heavy & bulky to be practical but that's the kind of illumination needed. We carry small xenon CR123 torches for close range work (such as hiking along a trail or thick scrub) but for navigating and checking up ahead for cliffs & pits, rivers or setting up camp we need power - that's where the MAG 951 makes it's mark.
In utter darkness the light output from this unit is remarkable. The beam starts about 1m wide and sprawls out to about 10m. The throw is approximately 300m (using the standard short range reflector!) at which point you can still see the hot spot and clearly make out what you're looking at. It has brilliant white light, a perfectly focused beam with no artefacts or holes at all and the spill beam is so wide and bright that it makes it a very practical work light. No matter where you are - whenever you switch it on people go "ooh..."
If you do accidentally look into the reflector while the light's on you will render yourself useless for about 2 minutes. A sub 1 second glance will have you seeing a green - orange sphere that you cannot make anything out through. If you look into it for longer than that - well, you'll have to tell me because I'm not trying it.
Two weeks ago I was in Papua New Guinea doing some relief work with a team of missionarys from Sydney, we were in Madang province one night and thankfully there was a blackout so I could really give this thing a good test run. There were no cars around so I had perfect darkness. The darkness was so thick that if you waved your hand in front of your face you would just make out the movement. There is also a lot of smoke around because people burn their rubbish at day and let it smoulder through the night. The roads were terrible - you could fall into a pot hole and injure yourself so when the lights go out you stop unless you have a torch.
I pulled out my MAG 951, screwed up the tail cap and switched her on. What can I say - it was daytime in front of me and night time behind me. I heard "oohs & wows" and little kids running up to me and saying stuff in pigeon that I couldn't understand. It lit up the road for hundreds of metres ahead but it lit from one side to the other - the whole road was illuminated far better - let me repeat FAR BETTER than the street lights were doing. I noticed that people way up the road were starting to walk along their journey again and I had a crowd of people following me so they could see where they were going. Needless to say I didn't step in any Betelnut spit that night. I lit it from one end of the street and could make out the bananas on the trees over 300m away and it was very smokey. Unfortunately it's not the safest of places any longer so I couldn't stop to take beamshots but I will take some around here and post them soon.
One night I was in a silly mood so I strapped it to my bicycle and went out for a ride - it's a truly awesome experience having cars move over and high beam you on a push bike at night time! People on the sidewalk were squinting and looking away and I had another cyclist shout abuse at me because he looked over his shoulder at me to see where the light was coming from and got so dazzled that he had to stop till his vision recovered.
If you are in any form of law enforement or security work, if you hunt, hike, fish or boat at night time or even if you go 4WD'ing or trail biking you should own one of these. Lumens for dollars (especially considering it's rechargeable) I don't think you will get better, the build quality is superb and all bases are covered in making this a complete unit that won't fail. In fact even if you're never really going to need 951 lumens you still need one of these - they are just too good to know about and not own. If you are looking for an excellent Christmas/Birthday/Father's Day present I don't think there is a red blooded man on earth who wouldn't appreciate one of these.
I live in Australia and I do a bit of missionary work in the South Pacific Islands, we go to the interior of these small island nations and visit the remote villages. Often there is no electricity or any form of artificial lighting and we are trekking through thick jungle in mountainous regions. Powerful, portable illumination is not an option for us but a necessity. Large lanterns like the Thor, and other rechargeable spotlights are far too heavy & bulky to be practical but that's the kind of illumination needed. We carry small xenon CR123 torches for close range work (such as hiking along a trail or thick scrub) but for navigating and checking up ahead for cliffs & pits, rivers or setting up camp we need power - that's where the MAG 951 makes it's mark.
In utter darkness the light output from this unit is remarkable. The beam starts about 1m wide and sprawls out to about 10m. The throw is approximately 300m (using the standard short range reflector!) at which point you can still see the hot spot and clearly make out what you're looking at. It has brilliant white light, a perfectly focused beam with no artefacts or holes at all and the spill beam is so wide and bright that it makes it a very practical work light. No matter where you are - whenever you switch it on people go "ooh..."
If you do accidentally look into the reflector while the light's on you will render yourself useless for about 2 minutes. A sub 1 second glance will have you seeing a green - orange sphere that you cannot make anything out through. If you look into it for longer than that - well, you'll have to tell me because I'm not trying it.
Two weeks ago I was in Papua New Guinea doing some relief work with a team of missionarys from Sydney, we were in Madang province one night and thankfully there was a blackout so I could really give this thing a good test run. There were no cars around so I had perfect darkness. The darkness was so thick that if you waved your hand in front of your face you would just make out the movement. There is also a lot of smoke around because people burn their rubbish at day and let it smoulder through the night. The roads were terrible - you could fall into a pot hole and injure yourself so when the lights go out you stop unless you have a torch.
I pulled out my MAG 951, screwed up the tail cap and switched her on. What can I say - it was daytime in front of me and night time behind me. I heard "oohs & wows" and little kids running up to me and saying stuff in pigeon that I couldn't understand. It lit up the road for hundreds of metres ahead but it lit from one side to the other - the whole road was illuminated far better - let me repeat FAR BETTER than the street lights were doing. I noticed that people way up the road were starting to walk along their journey again and I had a crowd of people following me so they could see where they were going. Needless to say I didn't step in any Betelnut spit that night. I lit it from one end of the street and could make out the bananas on the trees over 300m away and it was very smokey. Unfortunately it's not the safest of places any longer so I couldn't stop to take beamshots but I will take some around here and post them soon.
One night I was in a silly mood so I strapped it to my bicycle and went out for a ride - it's a truly awesome experience having cars move over and high beam you on a push bike at night time! People on the sidewalk were squinting and looking away and I had another cyclist shout abuse at me because he looked over his shoulder at me to see where the light was coming from and got so dazzled that he had to stop till his vision recovered.
If you are in any form of law enforement or security work, if you hunt, hike, fish or boat at night time or even if you go 4WD'ing or trail biking you should own one of these. Lumens for dollars (especially considering it's rechargeable) I don't think you will get better, the build quality is superb and all bases are covered in making this a complete unit that won't fail. In fact even if you're never really going to need 951 lumens you still need one of these - they are just too good to know about and not own. If you are looking for an excellent Christmas/Birthday/Father's Day present I don't think there is a red blooded man on earth who wouldn't appreciate one of these.
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