MagLite 6-Cell D Incandescent Flashlight – Water-Resistant, Adjustable Beam, High-Intensity Krypton Bulb – Black

I just purchased some of these along with some 3 -cell LED units.as donations to some mobile Haitian police force officers who patrol the tent cities at night from jeeps and four-wheel drive vehicles. There may be some more advanced units out there but I have been using these for twenty-two years now and my love for them has not diminished. I now have them stationed with tool boxes in the U.S.A., Venezuela and Haiti. I have used them in rain storms and all kinds of other inclement weather with no problems. Ever. When one breaks one of these out the pure visual impact is hard to imagine when people see them even in the U.S.A. but especially in foreign countries. Definitely an ice breaker!!!! I have replaced the standard bulbs with the 140 and 220 Lumen LED bulbs and man are these things even more powerful, especially with the 220 lumen bulb. You can't let people point it at someone's face as it can temporarily blind somebody for more than a few seconds. The 6-cells allow for this unit to literally piece the darkness like a 12-volt Q-beam. It is quite the thing to illuminate a patch of jungle or possibly a deserted housing or warehouse lot. The length is perfect for allowing the body of the flashlight to rest on one's shoulder (especially the officers in those aforementioned truck beds) while either pivoting it slightly right to left or moving ones whole upper torso. This does reduce fatigue as with 6 quality D cells the weight is substantial though not over-powering. The one thing to remember is that it eats batteries at a very high rate if one is using the original bulbs. That is the reason for my usage of the LED bulbs .The only other thing that I have found over the years is that if one leaves the batteries in a hot vehicle the batteries will explode causing them to jam in the body after chemicals corrode the aluminum body. To this end I remove the batteries or the whole unit and store it in a cooler location. I also coat the inside of the unit and the end cap threads with a light anti-corrosive or spray oil to keep this issue at bay should I forget to do the former. Other than that no problems. Makes a nice nut cracker or light hammer, too. One more thing, don't leave them out of your sight and in plain view even at your house or they will disappear! Such is their appeal.

While this isn't something you'd want to carry on your person every day as I do with a compact CR123 LED light that costs a lot more money but also works a lot better, it fills a great role in a vehicle as an illumination tool and impact weapon if that's what you're into. I've gone though a few of the 4D versions over the years, battery leakage has always eventually killed them living in the truck, but they're cheap enough to replace it's not a big deal. This bad boy on Amazon is a great buy and an aftermarket LED conversion really wakes it up. What else is there to say? It's a Maglike, it's big and heavy, it's been around forever, it's extremely inexpensive for what you're getting, and it'll take a lot of abuse before giving up the ghost. Heck, for this price you could swap the LED conversion from light to light as they die/wear out and probably have a truck light for a few decades until we're all riding bicycles anyway. Overall, a solid piece of kit and the low, low price from Amazon makes the cost of the aftermarket LED conversion easier on the wallet.

Maglites have been around for a long time now. At first the big powerful flashlights were considered cutting edge technology. Their high quality focusing lens, computer machined aluminum housing with rubber gaskets and xenon light bulb are all still the best quality one can buy. However they look a little old fashion next to the super bright, super efficient LED flashlights. But the Maglite has two big advantages over ANY other light on the market. For $20 instead of $120 you have a light that while bigger and heavier is just as bright as any small LED light and it will last 25 years (my last one did). Plus, if this is for security work or checking on bumps in the night, 10 lbs of metal 2 1/2 feet long feels a lot better in your hands than 6 inches of plastic. Do not waste your money on the LED bulb. I bought one of the best and most expensive upgrades and really see no difference. If you want a really good flashlight that will last a long time and always work I know of nothing that even comes close to the Maglite. One other thing, yes the 6-D battery is MUCH brighter than the 2 or 4 D battery sizes. Other than the money I wasted on the LED bulb upgrade this is the best $20 I have ever spent.

I used a Mag lite at work for 30 plus years. A few moths ago i dropped it down an entire flight of stairs, and finally crunched it. This is my replacement. Not the brightest ( but can be upgraded with a better bulb ) this is a workhorse that can be used and abused. Its the thing to reach for if you hear something in the night. Bright enough to easily see what it is, big enough to deal with anything / anybody you find........ should that be necessary. Great bit of kit.

I bought ths flashlight because I know the quality of Maglites and I also wanted something strong enough that could actually be used as a self-defense device, this delivers that very well. This is a large flashlight that is very strong and well made and I know will take years of abuse. The price could've been a little better, add the cost of 6 D batteries, and this ends up being a fairly pricey flashlight but it is a quality product for sure.

with all the thousands of flashlights around the MagLite has proved to last and work when needed . The is also reasonable for what it is , I hope I never see made in China on a MagLite

Maybe you're a cop or security guard, maybe you're a guy who lives in a place where you can't carry a firearm, maybe you're just someone looking to fill the 'use of force' void that exists between shooting someone the bird and shooting them between the eyes. Any way you look at it, lets not beat around the bush here... Anyone buying this light is doing so for one reason only, the 'light' aspect being totally secondary to that one reason. It's a club that doubles as a flashlight. So, how do we judge it on the objective criteria? As a whuppin' stick, it definitely works- so well that some 'kinder, gentler' Police Departments don't even allow it anymore. Kind of a bummer that they discontinued the thinner 6C; barring finding one second hand and paying a real scalpers price for it, the 5D/6D is the pretty much the only 'in production' option in the Mag line for a "big defensive flashlight" but that's OK. Unless you have very small hands, the 6D is perfectly controllable. It's big. Really, really big. The light itself is about 19.5" long- a foot and a half- in total. When weighted down with cels, it's heavy, too. You will want to tread lightly with this, as it definitely would generate enough striking force to fracture a skull, break bones. Be damn sure you're legally justified to use it, if you ever do use it. You can hurt someone with it. It's does cut a pretty intimidating profile. Walking around with one, it's almost as if you're carrying a bat. In some situations, this is OK. In other situations, where drawing attention to yourself isn't the desired outcome, you'd definitely want to leave this one home (in this regard, probably worth noting that given its weight, this is essentially a two handed club. I'm a large guy who has decent enough working strength- swinging a six D-cel flashlight with one hand is pretty slow going. Slow enough that you might risk your adversary grabbing on to it) As far as brightness, it's bright by 'bright enough' standards. Not bright enough to impress flashlight geeks who obsess over marginally relevant technical details on internet forums, plenty bright for Average Joe to use for real world stuff. Unless something has changed, these are still shipping with incandescent bulbs, which aren't anywhere near as bright as a good LED (for example, the Maglite 3d LED torch is significantly brighter)... of course, let us not forget the reason we bought this in the first place. The 'flashlight' part is a secondary consideration, or, a primary consideration inasmuch as it allows us to carry it around in places where the same thing absent the flashlight function would be considered an unlawful bludgeon or club. If you want to juice the light aspect up to balls-out bright, terralux makes an upgrade that turns the thing into a portable sun... It's pricey- three times the cost of the light itself- but it does add a monumental upgrade in brightness (700 lumens), which can be quite practical. If you shine that into someones face, they're either turning away, or, if they're really determined to keep advancing, they'll be doing so blinded and/or with their eyes closed, at which point we option the 'club' functionality. I don't throw around the five star rating too often, but this is a five star piece. Right now, as of October 2010, with Amazon free shipping on purchases over 25, you can get one shipped to your door for right at 25 bucks. Is this worth 25 bucks? Hell yeah.

Let's be honest, it isn't the most amazing light ever as far as output. You can get 2AA light like the Fenix E21 that is much smaller with similar light output. But what it is, like all Maglites, is a beautiful well made light. And this thing has some nice heft to it, especially with 6 cells inside. For an incandescent, you get pretty good run time and output thanks to 6D cells. Also, the weight and durability of this flashlight could make it useful as an improptu tent stake driver. Also, I actually like the very long length of this light because I can rest it on my shoulder with my hand on the switch. I have found that if you are shooting in low light conditions this is great for illuminating your sights and the target at the same time with a nice stable platform that takes little effort to keep aligned with where you are pointing. I was taking a night shooting pistol class and I think I was getting better shots off than the others because I could see my sights very clearly and the target clearly. If you get this one with the Krypton bulb though, upgrade to the Xenon Bulb at the minimum. You can get a Xenon bulb really cheap and it increases the output. But you can also get LED units like the Malkoff that will turn this light into a power house with much higher output. I would recommend that option if you can afford it, but the LED will cost you more than the flashlight itself. If you wanted to adapt this light to be a club, it might actually be a little too heavy. You might hurt your wrist swinging this thing full force one handed, but two handed it should be pretty good. Further, I think very few people will want to pick on a person carrying a flashlight longer than many batons. You can also use it as a stick to make distance between yourself and aggressive dogs. Another cool thing about this light is that many people are impressed by the sheer size of it. When I need to use a flashlight for a presentation I like to bring this one as it amuses the audience more.