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“Stay ‘unreasonable.’ If you
don’t like the solutions [available to you], come up with your
own.”
Dan Webre
The Martialist does not
constitute legal advice. It is for ENTERTAINMENT
PURPOSES ONLY.
Copyright © 2003-2004 Phil Elmore, all rights
reserved.
RAM Instrument LED Retrofit
A Product Review by Phil Elmore
While investigating the TerraLux
Diode Retrofit Kit for the 2AA Mini Maglite, I discovered a similar
(and less expensive) kit made by
RAM Instrument.
The concept is the same. The RAM kit consists of a replacement
reflector cup and a diode cluster connected to a circuit board.
The RAM Instrument diode retrofit kit for the 2AA
Mini Maglite.
The user simply removes the Mini Maglite’s lightbulb and
reflector and replaces them with the RAM components. The resulting
Maglite produces “colder,” more diffuse light that appears blue (as opposed to
yellow) on camera.
RAM conversion kit prior to installation on 2AA
Maglite.
RAM conversion kit fully installed on 2AA Maglite.
Unlike the TerraLux kit, the RAM kit (once installed on the
Maglite) is not focusable from spot to flood. The beam remains fixed.
I was unable to find exact numbers for the illumination output, but to the
naked eye the RAM LEDs are more powerful than the standard incandescent bulb.
The incandescent Maglite can be focused to a tighter, brighter spot and has a
longer throw.
Beam shots from unconverted and converted Maglites.
The RAM kit is less bright than the TerraLux kit but
an improvement over
the standard Maglite unless you want a tightly focused spot beam.
Conventional Minimag (left), RAM conversion (center),
TerraLux (right)
Another advantage of the RAM kit is the extended life of the
LEDs compared to the incandescent bulbs that come standard with the Maglite.
The LED kit uses batteries at a reduced rate, too, though I’m unsure of
exactly how great is the difference.
If you want an LED Maglite and don’t
want to pay for the brighter TerraLux, the RAM conversion is a budget
option.