In case anyone's curious, Mag demo'd their new lights over the weekend. Probably will hit stores towards the middle of the year. Oddly slow considering Mag's manufacturing capability and the time they say they've spent working on them. Basically there are two new models, both with regulated 3W Luxeons: The D-cell lights seem largely unchanged other than adding an LED. At some point Mag will also come out with an LED drop-in (like many currently on the market, but probably with better regulation) for existing D-cell lights. It's unknown how these will handle the head buildup since there's no elaborate heatsink. The AA size flashlights are where they put some effort. Similar to a Mini-Mag outwardly, but with a longer head. Available in traditional 2AA and a new 3AA size. No one knows exactly what's inside, but from the patents I've seen it appears to be a new, complicated, focusing mechanism to go along with the electronics. Unlike the D-cell models it appears pretty unique. Prices will be under $30. From what I've read the 2AA one might be running under its possible performance, but the 3AA should have some pop to it. Honestly I'm surprised they didn't come out with more (like an LED replacement for the hopeless Solitaire) but the new lights look solid. I'll probably buy a 3AA when it comes out. Something to go along with my modified Mini-Mag.

The Australian tea authors from Perth described kangaroos as a rose garden pest. Even after they surrounded the public garden with roo-proof fence, they hopped in the main gate along with the visitors - and happily munched on roses. What a funny image! Baldo (many of you know him as a bug guy and rose care expert) advised me to go out with a flashlight at night in my garden and see what was munching on my plants. Quite disheartening. Not just snails, but katydids and other unnamed insects, singing and eating away, probably just as happily as the roos. I splurged on professionally-installed lighting for my garden a couple of years ago and it's made it seem magical at night. I've got a little bamboo stand and it's especially wonderful with a spotlight trained on it. Secret Garden Musk Climber is on a trellis, with a spot on it, and just looks fabulous at night. There are still dark spots in the garden - the designer said you need to keep areas of mystery so the place doesn't look like Disneyland - and I think that I need to get a flashlight and go explore! Anita

davidr- you should check out the Inova flashlights. Well, I finally did. I was at a Target store the other day and saw an Inova Radiant on closeout at a very attractive price (not much more than the Chinese knockoffs) so I gave it a try. I have to admit that I'm impressed. I tried it with the somewhat used AA alkaline cells from one of my Maglites (I use mostly NiMH rechargeables, but keep alkalines in the ones that don't get used very often). Open circuit voltage of the AAs totaled 2.98 volts. The Inova certainly seemed significantly brighter. But how much? The bluish light that "white" LEDs emit can be a fooler. I wanted some numbers. I used my old photographic light meter to measure the relative output of the two lights. It's calibrated in unidentified units (lumens? footcandles? Lux? Ivory? ;-), from 0.2 to 1600 in two sensitivities. I measured both lights on the high scale (50-1600 whatevers). I chucked the Inova in the vise and aimed it at the meter's PV element, so that the "hot spot" covered the PV (its edges aren't very sharp, so this was approximate). It turned out that this was exactly 6" from the meter. I then chucked the Mag into the vise 6" from the meter and adjusted its beamspread to cover the PV, getting the coverage as close to the Inova's as possible. The Mag measured 300 <mumbles>, and the Inova 1600 <mumbles>. I don't know whether the light meter's scale is linear (suggesting 4x the output for the Inova), but I'm going to assume that it's pretty much colorblind. It certainly seemed to confirm what my eyes told me. I then measured the current consumed by the lights. It was almost identical - the Mag used 305ma, the Inova 308ma. Remember, this is with a somewhat used battery, just slightly below nominal voltage. Results would no doubt be different with brand new or very nearly flat cells. Thus we can safely say that the Inova's efficacy is significantly higher than the Mag's. Now, some user-level notes on the lights. The Mag is considered a top-shelf item. It's constructed of machined aluminum and is made in USA. The beamspread is adjustable. It costs about $10 (less on sale). The Inova Radiant is part of the company's budget line. It's made of polycarbonate, and is made in USA "with US and imported components" (my guess is that the LED itself is Chinese, but I don't know for sure). It costs about $20 (I paid less on closeout). I'd say the Inova is pretty solidly built for the low end of the high end. ;-) I find the bluish light color unattractive but that doesn't really hurt its utility. I miss the Mag's beamspread adjustment a bit, but it's not that big a deal. My real concern with the Inova is the switch. It has a push-on / push-off switch on the end. On other gear, I've found these switches aren't especially long-lived. Time will tell.

I was the one who posted it as a $10 gift suggestion. Mine is exactly like the one linked below for sale at Ebay. As I said in the post, I'm not sure how long a crank up lasts, but the listing says 1 minute gives about 30 minutes of light. I find it is always 'charged' for a short walk to the mailbox, and was so glad to have it recently when I did some plumbing repair. I loaned it to some friends who were headed camping as they had forgotten any flashlights. The windup one provided more than enough light for several hours, in the hands of the child helping. It doesn't cast a strong beam a long distance, but is good for close up. I think it is great for a glove box, where often a flashlight won't maybe be used for years, and be dead or maybe leaking when needed. I got mine for $10 at a country/tractor supply place. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Wind up flashlight.