If there is one thing I have found that you cannot have enough of around the house, it's a flashlight.  It seemed that whenever I needed one, it was never where it should have been.  My solution was to buy a flashlight every time I went to my local Walmart, until I had one in every spot I could possibly need one.  In the nightstand, under the kitchen sink, my work bench in the basement, the toolbox in the garage, and the shed in bask were all to have their own dedicated handheld lights.  Not to mention my tackle box and hunting gear.

After buying, using, and breaking about 4-5 cheapos, I decided that it was time to invest a little money into these tools I use. That's when I decided to give one of the best known names in flashlights a try.  I figured there is probably a reason that the people who use flashlights for a living swear by Maglite brand flashlights.  Heck I have even seen the larger ones used as baton sticks by police officers on the reality cop shows like COPs.  So you know they're tough.

Although these flashlights aren't cheap by comparison to other flashlights of sililair designhey are in a word, bulletproof.   I still have in possession every one that Ihave bought, and they are all in working condition.  Some may look a little more used than others, but to me that just adds character.

Lets start with the basics, light.  After all, if you can't get it to light up your area, what good is it anyway.  The mini Maglite, isn't going to brighten up  the forest like its daylight.  Its not its intended design.  However for the size, and considering it only has 1 tiny bulb in it, the mini Maglite is more than capable of finding your way down a trail, getting you downstairs when the power goes out, lighting up that hard to see area under the hood of your car, or helping the kids roast some marshmallows while camping.  The beam is adjustable as well, so you can flood a large area with a little bit of light, or concentrate all its power into a narrow beam to illuminate at farther distances.  All this works simply by twisting the end nearest the bulb.  Its about as simple as it gets without bringing a computer chip into it.

Operating the flashlight is a snap as well, twist the end and it comes on, twist it back it turns off.  You could seriously train a monkey to use it in a matter of minutes.  No buttons, not special controls or settings, not fancy bells or whistles.  Plain and simple a quality durable flashlight.  All you need and nothing you don't.  Loading the batteries is a breeze.  Simple remove the small end cap furthest from the light bulb, place 2 AA batteries, and replace the cap.  You are now good to go.  One neat feature I have found, is that if you completely unscrew the top to expose the light bulb, and hang it from the top of your tent, it makes a very effective lantern, and floods the tend with plenty of light all around.  You have to be careful of the bulb when you do this however, it is very fragile and best not to touch with your bare fingers.

The part about this flashlight that stands out most to me is its durability.  the casing is made out of stainless steel, and with it brings the toughness you would expect.  I have dropped this onto concrete from as high as 10 feet up, and onto the forest floor at closer to 20.  Besides for a couple of scratches and dings from the concrete, the functionality never changed.  My maglights have seen the worst that I will ever have to put them through(hopefully) and came out the other end working beautifully.  I even dropped one in a shallow creek about 8" deep while it was on, and simply just pulled it out and shook it off.  No problem.

Now I don't want to claim that it is waterproof, because I don't believe it is.  But very water resistant it is for sure.  Don't worry about it getting it wet in the rain or in damp conditions.  Minor puddles are no problem.  It won't work scuba diving though I'm most certain.  Basically, it's tougher than I thought, but if you tried, I'm sure you could break it if you use it for something it was just not designed for.

As I stated before the Mini Maglite, as well as all other Maglites are constructed of stainless steel, and give it tremendous durability.  The shaft of the flashlight is etched in a diamond pattern to allow a better, less slippery grip, so that even in those less than ideal conditions the flashlight remains easy to use and grip.  The end cap, farthest from the bulb end, is a solid steel piece that has a place to loop a wrist strap, or a key ring to for attaching the light to other objects or hanging from a string or wire.  It has also doubled as a pretty nice very light duty hammer as well when you are out camping and have to improvise.

The Mini Maglite runs on 2 AA batteries, and gets a very nice life out of them.  Obviously the duration and frequency of use will determine the life of the battery, and I have never really counted the hours it was on, but changing the batteries are a very rare occurrence.  I would love if the flashlight was rechargeable, however, you can't have it all I suppose.

The combo pack comes with everything you need to get started, and a couple things you don't.   The flashlight and batteries being the parts you need, the carry case and rubber grip being the parts you could live without.  The rubber grip is basically a hex nut for the end of the light.  It aids in turning the flashlight on when you have gloves on, or if you don't have a good grip from wet conditions or strength issues.  A nice addition, but in my mind unnecessary.  The carry case is a nylon mesh case that has one purpose.  to attach it to a belt or similar style trap.  it holds it snug, however, I have had it fall out on many occasions due to the fact that there is really no way to secure it in besides snugness and gravity.

All in all I love the Mini Maglite for its use and durability.  I give the combo pack 3 stars because for the couple extra dollars you will spend on the pack, you are probably better off just getting the flashlight and forgetting about the rest.  At $11, I feel I would have been better off buying the flashlight alone at $9 and adding my own batteries.  The flashlight itself is a solid 5 stars, but since this review is on the combo pack, I have to bring the score down.

Recommended: Yes