Ah the Maglite, the flashlight of policing pretty much up until 2010. Maglite had built such a reputation from the law enforcement use that regular joes were buying them because they just assumed they were the best. For a while, you couldn’t even watch a TV show or a movie without them using a Maglite in it, it was THE flashlight. While Maglites are remember for being big and bulky, like the Maglite 3D and 4D, there were lots of smaller versions of the light (the number next to the “D” directly corresponding to how many D cell batteries it needed). They also had a very rugged body made of anodized aluminum which was extremely tough, leading to the nickname “the club” for these lights.
I remember when I was just off to the academy and my dad was on his way out of the profession, he gave me his legendary Maglite. While I’m not sure if it’s the original one he carried his entire career, the one he gave me looked like it had been well used and seen somethings. However by the time I hit the streets I quickly realized the Maglite, specifically the Maglite 3D he owned, was no longer that popular. While there was no bigger or physically stronger replacement, there were certainly better alternatives of flashlights for law enforcement, and public use. Maglites have been phased out of law enforcement because they are no longer relevant, and policies have changed preventing and in some cases strictly prohibiting officers from using these as weapons (self-defence or not).
But perhaps the biggest changes have come in flashlight technology with the rise of the LEDs. Maglites started declining in popularity mainly because you could get a batter that was one third of the size and took 2 AA cell batteries yet produced the same amount of light as a 2D Maglite. The best part is the LEDs are more reliable and you pretty much never have to worry about replacing the bulb.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still diehard Maglite users out there (my dad has a few different Maglites at home that he swears by) and you can now find them in many more sizes with LEDs. But the original big sized, heavy duty 2D, 3D and 4D Maglites are simply no longer relevant. They have been replaced by the smaller lights produced by the likes of Surefire and Fenix. I’ll always cherish the Maglite my dad gave me, but it’s been retired to my office rather than on my duty belt.
Ben