About a decade ago I bought a replacement lamp for my Maglite 3 D-cell flashlight. It’s a high-intensity lamp that is whiter than the original. (You might say it’s almost blue.) At about $14, it was expensive at the time.
Does anyone know what this lamp is called, and where I might get some more?
This ?
As an aside short of busting skulls there’s nothing a maglite can do that newer LED models can’t do 10X better.
Here’s one of my faves.
http://www.amazon.com/Fenix-LD22-Lumen-Flashlight-Combo/dp/B007O0FLK8
Can’t really tell, but it looks like one I’ve tried that was not as high-intensity as the one I have in one of my flashlights.
I’m thinking this board could give you a definitive answer very quickly.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?4-General-Flashlight-Discussion
Just about any place that sells Maglite products. Consult this link for part numbers. The top 2 items on the page are the brighter bulb styles.
He could always get the best of both worlds with one of these:
It was a massive improvement at the time however side by side I can’t see any difference between my three year old TerraLUX upgraded Maglite and the latest LED Maglite.
halogen is usually yellow, but brighter yellow
white to blue implies HID
I believe that’s the one I got. Very nice. 
It’s definitely ‘very white’.
Either still beats your un-upgraded Maglite, I’ll bet.
HID requires a big and expensive power supply.
You’re can’t just plug an HID lamp into a regular incandescent lamp socket.
If the circuit on this page is any indication, a HID ballast can be made for about the same cost and size as a CFL or CCFL ballast (which often use a very similar circuit), small enough to fit in a flashlight (although obviously a real ballast would use much better parts than RadioShack parts; e.g. real high-speed transistors instead of obsolete 2N3055s). Here’s a HID ballast for $9 (for automotive use).
Of course, the part about using a HID bulb in place of an incandescent stands, unless you are willing to do some work and the ballast can fit.
For the people that think a LED is always better, I’m happy for your lack of visual problems. A LED does not however come close to letting me see in the dark like the krypton Maglite I sought out 3 months ago. Keep using your LEDs I’ll stay with the krypton bulb that actually lets me see correctly in the dark and it’s not a power hog as I get hours of use before recharging.
Out of curiosity, what was the vintage of the last LED flashlight you took for a spin in the dark? They’ve improved incredibly over the last 5 years or so. The early ones that I have were a cluster of 3mm or 5mm diffused LEDs that didn’t really put out any more light than a comparable halogen flashlight bulb, and their main attraction was their really low power consumption.
Nowadays, they’ve come out with crazy bright LEDs- as in my 2 D cell LED Maglite puts out over 274 lumens from a single LED, and can do it for 12 hours or so. It’s considerably brighter than any other flashlight I’ve ever had- I can light stuff up a block away in the dark, and no other flashlight I’ve had can do that.
If there’s a flaw with the light, it’s that it’s too bright up close and messes up my night vision.
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I use several more pocketable led lights however I love the Fenix TK60 http://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-tk60.html
same form factor as my old maglight and at 800 lumens its 10 times as bright. I normally use it on medium which gives me 111 lumens and 40 hours runtime. I can use it camping on a long weekend with the grandkids playing around and not kill the batteries.
My old maglight was only 80 lumens or so and ran for a couple hours max, there is simply no comparison at all. I gotta agree though its way too right on high
I’ll mention that many highend Led lights can be had in tints ranging from cool white through neutral to warm white. Many people find that a slightly warm white gives better vision in the woods.