Clayton carries a mini-mag, and shows how to avoid losing them, which is a handy suggestion, since I lost a few when I used to carry the mini.  A few years ago I switched to carrying a Surefire 6P. Not only is it a lot brighter than the mini, but it has a holster that completely secures it, and there are a number of tactical holster makers that make holsters for it.
Downsides are it takes a more expensive lithium battery, which won’t last long if you keep the flashlight on. The Surefire isn’t really meant for continuous use either.  It’ll get very hot if you run it more than 10 minutes.  The nylon Surefire holster also doesn’t perfectly protect the button at the bottom, and I burned a hole clean in the top of the flap that covers and secures the flashlight when I sat down on the button one time.
It does, however, do a good job of hiding the Glock if put at 3:00 with the Glock right behind it at 4. If your shirt blows open, you’re not made. It’s also bright enough to night blind someone if you aim it at them.  All in all, I doubt I’d go back to the mini-mag. For those that don’t carry a flashlight, I would highly suggest it. In my line of work, I’ve always found it handy anyway, but you’d be surprised how often it comes in handy in other situations.
For work I carry a mini-mag with the upgrated LED light and rear botton from Nite IDZ, due to the cost of batteries and run time till gets hot. Plus, I am not going to wast my good light for my job, seeing they will not replace the 3v batteries, but will the AA batteries. For EDC I do use the Surefire G2 light.
I’ve been carrying a mini-mag for years, they do come in handy. My main complaint is that I have to replace the holster for it almost every year. As a result I have a bunch of ’em now placed in useful places around the house.
One nice feature of the mini-mag… you can remove the top and use it like a candle. I haven’t found any small flashlight that can handle the abuse that I typically give ’em. For me, and my typical use, it works very well for me.
I tucked my 3-cell Z-3 Surefire light in my back-pocket while setting up a booth at a trade show and damn near burnt a hole in my ass.
I bought batteries by the dozen, but I’m still on my first set after a couple years – it just doesn’t get much constant illumination despite scaring-off raccoons, perhaps because it’s just so damn bright (105 lumens).
I used to carry a mini-mag in that sort of holster. I never had problems with it coming out of the holster, but I had lots of trouble with it getting turned on and running the batteries down. I quit carrying it because of that. I have an ultra-mini-mag lite on my keyring now, and a small red LED push button light.
I always carry some sort of flashlight (traditionally a Mag Solitaire, these days usually a keychain LED light).
Mostly, anything bigger just gets in the way, and I don’t want to deal with a holster.
As long as I can cut things, make fire, and make light, I figure I’m doing pretty well.
For every day carry it’s hard to beat a Photon Micro Light. Attached to my key chain it’s impossible to forget and gives off a surprising amount of light. Having a light ranks right up there with having a knife and a gun: Don’t leave home without them!
Mini-Mags absolutely have their place, and because they’re so commonplace, they have the advantage of being well supported with third-party accessories. I spent the summer of 2005 in Siberia, building hiking trails. Rather than take an expensive headlamp, I took a Mini-Mag with a Nite-Ize LED insert and a Lite Bite. That way, if I lost it, it’d be no big financial loss. The problem with the Lite Bite is that when you hold a light in your mouth for even a short length of time, you start to drool.
For the longest time, I wore a Nite-Ize pouch on my belt, containing my Mini-Mag, my Leatherman Wave, a pen and a flash memory stick; only downside was that it tended to flop and bang into things. I have since acquired a Woolrich Elite/Eagle Industries TPO (Tactical Pocket Organizer), which I’ve found I can shove into numerous pockets on clothes I own, and holds a flashlight, a knife and my cell phone. The Mini-Mag’s small head does not fit easily securely into the TPO, but my new Pelican M6 LED does.