Good question. All excellent answers. I have been obsessed with flashlights as long as I can remember. I still am. When I got into law enforcement, it became apparent just how important a dependable flashlight is. I still observe the rule of 2=1, 1=none. Therefore, I usually have a couple flashlights on me.
so why flashlights? why do you like them?
- Thread starter raggie33
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
I consider a flashlight a very important tool. I like tools. I carry tools on me 24/7 including small pair of knipex pliers, small pry bar, and a knife. I use my light almost every day at work and most in the mornings and evenings around my house. It's also just not about the lights, but about the craftsmanship and machine work I see in a lot of lights. I like to support small business with well made products
Bucur
Enlightened
Darkness is one of the greatest challenges for mankind. I think that the ability to conquer it on demand is a virtue that is not to be underestimated. On the other hand, I cannot deny the fact that overestimating it at this day and age may well be leading to an obsession with flashligths.
There are…….screwdriver enthusiasts? What a bunch of losers. *cough *cough. *goes on AliExpress and checks out convoy store
Screwdriver enthusiasts refer to them as turnscrews.
I don't know what they call themselves.
Those…….are nice screwdrivers. But I'm Canadian. So I'm biologically programmed to only like Robertson drivers. It's a Canadian invention you know
Dr. Freud says I'm into flashlights because of something about being surrounded by large black phallic objects.
LOL
Isn't it nice that flashlights come in other colors.
Name an object, you WILL find an online forum that caters to its collectors. No lie, no joke.... Barbed wire collectors.
They take six to 12 inches. Straighten it out. Post it on both ends to a thin wooden rectangular backing. Apparently there are numerous variations of barbed wire in existence. Even antique barbed wire.
Wow
vadimax
Flashlight Enthusiast
I prefer my foot fingers intact while walking in the dark.
TL;DR:
Why do I like flashlights? Because they're so handy to have!
Novel version:
After having experienced the awe of the ancient, 4.5 Volt flashlight in the family cabin, I knew I had to get my own flashlight someday - a portable light or something that did NOT require a wall socket!
Many years later, and I think I speak for many here, when I got my first light...the utterly incredible Maglite 2C halogen!
Of course we all know that it is a crap light now, and arguably was even back then...but it was mine. And portable. And it was mine. My own. My precious.
Didn't take long before I outgrew its usefulness, both in terms of actual portability and utility. Not to mention batteries and spare bulbs cost significant money. Especially the batteries weren't cheap for a schoolkid back in the late-90's. But I still had the light for years. All the way until I had decided to save on the batteries by not using the light...for years. By that time, those things had fused the whole light shut.
Skip about a decade, LEDs had just started to hit the market, so I decided to wait and see if I could get a new and fancy light at an affordable price. I think that's when I landed on another C-cell flashlight, the 5mm UV LED + halogen Streamlight 51045. Needless to say, after the UV novelty had worn off, it was just as crappy as the Maglite in terms of actual light output.
Fast forward another decade, I had bought a Fenix HP10 4x AA-battery headlamp. Sporting a whopping 210 Lumens! I used this one A LOT. And at this point, I decided I wanted more lights, more powerful lights, and more variety in lights for different purposes. Turned out the things - once actually having some Lumens to speak of - proved to be useful after all to see things in the dark without needing a wall socket. Who ever would have thought that...
To me, it was never a fear of the dark (or so I tell myself...), but rather the versatility and handiness of having a small, yet increasingly portable and powerful flashlight nearby at all times for whatever I would need it for. Flashlights are like measuring tapes and bit sets - if you can turn around a full circle anywhere in your house and only see one of each, you don't have enough of'em!
Today, after owning some 40 lights, I buy lights either if I need something specific (not really the case anymore), or I want something better in some way to replace an existing light. Having gone Energizer Keychain 2x CR2016 -> Nitecore Tip -> Nitecore Tube for the keychain, and Fenix HP10 -> Nitecore HC90 -> Acebeam H15 headlamp, and tons of others as everyday carry, I feel I am in a good spot now.
Collecting flashlights was never a thing to me (which I also tell myself...), at least not the "special editions" or brass / exotic material ones (though some of the titanium ones looks hubba-hubba!), but rather have many spread around in case of blackouts (which happes like twice a year), and for different purposes. Current interest is high-CRI lights of different types for detailed or special project work.
EDIT:
Come to think of it, I think I know exactly when I wanted to have lights spread around everywhere.
It was after that winter night - and I'm talking northern winter, literally pitch black outside - when I saw Aliens for the second time on TV.
I had of course seen the movie before, so I laid back on the couch and watched with droopy eyes. And during the scene where the aliens cut the power in the movie, at that exact same second...I got a blackout in the house.
Blackout lasted only a few seconds, but damn...I was not in any way sleepy anymore!
Thinking back, that sensation of utter terror was actually quite exhilarating white it lasted (seriously, I'd like to experience it again), but it made me realize that maybe having a few lights around the living room to at least navigate between the furniture could be handy. I did hurt my knee when I impacted the wood dining table after the power came back, but that was only due to my legs still shaking so bad, and not because of a lack of light.
Why do I like flashlights? Because they're so handy to have!
Novel version:
After having experienced the awe of the ancient, 4.5 Volt flashlight in the family cabin, I knew I had to get my own flashlight someday - a portable light or something that did NOT require a wall socket!
Many years later, and I think I speak for many here, when I got my first light...the utterly incredible Maglite 2C halogen!
Of course we all know that it is a crap light now, and arguably was even back then...but it was mine. And portable. And it was mine. My own. My precious.
Didn't take long before I outgrew its usefulness, both in terms of actual portability and utility. Not to mention batteries and spare bulbs cost significant money. Especially the batteries weren't cheap for a schoolkid back in the late-90's. But I still had the light for years. All the way until I had decided to save on the batteries by not using the light...for years. By that time, those things had fused the whole light shut.
Skip about a decade, LEDs had just started to hit the market, so I decided to wait and see if I could get a new and fancy light at an affordable price. I think that's when I landed on another C-cell flashlight, the 5mm UV LED + halogen Streamlight 51045. Needless to say, after the UV novelty had worn off, it was just as crappy as the Maglite in terms of actual light output.
Fast forward another decade, I had bought a Fenix HP10 4x AA-battery headlamp. Sporting a whopping 210 Lumens! I used this one A LOT. And at this point, I decided I wanted more lights, more powerful lights, and more variety in lights for different purposes. Turned out the things - once actually having some Lumens to speak of - proved to be useful after all to see things in the dark without needing a wall socket. Who ever would have thought that...
To me, it was never a fear of the dark (or so I tell myself...), but rather the versatility and handiness of having a small, yet increasingly portable and powerful flashlight nearby at all times for whatever I would need it for. Flashlights are like measuring tapes and bit sets - if you can turn around a full circle anywhere in your house and only see one of each, you don't have enough of'em!
Today, after owning some 40 lights, I buy lights either if I need something specific (not really the case anymore), or I want something better in some way to replace an existing light. Having gone Energizer Keychain 2x CR2016 -> Nitecore Tip -> Nitecore Tube for the keychain, and Fenix HP10 -> Nitecore HC90 -> Acebeam H15 headlamp, and tons of others as everyday carry, I feel I am in a good spot now.
Collecting flashlights was never a thing to me (which I also tell myself...), at least not the "special editions" or brass / exotic material ones (though some of the titanium ones looks hubba-hubba!), but rather have many spread around in case of blackouts (which happes like twice a year), and for different purposes. Current interest is high-CRI lights of different types for detailed or special project work.
EDIT:
Come to think of it, I think I know exactly when I wanted to have lights spread around everywhere.
It was after that winter night - and I'm talking northern winter, literally pitch black outside - when I saw Aliens for the second time on TV.
I had of course seen the movie before, so I laid back on the couch and watched with droopy eyes. And during the scene where the aliens cut the power in the movie, at that exact same second...I got a blackout in the house.
Blackout lasted only a few seconds, but damn...I was not in any way sleepy anymore!
Thinking back, that sensation of utter terror was actually quite exhilarating white it lasted (seriously, I'd like to experience it again), but it made me realize that maybe having a few lights around the living room to at least navigate between the furniture could be handy. I did hurt my knee when I impacted the wood dining table after the power came back, but that was only due to my legs still shaking so bad, and not because of a lack of light.
Last edited:
Not to overstate it too much, but I like flashlights for the same reason that I like magnifying glasses, binoculars, telescopes, night vision, microscopes, photo spectrometers, Geiger counters, range finders, and x-ray vision; They all allow me (or would allow me) to see or detect things that are otherwise invisible, and there's something about that that is just seriously cool. (Either that or I'm just plain nosey. ) Some of these items and abilities were the stuff of sci-fi within some of our lifetimes. (Or wizardry if you go back a bit further.) Even the modern flashlight has an output, compactness, and duration that would have blown my grandfather's mind just 30 years ago when he was lugging a small headlight and automotive battery to search and protect his fields at night. And that's why I like flashlights. Now...about what I did for my summer vacation...
) Some of these items and abilities were the stuff of sci-fi within some of our lifetimes. (Or wizardry if you go back a bit further.) Even the modern flashlight has an output, compactness, and duration that would have blown my grandfather's mind just 30 years ago when he was lugging a small headlight and automotive battery to search and protect his fields at night. And that's why I like flashlights. Now...about what I did for my summer vacation...
Last edited:
I've actually seen what you're describing. It was on an episode of "Emergency" back in the '70's. (It played back to back with "SWAT".) "I collect antique barbed wire," said the character as he displayed the frame. If this isn't concrete proof, I don't know what is!
On another note, how is it that I can quote lines from 45 years ago but can't remember what I did yesterday?! 
Same. Don't worry about it. Yesterday wasn't memorable.On another note, how is it that I can quote lines from 45 years ago but can't remember what I did yesterday?!
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Summer vacation, okay, but what happens at band camp, stays at band camp!Not to overstate it too much, but I like flashlights for the same reason that I like magnifying glasses, binoculars, telescopes, night vision, microscopes, photo spectrometers, Geiger counters, range finders, and x-ray vision; They all allow me (or would allow me) to see or detect things that are otherwise invisible, and there's something about that that is just seriously cool. (Either that or I'm just plain nosey.
Barbwire collectors are typically fans of historical events so the evolution of barbwire is something they enjoy. I enjoy the evolution of the flashlight, mainly from a tactical perspective. Ones used for duty such as police or military and like the barbwire collector, don't get the big thrill of modern items.
Falcon9h
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2019
- Messages
- 74
That's why I carry one during the day also. Nothing like sitting on the john and the lights go out. Might have to root around looking for somethinh in the car, closet or in the basement.
