What did you use your flashlight for today?

[aphid]

I used my Surefire Sidekick(keychain) to help lock my front door while heading out early this morning as the exterior light fixture is burnt out again. My door is painted black thus being hard to see in what little light is thrown by the sun so early in the morning.

 

[bykfixer]

^^ Great use for that one for sure. Might be exactly what they had in mind during the design phase.


Last evening after the sun set the wind began howling like a spring thunderstorm and I heard a crazy noise coming from outside... like a duck call but the poor duck was being tortured sound. It lasted a few seconds. But it stopped. A couple minutes later it returned. My dog poked his head out the doggy door and turned to look at me as if to say "you do it, I aint going out there" lol...

Ok, what the heck? I plucked my recently purchased SureFire E2D off its resting spot, put on a jacket and went outside. Wind was howling, leaves were raining like crazy and rain was sideways all blasting me in the face.

I clicked the light and aimed it towards the noise to see a roof mounted turbine spinning at warp speed, and at times making that crazy noise.

That little 60 or so lumen incan light lit that turbine about 50 feet away like a much brighter light. So braving the storm I walked around the premises in the weather fury marveling at how much light that little sucker puts out. I really liked the throwy beam yet how widely it casts light at the same time.

 

[idleprocess]

Did some oven cleaning; used my Nebo Big Larry to great effect lighting the interior for some power-scrubbing (excellent alternative use for an impact driver!) and general elbow grease to deal with the residue that yesterday's oven cleaner left behind.

 

[bykfixer]

The Larry series is good stuff. Kinda like the Jim series by Eveready of the 50's and 60's, the various platforms serve their tasks very well in the new millenium.


Tonight I did some Maglite comparisions but also a new (to me) old E2D came along with a Malkoff'd Laser Products and my usual pocket sized PK's. Now that little 60 lumen bulb didn't stand a chance at out throwing a pair of modern 3 cell Maglites with 40k+ cd, but dawg-gonnit that thing musta seemed like pure magic in its day. Compared to a Malkoff NLL there is no comparison except beam tint. Frankly I was surprised how closely they were in color. But the Malkoff beam lost steam well before the E2 got winded regarding throw. Yet the circle lit at about 100 feet was pretty close... very similar except the Malkoff kinda did a more evenly lit circle in general. The circle lit from the E2 was nearly as bright at the edges and nearly as broad. I briefly marveled at the output of the PL2 1xaaa, which always makes me grin using it in the woods. And that PR-1 also brings about a smile with its conical flood beam. Turn that sucker on near a running stream and the water yells out "turn that bright so-n-so down please!" So I did.... then back to that E2 some more and then I was back underway to complete the battle of the Maglites. I think I have "E fever" now...


Uh oh.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

A very dark stormy afternoon today. :sweat: Used the Mini MK Turbo on low to check for door dings in the parking garage. All clear. :thumbsup:

~ Cg

 

[bykfixer]

I grabbed this 1980's 2C BrightStar enroute to my facility at 2am.
Basically I was giving birth to a bouncing baby kidney stone.
It entered the world with a splash.
I named it Spike.

I wouldn't wish these things on an enemy. Ugh!

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I used my PD35 on low to examine the wiring on a POS terminal.

 

[terjee]

We have lights in the office, controlled by both times and occupancy sensors. After hours, the light will shut of if the sensors aren't tickled. You know, office-people wailing their arms around hoping a sensor will catch them and turn the light back on out of pity. Or something. ;-)

I just tailstood an SC600w Mk III, and kept on packing for the day. Both how within reach and ready to use it was, and also how much brighter the office was than before the lights turned off, was surprisingly pleasing.

I guess some days it's the small and simple things.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I used my PD35 to inspect an intricate stage prop that has linear actuators, LEDs and smoke.

 

[blah9]

Used my Emisar D4vn during a walk with my wife to examine a piece of paper on the ground as well as a piece of rotting pumpkin.

 

[Boris74]

Had a spider on the window sill by my chair. Took the S1R out of my pocket and got the light hovering right over it, put the little light on blast and fried that spider.

 

[EndOfTheTunnel]

Used my Thrunite TH10 to help diagnose a problem with the heater control in my car. Put the headlamp on after getting frustrated with my 4D Maglite with it's Mac's Customs dropin.

 

[bykfixer]

At my work whenever a new roadway is being built there comes a point where things are ready for the gravel and asphalt or concrete are placed over the top of the material used to build this on top of. That point of construction of a road is called "reaching subgrade" as that is grade (or elevation) below the "finished grade", which is the grade (or elevation) we drive on... the surface of the finished roadway.

When it rains the subgrade can become soft. For the road to last it should be firm before placing gravel etc over it. Before that happens a "proof roll" takes place. Proof of firmness is done by rolling a heavily loaded dump truck over it. Proof roll. The wheels of the truck squash soft subgrade causing it to appear to be moving up and down like water on a pond on a windy day. We walk beside the truck watching for any movement. A person walks on each side since normally both sides cannot be seen from one side... oh, but contrare mon-frair...

Stand off to the side at about 25 feet (8 meters) at about 45 degrees from the rear of the truck and wheels on both sides can be seen but... under the truck is mighty dark. Enter a good strong flashlight to light up underneath of the truck and light up the area the wheel just rolled over.

While 2 young engineers walked inches from the rear wheels of the truck I was off to the side watching front and rear on both sides. Young engineers do not typically realize about 60% of the loads are equally distributed among 8 tires at the rear while only 2 up front carry about 40% of the weight. Much more pounds per square inch, meaning much more "wave action" is seen up front.

Anyway another experienced guy was walking with me and watching what I was watching. He said "it's mighty dark under that truck". I said "not much longer", whipped out my PK PR-1 and the other fellow said "holy *** that's a bright flashlight!"

 

[Ishango]

I used my new Lumintop Tool yesterday as I had to use the bathroom at the office and the light was out of service. It's getting dark at the end of the afternoon already, so the new light came in very handy. Nice to always be prepared.

Didn't hit me personally but in a town about 50 km further an Apache helicopter flew against a powerline during a training mission and took out power for the whole evening. Always good to know I would at least have enough light when that would occur here. Guess in 9 months time a few future flashaholics could be born

 

[PaladinNO]

"What did you use your flashlight for today?"
"Flashlight". No plural. Suggesting we only got one for everyday use. I'm hurt! xD

Well then, where to start... Well, I suppose in the morning:
- Using a Nitecore Tip to find the ignition slot for the car key during the dark era that is commonly described as the early hours during winter.

- Using a Streamlight Polytac (with a Keeppower 16650 battery in it) to check that I'd gotten all my stuff out of the car when I got to school, as the damn interiour light only works when it wants to.

- ...Showing off my Fenix TK76 with battery extender in the classroom (for some reason, it gathered a crowd ^^). Didn't even mean to - just wanted to bring an AER-TK75 battery cartridge to see if I could use one such as a power source for a project, and just brought the whole light as it was faster to get and safer for the cartridge itself to transport.
I can see why though. When I asked what the rest had, words like "Led Lenser" and "Maglite" was used frequently. That was okay. It was the ones who said "phone" that gave me cause for concern.

- Using a Nitecore HC90 when shoveling snow when I got back home (they say "winter is coming", but it sure feels like it's already here...).

EDIT:
Used the Polytac again: Swapped the interiour light bulb for a SMD LED unit.
Philips X-treme Ultinon LED Festoon C5W 4000K

 

[ven]

"dad can you build the ninja turtle lego for me, its too hard" . So the zebralight sc62d got broke out, tail stood on h2(145lm) for the time it took to finish. When topping off the pany B, it showed 3.92v.............frugal as it did feel a while:duh2:

 

[bwalker]

Shot a brief video of my granddaughter using iPhone. There wasn't enough light from the lamps in the room so I fired up the K60 @ L6 pointed at the celing. My wife said it was too bright. I dropped it down to L4 and we got the perfect lighting.

 

[herektir]

Fenix tk22 on low(7 lumens) to light my way back from a deer blind in the pitch black(no moon, cloudy, no city lights for 30+ miles) for the 1/3 of a mile walk back to the cabin.

 

[terjee]

Tidying up, organizing and throwing away things from our storage in the basement of the building. There's light there, but if the kind that makes any box seem to contain nothing but shadows. A H600Fc Mk III solved the problem nicely. I got it for more important tasks, but "know the tools you need" and all of that.

 

[Repsol600rr]

Deer season up in Wisconsin. When walking in before 6 am a nice light helps. This year I felt like going classic and have been using a surefire c2 with m61nll on a 16650. Not quite a much punch as lights ive brought years past but shows how a well designed beam at an adequate output with lots of runtime can be just the ticket. Still outshines everything all the others have anyway.