What flashlight you have in hand before you get into CPF?

[tanakasan]

2006 Surefire E2D w/KL4 LED head and a 2016 LAPG L2.

Robert

 

[Phlogiston]

I had a Fenix E05 (1×AAA) as a keyring EDC, plus a Fenix E21 (2×AA) and a Fenix E11 (1×AA) in my backpack. The E21 was my main light, the other two were backups for it. These were all old versions, as sold in early 2013. Still perfectly good lights, too. I gave some to family members as well, and those ones are still in service, because the people I gave them to like them so much that they refuse all offers of an upgrade

The first time I ever read CPF was mid-2013. I was looking for good NiMH cells to put in my lights, discovered Eneloops here on CPF and never looked back.

 

[richbuff]

My first real flashlight: Four-Sevens MMU-X3, I researched and and then purchased from Sears marketplace October 2014.

CPF join date: 11-21-2014.

All of my remaining flashlights I purchased based on my reading this forum. Selfbuilt at first, then shortly after that, I discovered Vinh54.

 

[bykfixer]

Anyway, found this place somewhere after that. When I look back I was Probly good with just that. But as it goes with this place, I went off the deep end a bit. Oh well.

Amen brutha!!
Shoulda, coulda, woulda and all that....

 

[JohnnyBravo]

Surefire 9P. Bought it for around $75 circa 1995. Joined CPF in 2011.

 

[ArazelEternal]

Streamlight Protac 2AA and a Nitecore P12GT. Love the Nitecore. Extremely bright and solidly built. Cant complain for $50.

 

[flatline]

I carried a purple 2AA minimag that my wife bought me in 2001. It had a NiteIze LED and tail switch.

It still sits on my nightstand (well, right now it's on my wife's nightstand...I'm unsure why that is, but she's welcome to it if she wants it there).

--flatline

 

[KuroNekko]

I had a few Maglites (Solitaire, 4C, and 6C or D), a Surefire 6P, and a Streamlight Scorpion I bought all in the mid 90's. I used them a lot for camping in my youth.
I then lost interest in flashlights for over a decade until my brother gifted me a Fenix TK15S2 which was my first high quality LED flashlight. Shortly after, my enthusiasm in flashlights was reinvigorated and I joined this forum. In the last few years, I have really expanded my collection and use of the flashlights in activities like night hiking and night geocaching.

 

[ZMZ67]

Various incans including Mini-mags and a 3D Mag. The CMG Inifinity and 2AA Reactor as well as the INOVA X1 were my LED lights before CPF. I tend to forget about the 2AA Reactor as it never made the "splash" other LED lights did but it was one of the best lights I had at that time and offered a step up in performance over AA incans. I may have had the original INOVA XO but I am really not sure if I was already lurking on CPF when I purchased it or not. I can still remember others describing the Reactor and X1 as bright when I used them! :laughing:

 

[1000cri]

I discovered CPF around 2000-2001.

Inova green LED keychain coin cell light
2D cell with battery meter and Radio Shack halogen bulb
4AA Energizer with Radio Shack halogen and cold cathode fluorescent
4AA standard fluorescent
Petzl Myo 3 Xenon / LED headlamp
Starlite red/white dimable LED astronomy light
200,000 candlepower halogen spot light with 8D cell DIY battery pack

 

[Modernflame]

I had been collecting incandescent Surefires since the early 2000's, but I was not internet savvy during the early days of CPF. I also took a flashaholic hiatus from about 2008 to 2016, entirely unaware of the LED revolution. In 2016, I picked up a Surefire P3X Fury, but ended up selling it on after I discovered CPF.

 

[mbw_151]

I found CPF about the time LED flashlights became mainstream with angry blue 5mm emitters. I missed the whole high performance Incan era. Before CPF there were just MiniMags. Since Energizer L91s didn't exist, a steady stream of these died due to leaking alkaline cells. Fortunately the lights were only about $10.

 

[this_is_nascar]

I forget the model, but the very 1st light that led to my addiction was a keychain led light from Pelican, which ran on a couple small coin cell batteries.

 

[mk2rocco]

I had a Surefire E2dl I bought for work. I used the light as a hammer once backstage when a set peice malfunctioned seconds before it needed to go on. It was pretty early in that lights life so I got used to all the dents in the head [emoji23]

 

[BrightLeaf]

My first light purchase was a Thrunite T01.

 

[ven]

My first lights(not going back to when i was a kid and eveready/Duracell stuff) would be Maglite, then Lensers of various sizes.
Quite a few still going today!

Started on nitecore at the start, then soon after joined CPF or around that time iirc. As searching for reviews etc, certain brands like nitecore,olight,fenix and surefire popped up a lot.

My 1st vinh light back in 13 was an olight m20vn with 219b single mode, this is still used in work .

What did not appeal back then(early days) appealed later on, lumen chasing(still do it now and then) has made way for a nice usable beam, nice colour temp and tint. Although my family has been trimmed of most standard lights, i still have a decent variety of UI and LED options to more than cater for my needs. I probably have more lights in my tool box at work than most have altogether.............(excl CPF'ers haha).

These days the latest and greatest dont always interest me, i like the older classics but with a modern twist(LED/driver etc).

 

[Grijon]

Wonder what flashlight you guys used before you get into CPF, I have a Fenix LD12 and Wuben TO10R, welcome to post yours below!

Before CPF? I had 2xAA Maglite incans, a 2xAAA Maglite LED, and my "flagship" was a 2xD Maglite LED with a mind-blowing 100+ lumens, LOL.

First year of CPF was Fenix AA and AAA lights.

Second year was Malkoffs and Surefires.

Now I'm waiting on my first HDS.

 

[Poppy]

Nice little trip down memory lane eh ven?

Prior to CPF, I don't think I EDC'd a light, unless it was a streamlight nano.
Under my workbench was a 3D incan Maglite. I had a handful of those super-bright 3* AAA 9*5mm LED lights. LOL.

At just about the time that I found CPF, I got a Rayovac 3C LED, and a 3D Maglite LED.
Neither were good enough for wooded area SAR work, and I came to CPF.
Within about a month, I bought a Thrunite TN30, Thrunite TN11 (then a TN11S), a Fenix TK35, a couple of SolarForce lights, and more than a dozen 18650's @ $18 each, and I spent nearly a thousand dollars. LOL... I thought I was going to be a BIG Spender and spend $50 on a flashlight.

I think it was before CPF, I found a Brinkman 3W LED 2D cell light on clearance for about $5 in Target.
I modified that Brinkman in 2016 to run on an 18650, and it is still in use today.

 

[Grijon]

I thought I was going to be a BIG Spender and spend $50 on a flashlight.

Hey Poppy, good to see you!

When I bought the LED 2D Mag, I thought for the extravagant price of $30 it was surely the cream of the crop, best of the best! (And I was indeed amazed when I turned it on, LOL!)

 

[Poppy]

Hey Poppy, good to see you!

When I bought the LED 2D Mag, I thought for the extravagant price of $30 it was surely the cream of the crop, best of the best! (And I was indeed amazed when I turned it on, LOL!)

Thanks Grijon, it's good to see that you are still here too!

It's funny, that many people still consider $30 an extravagant price for a flashlight.

Not long ago, I was speaking with a man who does house inspections for a living. Curiously, I asked him what flashlight does he use? His response was... "ah usually whatever the home owner has, and the batteries are usually half dead."
When I suggested that he could get a good LED light with an 18650 rechargeable cell, and charger that he could top it off while in his car for about $40; his response was some thing along the lines of... " ! FORTY DOLLARS ? !!!

I guess we are still the outliers.