What was your first loved flashlight?

[fishx65]

I've had lots of lights over the years but the original 6P was the one that really got me into flashlights.

 

[ringzero]

For me it was this 2d Eveready that was waterproof. It was black and had a red button switch on the side. I loved how bright it was. I remember one summer swimming in the lake at night with my buddies and I was starring a big old fish right in the eyes underwater and he took a bite at my nipple!

Hey carbine15, that light brings back very fond memories. IIRC, it was known as the Eveready Skipper.

Must have bought a dozen of those over the years for caving and canoeing. A decent light for its time, it was quite waterproof and fairly durable for an inexpensive light. I still have at least one, packed away with outdoor gear.

Took along a Skipper for night swimming many times, and several times was bitten on the nipples. Always a shock when that happens!

 

[ringzero]

I just thought of an earlier light that influenced my hobby.
Duracell had these really good lights they called Durabeam in 1988. I swear I had one that looked just like this one but I remember it taking a single 9volt battery.

Those Duracell lights, at least the one pictured, take 2AA. Great lights for their time, and still useable even today. Lightweight, durable, inexpensive, and very reliable. Better beam than a MiniMag 2AA. For years they were the standard light for backpackers.

An earlier version was made by Mallory. It had a rotary switch rather than a slide switch, and was held together by an aluminum nut and bolt rather than spring clips.

I still keep one of the later Duracell models loaded up with AAs and ready to go, just for old times sake.

 

[wmirag]

From childhood, I always *wanted* a flashlight I could love. I gave up hope because I never encountered one that fit my vision of perfection. And then I stumbled upon the ArcLS. That one light made me the maniac I am today. Now, I own several lights which I regard as perfect - perfect for their respective duties.

W.

 

[ringzero]

What was the first flashlight that made you love flashlights?

At a young age, maybe five years old, I was given an Eveready 1AA flashlight, with chrome body, slide switch, and red plastic bezel. That's the first light I remember that was mine, and I loved it. After that, I always had a love for flashlights.

As I got older, I was fascinated by pen lights. Remember getting several Eveready 2AA and 2AAA pen lights, and other cheaper brands, which I had on average for a few months before breaking or losing them. Had an Eveready 2AA chrome penlight with rotary switch on the tailcap that was actually pretty decent - think I had it a couple of years before losing it. Remember a 2AAA light that I really liked that had a plastic body, and was activated by squeezing its metal pocket clip.

In Boy Scouts everyone lusted after an official Boy Scout light - the standard military anglehead in OD color with the BSA logo molded into its side. A decent light, it was a little bulky, but dependable and durable enough for outdoor use.

The first light I got for outdoor use that I really loved was the 2C Ray-O-Vac Sportsman. A great light for its time, better than its main competitor, the 2C Eveready Captain. More compact and lighter than a 2D flashlight, it was reliable and durable, with a decent beam. Its only failing was lack of waterproofness. I backpacked many miles over the years carrying the 2C Sportsman as my primary light, with a Mallory-Duracell 2AA as backup.

 

[frosty]

6D Mag. Great light, even though it cost an arm and a leg to feed it Duracells.

 

[Bomo]

For me I think it was the Eveready spotlight with the blinking red light on a pivoting arm. I think it was called Big Jim. Nothing really interested me since though since it seemed they were always running out of battery power and was too expensive to feed with those old carbon zinc batteries.

This is truly a great time to be a flashaholic!

 

[redskins38]

Mine would have to be a blue minimag but i lost it several years ago

 

[indycrucible]

Mine was a Camo 2AA MM. I was in a band and touring a lot, so I used to keep it on a neck lanyard most of the time. Touring makes you basically nocturnal, so I used it extensively everyday. Setting up equipment, going out to the van, working on the craptastic van in the middle of nowhere (in the rain), etc. This was about 1989.

 

[Culhain]

2C Kel-Lite, 1977. No one's ever made a 2C as good, before or since.

The 2C Kel-Lite was my first quality flashlight and saw several years of constant use until retired by a 2AA MiniMag.

 

[Brody]

My first loved light was an old Star Wars plastic light saber right after the original Star Wars first came out. You could also use it as a flashlight by taking off the extendable plastic cones.

 

[Illum]

Died one day...

 

[Gone Jeepin]

I remember it was a red plastic square light that could use it's handle as a stand that my Dad had. I was very young, 1st grade probably, and boy I thought that was the neatest light in the world. I was in high school and got a 2 aa M@g and was pleased with that too. The rest was a downhill run or me.

 

[Veto]

Wow, I just remembered three lights that I had forgotten:

1) The square Duracell light above or very similar.
2) The original disposable light, rectangular, front was white, body came in different colors. Very handy and you just threw them away. Anyone remember those?
3) That keychain light that was a flattened cylinder and had two little batteries and a lensed bulb that you squeezed.

 

[faucon]

I used to love reading under the covers with a cheap Eveready 2D light when I was supposed to be asleep. I didn't have a decent light until my 2D and AA maglites. But then---I bought a Surefire L2. Wow...still one of my favourite lights.

 

[carbine15]

I used to love reading under the covers with a cheap Eveready 2D light when I was supposed to be asleep. I didn't have a decent light until my 2D and AA maglites. But then---I bought a Surefire L2. Wow...still one of my favourite lights.

Right on! I still lose sleep becasue of my flashlights. :laughing:

 

[carrot]

Rather than rewrite what has already been written, I will paste a little recounting that I have told before, a whole year ago.

Ever since I was a youngster, I loved flashlights. At the age of two or three, my parents got me a large yellow Fisher Price flashlight, with a rotating knob to change the lens color. I remember it quite well, a bulky yellow flashlight with a blue bezel, with red and green color filters. It was, needless to say, one of my favorite toys.

Fast forward fifteen years. I'm a serious technophile, always seeking out new gadgets, many I can't really afford but take note of anyway. One day at RadioShack, looking for some LEDs to play with, I see the Maglite Mini AA. Thinking its rugged metal construction would be great as a self-defense weapon, (I'm pretty scrawny, but I'm also a green belt in Judo.) I plunk down the cash for a black one right away. It goes on my belt in its nylon holster, and becomes my first EDC light. Carrying it around all the time, I quickly fall in love with the incredible utility of always having a light handy. Repairing computers at my school, I find the benefits of carrying around a flashlight completely outweighs the disadvantages -- namely looking like a flashlight-wielding geek. Not knowing any better, I assume that the Maglite is simply the best light around, since it *is* aluminum-bodied and probably the most popular one. I end up buying another, and that one becomes a backup EDC light for my primary Maglite. I think to myself, I'll never need any more light with these two. But I was wrong.

A few months later, I'm reading Popular Science, and I come upon an ad for Surefire. That particular ad features an Aviator A2, and the instant I saw it, I knew I wanted it. I wanted it really bad. Checking out the Surefire website, I was astounded at the prices. How could anyone charge so much for something as simple as a flashlight? I knew I couldn't possibly afford one. But at that moment, my Maglite bliss was shattered. There was a better light, in orders of magnitude that completely blew away the little ant-sized bulbs of the Maglite I held in my hand.

The rational part of my brain kicks in. I don't need a powerful flashlight. The Maglite is fine for me. This is what I tell myself. But the next time I need my Maglite, I'm sorely disappointed in both the beam quality and the brightness. One day, my kitten, only six months old, flies out of the house late at night as my dad is putting out some bottles for recycling. We live in a rural area, but the streetlamps do nothing to shed light where we needed it most, under the yew bushes that have been in front of the house for as long as I can remember. The three of us, my mom and dad and I are out of the house and looking under the bushes for him. I'm searching barefoot, and my two Maglites do nothing to illuminate the area. Nothing at all. I have to check to see if they're actually on. When I look up, I see my cat in the street, frozen in the headlights of an oncoming car. I run into the street to stop the car and scoop up my beloved kitten.

With newfound resolve, I look at the Surefires longingly. The only one I could really justify purchasing to my mom is the G2 Nitrolon, and having just recently come from the Maglite camp, I feel that plastic-bodied flashlights are inferior to their metal counterparts. But I'm determined never to be caught without a good light again. It's the one and only thing I ask for when my birthday comes.

When I turn on my G2 for the first time, I am astounded with the quality and the brightness of the beam. It instantly becomes my favorite gadget. I attribute my flashaholism to my Surefire. If I had never gotten my G2, I would never have discovered the tremendous varieties of high powered flashlights. No longer did I associate the word 'flashlight' to the signature ringed beam of a Maglite, but rather the powerful beam of light cast by my G2.

Now, I almost scorn the Maglites I used to prize so much. I still EDC one Maglite with a red beamfilter, but now it's been relegated to backup my G2 and closeup work. I love my Surefire, and never go anywhere without it. But now I hunger for a smaller, more pocketable light to replace my failing Maglite.

 

[ABTOMAT]

I'm not sure, I got a few around the same time when I was a kid. One was a Cub Scout light made out of red plastic, another was a '60s Marbo-Lite steel flashlight, and the last was an Army anglehead light. All 2D cell.

The Army light died after a couple years and a got a new one, which I still have to this day. I think I gave away the Scout light a few years ago. And I sold/traded (can't remember) the Marbo-Lite to another CPF collector.

I didn't love them that much.

 

[22hornet]

1991: maglite solitaire, and quickly afterwards, minimag 2AAA and the mighty Maglite 6C. The 6C was (is) truly awesome and had (has) magnificent throw, unbeaten by my recent flashlights.

I use rechargeable cells in it and compensate the lower voltage by using 5 cell bulbs. Works just fine.
Same for the minimag 2AAA with NiMh cells: I use a minimag 2AA bulb which improves brightness significantly and cuts runtime in half.

When I was a kid, I also had the light in post #18 ! (they were sold at "tandy" stores)

Joris

 

[Brighteyez]

A 2 D plastic thing with a slide switch. Because it was new and my very own, not something passed down from my dad. It came from the neighborhood 5&10 (I think it was a Woolworth store) and I think it cost something like 15 or 25¢. It would be like one of those $1-2 2Ds that you find in various stores these days.

That was over 50 years ago; the store, the light, and dad, are all gone now.