Cydonia
Enlightened
carbine15 said: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.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8502/du000077sz.jpg
I remember at Boy Scout camp I was holding this light after using "Deet Woods Off" (bug repellant) and touched the lens. It melted the plastic in the shape of my fingerprints. I was so distraught for days after. I swear it took one 9V battery.
Duracell Durabeam was that what they were called? hmmm... funny what you forget, but I do remember the gold lettering.
I've got a lot of strong flashlight memories...
I had two of those lights back in 1988! Yeah... that must have been the year... or maybe 87'? I remember the day I wanted the second flashlight, I was about 7 or 8, out shopping with my mother and her friend, and her friend said to me -you have one already- and I felt so embarrassed and dumb. I just wanted another! Even then as a child I wanted multiple of a good toy or item... I did get that second Durabeam though! What happened to them? Something as simple as a bulb burning out probably resulted in one being tossed aside and later thrown by my mother. I had them for a few years I know that. I learned a lot from them, voltages of bulbs, battery polarity and voltages etc., but I remember that squeezing down those two tabs while sliding out the battery holder/reflector gnawed my fingers. It was a sharp plastic interior shell too, the bulb snapped in and out in a memorable way.
Duracell Durabeam! Thank you! I had long forgot the name... I remember changing the bulbs in them, sliding out the funny cartridge design of the light, changing batteries. All I had then were these awful Dynacharge rechargeable batteries! After full charge they ran the light pretty bright, I was always happy with it.
Even earlier by a few years, when I was 5 I can actually remember a red 2AA Eveready with white slide switch on the body. Unscrewed the lens and bulb to replace batteries... that funny smell of the red plastic I can still remember. I used to stand around pretedning to be a street light holding out this light, heh. Or looking down heat registers in the floor, scared of spiders. And I did the same thing with the Duracell Duralight.
Then I remember a 3D with 3inch reflector, also an Eveready, with square red rubber clicky button positioned where a Maglite button would be... all rubber armored. Never has the batteries for it apart from 4 awful Dynacharge D's (nothing more than some puny button cell inside a shell of a D) which hardly lasted a few minutes it seemed. I clearly remember throwing this flashlight into a big black garbage bag because I didn't like it! It would use 3D rechargeable, and the 4th cell left over could not be charged alone, it messed up my MB Robotics construction kit!
I didn't get a Maglite till 1998, a 4D, I had stayed away from them because they were metal! I deeply regretted tossing that rubber 3D away, when I understood the armor purposes and use. In Autumn 2003 I got the next flashlight, an Inova X5, after doing some reading about it online. I think I did come across CPF but didn't stay around. A few months later I got an X1, then the 24/7, another X1, another X5, then finally a T2. All Inova because the local knife shop in the mall had them. In 2004 I got a Maglite 3D. And 2 weeks ago I got a 3D MagLED drop in finally. I think it's great! Bought 2 more 3D MagLED's and plan on getting 2 more 3D Maglites. That's my chronology of flashlight purchases since 1998. No more are planned for several more years. And it's probably going to be a Mag drop in of some kind.
