What was your first loved flashlight?

[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.

[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.

[Cydonia]

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.

[woodrow]

A Surefire 6p I believe in 1990 or 91. It was the first light I ever bought that not only had a good spot, but good sidespill as well. I do not want to think about how many $11.00 2X123 packs I put into it.

I also loved it because nobody else that I knew had one or could believe how bright it was or how much it cost to feed it.

[ScooterBug]

it would have too be the 5 cell (D) Kel lite from around 1969 that was issued too me by the Sheriff's Office. i was in heaven when i got my 1st aa mini-mag.

[UWAK]

An Inova X5T brought me into this madness. It's all about first love, of course. Cheers!

Frids

[infection0]

8LED Xnova.

[serious sam]

Mag solitaire.... the only most exclusive flashlight my parent able to afford for me... at that time... 10+ yrs ago... i think ...when i am very young. Still using it sometimes to compare with P1D

[Cribbage]

Yeh, Duracell Durabeam. I had at least two of those as a kid. I think I had one through high school.

I always lusted after one of those torches that used the big 6volt battery, you know, the head was attached to a handle.

Had alot of Minimags. If you were ever in the Coast Guard, the Minimag with a red lens was required equipment for watch-standers. I think we even bought our first ones in boot camp.

But, my first love was a Surefire L1. Still have it today. 3 in fact. All old-style.

[Vickers]

A camo MiniMag 2AA that I bought at the uniform store at Sembach Air Base in 1987 or so.

I still have it and use it (with an LED upgrade). I've carried it so much that the checkering on the body is nice and smooth.

[jayflash]

It was the search to replace my lost in the mid-1990's, first favorite, light that eventually led me to the CPF. The 2C I got in 1985 was shaped light the 2D light in Carbine's photo. Mine was a Stream Light with a thick aluminum, waterproof body, and bright (for its day) halogen lamp. It was much brighter and smaller than the not waterproof 2C M^gs of the 1980's.

Eventually I discovered the SL Scorpion which was mail ordered from MEI and came with two extra Sure Fire cells for which they charged me $13. I visited the SF web site (never heard of Sure Fire) and followed a link to the CPF.

[KeyGrip]

Arc AAA-P, also considered my first "real" flashlight. As a youngster, (ten, eleven?) I had a short love affair with the original Photon, and I used a Mini-Mag and a Petzl Tikka during my adventures as a Scout, but it wasn't until that little Arc that I actually cared for a flashlight. It came at the time where I was just starting to learn about flashlights. It's in my pocket right now, and I don't think it's going anywhere.

[carbine15]

It was the search to replace my lost in the mid-1990's, first favorite, light that eventually led me to the CPF. The 2C I got in 1985 was shaped light the 2D light in Carbine's photo. Mine was a Stream Light with a thick aluminum, waterproof body, and bright (for its day) halogen lamp. It was much brighter and smaller than the not waterproof 2C M^gs of the 1980's.

Eventually I discovered the SL Scorpion which was mail ordered from MEI and came with two extra Sure Fire cells for which they charged me $13. I visited the SF web site (never heard of Sure Fire) and followed a link to the CPF.

SL scorpion was my first "real" flashlight too. I used it daily on my security job. The issued 2D mags they had were sad and pathetic. No-one used them. The only problem I had with the scorpion was the fact that it wasn't waterproof. I spent some time with it and learned that it was intened to be waterproof when designed. There's a shelf in the aluminum body for an o-ring that was never included (becasue of the boot). I put an o-ring in there, and greased up the boot at the head, and screwed it together. It sat for one hour submerged and gathered no water. I love my scorpion. This thread's about first love's though. The one you used as a kid and spent hours staring at.

[jch79]

I honestly didn't know what being attached to a flashlight meant until I got my first McLux III-PD.

[BentHeadTX]

Those slide switch Eveready 2D's with the red bezels are the lights I used as a kid. My dad had a Ni-Cad rechargable block shaped thing that had serious punch back in the 70's. I was not allowed to use it.

The 80's rolled in and I used the minimag 2AA although it was never impressive to me. Tried a Pelican in the 90's but went back to the minimag once the bulbs blew.

2001 I noticed the Pelican L1 with white LED! Went with a Streamlight Batonlite in early 02 and thought it was impressive...until I had to replace the crappy N cell batteries. Then it started to fail so I shelved it when the Luxeon sandwiches came out for the minimag. Nov 2002 was the point were I started to actually love and appreciate flashlights since they did not have to go dim, they gave a white light and the bulbs did not blow. Still have the minimag but it uses a later version of a BB400 Q3L sandwich. My only "shelf queen"

[drizzle]

Same. I remember at school camp in the 70s they were the light to have. Tough, waterproof (and floated), bright, but pretty big and heavy too. Cool light.

'70s Dolphin

Still have one of these. I recall the original version was more rounded than this one.

Same for me but I don't remember it being called by that name here. Even back then I wanted really bright with lots of throw. I just needed a big heavy light to get it. I still own one and still find it useful for some things.

[defblade]

I had a Tekna Lite 4 (only mine was all black):



which used 4 AAs in a square and was small enough to slip in a pocket. Once I'd put the uprated bulb in, it out-shone anything else around, and ate a set of 4 new Duracells in under 20 minutes (which got expensive for a teenage Scout). It was also unbreakable (we tried )

It even floated, beam up, if you dropped it in a river.

Which didn't help when I left it on the roof of the car half way through a rally I was on, never to be seen again

I'd have one again in a second. In fact, it was the first thing I went looking for in '94ish when I got on the internet. Hunted down theat Rayovac had the rights to the brand, and was (still am!) amazed at sending a message to the USA and getting an answer the very next morning..... even if the answer was "no".

Then I heard about Surefire in '05, leading to a Z3 and then here......

[Strauss]

For me, it was my inova T4 that got me hooked. Once I "saw the light", I got hooked on finding something better......and you all know how that ends up

[jayhackett03]

Blue Mag 2D to put in my 4x4 Toyota. Bought the Mag in '04 at 3am from Wal-Mart. Drove there to buy that, and only that. I bought it to use while i'm offroading at night. It now sleeps in my truck every night, wedged between the driver and passenger seat. Right now it has a MagLED upgrade in it, and the plastic lens is horribly scratched.

I just spent alot of money making it into an eneloop/ROP/MOP. Parts are in the mail, can't wait.

[DynoMoHum]

I'm 40 something... can't say as I ever loved a flashlight, except maybe recently...

I've owned a few flashlights in my days, but never really thought too much about them. A couple weeks ago, my wife had given my 3 year old daughter one of our basic plastic 2D incandescent flash lights... she came in my bedroom on a Saturday morning going 'daddy, daddy, flashlight... flashlight...' So I set out to buy her a flashlight that would take a couple AA cells so I could use easily rechargeable cells... I went and bought a couple inexpensive 2AA incandescent flashlights, one for her, one for me...

I soon realized that this cheap flashlight was not for me... I had been viewing these forums recently trying to find a good AA battery charger, and decided to look into some LED flash lights that might be better for me then what I currently had with the incandescent... What I found was the highly regarded Streamlight Propolymer 4AA Luxeon... So far this is the closest I've ever come to loving a flashlight...

But then I've now got a roaming eye for other flashlights... I see Sam's club is selling two 3AAA LED flashlights for $18... not to mention the 35 watt HID Spotlight... Then while at Costco yesterday, I see two Dorcy 1watt Luxeon Hawkeye flashlights for something like $18... So it seems now whenever I go into a store I'm eying the flashlights...

[jayhackett03]

I'm 40 something... can't say as I ever loved a flashlight, except maybe recently...

I've owned a few flashlights in my days, but never really thought too much about them. A couple weeks ago, my wife had given my 3 year old daughter one of our basic plastic 2D incandescent flash lights... she came in my bedroom on a Saturday morning going 'daddy, daddy, flashlight... flashlight...' So I set out to buy her a flashlight that would take a couple AA cells so I could use easily rechargeable cells... I went and bought a couple inexpensive 2AA incandescent flashlights, one for her, one for me...

I soon realized that this cheap flashlight was not for me... I had been viewing these forums recently trying to find a good AA battery charger, and decided to look into some LED flash lights that might be better for me then what I currently had with the incandescent... What I found was the highly regarded Streamlight Propolymer 4AA Luxeon... So far this is the closest I've ever come to loving a flashlight...

But then I've now got a roaming eye for other flashlights... I see Sam's club is selling two 3AAA LED flashlights for $18... not to mention the 35 watt HID Spotlight... Then while at Costco yesterday, I see two Dorcy 1watt Luxeon Hawkeye flashlights for something like $18... So it seems now whenever I go into a store I'm eying the flashlights...

you may be impressed with storebought lights, but the lights you buy online, like fenixstore, lighthound, brightguy, etc, are way better than anything you can get in a store.

[mdhammack]

mine was a 2 AA mini maglite my grandpa gave me when I was about 8 yrs old.....still have it, still works, but stays in the safe most of the time