Ever had members of your household use you lights without asking...

arjay

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Mar 2, 2008
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Philippines
So.. It finally happened, I just snapped a couple of days ago when I grabbed my LD10 to EDC. While at work, I needed a light and whipped out my LD10 and click no light, checked everything and still no light. I swapped out the battery with the spare I had and I got light. Upon reaching home I checked my other lights and found 2 more that were dim so I charged up all my batteries. While having dinner with my family, I brought up the topic on who last used my lights and WOW all of them "borrowed" a light from my side table at some point without telling me and just put it back after not caring if the batteries were drained. So what I did was, I went and ordered 12 E21's to "issue" everyone with their own light and some will be scattered around the house for use. The low is bright enough for most tasks and since they are all loaded with eneloops they should be easy to maintain. From now on everyone is aware not to touch any of my lights unless authorized to do so. They should make great lights for those short power outages we've been getting lately as well as the SHTF scenario. Here is a crappy group pic after I got them all lubed up. Feel free to share your stories. :)

FenixE21.jpg
 

subwoofer

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Hove, UK
12 seems like quite an extended family!

Did you get a bulk discount for the E21s?

I already issued the 1 other household member with 5 different torches. Now, on occasion, she gets confused as to which are hers and I have to retrieve the odd one from her handbag.
 

angelofwar

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South Carolina
LOL! Well, we went out in the back yard one-time, to look at for crickets...I find my 11 year old (at the time) daughter outback after 5 minutes looking for crickets with...my M4 :eek:...loaded with brand new SF primaries...burning through $6 worth of batteries. I love her to death, but I grabbed her one of my LED SF's, and explained to her that it got very hot, and was dangerous for her (not to mention she was burning through a 12-pack of beer in batteries).

My M4 has since been placed on a VERY tall shlef in my closet, along with my other throwers. i keep a small stash of users on the corner of my desk (2C Mag with LED, Energizer Daylite, and various other misc lights that run on RC's.) at the ready. They use them now. I tried getting them their own lights, but none of them have any interest in carrying one...my daughters lost theirs in there room in 3 days, and I got a pin Mini-Mag AA for my wife one year...lost. So, I keep users around, that are, well, too big to lose.

Great thread op!
 

ragweed

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Dec 31, 2009
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USA
Yep..happened to me as well. Household members are always grabbing my lights. I nipped it in the bud by telling them to let me know after you use them. So far so good!
 

jamesmtl514

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Montreal, Canada
When I lived at home, I caught my dad searching for something in the attic with my M6. I quickly handed him whatever I was edc'ing at the time.
 

EnduringEagle

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May 14, 2011
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I think everyone goes through this one. I bought my son a ZebraLight sc51 and told him to never leave the house without it. For the other people in the house I bought a blister pack of Costco 150 lumen trustfires and a package of aaa batteries. Then I pointed my lights and issued the standard fatherly dictum "you touch, you die". No problem since. :)
 

cland72

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Nov 23, 2009
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My GF makes fun of me for having so many flashlights, but one night she slept at my place while I was away, and when I returned I noticed my bedside G2L was standing on it's bezel. I asked her if she used it and she said "oh yeah, I got up to turn on the heat and used it to find & figure out the thermostat".

I was actually glad she used it :)
 

Dingle1911

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Dec 27, 2011
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I was given my first true light as a wedding gift, a SF E2D. I didn't know much about it, but it looked cool. I didn't really have a problem when it was just me and my wife. She probably used it on occasion, fast forward a few years and we had our first child that was mobile and could get into stuff. I came upstairs one day to find my light turn on sitting on top of our bed. When I picked it up to turn it off, it was so hot I could hardly hold it. It is a blessing she didn't start a fire. Now I have had the talk with everyone and I keep my lights locked up just in case. There are several aaa and aa LED's scattered around the house for utility use.
 

varmint

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Aug 9, 2011
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Cash, Texas
There's nothing like the feeling of coming home and finding a triple digit priced light "ON" and laying on the ground where someone was planting something! Especially with that someone not even there! Well lets sweeten the pot some, and leather deerskin driving gloves
in the mud along side of it, or an 8 ga $100 extension cord in the mud from Christmas lights that never got put up, 100' cord. And some wonder why attitudes exist.
 

Roger Sully

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Sep 18, 2009
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New Jersey
I came home yesterday to find my E1E (2 mod led) was missing from it's usual place. I asked around and no one had touched it......Funny thing is I found it in the basement family room almost under the coffee table. I guess it must have got tired sitting on the shelf!
I have also found my S18 sitting on the floor of the garage. My son and his friends were working on his car and I guess they needed a light. I tried to drop him off at the firehouse but they said he was past the "Safe Surrender baby" age...
I have since issued a 47 1xAA to my daughter, an EagleTac P20A2 to my son and my wife got my Nitecore D10.
 

Stephen Wallace

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Mar 10, 2011
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London, UK
All my good lights either have the batteries removed when not in use, or the tailcap is loosened..... several turns! I then have a 3D Mag in a prominent position, with batteries in it, and ready to go at a click of a button. So that is the light that gets grabbed if anyone suddenly needs one.
 

fortean101

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Feb 3, 2010
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Evesham UK
I have had a daughter play with a Surefire M6 and my son has had a go with a quad XML.... I keep all the lights up high. We do have a mag 2D led for general use.
 

kelmo

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Aug 27, 2004
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Sacramento
...burning through $6 worth of batteries....not to mention she was burning through a 12-pack of beer in batteries...

Where can you get a 12-pack for $6?!

I leave out dedicated loaners for my family. Only my wife gets to dig through my personal gear. She actually is quite famaliar with all the lock out features on my lights.
 
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Zencyl

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Dec 26, 2011
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No. I wish my family and or friends would take it more seriously because they take stabs at my lights until they need them, then all of a sudden Im not so weird, until the lights are no longer needed and then im back to being crazy. If they took keeping flashlights around more seriously all of our lives would be alot easier.
 

jimbo@stn23

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Oct 13, 2009
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Alberta Rockies
The kids would occasionally use a light with new cells or one that had way more lumens that what they should grab, but they didn't know better. You'd find a M2 for play laying on the living room floor :eek:. I'd help them select a more suitable light and gift ones that weren't being used much any more, and then tell them to let me know when they were used. I'd monitor them and change cells as required. My 2 girls have a Pelican M6 or Twin task at their disposal.

Now they are most interested in clickie tailcaps and I let them have free riegn on a Surefire L1 (the wifes) or my E2e with a MN02.
 

H-Man

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Aug 17, 2011
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CA
I use scare tatics to keep people from using my lights. Li-ion fires are very good scare tactics. For the lights that use ni-cd packs, I say: you break it, you fix it ($10 for a bulb for my ultrastinger that I paid $20 for is a large amount of money.)
 
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think2x

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Pulaski, Va.
Do like I did and buy everyone in your family a light that meets their needs and they won't bother yours. :whistle:
 

skyfire

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Dec 4, 2009
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Los Angeles
heheh when i read the title and saw the pic, i thought, of course everybody is going to use your lights, you got a table full of E21s.

my family uses my lights all the time. which i discourage because i got all of them lights too. some even have 2 lights.
they never seems to know where they put theirs, or never bring them even when they know they will be needing it.

so ive gotten into a habit of putting my lights away, except for my E2DL, which i leave out so they can use.
so many times when they ask me for a light, i ask, wheres the light i gave you?

lately, my sister bought a new house, and have home improvement projects.
theres no electricity throughout most the house. and they still never bring a light with them. lucky for them i always bring 3. :naughty:
and after a few times of working in the dark, they finally start bringing the lights i gave them.
 

Vesper

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Puget Sound, WA
You made a great choice of lights to go with. The UI, batteries, levels - all good for the purpose. I also find mine in various places with kids around, so did something similar but with several Romison 2xAA lights.
 
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