Flashlight Technology 1984-1988

Between 1984 and 1988 the [incandescent] flashlight industry was modernized.




Prior to that several things must have happened first:




The Kel Lite of the 1960s had provided flashlight users with aircraft aluminum and many flashlight producers jumped on that bandwagon.




In the 1970s Halogen and Noble fill gasses were starting to be used in flashlight bulbs.




At some point the bi-pin bulb was created.




In the 1980s Laser Products (now Sure Fire) introduced using Lithium camera batteries to power flashlights




These innovations lasted well into the next two decades until LED's became more efficient in terms of brightness, run time and compactness.




What made these lights so great (and will be discussed here) is the development of the high intensity bi-pin bulb, Halogen and Noble fill gasses and for at least one of the models high density Lithium camera batteries. When the flashlights of 1984-1988 used one or more of these technologies, all flashlight users were astounded and still are.

These lights still have niche use and can still be fit for medical and military applications where excellent color rendering and night vision compatibility are needed.




Let me also stress that each of these flashlights (if in their original stock condition) will all survive an EMP blast, whereas many if not all LED flashlights will be ruined. I seriously believe that flashlight companies should put pressure on their LED circuit designers to come up with an EMP proof LED system. Seriously, how hard could it be? Until then, everyone should cling to their incandescent flashlights, just in case our enemies decide to fry our electronics.




The following flashlights and their features will be discussed in this piece.

They are as listed:

Eveready Halogen Line 2251, 2352, 2252, 209 and possibly others.Rayovac Roughneck Line R2C, R2D, R3D, R2AA, etc.

These first two lines came out in 1988 and seemed as if one was the answer to the other. These light incorporated the use of rugged but affordable plastics and high quality, long lasting Halogen/Xenon bulbs. Well the Rayovac Roughneck line initially used Krypton bulbs when they first came out but later used Xenon/Halogen bulbs as well. They could take a beating and had a quality switch system. The Eveready 2251 was rebranded for Radio Shack. The Eveready 209 was one of the American versions of the Australian Dolphin. The Australian Dolphin didn't get a Xenon/Halogen bulb until 2007 when the Mark 6 hit the market.




Mini Maglite, Brinkmann Copies and Streamlight Junior

These lights ran on 2 AA or 2 AAA batteries but had the brightness equivalent of a 2 D cell flashlight. From my research I read that they even claimed this. A 9-14 Lumen output claim appears to be a true statement. All except for the Streamlight Junior used bi-pin bulbs (someone correct me if I am wrong.) Some of the Brinkmann copies had a lockout push button tail switch to prevent accidental activation. At least the Mini Maglite seemed to be a revolutionary light in the world of EDC gear and of course personal lighting back in 1984. It still is today for many, myself included. I've said it before and I'll say it again "The Mini Maglite can be used in both the medical and custodial arts and anything in between! It can meet the needs of a surgeon but still be affordable on a janitor's wages." Brinkmann tried copying the Mini Maglite and was hit with a lawsuit, but later produced their own versions of pocket sized flashlights. I'm not exactly sure if Streamlight was sued because of their Junior model or something else, but I never tried that model to begin with.

Maglite Solitaire use of a bi-pin bulb running on a single AAA battery, very high quality material and minimal size.

The brightness on this model is mediocre, but for what it was intended (finding that key hole in total darkness) it is still a winner. Mag Instrument had designed a light that was bright enough, yet weighed less than an ounce with the battery installed. This light too was achieved because of bi-pin bulb technology.




SureFire 6 and others.

These lights took advantage of compact but high capacity camera batteries to power their elite quality lamp modules. To top it off Laser Products (then owner of Sure Fire) used high quality aluminum for the bodies of their flashlights (a technique borrowed from Kel Lite and Maglite.) The company initially produced lasers for aiming systems on weapons, but then decided to develop a tactical flashlight that was (in my words) "shorter than a Mini Maglite, but bright as a 4 D Cell Maglite." it was an instant hit (especially in the tactical world.) I've had conflicting reports on when the first Sure Fire flashlight was made. Some say 1985, others 1987 and then even other sources say 1988. Either which way, it was the elite flashlight for the elite of users. Sure Fire still is in my honest opinion the elite of flashlights for the elite of users. Unfortunately it has a price barrier that only the elite can justify breaking.

All of these flashlights mentioned were great, though advances in LED technology have put them on the wayside. However, one can still get some of them brand new and one can still get some of them as NOS or even used and still in fine working condition. For the Sure Fire, Mini Maglite and Maglite Solitaire there are still modern version of these with slightly different configurations, but still incandescent. I hope this has been a pleasant trip down memory lane.




I am open for corrections.




Do I leave out any models?




Let me know...

^^ thank you for that.



Best I've been able to find in my research Streamlight was big enough back then to scare Mag from frivolous lawsuits and had enough of their own patents to win if need be. So if Mag went after them for their "Jr" model, it likely would've ended like when Coke sued Pepsi for using the word Cola....a judge ruled "it's a bean...anybody can use that word"...and so the case was dismissed.

Streamlight built a 5 million candle power 'flashlight' so to speak for NASA in or about '73/74. Soon after the public was able to acquire 1 million candle power Streamlights.
They were on solid ground long before Tony Mag-whats-his-face began his Bill Gates-esque attempt at monopolizing the flashlight industry....I say Bill Gates only because he too tried (albiet by different tactics) to dominate his industry.

The Mag sued everybody thing still has a few folks miff'd so I won't go into that in general, but will say they took out a few up and come-ers so things may have been drastically different in a good way regarding your list of 'elites'....

Regarding EMP's taking out all but incans....we're good to go at the Bykfixer house if that occurs. And getting better with each arrival by Mr. Postman.

Member 'PK' was part of the 6P and many other still relevant items, but I do not know when he stepped in. I only know he started PK Design Labs not long ago and any comments here revolve around that and not 'life at SureFire'...
I only know it has been said he is largely the reason for a whole bunch of products we use today...whether it be his ideas or similar.

bykfixer said:

^^ thank you for that.



Best I've been able to find in my research Streamlight was big enough back then to scare Mag from frivolous lawsuits and had enough of their own patents to win if need be. So if Mag went after them for their "Jr" model, it likely would've ended like when Coke sued Pepsi for using the word Cola....a judge ruled "it's a bean...anybody can use that word"...and so the case was dismissed.

Streamlight built a 5 million candle power 'flashlight' so to speak for NASA in or about '73/74. Soon after the public was able to acquire 1 million candle power Streamlights.
They were on solid ground long before Tony Mag-whats-his-face began his Bill Gates-esque attempt at monopolizing the flashlight industry....I say Bill Gates only because he too tried (albiet by different tactics) to dominate his industry.

The Mag sued everybody thing still has a few folks miff'd so I won't go into that in general, but will say they took out a few up and come-ers so things may have been drastically different in a good way regarding your list of 'elites'....

Regarding EMP's taking out all but incans....we're good to go at the Bykfixer house if that occurs. And getting better with each arrival by Mr. Postman.

Member 'PK' was part of the 6P and many other still relevant items, but I do not know when he stepped in. I only know he started PK Design Labs not long ago and any comments here revolve around that and not 'life at SureFire'...
I only know it has been said he is largely the reason for a whole bunch of products we use today...whether it be his ideas or similar.

Click to expand...

Thank you for that extra information!

I really enjoyed it especially about Streamlight and NASA.

Thank you for helping me clarify the other stuff about Mag's lawsuits.

ericjohn said:

Thank you for that extra information!

I really enjoyed it especially about Streamlight and NASA.

Thank you for helping me clarify the other stuff about Mag's lawsuits.

Click to expand...

Yeah, sounded like Mag was on a manhunt to crush the competitors. Typical Microsoft type BS. Incase Mag forgot, this country, you know the USA, is a democracy. The flag itself stands for freedom, so what does that tell you? Everybody has the right to create their own flashlight, and you cry wolf everytime when someone creates a light that looks simular to yours, don't expect people will actually believe you when someone really does in the future. :shakehead

I had three [entry level] LED flashlights before I got a Mini Maglite.

The first one (which I still have) is a 2003 Energizer Rechargeable Premium line light.

The other two (which I gave to a friend) are:

an Aircraft Aluminum Garrity which used a single Nichia LED and took 3 AAA batteries (my first EDC flashlight I got in May of 2005.) It served me well in post Katrina Louisiana.

AND

an Aircraft Aluminum Dorcy 1 Watt (or maybe 3 Watt) 3 AAA LED flashlight (it resembled a Sure Fire in many ways.) I bought it shortly after Hurricane Rita and EDCed it until December 2005.

Both were purchased at Wal Mart since I didn't know one could use a debit card for online purchases.

I just have one question what does "OT" stand for in your post? Forgive my ignorance.

I'm guessing that the indicator type LED was all they had in those days, but I'm not sure.

C. Crane made the first LED flashlight in 1998, and I believe it too was with those indicator LEDs. I first saw it in 2002, but my interest in flashlights didn't come back to me until 2005.

Anyway on a somewhat unrelated topic:

I submit my essay about how flashlights that were developed around 1988 were what modernized the industry and the WSR-88D RADAR tower that serves my area (KLIX) was damaged by a lightning strike.

For those who don't know WSR-88D stands for Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler.

Does anyone else find that frighteningly ironic?

There has been plenty of severe weather passing through my state today and I actually took advantage of that weather (when it wasn't lightning) to write my essay.

Speaking of lightning, I just saw it so I'm unplugging once again.

God bless!

ericjohn said:

I had three [entry level] LED flashlights before I got a Mini Maglite.

The first one (which I still have) is a 2003 Energizer Rechargeable Premium line light.

The other two (which I gave to a friend) are:

an Aircraft Aluminum Garrity which used a single Nichia LED and took 3 AAA batteries (my first EDC flashlight I got in May of 2005.) It served me well in post Katrina Louisiana.

AND

an Aircraft Aluminum Dorcy 1 Watt (or maybe 3 Watt) 3 AAA LED flashlight (it resembled a Sure Fire in many ways.) I bought it shortly after Hurricane Rita and EDCed it until December 2005.

Both were purchased at Wal Mart since I didn't know one could use a debit card for online purchases.

I just have one question what does "OT" stand for in your post? Forgive my ignorance.

I'm guessing that the indicator type LED was all they had in those days, but I'm not sure.

C. Crane made the first LED flashlight in 1998, and I believe it too was with those indicator LEDs. I first saw it in 2002, but my interest in flashlights didn't come back to me until 2005.

Click to expand...

Hey John nice to meet you!

When I say OT years, I am refering to year 2000 to 2009. I never really noticed CREE based LED lights till probably 2013 to 2014, and I think thats because thats when they were starting to get cheap enough for most people to afford, and thats when things show up on Amazon, my favorite shopping store! Thankyou for sharing your flashlight history with me as well.

I kind of would like to know when different people jumped to quality LED for their all around flashlights. Truth is, these bulbs are so bright now that I question weather incandescent still has a place in this world? Thats another good question to ask the forum. Cause I know when CD's came out, people were still holding onto their vinyl records.

Gosh I got thread ideas flying out of my butt, I can't tell if thats a good thing or not

Great read,thanks for sharing

ericjohn said:

Thank you for that extra information!

I really enjoyed it especially about Streamlight and NASA.

Thank you for helping me clarify the other stuff about Mag's lawsuits.

Click to expand...

I kinda tuned out the Mag vs the rest of the world back then. Frankly I don't regret it...otherwise I might still harbor ill feelings and not have had so much fun carrying a 4C the other night for the first time since.... probably around the time America was re-electing Reagan and I was borrowing one of my parents to find something after dark in our (then) un-electrified garage.

I'll say this about the Mag vs everybody then leave it be. There was a massive push for less costly items and stuff was coming from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan that was good enough to catch on with the American public due largely from the 25% of Amercan goods price tag. Part of what Mag did back then was thwart being put out of business by that.
I have an A&N label Asian made light that was brighter than a minimag, had a clicky and a better beam. A minimag was $19. The A&N was $4.
The rest of the MagLite deal I won't try to defend, nor state an opinion on....this thread aint about that.

Now regarding the multi LED emitter light...
Basically once upon a time the LED wasn't very bright. (Gasp)...you youngsters may not know this, but early consumer LED lights had to include several side by side emitters to be as bright as a Mag Solitaire with a fresh battery. Those with only 3 were absolutely ridiculous....so bad it's a wonder it caught on with the masses.
I speculate via gut feeling lots of advances took place due to once again..NASA space program and their gimongous R&D budgets.


At some Point Streamlight did their C4 technology. It made a huge impact on the world of 'cop lights'

I have an early LED Lenser V2 (3 beam) that has 3 side by side emitters that I used as a night light for years. It was nice and dull, unlike that super bright mini mag incan back then. I have another old LL still new in package called 'turbo torch' that put out an amazing 12 lumens!!! It's an early Coast product whos claim to fame was ' the new power chip and reflector put out 2-1/2 times more light than the previous V2's. (Neither list a web address btw, but phone number instead)

Folks started bragging about the amazing super bright "5 LED light"....then 7....9!!!...each put out about 3 blue lumens...we called 'em "blumens" back then...but it sure was better than the purple beam of the even earlier consumer LED light.

Around 02 (+/- a couple of years based on dates of threads here at CPF) Pelican came out with their LED version of the 100 lumen incan M6. It was a whopping 41 lumens, which at that time was pretty good.

They still make those multi LED lights because people still buy them.

To me the irony is that as bright as those little LED's are these days...folks are doing side by side emitters..."triples" and "quads" they're called. Folks marvel over them...like folks did some 15 years ago about what are now considered junk by many. But back then the CPF folks were doing incans that to this day still rival or outdo the modern LED

Just the other day I read a post from another member showing his 3000 lumen incan Mag 4D....100 watt bulb.

You may have seen it Eric.

Much of the stuff I mention was found in old threads here at the site.
When I first arrived I revived old threads to see how folks still feel, or introduce a new crowd to the thinking back then. I used to spend 2-3 hours a day reading old threads my first few weeks before joining.

As someone born in the mid 60s that grew up using predominately 2-D cell lights until around 1984 +/- , I can't really put into words how awesome it was watching all of this new technology emerge in the 80s. I think we are seeing a resurgence now with the latest technology jump with LEDs and batteries.

I agree with one of the above posts though that Streamlight needs to be included as they really set about the market for the rechargeable flashlight. The SL-20 with its halogen bulb and rechargeable battery was light years ahead of anything out at the time. It was plug-and-play, as well as pretty much indestructible as long as you didn't drop the darn thing when the light was turned on. Ask me how I know about that one. [emoji52]

Maglite and its Mag-charger tried to compete with Streamlight but it was really like the Russians trying to compete with us on the Moonlanding.

Kel-Lite dried up as Mag Lite basically perfected the aircraft aluminum tube flashlight that uses normal batteries. The Mini-mag lite was another game changer that that company perfected. It might be Worth researching as to why Kel-Lite disappeared so quickly in the mid-80s. I wonder if mag lights lawsuits had anything to do with it???? If not that, my guess was the switch. If I remember, the Kel-Lite I had used a switch that was pretty archaic. The push button Mag was pretty slick. A much better interface than the "kill-light" imho.

bykfixer said:

I kinda tuned out the Mag vs the rest of the world back then. Frankly I don't regret it...otherwise I might still harbor ill feelings and not have had so much fun carrying a 4C the other night for the first time since.... probably around the time America was re-electing Reagan and I was borrowing one of my parents to find something after dark in our (then) un-electrified garage.

Now regarding the multi LED emitter light...
Basically once upon a time the LED wasn't very bright. (Gasp)...you youngsters may not know this, but early consumer LED lights had to include several side by side emitters to be as bright as a Mag Solitaire with a fresh battery. Those with only 3 were absolutely ridiculous....so bad it's a wonder it caught on with the masses.
I speculate via gut feeling lots of advances took place due to once again..NASA space program and their gimongous R&D budgets.

I have an early LED Lenser V2 that has 3 side by side emitters that I used as a night light for years. It was nice and dull, unlike that super bright mini mag incan back then.
Folks started bragging about the amazing super bright "5 LED light"....then 7....9!!!...each put out about 3 blue lumens...we called 'em "blumens" back then...but it sure was better than the purple beam of the even earlier consumer LED light.

Frankly, they still make them because people still buy them.

Click to expand...

Thankyou so much for explaining it to me John cause I was honestly confused as to what was going on. Its nice to know that my assumptions were not too far off. They needed to create a light that consumer could afford, but a single LED of that type puts out like 3 lumens like you said, so thats why they needed so many. The light I showed in my post was my last purchase of that type of light. It lasted like a year of being bright, now all it does is being dim, you can put fresh batteries in it, still dim.

And after I took a closeup picture of it today, since my camera see's better then I do, I looked at the full size picture and it appears there are cracks in some of the LED's, this could be a reason why the light is dim now. Thank goodness I discovered CREE. I love the LED technology so much that I bought a set of auxilery headlights for my rig, they are 27 watts each and have a rated output of 2000 lumens, after seeing what my EC4 is capable of doing, I can tell you that rating is not overinflated.

Pilotodude said:

As someone born in the mid 60s that grew up using predominately 2-D cell lights until around 1984 +/- , I can't really put into words how awesome it was watching all of this new technology emerge in the 80s. I think we are seeing a resurgence now with the latest technology jump with LEDs and batteries.

Click to expand...

I was born it the '70s. Flashlights were basically things I hated. The lamp was a tiny screw fitting light, similar to the one I had on my bike (we're talking about the Netherlands here). 2 D batteries indeed. So incredibly useless. There were 2 possibilities: when you needed the flashlight, the batteries were empty and or the light was insufficient anyway for what you needed. The maglites felt like a revolution, albeit one with a price tag.

Being able to buy a dirt cheap, tiny, lightweight led flashlight that'll run near forever on an AAA battery, is still like a miracle to me.

^^ miracle to me too.

More good info Pilotodude....
Mag had that 'rotary' clicky thing going.

Back then (Jimmy Carter era) I was likely the kind of person you were protecting the rest of the folks from...not some petty criminal mind you.

But certainly not 'role model' type like you were....so a lot of my time was spent hiding from folks like you...(we were more scared that if you caught us that meant you were going to notify our parents, which was way scarier.lol)

A flashlight was not on my edc list...back then it woulda been "lighter: check, check, cigarettes: check, rolling papers: check, beer money: check."...

bykfixer said:

^^ miracle to me too.

More good info Pilotdude....

Back then I was likely the kind of person you were protecting the rest of the folks from...not some petty criminal mind you, but certainly not 'role model' type like you were.

Click to expand...

I was a little sh** when I was a kid. And when I was a kid, we didn't have no LED flashlights, we had incandescent. And we didn't even have good incandescents either! We had those stupid store bought ever ready's where the beam was dim and the batteries rattled inside.

Oh wait, it gets worse. So say you want a flood light? Well ever wondered what those 6 volt brick batteries were for? Yep you guessed it, they were for those square yellow flood lights. For a battery of that size, you'd think you would get more light output from them, but more often then not you would loose battery contact and you would have to shake the light to get it back again.

The 90's era Maglight was truly my first quality incandescent light. How did I find out about them? Well police used them of course, I found out why too, skull crushing steel heavy construction. Cause it sure as hell wasn't for the brightness, cause you couldn't get brightness even close to resembling modern day CREE unless you bought a massive 6 Cell Maglite, but by then the beast is so big you can't even holster it anymore. lol

And then Jurassic Park was introduced to the world, and being the silly kid I was, of course my mouth was watering over them what looked like 12 volt flood lights they were using in the film. Now those were bright lights for their time I have to admit, they must have pumped out at least 300 lumens. But the problem with them is that they were huge!

The first tactical incadescent based light I ever saw was probably year 2000, and I think the light cost and arm and a leg too so I never could afford it. I truly believe flashlights went through a revolution in the past 15 years.

bykfixer said:

I kinda tuned out the Mag vs the rest of the world back then. Frankly I don't regret it...otherwise I might still harbor ill feelings and not have had so much fun carrying a 4C the other night for the first time since.... probably around the time America was re-electing Reagan and I was borrowing one of my parents to find something after dark in our (then) un-electrified garage.

I'll say this about the Mag vs everybody then leave it be. There was a massive push for less costly items and stuff was coming from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan that was good enough to catch on with the American public due largely from the 25% of Amercan goods price tag. Part of what Mag did back then was thwart being put out of business by that.
I have an A&N label Asian made light that was brighter than a minimag, had a clicky and a better beam. A minimag was $19. The A&N was $4.
The rest of the MagLite deal I won't try to defend, nor state an opinion on....this thread aint about that.

Now regarding the multi LED emitter light...
Basically once upon a time the LED wasn't very bright. (Gasp)...you youngsters may not know this, but early consumer LED lights had to include several side by side emitters to be as bright as a Mag Solitaire with a fresh battery. Those with only 3 were absolutely ridiculous....so bad it's a wonder it caught on with the masses.
I speculate via gut feeling lots of advances took place due to once again..NASA space program and their gimongous R&D budgets.


At some Point Streamlight did their C4 technology. It made a huge impact on the world of 'cop lights'

I have an early LED Lenser V2 (3 beam) that has 3 side by side emitters that I used as a night light for years. It was nice and dull, unlike that super bright mini mag incan back then. I have another old LL still new in package called 'turbo torch' that put out an amazing 12 lumens!!! It's an early Coast product whos claim to fame was ' the new power chip and reflector put out 2-1/2 times more light than the previous V2's. (Neither list a web address btw, but phone number instead)

Folks started bragging about the amazing super bright "5 LED light"....then 7....9!!!...each put out about 3 blue lumens...we called 'em "blumens" back then...but it sure was better than the purple beam of the even earlier consumer LED light.

Around 02 (+/- a couple of years based on dates of threads here at CPF) Pelican came out with their LED version of the 100 lumen incan M6. It was a whopping 41 lumens, which at that time was pretty good.

They still make those multi LED lights because people still buy them.

To me the irony is that as bright as those little LED's are these days...folks are doing side by side emitters..."triples" and "quads" they're called. Folks marvel over them...like folks did some 15 years ago about what are now considered junk by many. But back then the CPF folks were doing incans that to this day still rival or outdo the modern LED

Just the other day I read a post from another member showing his 3000 lumen incan Mag 4D....100 watt bulb.

You may have seen it Eric.

Much of the stuff I mention was found in old threads here at the site.
When I first arrived I revived old threads to see how folks still feel, or introduce a new crowd to the thinking back then. I used to spend 2-3 hours a day reading old threads my first few weeks before joining.

Click to expand...

That was VERY interesting and informative!

I do remember some of those LED flashlights and configurations that were on the market in my late teens and early twenties (2004-2009.)

What I always noticed (and read MANY times over) is that incandescent flashlights could throw much farther than LEDs. Even when comparing my Dorcy LED to my first Mini Maglite, I noticed how the MM could throw very far. LED's are getting close with the throw, but I don't think they're caught up with incandescents yet...

Reflector technology has also advanced...not some new fangled materials and all, but more companies have figured out how to make them cast light like a good open face reel casts a spinner bait.
I figure it must not have been easy though...otherwise more wouldv'e done it sooner.

It's a lot of why Mags, 6P's and Streamlights seemed so bright vs the others.

It's why Coast could suddenly brag about that 12 lumen turbo torch.

Orange peel reflectors still amaze me.

Pilotodude said:

As someone born in the mid 60s that grew up using predominately 2-D cell lights until around 1984 +/- , I can't really put into words how awesome it was watching all of this new technology emerge in the 80s. I think we are seeing a resurgence now with the latest technology jump with LEDs and batteries.

I agree with one of the above posts though that Streamlight needs to be included as they really set about the market for the rechargeable flashlight. The SL-20 with its halogen bulb and rechargeable battery was light years ahead of anything out at the time. It was plug-and-play, as well as pretty much indestructible as long as you didn't drop the darn thing when the light was turned on. Ask me how I know about that one. [emoji52]

Maglite and its Mag-charger tried to compete with Streamlight but it was really like the Russians trying to compete with us on the Moonlanding.

Kel-Lite dried up as Mag Lite basically perfected the aircraft aluminum tube flashlight that uses normal batteries. The Mini-mag lite was another game changer that that company perfected. It might be Worth researching as to why Kel-Lite disappeared so quickly in the mid-80s. I wonder if mag lights lawsuits had anything to do with it???? If not that, my guess was the switch. If I remember, the Kel-Lite I had used a switch that was pretty archaic. The push button Mag was pretty slick. A much better interface than the "kill-light" imho.

Click to expand...

I bet you could tell some stories!

I would like to read about why one shouldn't drop an SL-20 when it's on.

Was there ever an SL-20 that could run on D batteries?

I've seen conflicting reports on whether it could or couldn't.

I wish I could get my hands on an original Mag Charger. My Great Aunt had her husband's but she threw it away after he passed.

What I don't get though, is Kel Lite eventually had a clicky switch on its third generation model. I think Brinkmann still uses that switch design on their Legend flashlights.

On a slightly related topic, I have a Brinkmann 2 AAA inspection light mint in package and it says it was made by The Keller Company a Divsion of Brinkmann and Copyright 1988.

Also my Radio Shack 3 D Aluminum flashlight has a [reverse] click switch. I'm looking to get an O-Ring for it.

Caesar Tjalbo said:

Being able to buy a dirt cheap, tiny, lightweight led flashlight that'll run near forever on an AAA battery, is still like a miracle to me.

Click to expand...

I think that is the biggest selling point to even the most inferior LED flashlights...

PROTOOLNUT said:

I was a little sh** when I was a kid. And when I was a kid, we didn't have no LED flashlights, we had incandescent. And we didn't even have good incandescents either! We had those stupid store bought ever ready's where the beam was dim and the batteries rattled inside.

Oh wait, it gets worse. So say you want a flood light? Well ever wondered what those 6 volt brick batteries were for? Yep you guessed it, they were for those square yellow flood lights. For a battery of that size, you'd think you would get more light output from them, but more often then not you would loose battery contact and you would have to shake the light to get it back again.

The 90's era Maglight was truly my first quality incandescent light. How did I find out about them? Well police used them of course, I found out why too, skull crushing steel heavy construction. Cause it sure as hell wasn't for the brightness, cause you couldn't get brightness even close to resembling modern day CREE unless you bought a massive 6 Cell Maglite, but by then the beast is so big you can't even holster it anymore. lol

And then Jurassic Park was introduced to the world, and being the silly kid I was, of course my mouth was watering over them what looked like 12 volt flood lights they were using in the film. Now those were bright lights for their time I have to admit, they must have pumped out at least 300 lumens. But the problem with them is that they were huge!

The first tactical incadescent based light I ever saw was probably year 2000, and I think the light cost and arm and a leg too so I never could afford it. I truly believe flashlights went through a revolution in the past 15 years.

Click to expand...

I do remember the 6 Volt lanterns and I even have a few of them (Mostly Garrity and Eveready.) My Paw Paw swore by those things and he still uses them even at 91 going on 92. My parents had a rare Nicholl Brothers lantern, but my mom threw it away (Halloween Night 1991) when the bulb blew. I was probably a VERY angry four year old too when she did that. We had actually lost several good flashlights because my mom refused to buy a replacement bulb.

When we thought Hurricane Erin was coming to Louisiana in 1995 (it actually went to Florida, I think.) My dad bought either a Rayovac I2D or an Eveready IN-251 (or possibly 1251.) It was a bigger version of my Eveready IN-215 (or possibly 1151.) I don't know what happened to that 2 D light either, but damn it was bright. Hurricane Opal pulled a similar stunt later that year.

My dad bought me a 4 D Cell Maglite in the Fall of 1998 and I had it until the Fall of 2003 when my brother borrowed it and forgot to turn it off.

I first saw Sure Fire in a Gall's catalog in 2003, but a sixteen year old with no steady job could never afford one. i don't think my parents wanted me working as they wanted me to focus on graduating high school. At any rate at that time in my life, I was more interested in scanners and radio communications. I had also ordered a Sure Fire catalog around that time (for whatever reason, I guess the flashlight addiction lay dormant, but still very much there.) In that catalog, I read about how a Sure Fire saved a rancher's life when it took a bullet for him and still came on afterwards.