When is enough, enough?

[KITROBASKIN]

re: the post of richbuff
Delightful to read about this aspect of your life. It is not often we discuss spiritual and flashlights in the same sentence; fantastic. As an educator, we were recently teaching about food webs, with the light of the sun providing the energy for producers (such as grass and other edible plants) that are in turn eaten by consumers, which are eaten by other consumers, which eventually are eaten by decomposers and so on. And if you think about it, the photons coming from our portable light makers are something like the source of (almost all) life on this precious blue planet. How spiritual is that?
In addition, this community called CPF is just a great addition to the life behind this keyboard. An enormous Thank You to the greatness of our moderators, administrators, and all the volunteers who make this possible. One can never get enough of flashlights like this, right?

 

[strideredc]

I got a Q8 the other day and really like it but I am not chasing the million lumen goal. Quality, adaptability and cool (for me) are what i am after... that means old surefires HDS (I had one of the very first Henry made).

I think like most things your tastes change over time. I have nothing but a cursory interest in all these lights coming out almost every day...

This prompts me to post my own question as to who is buying all of these light?!?

 

[richbuff]

Now that I have upgraded my collection of extra large dedicated throwers, large dedicated throwers, medium and small dedicated throwers, extra large power throwers, large power throwers, extra large pure flooders, large pure flooders, medium pure flooders, small pure flooders, small single cell single emitter and single cell multiple emitter lights to SBT90.2 emitter, I have a thought that I have enough right now.


My lights.

 

[seery]

I have a thought that I have enough right now.


My lights.

Very nice arsenal!

But no large collection like yours is complete without an X70 or two. :naughty:

 

[richbuff]

Very nice arsenal!

But no large collection like yours is complete without an X70 or two. :naughty:

I have been thinking very long and very hard about the Acebeam X70 very hard for a very long time.

We are both X65 fans, and I have been following all of your posts about the X70 for a while now.

This is the line entry that I have in my flashlight charting text document: X70 12 x XHP 70.2 and center XHP 35 HI. 8 x 18650 pack, 60,000 lumens and 1,115 meters throw. Head diameter: 116mm/4.6in. weight: 1819gm/64.2 oz with cell pack.

I haven't bought it yet, because I am waiting for Acebeam 14 x SBT90.2 50,000 lumens, 2,000 meters throw:

https.//acebeam.ru/katalog/kupit-moshhnyj-poiskovyj-fonar/acebeam-x65gt

But your solid recommendation does carry a lot of weight with me, so I might just have to jump in to the X70.

 

[mickb]

The internet, chinese factories and a cashed up middle class has created quite a few 'space races' in various hobbies.

 

[Stress_Test]

Thanks GG.

Your post (#72) was pretty profound. Caused to go "hmmmm, now why didn't I think of that 200 flashlights, 47 knives, 18 cameras and 4 cars ago?" lol

Oof. 18 cameras. Thought that I had bought too many. Think I've got... 8, maybe 9? Still too many. It's kinda like guns, you gotta just try a bunch of stuff till you find what you like.

Pretty happy with my Canon 80D though, so I think I'm set for the foreseeable future (I hope).

So, which was your bigger money pit, the flashlights or the cameras?

 

[idleprocess]

I suspect some of these themes have been discussed, however these are my reasons for dropping off ~10 years ago then lightly resuming the hobby about 5 years ago.

• I can not use all of my lights often enough to 'need' so many
• My less-frequently used lights with li-ion cells are used infrequently enough that I despair the capacity-sapping effects of self-discharge
• Related to the prior, some of my non li-ion cell-powered lights have seenb cells die inside them from disuse ...
• ... As a result a large number of lights I own are in 'dry' storage, not ready for use
• Never and brighter isn't necessarily better
• History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes - so much of what's 'new' is a rehash of things that I've seen before or was done in another industry, has already been done, etc
• Over time I've realized that whatever ineffable quality I was hoping to find with each new purchase simply wasn't going to materialize ...
• ... As such the novelty has faded and I've shifted some focus to other pursuits

Thus, as a suburbanite who works behind a desk and doesn't have interests where I routinely find myself in dark places for long periods with challenging technical requirements, I think I've got my illumination needs covered.

 

[bykfixer]

I'm afraid to think about it ST.

Probably flashlights by now.
But it took a while to pass the cost of my Nikon D700 and D7000 outfits.

Tragically I use a celphone for 90% of my photos now. Last summer I tried to get some impromtu macros of a mushroom with the D7000 and had to get out the instruction book to remember how to spot focus the darn thing. My wife still uses her Canon 7D from time to time.

 

[seery]

I have been thinking very long and very hard about the Acebeam X70 very hard for a very long time.

We are both X65 fans, and I have been following all of your posts about the X70 for a while now.

But your solid recommendation does carry a lot of weight with me, so I might just have to jump in to the X70.

Depending on the UI and build quality, the X65GT may prove to be a very exciting light.

As such a huge fan, this is something I thought I'd never say. But we just sold our last X65 [and replaced it with X70 number four].

After using the X70 for awhile we found it very annoying going back to the [once admired] UI of the X65. The X70s UI is so much better.

And being able to drop to either last level used or low from Turbo is great. Also, not having the light go dark while going to double click turbo or double double click turbo max is huge.

Honestly, losing the double/double double UI entirely was refreshing.

Because of the beam pattern and higher output, the 625 lumen ultra low of the X70 is much more useful than the 500 lumen low mode of the X65. The X70 beam is so perfect and artifact free vs the petals on the X65.

We haven't used the Fandles once, they are all still in the box unopened.

The runtimes are great and the light balances in hand very nicely. The charging indicator lights are awesome and the vented cap is a welcomed addition.

Try one out and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. :thumbsup:

 

[mickb]

My hobby shifted too. My new hobby is watching bills get smaller and collecting $20 bills instead of toys.
True, the lighting world does seem platued (sp?) right now.

Good hobby to have bykfixer, you are ahead of the 8 ball with that. Especially with the response to the virus. People dont realise the financial bill that has to be paid from all the shutdowns and stimulus handouts. it hasnt hit yet, but we might even get a taste of luxury spending or lack thereof our brethren in the 2nd world have. Hobbies which became accumulation go back to having just 3-4 treasured items.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

"When is enough, enough?" isn`t the sort of question I give any conscious thought to, I try avoid limiting thoughts and beleifs around abundance (in whatever form it takes). I just follow my heart and listen to what she says, I`m completely confident I`ll know when the time is right to move on, it`s never let me down before

 

[bykfixer]

Good hobby to have bykfixer, you are ahead of the 8 ball with that. Especially with the response to the virus. People dont realise the financial bill that has to be paid from all the shutdowns and stimulus handouts. it hasnt hit yet, but we might even get a taste of luxury spending or lack thereof our brethren in the 2nd world have. Hobbies which became accumulation go back to having just 3-4 treasured items.

Then there was the Maglite 25Days 'til Christmas sale……I added more lights in a month than I had in a couple of years combined.

 

[dmattaponi]

In 2016 I made a transition to all rechargeable AA lights, selecting the Thrunite TN4A as my around the house, backyard, and vehicle lights. Thrunite Archer and T10 series for my edc and a few tossed is various desk drawers. I'm quite content having settled on these, and not looking for the next "improved" light. They satisfy my needs and wants as good today as they did in 2016.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Timothybil]

When you can't afford any more?

 

[MX421]

Once you realize you only have so many hands (or heads in the case of headlamps) and all the areas you'd like to have a light hang out in case you aren't carrying the required light at that area, then adding more just doesn't make that much more sense. It helps that i tend to go High CRI lights only and that most of the lights i have are already upgraded to that capability. Further, the choices of high CRI lights hasn't changed much recently to tempt me.

 

[peter yetman]

Yes that worked for me.
I decided that I was only now buying lights with Nichias in. It's made everything else so less tempting.
P

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Perhaps this goes out to long term fans, or minimalists? Recovered flashaholics?

Is enough, enough because nothing strikes your fancy? Perhaps you yawn at the latest offerings from SHOT Show? Is it because you just aint got anymore room? Maybe because you are out of money? To keep the peace in the home perhaps? Tired of dusting them all?

For me it was just losing interest in adding more lights to my collection. Simply put, I had all I wanted. Yeah, one gets added here and there but the frenzy buy, buy, buy is no longer present.

If enough is enough for you, how long did it take?
3 years in my case.

Thoughts please.

Maybe fixer will provide an update regarding his illumination purchases since this first post arose.

Enough for us was when we had different options (thrower, flood, warm, good color rendering, tiny, user interface, style, nostalgia) fulfilled and iterations of favorites. But turns out now that we live a lifestyle that all family members benefit from decent flashlight capabilities, we are starting to use up more flashlights because son loses (OK one of them may have been lost by yours truly) or breaks them and wife mysteriously incites electronic disfunction on occasion. Right now she is missing the last (refurbished) of the Zebralight SC62d trio and the son chose to pay $30 for a protected 18650 battery purchased 2015 in a Nitecore P12 (2016? with its cold, yet white, emitter) after suffering awhile with comparatively underpowered, small capacity, cheap little flashlights following the disappearance of an off brand composite P60 host that sported a nice PFlex Pro engine. Point being, it just might come to pass that your flashlights will yet get actively used. Given possible craziness on into the future, your surplus illuminators may end up being bartered for items you need, right? Just remember to have batteries for barter as well.

 

[The Hawk]

I enjoy flashlights, knives and guns. I find myself concentrating on one of these and letting the other two sort of be on stand by mode. There are never enough of any of them, so to answer your question, NEVER.

 

[joshk]

Enough was enough when I moved up to COB Leds. Now everything else is just an 18650 and an LED.