Colinsdad
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
- Messages
- 66
(Mod-feel free to move this thread if its not in the right spot)
Well.....after getting crap for awhile from Family members about Why in Gods name do you need another flashlight??, my point about buying superior products and having the right light for the job was driven home graphically yesterday night.
Im visiting my sister and B-I-L who live in a very rural area that abuts Quabbin Reservior in central Massachusetts- there are VERY few neighbors, unless you count the scores of wildlife that inhabit the area. We had convened for Thanksgiving dinner, and were jilted out of our tryptophan-induced post-dinner haze when my little nephew let their kitten out of the house, and the little critter had evidently bolted for the woods. The poor guy was upset that kitty got out, and, even more to the point, my sis and her hubby were more concerned about all the wild animals in the area finding kitty to their liking as well, so, an ad hoc rescue party of sorts was arranged.
As it turns out, my girlfriend had picked up a new Lumintop L1-C for me (Thanks for looking over my shoulder when Im surfing CPF:thumbsup: that was a nice surprise) and I had my Shiningbeam X-Thrower in my car (I was going to do some impromptu testing of sorts in their backyard later on in the evening), along with my EDC- a IlluminaTi R5- along with a fresh set of AWs 10440s, 16340s and 18650s. My B-I-L armed himself with something he thought would be superior to ANYTHING the flashlight geek had on hand- one of those 10 Million candlepower incan spotlights. His dad then went into his truck and brought out one of those generic 54-LED lights (3 AAA variety). I grabbed a compass from my gearbag in my Scooby, took some bearings in the dark (thank god for Mil-Issue Tritium compasses!) and off we went.
My girlfriend had the L1-C, and as she has a Lumapower Incendio V3+ R5 at home, she was quick to pick up the UI on it- she kept it on Medium during the length of our search for the most part. Me, on the other hand, flipped the clip on the IlluminaTi around and stuck it on the brim of my baseball hat, put it on medium and kept the X-Thrower in the hammer loop of my carpenter pants. My B-I-L and his Dad were like Beavis and Butthead- they could see where we were going, but, as my B-I-L hadnt charged the searchlight, the light that was being put out was fairly weak (and damned ringy, I might add!)-his Dads LED generic was OK, but, as he found out, anything past 25 wasnt going to be illuminated.
After making our way through some fairly dense woods for about 30 mins,in absolute ink-blackness we could hear meowing faintly off in the distance. At that point, the X-Thrower came out, was put on High, and jaws dropped!! My B-I-L and his Dad were blown away by the amount of lumens that both the L1C and the X thrower put out on high, and were VERY impressed with the amount of throw the X-thrower had. In fact, my B-I-L went so far as to say Why in hell do I drag this thing around with me fishing or hunting when I can have one of those lights you have?? Thats really pretty cool, considering how small it is! The kitty was found to have fallen into a fairly deep pit and couldnt claw its way out of it. A hasty rig of sorts was fashioned from some vines, just so I would have something to help me crawl up the steep sides, and kitty was rescued:thumbsup:
On the way back to the house, I felt a measure of satisfaction as, my 2 biggest detractors on me playing around with flashlights realized I did not become involved with CPF merely to look at charts and graphs on how lights performed, but, to purchase devices that were indeed up to the task with whatever activity I was performing outdoors. They made sure to ask about the brand names,and what sort of batteries/charger I was using before they departed for the evening.
I thought that this thread would be vindication for those of you out there who find themselves trying to explain why you are involved with flashlights. I also wanted to thank Andy at AW, Bryan at ShiningBeam and Jason at HID Tact for all your assistance in the making of this story LOL!
Well.....after getting crap for awhile from Family members about Why in Gods name do you need another flashlight??, my point about buying superior products and having the right light for the job was driven home graphically yesterday night.
Im visiting my sister and B-I-L who live in a very rural area that abuts Quabbin Reservior in central Massachusetts- there are VERY few neighbors, unless you count the scores of wildlife that inhabit the area. We had convened for Thanksgiving dinner, and were jilted out of our tryptophan-induced post-dinner haze when my little nephew let their kitten out of the house, and the little critter had evidently bolted for the woods. The poor guy was upset that kitty got out, and, even more to the point, my sis and her hubby were more concerned about all the wild animals in the area finding kitty to their liking as well, so, an ad hoc rescue party of sorts was arranged.
As it turns out, my girlfriend had picked up a new Lumintop L1-C for me (Thanks for looking over my shoulder when Im surfing CPF:thumbsup: that was a nice surprise) and I had my Shiningbeam X-Thrower in my car (I was going to do some impromptu testing of sorts in their backyard later on in the evening), along with my EDC- a IlluminaTi R5- along with a fresh set of AWs 10440s, 16340s and 18650s. My B-I-L armed himself with something he thought would be superior to ANYTHING the flashlight geek had on hand- one of those 10 Million candlepower incan spotlights. His dad then went into his truck and brought out one of those generic 54-LED lights (3 AAA variety). I grabbed a compass from my gearbag in my Scooby, took some bearings in the dark (thank god for Mil-Issue Tritium compasses!) and off we went.
My girlfriend had the L1-C, and as she has a Lumapower Incendio V3+ R5 at home, she was quick to pick up the UI on it- she kept it on Medium during the length of our search for the most part. Me, on the other hand, flipped the clip on the IlluminaTi around and stuck it on the brim of my baseball hat, put it on medium and kept the X-Thrower in the hammer loop of my carpenter pants. My B-I-L and his Dad were like Beavis and Butthead- they could see where we were going, but, as my B-I-L hadnt charged the searchlight, the light that was being put out was fairly weak (and damned ringy, I might add!)-his Dads LED generic was OK, but, as he found out, anything past 25 wasnt going to be illuminated.
After making our way through some fairly dense woods for about 30 mins,in absolute ink-blackness we could hear meowing faintly off in the distance. At that point, the X-Thrower came out, was put on High, and jaws dropped!! My B-I-L and his Dad were blown away by the amount of lumens that both the L1C and the X thrower put out on high, and were VERY impressed with the amount of throw the X-thrower had. In fact, my B-I-L went so far as to say Why in hell do I drag this thing around with me fishing or hunting when I can have one of those lights you have?? Thats really pretty cool, considering how small it is! The kitty was found to have fallen into a fairly deep pit and couldnt claw its way out of it. A hasty rig of sorts was fashioned from some vines, just so I would have something to help me crawl up the steep sides, and kitty was rescued:thumbsup:
On the way back to the house, I felt a measure of satisfaction as, my 2 biggest detractors on me playing around with flashlights realized I did not become involved with CPF merely to look at charts and graphs on how lights performed, but, to purchase devices that were indeed up to the task with whatever activity I was performing outdoors. They made sure to ask about the brand names,and what sort of batteries/charger I was using before they departed for the evening.
I thought that this thread would be vindication for those of you out there who find themselves trying to explain why you are involved with flashlights. I also wanted to thank Andy at AW, Bryan at ShiningBeam and Jason at HID Tact for all your assistance in the making of this story LOL!
