Any Interest in Starting a New "Weekly Challenge" Series?

[Stress_Test]

So, "back in the day", CPF veteran Carrot created a series of Weekly Challenges, which were based on an imposed limit of some sort as to what flashlight you could use that week.

There was the "5mm Challenge", the "Incandescent Challenge", and a few others.

So for example, at the start of the week, you're only allowed to use that one particular type of light and nothing else. If you use something else, you "fail" the challenge and have to report back to the challenge thread with a post describing your shame!

It was great fun and a lot of us learned things we might not have otherwise, since we were constrained to go outside of our comfort zone for a week.

Be warned, many of us ended up purchasing lights just for a particular challenge. :laughing:

(I bought a Princeton Tec 4xAA incan for the incan only challenge week; it was pretty neeto until the 3-cell Mag bulb I had put in there turned out to produce too much heat and eventually melted off the adhesive that held the rubber on the head! oops)

So, any interest in starting up a few new challenges? Some things have really come a long way since then so it'll probably be cool to re-try some of the old challenges too in addition to new ones.

 

[nbp]

Those were super fun. They offered a nice fresh look at our collections and our hobby in general. I'd definitely try to participate. It might even be fun to go back and retry some of the old ones again too.

 

[nbp]

I did some searching and it looks like in 2011 Carrot brought us the "250 Lumens Challenge", the "Incan Challenge", "Headlamp/Handsfree Challenge" and the "5mm Challenge". Later Scout24 rebooted the series with the "E01 Challenge" and also bykfixer with a second round of "Incan Challenge". It's now 10 years since the original series; a perfect time to go again! Stress Test; did you already have any ideas on new versions to try out? I would be game to try the old ones again too as my collection has changed quite a bit in a decade!

 

[Burgess]

Great idea here !

lovecpf



May I suggest:


Mini-Maglite 2xAA incandescent,
running on Alkalines !


< just a thought . . . . . >

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

I'm in!!

Red led challenge

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

That's a timeless bit of fun that we should totally bring back

Since we're already dropping ideas in the hat, I have a few:
> Tint Fixation: the thread decides on a CCT, and you cannot use anything cooler or warmer;
> Vintage Power: can't use more than 100-ish lumens, like incan and early LED lights of decades past;
> Close Range Long Range: only throwers and pencil-beams allowed, including in close quarters or wide open areas;
> Django Un(key)chained: only torches of a certain size (like 16650) and above;

 

[Stress_Test]

Great idea here !

lovecpf



May I suggest:


Mini-Maglite 2xAA incandescent,
running on Alkalines !


< just a thought . . . . . >

I'm in!!

Red led challenge

I did some searching and it looks like in 2011 Carrot brought us the "250 Lumens Challenge", the "Incan Challenge", "Headlamp/Handsfree Challenge" and the "5mm Challenge". Later Scout24 rebooted the series with the "E01 Challenge" and also bykfixer with a second round of "Incan Challenge". It's now 10 years since the original series; a perfect time to go again! Stress Test; did you already have any ideas on new versions to try out? I would be game to try the old ones again too as my collection has changed quite a bit in a decade!

Burgess and PSM, that gives me the beginnings of a couple of possibilities! The tricky part is defining a challenge that is unique/oddball enough to be, well, challenging, but at the same time something that most people can try without necessarily making a one-off purchase. (Though I did that myself!)

If it's a few bucks expenditure, no big deal, but we wouldn't want to have something like a "SureFire Only" challenge where significant money would have to be spent if a person didn't already own one.

I've got a couple of new (I think) ideas... I just don't want to reveal them too soon and give people too much planning time!

What would be better: Re-visit a previous challenge first, or jump right into a all-new challenge? :thinking:

I kinda wanted to do the incan-only challenge again, but if that was done recently maybe that should wait?

 

[bykfixer]

My favorite was the incan challenge but the 5mm challenge was sweet too. We now have a plethora of 5mm lights like the yuji C01, the sophia C01, the E01, the Yuji mod like a P60 or minimag (or clone) modification.

Now for clarity I use flashlights at work in the daytime at unexpected times so a 5mm would have to be supplimented at those times.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

My favorite was the incan challenge but the 5mm challenge was sweet too. We now have a plethora of 5mm lights like the yuji C01, the sophia C01, the E01, the Yuji mod like a P60 or minimag (or clone) modification.

Now for clarity I use flashlights at work in the daytime at unexpected times so a 5mm would have to be supplimented at those times.

I believe all of the challenges proposed so far can fit an exception for these outside context situations, byk. It wouldn't be fun if things out of our control screwed us over, would it?

 

[Stress_Test]

A draft-in-progress of generic rules that will apply to each challenge. This is what I gleaned from reading some of the frequent questions in one or two of the old challenges:

===================================

1. Safety First! While attempting to meet the challenge:

a. Don't do anything that would endanger yourself.
b. Don't do anything to endanger others.
c. Don't put any property (yours, or others') at risk
d. Be nice to animals.
e. If you DO cause some disaster, be sure to get good video.
f. Don't get fired from your job. (job security is safety too!)


2. You can carry additional lights etc for emergency needs in support of rule #1.

a. For example, if your job requires some particular light use outside of what the "challenge light" can do, that's okay. However! Report any such usage by posting in the challenge thread, so your fellow flashaholics can judge you innocent or guilty


3. Rules for the FAIL

a. You fail for using any other light that falls outside the rules of the challenge. If you grab the "wrong" light but stop yourself before you actually activate it, you're still good. If you click it ON, however, you have FAILED!

b. Item (a) above applies 24/7 for the challenge week! No excuse for waking up in the middle of the night and activating the "wrong" light.
c. If you fail, you must post your failure to the Challenge thread. The first thing in the post should be the FAIL smiley :fail: to make sure the offenders' posts don't get lost among regular update posts!

d. A fail doesn't mean you are "out" or "disqualified" or anything. By all means, continue the week if you wish!


3. Post any relevant/interesting pictures if you're using something uncommon, oddball, etc.


4. No "playing" with flashlights that fall outside the rules of the challenge. Even if it's not "actual" use, ie, sitting watching TV and clicking the light on and off.

a. "Function Testing" of a newly arrived light is okay, because of the time-sensitive need of getting a replacement for a defective light within the window for returns.

b. No cheating by abusing the Function Test clause! :tsk: For example, if we're doing an old-school 5mm LED challenge, that doesn't mean that you can go out and buy a 10-mode-Mega-Lumen-Ultra-Light and then "Function Test" it during that week! We have the FBI on contract to monitor all participants by using drones and satellite imagery so don't try it!
:whoopin:


5. Rewards for Successful Completion of the Challenge:

a. Bragging rights on CPF
b. Respect from your fellow CPF members (nah, probably not)
c. A depleted bank account if you go nuts buying stuff for the challenge


6. Misc other Stuff

* "Duration" of the challenge: The week can be the full seven days, or just the work-week Mon-to-Fri if you prefer. Don't get too hung up over missing a day or two and having to start, say, on Tuesday. Main idea is to get in a routine, at least for several consecutive days, of using the challenge light(s).
a. As Pirate Captain Barbossa would say, these are more "guidelines" than actual "rules", so don't take any of this too seriously
b. Have fun
c. Bust out of your flashlight comfort zone and learn stuff you might not have known! The spirit of the challenge is to create arbitrary restrictions that force you to be creative, adaptable, and flexible! Photographers do this frequently with similar challenges to use only one focal length lens, only 35mm film, only black-and-white, etc etc. Keeps things fresh, boosts creativity, forces you to look at things in new ways, and so on.

================================

 

[Stress_Test]

I believe all of the challenges proposed so far can fit an exception for these outside context situations, byk. It wouldn't be fun if things out of our control screwed us over, would it?

Yeah, that was a common question on the old challenges, so I made that one of the first things covered in the "rules" list. Exceptions for work requirements are allowed. You still have to post it though so we can make sure no one is inventing bogus "requirements"

 

[Stress_Test]

My favorite was the incan challenge but the 5mm challenge was sweet too. ............

Both of those were good. I admit I've got a hankerin' to do the incan challenge again, since it's the middle of winter right now. That one seems pretty popular and it's probably a good way for newcomers to get their feet wet before we try some of the more oddball challenges.

I'd wager we nearly all have some old incan lying around somewhere, and if not, they're probably available for a few bucks at a thrift store or something.

 

[Burgess]

Excellent Guidelines posted above !


Yes, indeed, you are welcome to CARRY additional (backup) flashlights
to cover any emergencies you may encounter. Always Be Prepared !


As stated above, the FUN of this is to Bust out of your flashlight comfort zone.


Almost daily, even at age 67, I'm reminded of how LITTLE light I require
(in total darkness, with dark-adapted eyes) to perform many tasks !

Truly is an "eye-opening" experience.
< sorry -- couldn't resist >


Much Respect for the 5mm LED's which STARTED this new crazy fad.


lovecpf
_

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Yeah, that was a common question on the old challenges, so I made that one of the first things covered in the "rules" list. Exceptions for work requirements are allowed. You still have to post it though so we can make sure no one is inventing bogus "requirements"

Yep, saw that :thumbsup: Funny how quickly this shenanigan is being organized into what feels like an actual little event!

 

[nbp]

Those rules all look great! If you are still mulling over ideas for new challenges I think revisiting an older one is just fine. I have a better Incan and better 5mm lights now. Haha

 

[bykfixer]

Cool white for a week.
Yup break out those old bluemens……

 

[Stress_Test]

Bykfixer; that's kind of the default for most isn't it? it used to be anyway, maybe it isn't by now.

Anyhoo...

How much time between challenge week posts? Doing them on consecutive weeks seems like it'd be too rushed...

BUT...

I have an idea that would work best if the two challenges were back-to-back. We could start an incan challenge thread this coming Sunday, since that should be pretty familiar territory. Then my idea for a new one would follow the week after that.

Sound workable?

 

[skillet]

Let us begin.... A good light based challenge sounds like some flashaholic fun...

 

[nbp]

Sound workable?

Sounds good! You might start the thread a day or two before the official start of the challenge week so people can see and prep for it a bit. Obviously others may join and try it out anytime after that but it is fun if at least a few people can do it at the same time.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Let us begin.... A good light based challenge sounds like some flashaholic fun...

Let's. I'm on board for any challenges that I can currently perform.

Also, if it's any use, I dropped a few suggestions in post #6 that seem to have flown under the radar. In fact, now that the revival of the challenges is agreed upon, can we use this thread to make a list of possible challenges?