Blast From The Past...

[Arm and Leg]

Lets see your old torches from the past.
You know, the 50 lumen ones that you thought were straight baller back in 2002...

 

[Freax]

They don't call that era the dark ages for nothing :)

Around about 2002 all I owned was this torch, Made by Berec in England, I look back with fond memories of the seperate ON and OFF buttons:

My dad also had something similar to this pen light, remember those? Useless really as a light source... but they did shine up the plastic really well! :D

Yep, back then we didn't even know what a Maglite WAS let alone owned one, back then it would be considered pretty top stuff to be owning a Maglite I reckon.

 

[välineurheilija]

:popcorn: Keep em coming :)

 

[kuna]

Here's an old brinkmann Q beam. Got it around 2001. It's about 1700lm and says its 1 million cp on label but its really around 50,000 - 70,000. Still pretty bright though and has the original bulb :)

 

[Colonel Sanders]

I have a Brinkmann like that. The lead-acid battery weighs more than a brick or two (making the light awkward to hold) and lasted only about 10-15 minutes when new. It casts a pretty good spot though.

 

[TEEJ]

The driver for it was a real nightmare...

 

[cland72]

I remember buying my first Surefire G2 with the P60 bulb - got it at Bass Pro Shops. Man I thought that was just the brightest thing ever!

Then I found DX.com, then I found Malkoff, then I found CPF... Ugh.

 

[BIGLOU]

My dad first introduced me to an Incan. Maglite he bought at Price Club (now Costco). I thought this thing was the best thing ever. In 1995 I got my first real flashlight when I was an explorer cadet, I bought a used Streamlight SL20 also an Incan. I think 120 lumens and I thought that was the baddest ever, putting to shame my buddies who had a Maglite. Then in 2001 I got my 1st Surefire, a 8AX Commander. In 2009 I did a google search for a flashlight and found CPF and discovered there was other crazy people like me that were in flashlights. Now I have about $3500 in lights and a Surefire display in my living room.

 

[Freax]

The driver for it was a real nightmare...

You know you can get those in miniature now. :D

 

[TEEJ]

You know you can get those in miniature now. :D

LOL

You can get ALL the old lights in miniature now.

:D

 

[darkangel55555]

2002, right. That's about when I first got my Surefire 9P. I was thrilled with it, but after about a week of working up in the rafters of a theatre, decided its throw was a little unimpressive. I also hadn't factored in the cost of new cells (about $3 apiece at my local Surefire dealer) and having spent about $170 on the light, sort of gave up and left it in a drawer for another few years.

 

[mesa232323]

You know you can get those in miniature now. :D

Gotta find this in a miniature. I'm thinking RC car proportions.

 

[Freax]

Gotta find this in a miniature. I'm thinking RC car proportions.

That one is a toughie.

I'm thinking its a DIY job, might even be able to be powered by a RC petrol engine, tho I would think you would want to silence/quieten the exhaust a bit! Those engines can be real noisy.

Here is a start, grab the swivel head mechanism from this torch and put it onto a small model sized trailer.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...of-these-quot-Train-Brand-quot-swivel-torches'

OR What you could do also is get the headlight from a motorcycle and make up some kind of swivel mechanism for it out of brass, and paint it all in military green or olive drab, etc.

Then the second trailer is just a simple 9 amp hour SLA battery inside of a lunchbox tin or something :)

Then with the power of a cheapie automotive HID headlight kit off eBay, You're in buisness for a real awesome trailerable thrower!

Might even fit onto the back of a kids bicycle :D

Or even better, grandma's old tin bread box, for that vintage space-age look! Filled with several 9ah SLA's....

I'm thinking this would be a really cool present for a kid, both in the full size version and the trailerable version. :D :D :D :D :D

 

[Xavier]

My father has a pen light very similar to that! That is a sweet looking light. I will try and find it to post a pic. I can also find a nice vintage light from my grandparents.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Wow, that searchlight is history! None made after 1942; radar replaced 'em. Giant carbon arc lights are cool.

I remember before we ever heard of Maglite, Safariland was selling Kel-lites, mostly to cops. Their idea of high performance was to sell "half cells," so you could put six D half length cells into your 3D light, and use the brighter 6D bulb for half as long.

Does anyone remember the combination light/baton that was partly C Kel-lite but had an extended aluminum tube and was intended both roles?

That was before police departments had so many lawsuits over busting heads with heavy flashlights that many started mandating plastic lights (big Streamlight SL35's morphing to plastic SL20's by then).

And now, we have high performance in a package that is MUCH smaller than an Officer's baton. I do not like bluish light, but every one of the three lights on my at the moment are LED. We have so much more available now. Only the in-car lights are the Brinkmann Q-beam or some such. One of my house lights is a rechargeable LSI halogen spot, a few of the "hanging by every door" lights are ordinary incans, but the LED seems to have taken over.

One wonders what will come next.

 

[FILIPPO]

Does anyone remember the combination light/baton that was partly C Kel-lite but had an extended aluminum tube and was intended both roles?

.

Take a look here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...TOMAT-Police-Flashlight-Collection&highlight=

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Cool! Thanks.