Put those Maglites away!
In flashlight enthusiast communities, Maglites are considered the de-facto standard for flashlights you shouldn't be using. There are a few exceptions -- modded Maglites, some of which can get bright enough to cook eggs and start fires (we'll talk about that later too), the MagLED line of flashlights, and the MagCharger. Your ordinary Mini-Maglite uses an incandescent bulb that needs to be replaced every few hours and is a decent light for roughly $10 but is hardly the tip of the iceberg and should not be mistaken for a high-end light. They are quite high-quality in build but the technology they use has been eclipsed many times over and are not worth using if you are serious or interested in getting serious with flashlights. The MagLED lights are pretty good values and are decent lights even amongst the flashlight community but Maglite has been getting flack for picking up the Luxeon LED technology once it has already gotten stale and surpassed in efficiency and brightness.
I only got as far as the fifth segment and realized it was just personal opinion, rather than authoritative. There are many flashlight enthusiasts that have a higher regard for Maglite, than you indicate as "basic knowledge" for "the flashlight newbie".
I've been with CPF for nearly seven years. I started out with somewhere between 30 to 50 flashlights, with probably a dozen of them being Maglites. I appreciated them then, just as I appreciated other flashlights. At present, I have several hundred flashlights, and an appreciation for the many varied brands and types. I still appreciate Maglites.
Actually, the post that brought one of my earliest responses on CPF was in response to a "trashing" post of a particular brand. The brand isn't even one of my favorites, but it was a flashlight. I happen to like flashlights, and couldn't understand why anyone wanted to dislike some particular brand of flashlight.
Flashlights are an industry. Flashlights are a product. Only a limited number of those producing this product produce with a view that flashlights are a "hobby". There is certainly nothing wrong with flashlights as a "hobby", but to focus only on "hobby" interest, is what gives life to the trash-certain-brands type activity. Flashlights, even on CPF, are no more just "hobby", than cars, guns, knives, stamps, coins, or any of the other everyday products that can be made into an enthusiast's hobby.
Many CPF visitors, lurkers, and members don't come here to participate in a hobby. They come for information or have a healthy interest in what's available, the pros, cons, and information about what's new in flashlights. CPF, as it has done for every aspect of flashlights, embraces those that don't seek the hobby aspect, the same as it embraces those that seek the hobby.
I guess I just see nothing "cool" about telling the ones you call "flashlight newbie" that some of their own treasures aren't "cool".
