KingGlamis
Banned
I'll start my story with a side-note. This morning I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some things and of course I checked out the flashlight aisle. Our local Wal-Mart has a horrible selection, probably less than half of what they have on their website. But I ended up buying a grey Mini-Mag "just because." So we go to lunch with some friends and my wife sees the new Mini-Mag in its holster on my belt. She says "Hey what's that Mister?" I laugh and say "It was only $8 so I couldn't resist." She just kind of rolls her eyes.
So after lunch we decide to go to Cabelas (an outdoor store for those that don't know) and compare what they have to the Bass Pro Shops that is by our house. My wife finds a pair of shoes she likes and decides to get them. Then she says, get this gang...
Since I'm getting some new shoes, you should get a new flashlight honey. :thumbsup:
SCORE! So we go to the flashlight area. Cabelas actually has a pretty good selection. Had most of the Surefire and Streamlight line, their own Cabelas brand lights that were similar to Surefires but probably imports based on the prices. They had several other cheaper brands too. All of the nicer lights had fresh batteries in them so you could try them out, which was a very nice touch. So the first two lights I tried out were the SF G2 and G3. So-so output but I don't like the rubber feeling and neither did the wife. And the wife was actually checking out all the lumen ratings and telling me "No-no, you need more lumens than that.
Did I mention yet I love my wife? Then I tried out the E2E, E2D, 6P, and a couple of other Surefires. I didn't try out the M6 or M3 because I'm not in a position to spend that much right now. My wife also tried out the same Surefires that I did and finally said "I thought these were supposed to be really special lights? These aren't any better than your light from China and they're not even close in brightness." She goes on to say "I don't see how they can charge that much, the quality isn't anything special." I have to say I agree with her. While the quality of the Surefires we tested seemed good, it didn't seem "Oh my God good" like I've read here on CPF. So nixing a Surefire purchase we looked at some Streamlights, nothing that I really need, looked at all of the Cabelas lights. One was nearly identical to the Superfire WF-501D that I paid $23 for. It was $60 and identical in specs, size, and output as my 501 (I had the 501 with me as I normally do). It was much brighter than all of the Surefires we tested with a similar quality.
Changing gears here, I didn't really want a new incan anyway, so I ask the young saleskid if they have any LED lights with CREE emitters. I think he thought I said "three" instead of CREE, because he showed me a couple of lights with three LEDs. I said no, CREE, it's a brand of LED. Deer in the headlights look. He had no clue.
The bummer of my story is, I looked at every light they had that was $100 or less and couldn't find one that I wanted. My wife said "I would rather you order several lights off the net rather than get just one Surefire for the same price that isn't that impressive."
So with the go-ahead from the wife I didn't even buy a light. Brick and mortar stores need to start carrying lights like Fenix with modern LEDs. Or even a light like the Task Force that Lowes sells. If they did they would have gotten my money.
My story does have a happy ending though. It seems my wife has finally accepted my flashaholism and is even taking an interest in the lights that I want. I told her "just wait until next week when my Fenix P3D RB100 shows up, you WILL BE impressed (ordered from the Fenix-Store).
What a wierd day... got the green light to buy a nice light but my only purchase of the day was an $8 Mini-Mag. Guess I'll get to internet shopping.
So after lunch we decide to go to Cabelas (an outdoor store for those that don't know) and compare what they have to the Bass Pro Shops that is by our house. My wife finds a pair of shoes she likes and decides to get them. Then she says, get this gang...
Since I'm getting some new shoes, you should get a new flashlight honey. :thumbsup:
SCORE! So we go to the flashlight area. Cabelas actually has a pretty good selection. Had most of the Surefire and Streamlight line, their own Cabelas brand lights that were similar to Surefires but probably imports based on the prices. They had several other cheaper brands too. All of the nicer lights had fresh batteries in them so you could try them out, which was a very nice touch. So the first two lights I tried out were the SF G2 and G3. So-so output but I don't like the rubber feeling and neither did the wife. And the wife was actually checking out all the lumen ratings and telling me "No-no, you need more lumens than that.
Did I mention yet I love my wife? Then I tried out the E2E, E2D, 6P, and a couple of other Surefires. I didn't try out the M6 or M3 because I'm not in a position to spend that much right now. My wife also tried out the same Surefires that I did and finally said "I thought these were supposed to be really special lights? These aren't any better than your light from China and they're not even close in brightness." She goes on to say "I don't see how they can charge that much, the quality isn't anything special." I have to say I agree with her. While the quality of the Surefires we tested seemed good, it didn't seem "Oh my God good" like I've read here on CPF. So nixing a Surefire purchase we looked at some Streamlights, nothing that I really need, looked at all of the Cabelas lights. One was nearly identical to the Superfire WF-501D that I paid $23 for. It was $60 and identical in specs, size, and output as my 501 (I had the 501 with me as I normally do). It was much brighter than all of the Surefires we tested with a similar quality. Changing gears here, I didn't really want a new incan anyway, so I ask the young saleskid if they have any LED lights with CREE emitters. I think he thought I said "three" instead of CREE, because he showed me a couple of lights with three LEDs. I said no, CREE, it's a brand of LED. Deer in the headlights look. He had no clue.
The bummer of my story is, I looked at every light they had that was $100 or less and couldn't find one that I wanted. My wife said "I would rather you order several lights off the net rather than get just one Surefire for the same price that isn't that impressive."
So with the go-ahead from the wife I didn't even buy a light. Brick and mortar stores need to start carrying lights like Fenix with modern LEDs. Or even a light like the Task Force that Lowes sells. If they did they would have gotten my money.
My story does have a happy ending though. It seems my wife has finally accepted my flashaholism and is even taking an interest in the lights that I want. I told her "just wait until next week when my Fenix P3D RB100 shows up, you WILL BE impressed (ordered from the Fenix-Store).
What a wierd day... got the green light to buy a nice light but my only purchase of the day was an $8 Mini-Mag. Guess I'll get to internet shopping.
:thinking:
