Looking back on 20 years

[Monocrom]

Seriously. I'm waiting to see an orthopedist as we speak, due to injuries from over 30 years ago.

Genuinely sorry to hear that. My elderly mother fell in the supermarket over 30 years ago. Some back pain. It cleared up. Thought nothing of it. Now she has perpetual back-pain and a curved spine.

 

[jabe1]

Thanks. Mine is a bit of arthritis in my neck from laying my bike down at speed when I was young; wet leaves in a sharp bend are unforgiving.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Time always wins. I turned old this year and my body definitely doesn't work the way it used to. But I messed up my neck when I was 26 and thankfully that's never gotten worse.

 

[Zman]

You guys have been here long enough to remember the excitement when a member would create a new light, a list would be created and you were waiting (im) patiently for the build. I've only occasionally lurked in recent years.

 

[bykfixer]

20 years ago I was using a circa 96 minimag as my flashlight. It was my only flashlight back then. I did have a 4aa Coleman lantern though. I knew of much brighter lights like a 4D Maglite back then or a police officer's patrol car spotlight. I had both shined on me as a youth from time to time. "Stop in the name of the law" type thing. I did acquire a few minimag clones back then but they never held up like the minimag.

In 2014 or so my minimag wasn't bright enough for a task one night and another fellow had a 300 lumen LED light. Man, that flashlight was as bright as a patrol car spotlight! I was intrigued. A trip to a local Home Depot was a shock. They had a wall of flashlights 20 feet long and 6 foot high. Some said "500 lumens". Even the minimag had an LED version.

Never have sought out the brightest, newest technology. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing but the XP-G2 LED was the pinacle for me. I still like my early LED Streamlights because they throw well without corrupting the peripherals.

I started seeing this Abtomat character had a really extensive old cop light collection but never really set out to build one that nice. At the point I started collecting older cop lights, thankfully Abtomat was not. A few gems came my way from eBay but another member Liftd4R was also adding to his Maglite collection. The two of us actually met some of the old players of the day and were able to chronicle things that added to what Abtomat had started. If Liftd and Abtomat combined their resources that would be amazing as both have amazing knowledge and collections.

I did discover when I was bidding on some Kel-Lites, that sometimes my competition was none other than Don Keller himself. 😱

Regarding getting old, my age is now catching up to my physical condition. But it sure was fun.