Monthly light budget?

[DieselTech]

After seeing a post on how much a member spent in a year on lights, and realizing that the 'toy fund' that I haven't touched for several months was getting low, I sat down and figured up just how much I've spent on lights this month. The answer? Four hundred and nineteen dollars. Yikes! In my defense, they're all Surefires except for one, and they all came from the CPFMP. But at this rate, I'll spend over 5 grand this year on flashlights. Fortunately, my spending is going to slow down because I can only put so much money into the toy fund every month, and it's significantly less than $400.00 bucks.

All this has got me wondering though, how much does the average flashaholic spent in a month on lights, batteries, etc?

 

[jzmtl]

Maybe $100 a year?

Guess that makes me not a flasholic huh? :sigh:

 

[Hitthespot]

How much I spend vs how much you spend isn't going to help you. I'm not trying to be funny. If your content with what you have or feel you have already spent too much, STOP. If not buy some more, but it sounds like more than a little buyers remorse going on.

How much someone spends on something like this is usually directly proportional to how bad their passion is for it, and it doesn't always make sense.

Now having said that, If it helps here it is. Here's what I have spent approximately with shipping in the last four months

Olight T20 Q5 $70
(3)Fenix P2D $180
(3)Tiablo A1 $130
(2)Fenix P1 $80
Nitecore $86
Myshondt $185
Proton Pro $53
Batteries $94
L2D Body $24
BugoutGear Q5 $56

What is that around $1000

I think I'm having some buyers remorse. Thanks

Bill

 

[jugg2]

Since December I have spent "around" $400, and I am about to spend another $250-$300. I don't always spend money like this, I just have bought a few lights I was holding out on for a while. All this thanks to CPF lol! I almost bought a 9P a few months back, but I didn't because of the cost (I already had a G2). Now I'm about to lego a $200+ Leef/Surefire; I guess my perspective changed a little.:thinking:

 

[Flying Turtle]

I suppose over the years I've averaged maybe $25-$30 a month. Doesn't sound too bad, but that's for a long time.

Geoff

 

[ddgarcia05]

About $200 a year, I really try not to buy many lights but my will power is slowly cracking and I'm afraid that by the end of the night I'll be the proud father of a Dereelight and a Fenix T1. I really want those lights.

 

[greg_in_canada]

About $100 per year I'd guess (a bit more in year 1):

Year 1: two mag mods with O-sinks and one with an nFlex, Arc AAA-P, EverLED.
Year 2: $30 Radio Shack light I moded to be 2 - level. MillerMods 3-level L0P
Year 3: Fenix L1D, FireFli
Year 4: nothing so far. Might get a Draco (probably aluminum).

I've been saving for a DSLR camera for nearly the last two years so I've been pretty frugal on the lights. I'm tempted by lots of them but I think long and hard about how (and how much) I'd use them before buying.

Greg

 

[Tremendo]

Over $1k spent within 2 months of finding this site . Fortunately, it has slowed as I have most of what I need. Now the occasional $60 - $150 every couple months or so, but it's just to play with new toys.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

Depends on what there is to buy. Some months I buy more than I want to admit (even to myself) and other months I don't buy a thing (usually after spending more than I want to admit).
My general rule though is never to spend more than I have on hand. I won't use a credit card, and I'll always be sure to have enough for bills at the beginning of the month. If I treat myself to one luxury like a light, it means I usually get less of something else like eating out or some other gadget or tool.

 

[ddgarcia05]

Over $1k spent within 2 months of finding this site . Fortunately, it has slowed as I have most of what I need. Now the occasional $60 - $150 every couple months or so, but it's just to play with new toys.

:duh2: 1k in two months.

 

[steel0618]

I found this site last week and have already spent $250+, but it sure is fun

 

[MikeSalt]

My finger is hovering perilously close to the 'Pay Now' button in Paypal for an Orb Raw Ti. Looks like February's budget is about to be £155 ($310). Typical budget though is about £20 ($40) a month, mainly on Fenix lights. It has got to the point where I am buying flashlights to give away to people so they can see the light too.

Not without good reason though, my nan quite often backpacks with a 2C Eveready torch which worries me. I'm not sure whether to give her the Ultrafire 601D or the Fenix L0D-CE. Both of which will contribute virtually no weight at all to the backpack, but will give more light in a situation. I will probably give her the Ultrafire due to the simple user interface and the large storage capacity of the 123A cells. Anyway, that's off - topic.

 

[MorpheusT1]

Maybe $100 a year?

Guess that makes me not a flasholic huh? :sigh:

Its not about how much you spend but about the passion you have for you interest.

Lots of fun can be done with little money.
Dealextreme.com is a great place to start.


:thumbsup:

 

[9volt]

I've spent roughly $45/month since I got here, and that takes into account all the lights I've sold. That's more than I thought, maybe I should sell a couple...

 

[Lobo]

I don't think I spend more than 100USD a year either. I'm still at university, so I still live at a tight budget. And for my practical uses, I don't really need more light than I got, and there are a lot of other stuff that take precedence.
But there sure are plenty of lights out there that I want.
I usually buy a good light and then mainly use it for a couple of years (Fenix L2P with L1Pbody and L2D with L1Dbody consequently the last years, plus some others, like a ROP and assorted stuff), so I don't get that many lights to play around with that I want, I mostly windowshop here from time to time.
Allthough recently I've been very fortunate and got some really nice lights for free (Peak Glacier Bay and Arc AAA from the christmas give away, and a Nitecore DI from a friend), plus a lot of christmas cash, I spent some on a WF600 from DX and a bunch of batteries and chargers, so I'm not complaining.
Even though I might sell the Peak and the Nitecore to get some cash for other stuff.

Funny thing is, when I first came here, I would NEVER EVER even consider buying anything more than 50USD(at the top, preferably around 30USD), and that would be for the flashlight that would end all my flashlights needs forever. And absolutely not anything that ran on any weird batteries, before I came here I hadn't even considered the possibility that flashlights could run on anything "weird". I mean, where talking about a stupid flashlight, right?
After some years here, I catch myself thinking "Hm, if I eat only noodles for a month, I might get that sweet flashlight for 100USD(and of course some extra 50USD for charger, batteries and shipping), even though in a couple of months there will be a light that I want even more, but why bother, I can buy that one too!".

There should really be a big sign before entering CPF:
"BUY BOTH, OR RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK!"

 

[LEDninja]

It is a little old but not out of date.
Money spent in 2006 and how much in 2007?
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=146758

Elestrolumens My Little Friend $110
Fenix L1P $40
Civictor V1 $30
2x Fenix E1 $50
Fenix L0P-SE $35
2C MagLED $50
Assorted SMJLED PR/soli bulbs $50
Total $365+ AWWWWW!!! That is more than I spent in my entire life before 2006.

With the Cree xr-E comming out 2007 is gonna be worse.
I already commited to a MillerMods Arc AAA-XRE $125

EDIT bought:
L0D-CE $43 Jan
My Little Friend SSC-P4 $120 Mar

I bought Electrolumens Lucidus XR-1 $70
3 more L0D CEs $150
4 MTE SSC 1 stage $60
L1T v2.0 RB80 $60
plus lots of Low self discharge NiMH
for the rest of 2007.
Total $600

For 2008 I have bought a 3AAA SSC from Kai $20
and committed myself to an assembled Electrolumens Minimak 14500 in a chopped minim@g $100.
And January is not over yet.

 

[Gaffle]

I don't have a real budget. I buy 1 light a year. Gimme 5 more years and that 1 light will be a Maxa Beam:devil:!

 

[NickelPlate]

Maybe $100 a year?

Guess that makes me not a flasholic huh? :sigh:

Actually 100 posts makes you a flashaholic I think :thinking:. Seriously though, I don't buy that much either. In 2-1/2 years I've bought:

Nite Ize Mini Mag upgrade (does this even count )
Inova X1 (first gen)
Fenix L2P
Pelican M6 2390
Fenix L0D Q4
Fenix E0 Dart
Cree P4 drop in module for my Pelican

Thinking about a Tiablo A9 now. A super thrower is in my future this year.


NP

 

[mwaldron]

I go in spurts, before finding this forum I only had a Surefire L2 (severely underrated around here IMO, probably due to the Milky L1s) and several 'lesser' lights that I had picked up over the years.

I've recently bought a few light-related things.

Fenix P2D (I would have paid the same on a crappier light without CPF :thanks: guys!)

Then I read about the Sportsman's Warehouse sale on CPFM...

I drove over there to get a Red A2, they didn't have any but I couldn't leave without something so a White A2 was added.

Talking with some people on CPFM, I went back to get them all L1's (myself included) but by the time I arrived they had sold out of L1s. But they had an old style A2 in the display case and it had a red dot on it, we forgot to check the case on my prior trip. They were pretty picked over, and it looked lonely in the case all alone. Now I have a Red A2. I really do like the 'old' style flat tube better.

Now all of a sudden I noticed I have 4 lights that all use CR123's. When I purchased the L2 I had decided that I only needed to stock 12 CR123's but now that number seems way low to feed the new family. A week ago I went to a hamfest in Missouri, there was a gent there who sold nothing but batteries. He had 5 cases of SF123 (2017) 12-packs (6 12 packs/case) for $1.15/cell. Lets just say that my family of flashlights will be sufficiently fed for a year or so. I wish I would have had enough capital to buy him out completely.

But wait, these A2's need replacement bulbs. Drats, I missed the Strion sockets. Maybe next time. LA Police Gear was having a sale on some other items I wanted, 2x MA02's and 2x V21's incoming from there.

So that's been my last two weeks or so.

We won't even talk about what happened when I found EDCForums.

I think I'm done for a while, there are a few accessories that I'd like to pick up but all the expensive stuff is done. At some point soon I'd like to pick up a x200 or x300 but I'm in no hurry. I think I'd also like a Milky L1, just to see what all the fuss is about.

A nifty new project has presented itself to me yesterday, I was gifted the most flexible battery charger in the world, and asked to code up a UI for it. There's only 5 in existence so it's a small market, but since one of them is mine it's going to get an abnormal amount thought. It'll also probably get lots of posts and research in the Electronics forum too.

 

[sed6]

Over $1k spent within 2 months of finding this site . Fortunately, it has slowed as I have most of what I need. Now the occasional $60 - $150 every couple months or so, but it's just to play with new toys.

Exactly as above :twothumbs