Old timers.. what are you down to in the flashlight department?

mcm308

Enlightened
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
372
I'm sure some of you are in the same boat. I've been around the forum since the beginning of time. I see old names still posting and some might recognize my name. I've been through a lot of lights over the years, Was an A2 whore..lol Probably been through over 100 Surefires over the years but they come and go. A2,M3,M4 being the favorites there but I'm at the point, have been for a bit, I'm down to what I need. Some have stories...and all of these have never failed me.
The Petzl Taktikka, probably 20 years old. Does it's job every time I gotta use it, love the spot to flood lens slider...

That Olight I3eos packs a punch, my bedroom dresser light for the mornings when I get up for work. Use it every day.

That ARC-P rode on my work keychain for over 15 years. Finally had to retire it because the ringhole is breaking through and didn't wanna lose it.

The Olight S1 batons, black being 1st gen non rechargeable, great pocket lights to grab and go. Always been an Olight fan since I bought an M30 Triton when they first came out! Olight is 3rd in my manufacturer choices.

Random Mag AA, got a couple more floating around. They are cheap..lol

That Surefire A2-YG. That is the most sentimental to me. My wife bought me that for my birthday one year when we first met. Circa 2006... She actually bought me every LED color because she knew I loved the A2 at the time. Like a fool, I sold them but held onto the YG the longest because it was rare but eventually sold it to a fella I believe on here. Chevyboy or something was the dudes name. Quite a few years later I come across it on eBay from a similar sellers name. I asked for a pic of the serial number and sure enough, it was it so snatched it immediately and got that one back! This comes to the grave with me.

The 2C Mag was my father's work light in his work truck. I had the pleasure of working with him for 15 years until he retired in 2015. He passed in 2021. That one comes to the grave as well. It has his stories...

The Ultra Stinger... Hands down my favorite light of all time. This has been my truck/ off road light for 20 years at least. I just love the feel every time I pick it up. Finally had to get a new battery for it. And a fella selling bulbs cheap on eBay so got 2 extra bulbs. Should last until I die.

Finally The Stinger LED. Well always been a fan of SL and I just bought this one. Disappointed it's made in China! But it looks and feels damn good!

Ohhhh, last but not least .. The Surefire X300 I bought at a 100 off discount to slap on my Beretta M4 for giggles. I choose to hold a light in the hand old school instead of weapon mount. But what I find is this X300 makes an awesome pocket light, easily hand manipulated....
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Welcome back. I was back on here from 2007-2013 when I fell off the face of the earth due to NSA spying.

The lights were more interesting back then. I mostly buy lights from the 1990s-2010. I wish I had kept my old lights and I'm lucky to have a small handful of older lights that were floating around at my friends.
 
MCM, solid choices all of them. I have a gambit of lights. I was unofficially doing the T&E for the guys at my department. The Ultra Stinger is an excellent light. Especially back when it first came around. I still have and use an old incan/Xenon one on patrol from time to time. I miss the older one with the knurling. I do not like the grip of the newer ones at all. At least they kept it on the SL-20L. Which I still run my SL-20X with a Malkoff LED drop in. That's my favorite light.

When I was in the military, I saved up my money to buy my first real flashlight after discovering the GI flashlight wasn't as great when you actually needed it. The batteries were always crap and will I liked the light a lot, it just wasn't good for me. So I bought a Surefire 6P. I met some hard charging pipe hitters that told me to spend the money on it. Surefire was at the top of the game then. When I transitioned to corrections/LE, Streamlight was the top dog. Some guys were using lights then that were from the late 80s or early 90s? Not sure. I fell in love with the Streamlights myself. The I bought a stinger with my second paycheck. That was the best light I had ever seen and I was new to the rechargeable lights of that size. That was the game changer right there.

So I agree with letschat7 above. The incan lights were definitely more interesting back then. A buddy of mine at a local pawn shop who share similar interests used to talk about all the cheap LED lights. But we both acknowledged that they were the future. I got caught up in the Lumen and candela race until I was blinded by my own light in an all white hallway. I then relegated to lights that were around 500-600 lumens max for duty use. For me anyway that is happy medium. Plus when on a stop, its a lot less offensive to the person I am talking to. To this day I still EDC a Surefire L4 Lumamax.
 
Down to?
With the exception of the yearly Christimas Giveaway on CPF that ended years ago due to greed by those who asked for lights, I still have nearly all of mine. Hundreds of SureFires?? More like just over two dozen. They come into the collection, and they never leave! Heck, I'm still buying lights! Though I have slowed down quite a bit. I can't get rid any of my old lights. Who'll take in the incandescents? With the exception of another CPFer, no one wants them. So, they all stay with me.
 
Im not sure that i would be considered an oldtimer, but i think ive figured out what i like after all these years. I think 90% of my collection now is made/manufactured in the USA. No green/purple tints in any of my lights. A good warranty is important too, in case anything goes wrong.

One thing i regret, is selling my older surefire flashlights over the years. I really miss my old incandescent A2 that i had a decade back.

Anyways, here is an old picture from 2008, this is after 2 years of collecting,

IMG_6507.jpeg
 
I'm as old as they get and I always wanted infinitely variable lights that could be super bright if needed but turned down quickly when the environment became full of close in objects. Color was super important because a CCT of 4200 or less made brown objects indistinguishable (pine cone vs poop) and ~5000 or more made it impossible to see through vegetation (I thought I was walking on solid ground but it was actually moss covered branches. 4500 was the perfect tint for walking in the forest. I went for non big brand name lights. I used Sunwayman at first because of their great interface but later Vinh and Emmisar because the best bang for the buck for me. I still carry those, both wide angle an narrow beams. I use Vinh's super narrow beam LEP for dim areas in daylight from far away.
 
I'm sure some of you are in the same boat. I've been around the forum since the beginning of time. I see old names still posting and some might recognize my name. I've been through a lot of lights over the years, Was an A2 whore..lol Probably been through over 100 Surefires over the years but they come and go. A2,M3,M4 being the favorites there but I'm at the point, have been for a bit, I'm down to what I need. Some have stories...and all of these have never failed me.
The Petzl Taktikka, probably 20 years old. Does it's job every time I gotta use it, love the spot to flood lens slider...

That Olight I3eos packs a punch, my bedroom dresser light for the mornings when I get up for work. Use it every day.

That ARC-P rode on my work keychain for over 15 years. Finally had to retire it because the ringhole is breaking through and didn't wanna lose it.

The Olight S1 batons, black being 1st gen non rechargeable, great pocket lights to grab and go. Always been an Olight fan since I bought an M30 Triton when they first came out! Olight is 3rd in my manufacturer choices.

Random Mag AA, got a couple more floating around. They are cheap..lol

That Surefire A2-YG. That is the most sentimental to me. My wife bought me that for my birthday one year when we first met. Circa 2006... She actually bought me every LED color because she knew I loved the A2 at the time. Like a fool, I sold them but held onto the YG the longest because it was rare but eventually sold it to a fella I believe on here. Chevyboy or something was the dudes name. Quite a few years later I come across it on eBay from a similar sellers name. I asked for a pic of the serial number and sure enough, it was it so snatched it immediately and got that one back! This comes to the grave with me.

The 2C Mag was my father's work light in his work truck. I had the pleasure of working with him for 15 years until he retired in 2015. He passed in 2021. That one comes to the grave as well. It has his stories...

The Ultra Stinger... Hands down my favorite light of all time. This has been my truck/ off road light for 20 years at least. I just love the feel every time I pick it up. Finally had to get a new battery for it. And a fella selling bulbs cheap on eBay so got 2 extra bulbs. Should last until I die.

Finally The Stinger LED. Well always been a fan of SL and I just bought this one. Disappointed it's made in China! But it looks and feels damn good!

Ohhhh, last but not least .. The Surefire X300 I bought at a 100 off discount to slap on my Beretta M4 for giggles. I choose to hold a light in the hand old school instead of weapon mount. But what I find is this X300 makes an awesome pocket light, easily hand manipulated.... View attachment 61800View attachment 61801View attachment 61802View attachment 61803View attachment 61804View attachment 61805
Nice setup
 
Down to?
With the exception of the yearly Christimas Giveaway on CPF that ended years ago due to greed by those who asked for lights, I still have nearly all of mine. Hundreds of SureFires?? More like just over two dozen. They come into the collection, and they never leave! Heck, I'm still buying lights! Though I have slowed down quite a bit. I can't get rid any of my old lights. Who'll take in the incandescents? With the exception of another CPFer, no one wants them. So, they all stay with me.
That's where my signature came from. I think I gave away a Surefire and the first thing they did was take a grinder to it. *shrug* I did have some good experiences with it. One of the people I helped out went to write good reviews.

Yeah, I have a lot. For example, I have 10 sitting on my computer desk infront of me.
I've been liking Astrolux, but I have a couple Surefires left, a handful of HDS, Manker are nice. I gravitate to Neutral and High CRI and almost always regret when I get a cold white light.
 
That's where my signature came from. I think I gave away a Surefire and the first thing they did was take a grinder to it. *shrug* I did have some good experiences with it. One of the people I helped out went to write good reviews.
That's good to hear.
Out of curiosity, I looked through previous posts by those requesting lights. That was back when I was more addicted to CPF than now. I'm thinking, I haven't seen posts by most of these members all year. Unfortunately I got confirmation. Previous posts were on last year's Giveaway topic. That ticked me off. The Giveaway was created for genuine members. Not randoms who wanted free stuff, and stopped by literally once a year.
 
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