KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
PF10! Flashaholic Get Together: NJ, NY, PA, CT Area +PF10 is the 10th edition of a flashaholic get together in Califon, NJ. It's open to anyone who would like to attend.
The tradition lives on! Based on the success of the past 9 PF events, it's time for PhotonFest 10!
Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 5th! Well, those of you who were at any of the first 9 PF's know what to expect. For those of you who were not, here is a run down:
Date: Saturday April 5th
Start Time: High Noon (12:00PM)
End Time: after dark, possibly Sunday AM, or you may stay at Scott's home for the night and leave the next day (see details below).
PF10 will be at the usual place, the home of Scott (milkyspit) in Califon, NJ. Please PM Scott for exact directions.
We usually start with a casual meet and greet. Of course, the lights come out right away for a show and tell, and those who can't wait for the dark head into Scott's basement where it's dark. :candle:
Everyone is asked to bring some small snack on which to nibble: a bag of tortilla chips, a flavorful dip, potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, a bottle of soda, a six pack of soda or other beverage :naughty:, cookies, candy, fruit.....whatever! :thanks: An additional tradition has been that those who want to bring small give-aways for everyone, may do so. Popular items in the past have been keychain lights, penlights, keyrings, lanyards, etc. These little inexpensive "give-aways" are always appreciated. One year, CPF member Solstice made a cool drawing commemorating the event, and gave copies to everyone. Someone else provided blank name tags for all of us to stick on a shirt. It's better than saying "hey you!" A few guys offered flashlight mods that went bad, in the hope that a new owner could make use of them.
:thumbsup: It has become a bit of a tradition that items are donated for a raffle. The cool thing is that while some attendees of the event bring items for the raffle, quite often those who could not attend, but want to support our event, often mail stuff out or send it along with someone who is coming. It's would be difficult to list everyone who has done so, but just last year at PF9 we had a spectacular titanium McGizmo light donated by Kenster. Wickedlasers donated a bunch of cool lasers and liotec also gave some items away, these are just to name a few who helped to donate enough items so that between the raffle and the giveaways just about everyone went home winning something!
Additionally, many of us will have items for sale or trade. So bring some extra cash money ($$).Something else that is kinda cool is Stan's Segway. If you don't know what a Segway is, it's that cool electric scooter thing with two wheels, you stand on and cruise around. Stan is always willing to give a quick lesson and let those who want to have a neat experience, try it out. Stan, if you can't make it this year can you just ship the Segway out? :lolsign:
At some point, we usually get some food for dinner to break up the day. For the sake of simplicity, this will most probably entail ordering several pizza pies with a variety of toppings. In this way, everybody will have something that they like to eat on top of their pizza slices!
:devil: Of course, there is the mysterious Field of Darkness across from Scott's house, which contains a black hole that just eats up light before you can reach the tree line quite a distance away. For years many had tried, and only a few lights were able to illuminate the tree line. And then it started... the challenge was out. Ginseng was the first to really show up with some hyper-lights, and one of them was the first to really conquer the darkness. Last year the Black Hole was hit with a full frontal assault by two completly off the hook lights... the Data Bank and the Tank Light! Data's awesome creation was simply amazing. It is the most powerfully bright, yet truly portable, battery operated "flashlight" I've ever seen. And the stunning Tank light was brough by Radio and cmaccle, courtesy of ShortArc. Yeah, it's called the Tank light because it actually goes on a real Army tank! I'm still seeing spots! I'm bringing my sunglasses this year!
Not to be overlooked, is the annual trek (about a 3/4 mile walk) to the infamous quarry. It is an abandoned limestone rock quarry, which is used as a police shooting range.....but not when we will be there!!!
Anyway, we head into the dark reaches of the quarry, which gives an interesting backdrop for testing our lights.In the past, some CPF members from the West Coast who could not attend, sent out some of their cool mods for us to examine. Hopefully, that will happen again. :wave:
:wow: One year PK (Paul Kim, VP of Engineering at SureFire) sent some pre-release SureFire lights (an L5, an L6, and two versions of The Beast), for us to examine and return to him with our feedback.
So much goes on there is no way I can mention it all or give credit to everyone who has helped make PhotonFest what it is today. Thanks to everyone who has helped make the PF events such a success, and to help encourage me to create FCW (Flashaholic Camping Weekend) a spin off event, just like a PF but for a whole weekend, outside in the woods, where it's dark, and we have camp fires and all the good fun stuff that goes along with camping!Ok back to PF10... Of course, everyone is encouraged to bring as many lights with them as they can. What one person may think is a common light, another person may contemplate buying and will be very happy to have a personal hands-on review. :twothumbs
Scott has suggested that anyone who wants to sleep over, is welcome to do so. Sleeping arrangements are as follows: You may sleep on the couches or on the floor in his living room. You may bring your tent and camp out in his backyard. :sleepy:
I'm sure that this date will work out great for some, and not so great for others. It happens to fall right near a night of a new moon, so it will be nice and dark out at night! I'm sorry for those who will not be able to make it. It is virtually impossible to coordinate the perfect date for everyone.
While there isn't really any set schedule for activities, the event will have a flexible time frame in order to ensure that those who want to see the quarry can do so at a reasonable hour. Regarding our eating manners, the only request made by our host Scott is that we all clean up after ourselves, and leave his home in good condition. That way, his wife will let us keep coming back for more!!! And thanks in advance to his understanding wife Heather, and his children for letting us invade their home and turn it into our playground for a night.
Well, that's all for now. Hope to see you there!
--Tim (KartRacer31)
PS - If you are into camping check out this link:
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