Ridiculed By Non-Flashlight Lovers

[LEDagent]

I was in a room with 3 of my close lady friends the other night watching a movie. My Cyan Arc LS went off on accident as i was shifting around. One girl said, Oh there's Laurence with his flashlights again.

And i said, "oh...speaking of flashlights, there is this one, online, flashlight forum that i'm on that has two guys in the LA area that are going to be reviewing some REALLY expensive flashlights this Saturday."

.....then they started lauging at me, saying how excited i was about the topic. Then they starting lauging at me because i was on a flashlight forum. Ahh...they'll never understand. I just told them, that if they were ever stuck in a low-light situation and needed a flashlight, they'll be wishing that i was around.

 

[AlphalphaPB]

I'd say some people actively seek an esoteric hobby, just to make themselves stand out. Of course, this is a subconscious thing. I can see it happening in my friend, who's trying out knives/lights just because he sees how immersed I am in the hobby. He always tells me he wishes he had an in-depth hobby instead of liking generic popular stuff. I don't see much of a problem with that, but people are funny sometimes.

Or perhaps in some it's the other way around. They already stand out from others (for whatever reason), and therefore enjoy hobbies that serve to both provide a support group and to further distinguish themselves.

I think I fit reason 2. I'm glad I found knives and lights.

 

[LEDagent]

Oooh man...if i got into knives, i wouldn't have any money left. Prices for knives are just as bad, if not worse, than flashlight prices.

I would love to have a good knife, but i'm afraid that if i buy just ONE, i'm going to have to buy a back-up, BIG, small, and multi-purpose to accompany my first purchase.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

We are a bunch of Closet Cases, you know: stand or sit in closet with flashlight and door closed... click, OOH!, click {repeat, etc.}.

)

 

[PeterM]

Originally posted by LEDagent:
Oooh man...if i got into knives, i wouldn't have any money left. Prices for knives are just as bad, if not worse, than flashlight prices.

I would love to have a good knife, but i'm afraid that if i buy just ONE, i'm going to have to buy a back-up, BIG, small, and multi-purpose to accompany my first purchase.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">DON'T DO IT! Stay away from places like Bladeforum. You're right. Knives are eve WORSE than flashlights. You'll soon be impoverished. Flashlights are like cocaine, but Knives are more like crack .

 

[PeterM]

Originally posted by LEDagent:
[QB]Oooh man...if i got into knives, i wouldn't have any money left. Prices for knives are just as bad, if not worse, than flashlight prices.

STAY AWAY FROM KNIFE FORUMS!!! If flashlights are like cocaine, Knives are like crack. Except, you're right, they're usually more expensive than flashlights, at least the decent ones we'd want.

[edit]: Sorry, how did that double post happen?

 

[llvo]

Originally posted by ygbsm:
You buy it long before its popular and you show it to people who look at you like you're nuts for being interested in such a thing ...years later you see that they now have bought the very same thing.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Bingo! I bought a Surefire 6P and everyone called me crazy.
Now many of them own one themselves, i.e. e2, z3, M2 <--even I would say that's crazy, but he got a good price, only $100!!!

 

[Bmccue1964]

I had a female friend of mine who bought a house and didn't even own a single flashlight. She didn't even have one in her car.

Went out an bought her a cheap, but effective, multi-pack (6V lantern, 2-D flash, 2-AA flash) with spare batteries. Sure enough, a month later she lost her power for several days! It's kind of nice knowing that you showed someone the light who was in the dark!

 

[PsycoBob[Q2]]

One time recently I demonstrated a Mag-lite with a LS/o in it to someone. He tends to lose/break flashlights, or loan them out and never see them again, so he buys the cheap 2-packs of 2d lights. He was impressed with my LED monster, and even more impressed that I could keep from losing it.

An expensive light tends to help you remember it better. If you tend to destroy lights, you can either get lots of Wal-Mart cheapies, or several durable, expensive lights. Acutally, my Legend LX was my most expensive light, at $20- until I made my 5w-Mag mod.

 

[rlhess]

A female friend of mine was actually very pleased when I first gave her a mini-mag several years ago. A contractor "borrowed" it from her. I recently gave her a UKE mini-Q40 (she rescues orphaned cats in her spare time--useful under houses) and an Arc LE. I think I was the first man who ever gave her a flashlight and she was appreciative.

On the other hand, my wife is bored with the whole thing, but does like having good lights always within reach around the house/car.

Speaking of the above situation...you can have redundancy and backup in everything in your life...flashlights, cars, oscilloscopes, audio equipment, radios, water, food, but you cannot have a backup wife!

Cheers,

Richard

 

[ygbsm]

Originally posted by llvo:
Bingo! I bought a Surefire 6P and everyone called me crazy.
Now many of them own one themselves, i.e. e2, z3, M2 <--even I would say that's crazy, but he got a good price, only $100!!!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">In the interest of fairness I have to admit that I "helped" some people along by giving them lights as gifts.

But, still, sometimes when I talk to non-flashaholoics, I have that same feeling when I'm trying to argue "rationally" with a girlfriend. The question that pops into my head is: "Are the rules of logic suspended for those who can't see the value of a 6P?"

 

[lemlux]

Last night I walked across the dance floor of a biker bar, the Kraken, on the beach in Cardiff (not the one in Wales).

As I reached my wife she rolled her eyes in perpetual pained suffrance and intolerance of my flashaholism and told me that my pants pocket flashed repeatedly as I approached her.

You guessed it -- the loose batteries in my ARC LS bounced enough while I walked to make intermittent contact. I'm increasingly considering making the ARC LS a briefcase and bedside light rather than an EDC.

 

[McGizmo]

Originally posted by lemlux:
Last night I walked across the dance floor of a biker bar, the Kraken, on the beach in Cardiff (not the one in Wales).

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Lemlux,

Way off topic (forgive me) but is this the same bar that has been there for ever near what we used to call "Stretchmark Beach" in the 60'S? If it is, I think I can *top* your embarrasing moment there

I and a few highschool friends, quite possibly under the influence of youth and brew, flashed that bar one night in wet boxer shorts, hanging somewhere from our waists to ankles, while lobbing innocent grunnion at eachother.

Needless to say it was a full moon with many young moons

Fortunately, the propensity to drink died for me but I can't say the same for a tendancy towards flashing in the night.

(kind of back on topic, yes?)

- Don

 

[lemlux]

Don:

The bar has been there forever on the East side of 101 about 100 yards south of the only inland road accross the railroad tracks between Encinitas and Solana Beach.

The rest of the immediate area has gentrified '70s and '80's vintage restaurants in Cardiff's "Restaurant Row". Fortunately, most of Cardiff and Encinitas have an older feel and have resisted Orange County style redevelopment.

I could tell I was getting old when fear of the morning after pain and dysfunctionality started putting a damper on consumption during the previous night. I think that was a progressive process between ages 28 and 40.

 

[McGizmo]

Lemlux,

Different bar. I'm thinking of one that was on the beach, just south of the Cardiff Reef surfing spot. Just south of that was free parking for StretchMark Beach, so named for all the young moms who hung at the beach with the kids while pop was working or surfing. Oh well, I hope you can keep the spotlight off "Little Lem" as it were while frequenting biker bars!

- Don

 

[brightnorm]

When I gave my suburban brother a D3 with p91 for his birthday he flashed it a few times, said it was "too bright for the neighborhood" and never used it again.

But.....when I later gave him and his wife a couple of nicely packaged and gift wrapped 2L's, he said what a great light it was: "I use it all the time!"

So I started giving friends Photon II's, AAA's and 2L's at every opportunity: birthdays, anniversarys, holidays, and as spur-of the-moment gifts. They really appreciate and use these lights, while many tend to look upon the "super-brights" as impressive oddities.

I've always thought the AAA was an ideal keyring pocket carry but most non-Flashaholics, especially women seem to like the immediate response and miniature weightlessness of the Photons and similar lights.

There are now nearly 3000 of us. If, for the next year we could give good (but cheap) lights to our friends for birthdays, anniversarys, etc along with some useful information (learned lectures cleverly disguised as friendly chat) we could easily have created 30,000-50,000 semi-Flashaholics by year's end.

Brightnorm

 

[Nerd]

And I won't wanna know about the bandwidth increase..... and the fees... OMG...

 

[Owen]

Weird, my friends and coworkers all love my flashlights. A friend's wife specifically asked me to buy her a decent flashlight to keep in the house, and several other people have commented about "wanting a good flashlight". I gave away over 20 Photon IIs last year because people liked them so much, and may be buying that many PT Tec40s this year.
The maintenance guys at work really like my X5 and E2e/KL1, though admittedly, those have gotten some comments on the price, especially the SF. Noone seems shocked, though. I guess when they're used to seeing a guy's $450 pocket knife (now you know why I never tell anyone "that's a waste of money"!) covered in mud and gunk, his carrying a little flashlight that he's got $115 in "just figures"

Besides, they spend just as much money on their hobbies, I bet.
LMAO when one of these guys who drives a $45,000 4wd SUV that's never been off the pavement, and has a $600+ car payment says something about what my knives or flashlights cost, anyway.
My truck's paid for

...and I'm single, so I don't have to justify ANYTHING!

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I made an attempt to get a new guy interested. I showed him my Madmax, Glass Lense, Ram Switch Mini Mag. He was impressed with the output, but VERY impressed with the Ram Switch.

He pointed to a 120V area light and said that's what he needs. Oh well.

 

[lemlux]

PlayboyJoeSmoe:

How old is your Ram switch on your minimag? Mine became increasingly difficult for me to activate (small inside center button) and finally died in the off position. This happened in four months with a very infrequently used minimag.

I recently bought a Kroll rounded black rubber minimag endcap on Dat2Zip's sandwich shop that I feared I wouldn't like because of its bulk. I am very pleasantly surprised with this Kroll switch.