Why are you a flashaholic?

[shane45_1911]

Because I also like knives, guns and all things gear.....

Ditto. Exactly.

 

[kj2]

Because I'm amazed that, for most flashlights, such a small thing can give so much light.

 

[shao.fu.tzer]

My parents used to lock me in the basement overnight when I misbehaved.



No really, I think it came from a combination of my childhood fear of the dark and my inner need to control it. One major disadvantage that we have as humans is our lousy night vision. I like to even up the score a bit with the animal kingdom by applying good old human technology.

 

[Mike Docherty]

For me it started when I attended a low-light tactics class at the old Surefire institue in the early 90's. They used to teach what could appropriately be termed "the martial art of the flashlight." As a cop, I was fascinated with the idea of using a powerful light as a non lethal weapon. Ken Good and the other instructors had the aura of ninjas, with their ability to visually stun and blind you, and be gone while you were shooting (paintballs) where they used to be. The lights were crude by today's standards, mostly 6P's and 9Z's with the 12Z, being the lightsaber of its time.

I was always on the lookout for the perfect light for this specific application (I'm still looking). I spent years mastering the art of working with lights and weapons until everything got easier as they started mounting the lights on the weapons! Oh well...now I get to look for the perfect light for my guns as well.

 

[Miles_PerHour]

Most of the above

 

[lasermax]

When I was a boy my dad used to buy cheap lights for work and when he brought them home I would take them apart to see how they worked I never got into beam. Of lights ontell I got older there's times I wished I had a brighter one to use one thing I used to use them for was frog giggen at ponds and lakes at night which I used a rayovac handheld for hunting bull frogs at night now since aim a lot older I finally found this forum at about 30yrs later that is I finally have some high end lights to use. I never heard of surefire or fenix lights before so I have to thank this forum and you all for this wow my child hood is restored

 

[StarHalo]

 

[Connor]

Because it's dark for about half the time every day.
Plus I'm a night owl.

 

[mvyrmnd]

I'm a gadget nerd, mostly. And I've always loved the idea of making something run better than it was ever supposed to. Getting Doom to run on my 386SX, running Windows 98 on my 486 (quite well, I might add), sticking a giant turbo on my old Saab and having it outgun V8 Commodores and WRX'es, fitting a 55W HID kit into a crappy old spotlight, having a Mag that puts out 4000 lumens :devil:

Bigger, brighter, faster, better. That's what does it for me.

 

[Thedugger]

I have a disease called stuffitus. Knives, guns and lights, they all go together.

 

[choombak]

"Gadget factor", mechanical toys, preparedness, among many other ideas.

 

[eightbitpotion]

It's better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them.

 

[Lightman2]

As a kid I use to watch the street lights through the little coloured panes of glass on our front porch and loved toys that had lights inside or when you pushed them along they sparked or lite up. I also use to lie in the back of the car as dad was driving and watch the street lights flick past. Now a little older (much older) there is something spectacular and awesome when you take this little cylindrical tube out into a world of darkness and dispell it or cut it in half with light. I love that. The more lights the better. Flashlights are the best grown up toys I know of.

 

[squaat]

For me it all started when I was a Boy Scout. At night our camping trips turned into pissing matches about who had the best light for spotting possums and koala's. For awhile it was me with my 3D Halogen Energizer flash light, which was soon outdone by the Eveready Dolphins, and later Maglites.

I stepped away from it all for quite awhile, but I was always fascinated by flashlights. I was re-introduced when I stumbled across the luxeon 3AA's at Costco. Soon after the flame was re-ignited, i found my self here on cpf, and spending way more on flashlights and batteries than I ever did.

So like many other's here it's a childhood thing.

 

[Ian2381]

It started when i was a kid my uncle gave us flashlight which my brother and I shared, and when i got my first light i was really satisfied and carried it everynight during a vacation in the province. at this point i got really interested in flashlights and even bought Christmas bulbs to create a makeshift flashlight made of cardboard and wires.

I could say that my flashlight setup could light my nights even years without electricity.

 

[wmirag]

What is this great lookin' light?

 

[Cataract]

Because I like light and I always liked flashlights.

I was stuck in situations where a light would have helped too many times, so I finally got a decent flashlight. Next thing I knew, there was a better one, then a better one, another better one, and then it was already an obsession so I gave in.

 

[Hitthespot]

Whew............You scared me there for a minute. I read the title and thought my wife was on here.

 

[wolfticket]

I think it's because I have something or an obsessive perfectionist personality. Outdoors stuff, hifi, computers, they've all taken up sizable chunks of my time and money.

I'm currently something of a flashlight noob, and am hoping to dodge the bullet as I'm not sure I can afford it. However, I can see all the familiar signs of getting in deep, and frankly this place isn't helping :thumbsup:

 

[Animalmother]

I hiked often and decided I wanted more light after running into bunkers and nike missle sites. After trying target lights I really liked(lithium 2aa). I knew there must be a flashlight forum as well as better lights for the money. I got into urban exploring (marin and san francisco headlands). I needed alot more light for bunkers etc... That's how i got into flashlights.

Mostly AA lights.