Why are you a flashaholic?

[richbuff]

The reason that I am a flashoholic is that when I am not buying yet another flashlight, the world and its people are hostile and evil. That in turn makes life intolerable. When I am buying yet another flashlight, the earths' hostility and evil people are tolerable.

 

[aginthelaw]

I don`t know exactly, I just have this thing for Light I guess, I have 10`s of thousands of LEDs in all different colors and sizes, nearly 2000 candles, various kerosene lamps, and of course Torches!
I look at them sometimes and think "Girl, you got problems!" but I reason that it`s not really hurting anyone so I just carry on. I was scared of the dark as a child (and had good reason to be), but I`m pretty sure I`m not that bothered by it so much now, so it`s probably not that.
There`s just something comforting in having light whenever you want it and not for any practical purposes necessarily, sometimes it`s nice just because.

When did you start collecting?

I think i became a flashaholic after my Stream light got stolen at work. Rather than buy a new one I just asked around for some broken ones from my coworkers and set about fixing them because I like projects like that. Next thing I knew, I was fixing the whole department's flashlights. People were giving me lights left and right and i was getting substantial discounts during my time as a rep for a light company

 

[Folgore202]

Because I'm a big kid at heart, and when I was a kid, with my friends, we LOVED to sneak around at night during sleepovers and explore the woods, go from a village to another - which is easy when they're all 2 to 4 kilometers from each other -, we'd go and hold "councils" at the shacks we had built in the woods during the day and called our "secret headquarters"... and as much as we did most of the walking without any light (we'd go out when the moon was full so that we could do without light, as people would have been spooked by lights wandering between the fields), we did take flashlights with us and used them when at the shack, or when we read maps to make sure we weren't lost; under a poncho, of course, lest we wanted to be spotted!

And that's how I fell in love with wandering out in the countryside at night. Of course, the fact that the region I grew in doesn't have things like bears and cougars helped! But, still, here I am, almost 40 years old, being excited like a kid when I'm buying a flashlight because of all the cool adventures I could have with it.

 

[manticore]

We were having a party and about 2 hours prior to folks starting to arrive, my wife sent me to the store for a couple of things. It was raining so the sky was rather dark. I was about as far into the store as you could go when some idiot took out a power pole and the store went pitch black. After a few seconds I realized the emergency lighting was either nonexistant or out of order. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my zippo and it provided enough light to navigate my way to the front of the store, several other patrons followed me to the front.

I went to another store, 1 town over and did my shopping. I started carrying a flashlight after that event and I have carried one every day since. Although I believe myself to be more of a flashlight enthusiast than a flashoholic. I have few addictions but like to be prepared for most situations. Chance favors the prepared mind.

 

[DaveTheDude]

For me having a reliable pocket light is a preparedness thing. I became aware of the usefulness of flashlights during my service in the Navy. (This was at a time when a 2 C-cell Ray-O-Vac Sportsman was considered a small pocket light.) The Navy prizes the trait of forehandedness (aka "be prepared"). There are good reasons for this: at sea there is often no other vessel nearby to help if things go wrong, so anticipation of what might can go wrong and preparing to deal with it is a useful skill. One of the things that can go wrong aboard ship concerns power. When you're five decks below the waterline and the power goes out, it's DARK. There is machinery all around you that will hurt you if you blunder into it. Having a personal light will help you make it topside in one piece. Years later I acquired my first Surefire incan, then my first truly small pocket light (Fenix P1), and after that there was no turning back. Thirty years after I left the Navy I still want to be prepared for life's little mishaps, and having a reliable pocket light allows me to function effectively in the absence of power or light supplied by society. I'm also able to help others, and this forum records numerous stories of how a flashlight saved someone's day.

 

[325addict]

That's a very good question... what's so interesting that I keep coming back for more, and buy yet ANOTHER flaslight although I could supply whole STREETS with more than just one light if we would encounter a blackout?? I think part of it is pure curiosity. I just got in a new 2C cell Maglite - I only had the old incandescents from Maglite, and although I still like these a LOT for what they are, I was curious lately WHAT Maglite would produce nowadays. To my surprise, they now finally modernised their fleet so to say, and I decided to buy an ML25LT. A basic 2C cell light with just two modes, very easy to use. It came in and I compared it with my 6D with MagNum Star bulb in it: OOOPS!! In fact, that new cute 2C cell Maggie blew away my old 6D... when I turned it on in 15% mode, outputs were quite comparable. Time didn't stand still at Maglite... it's a pity it is STILL not possible in 2020 to just add pictures in this forum, otherwise I could have shown you how impressive this little cheap Maglite actually is. It feels like it will last a life time

 

[Katherine Alicia]

When did you start collecting?

it`s kinda hard to pin down exactly, but I had my first flashlight when I was about 4, and had several of them by the time I was 7 along with assorted bulbs and parts taken from scrap electronics that my grandfather used to let me play with.
then we moved country and I had to give away all my "toys", we moved around a lot after that so I kept having my collections `reset` until we moved back to the UK. I was 13 then and built up a nice collection that I lost again when I ran away from home at 15.
when I was 18 I got my first place and was no longer homeless, then my collection started again and never really stopped, so going from then it`s been 35 years worth of continuous collecting of all things that light up, but nearly 50 years of on/off collecting

 

[rikity]

I've never been able to pass the flashlight isle in a store without looking at everything there. The internet age has made it so much worse now that there are stores that have 100's of different lights for sale. Most of the time I dont even know what i'm looking for, but if something looks cool or useful for some certain situation that might someday happen, i'm a buyer

 

[richbuff]

I've never been able to pass the flashlight isle in a store without looking at everything there. The internet age has made it so much worse now that there are stores that have 100's of different lights for sale. Most of the time I dont even know what i'm looking for, but if something looks cool or useful for some certain situation that might someday happen, i'm a buyer

Your first post, signed up six years ago...... Welcome to CPF! :welcome:

 

[CSG]

I'm not really. Living in rural Idaho, being prepared is what we do. Back in the 90's, power outages were an issue due to weather, accidents, etc. Things are much better now but we started with oil lamps, candles, and some 3 Dcell Maglites and Mini-Mags.

As a father's day gift many years ago, I received a Night-Ops Gladius which was, then, a SOTA flaslight with strobe and 80 Lumens!. Runs as well today as then. A couple years later, I was made aware of the Fenix E01 AAA flashlight and bought a few to put in our daypacks in the RV as we were traveling with young kids (I had a 4 AA cell headlamp from REI that struggled to keep up with the E01). That made me buy a couple new headlamps for camping (a Princeton Tec Aurora 3 AAA) and a newer Petzl with runs on a couple 2032 batteries). Both work well enough still to not upgrade.

Fast forward to ChiVi. What with toilet paper shortage (seriously?), I started assessing our supplies and wandered back onto EDC and flashlight forums (and YT). The short of it is, I bought a bunch more small flashlights to scatter about the house (the new Fenix E01 V2 x3, the E05 x3, E12 x2, a pair of Olight i3T EOS, and a couple more bought and returned. I recently got the super new Streamlight ProTac 90x USB to replace my old Gladius and it now rests on my nightstand. Brilliant tactical light but a little awkward for EDC with my wardrobe. I also bought a pair of Nitcore Tube V2 flashlights for my keychains for a couple vehicles. I had an original Tube for years that was a freebie and I've been impressed with it's durability and performance. Lastly, I just yesterday received the free ($5 shipping) Olight i1R keychain flashlight and am really impressed with it.

So yes, I've bought 12-15 flashlights recently but all the tech-speak on the forums interests me not at all. I just am impressed with how far the technology has come over the past 10 or so years. Most of my power comes from Eneloops, Duracell alkalines, and CR123 lith-ion batteries (which are used in the old Gladius and a couple gunlights). I also dipped my toe into a box of Energizer lith-ion AAA batteries for the little flashlights in the daypacks due to their long shelflife and claimed ability to not leak (I lost an E01 to a leaked Kirkland battery when we made the mistake of trying their alkalines.

Oops, forgot to add the Feit 4-pack of small *tactical* lights I impulsively bought at Costco. At the net cost of $7.25 each for a 500/300 lumen light with a focusable beam, I took a flyer. For around the house, they're pretty good. Weird design choice (a cradle to hold 3 AAA batteries instead of a couple CR123's or a AA's?)

 

[Robot Mania FU]

Because I mostly spend my money on fishing, whiskey, guns, and knives and all of those require light to stay safe at some point :candle: