ever used your light to help others?

Tue or Wed of last week I was doing my nightly walk with my 2-year old girl when I noticed an UPS truck going up and down my street. It was obvious the guy was somewhat lost (it was already dark), and as the truck approached me, and as I was in front some house in my street, the driver got out of the truck and said: "is that house #1009?"

From his vantage point in the street (and with no light of any kind) it was impossible to see clearly, so I simply pointed my A2 (which of course was lit!) to the front of the house and voila, the whole front of the house was now clearly visible and the driver (and I) can clearly see the number "1009" on the house

It was very gratifying to be able to help the UPS guy deliver what was most likely a present to someone in my street

Will

I help nurses find pills they drop all the time when I'm in the nursing homes doing mobile X-rays.

Even though the hall is lit up by flourescent lights , the 60 lumen beam of my HDS U60 XRGT will make the little dropped pills easy to find!

-PSM

What a neighborly fellow you are Will! The only time I sort of aided my buddy in finding an address/parking spot, was when I was on my first repossesion case with him. He used his 2D Maglite with dying batteries and I used my SureFire 6P. He complained that it was too much light and didn't want to be too obvious. Needless to say, I quit that job. NOT MY CUP OF TEA! Too Much Adrenaline Rush I Say!

A couple weeks ago a bigrig guy was backed into the dock at work in the dark at 6am, waiting for Receiving to open. He was in the process of inspecting something on his rig with a "grocery store" 2D POS. I was there having a smoke and elected to help him with the little EDC. (One of those minor flashaholic moments. )

Larry

I whip out the EDC at every oportunity to help! Isn't that what they are for?

If I see that I can help with my flashlight then I do it.

Yaesumofo

Oh heavens, yes.

All the time.

Just yesterday, during a huge family party at my house, one of the little girls lost a necklace out in the front yard grass. Worth maybe .65 cents, but you know how important it is to them.

Well, I didn't just come out with one flashlight. Oh no, none of that. Why, let's give *everyone* flashlights. Yea, flashlight party! LED's, incans, three cells, two cells, single cells, coin cells, conversions, spots floods, Luxeons, clusters. There might have been a rocket assisted parachute flare in there somewhere. Hey, that little baby over there's got nothing! Quick, somebody give her the 2D Mag! Father in law lurching around with an 8D double-flourescent. Neighbor puzzling over a 4D dive flood. Little Matthew chasing Sara around with a cheap Harbor Freight LED. The baby slobbering all over the 2D Mag.

Never did find that necklace, but by the time the flashlight party was over, I think the grass was a little greener from all the light.

Also: have a neighbor who is very old but still mobile. He is proud, and likes to take walks at night. Only problem is that he gets lost all the time. Has a crappy incan that can't light up his shoes, and he was falling all the time. Gave him a little 1-watt Luxeon, and he gets around better now. He still had a lot of problems finding his house at night, even with the better flashlight ,and so when I would see him walk by I'd go inside and get a cheap Harbor Freight spotlight and aim it at his house when he'd get near. He'd see the house and go inside.

He recently fell in the street during a daylight walk, and when a lady in a car who was passing by told me that I ran up there with a cell phone. Called the paramedics who took him away. He'd broken his hip. His daughter (who doesn't live in the neighborhood) came by later to thank me, and said that her father calls me the 'spotlight guy' who always helps him get back home.

I tell my wife, "Honey, you never know which of these 30 flashlights might help me save someone's life, and if I had 40 the chances would be even better." :naughty:

I pull out my QIII on a regular basis to help others see in dark closets, above drop ceilings, behind equipment racks, etc. I'm starting to be known around work as the person who always has a flashlight at the ready.

I haven't found an opportunity, yet, but my mom has. She was on one of those tour buses and the couple behind her dropped a ring. It was pitch black inside except for the TV and that didn't help them see thier feet at all. After a few fantic minutes, my mom pulls out the Dorcy AAA I gave her (and make her carry). They found the ring right by thier feet in two seconds flat.

tonight, we had a "surprise" snowstorm, in just under an hour, about an inch of wet, sticky, *slippery* snow...

i was on the drive home from work when the Jetta in front of me started fishtailing, as soon as the driver slammed the brakes, i knew it was all over for them, the rear of the car started pendulum-ing (is *so* a word....now ), and the car ended up nose down in a ditch

i rolled to a stop behind the car, turned on the hazards, and went to see if the driver was okay

the driver, a young, college-age woman, was a little flustered and shaken, but otherwise okay, i went back to the car, got my Husky worklight to see how badly the car was stuck

it was pretty deep in, but no damage, the left rear tire was almost lifted clear off the road, so the prospects of pushing the car out looked bad, while i was seeing how deep she was in, she was on the phone with AAA, and another good samaritan driver stopped as well, driving past her car and putting on the hazards, effectively blocking off our lane of the road

i grabbed my SF 6P to check the tire for damage, nothing, of course it didn't help that she had partially bald tires either, myself and the other samaratin tried pushing the car while she reversed, but it wouldn't budge

by this time, AAA was on the way, she thanked us for trying to help, and said she was okay waiting, we both went on our way, i felt bad that i couldn't pull her car out, but my car ('02 Dodge Neon) isn't exactly known for towing ability, and has no hardpoints to hook chains up to anyway

while i was waiting with her initially, surveying how badly stuck she was, we got to talking, turns out she was on her way to a date with some guy she met over the internet, i thought to myself "maybe fate's trying to save her from a potentially unpleasant situation".....

it's times like this i *really* wish i had a 4WD truck, slap a set of chains on the truck, find a convenient attachment point on the car, and i could've yoinked her out of the ditch, however, the lights were a big help in assesing how badly stuck she was...

i also suggested that she consider investing in a set of snow tires, it may not have prevented her slide into the ditch, but it probably would have prevented the loss of traction that caused the ditching in the first place....

I wanted to, but couldn't
I was at an gas station, my mother was adding air to the tires, and the someone was repairing a guys brakes, but with a M*G solitare, with dead batterys. Man I wanted to walk up and tell him about Luxeons and let him use my TLE-5 M*G. Car was locked from the remote however.

Great stories, everyone!

Two or three times, I've illuminated pedestrians who were crossing a busy road in the dark. Even though they had the Walk light, drivers turning left would have had difficulty seeing them.

I help to prepare all my freinds for randon S.W.A.T. invasions by shining my freshly charged MAG951 into their faces at close range, thishelps to de-sensitise them to the initial shock they would get if there ever was a tactical assault against them.

Ok I shine the path to my mother's car for her at nights so that she deosn't trip in the pot holes.

Once I was in New Guinea and there was a power out and I used my MAG951 again - it lit up such a large area with the spill beam that lots of people were able to start walking again...

Hubby used his 6P to help a guy change a flat tire on the interstate during a bad thunderstorm in the middle of the night. I've used my tm310h to light up the serving area on our church Xmas party so no one spilled hot soup on themselves, and also used my tm301-x3 on high to light up the corral for pony rides in the dark at the same Xmas party.

The sad thing is that sometimes you'll help someone and they still turn around and say, "You carry a flashlight around with you? You're weird!"

All you can do is add them to the "Do not help" list.

I was in a club a couple of weeks ago with the wife and a few friends having a couple of drinks. I noticed the lady at the next table looking under her table. Her husband said she had lost a stone out of her ring. The guy from the bar comes over with a POS flashlight and they looked for awhile but didn't have any luck. So I pulled out my HDS U60 and flipped it on high. We found the stone but I think I ruined everyone's night vision in the process....

Lots of times.

The SF E1e gets used a lot helping drivers see what's on the 48 or 53 foot long trailers. Even with a spotlight mounted on a swivel bracket, if the bulb works (never a sure thing), you can't hit the spot that they want to see.

It also gets used when the refrigeration mechanics try to use the company issued D cell M*gs and/or MiniM*gs and get pretty much nowhere. A few of them are looking into LED replacement bulbs so the batteries will last longer than a day. Another is thinking abut a SF G2.

I've been to a few bars where the roadies for the touring acts are trying to set up equipment or find the right CD's and Tee's for fans. Even the Dorcy single AA LED gets a "pleasantly surprised" reaction.

There are quite a few lights that have been used to check on the health and welfare of accident victims and banged up kids. Having a teen-aged step-son, they've gotten a lot of work after his and his friends basketball and football games. I'm surprised at the crappy lights that the coaches, ambulance crews, and even some EMT's carry.

We have a lot of educating to do!

BTW, having had a lot of experience pushing and towing out cars, I confess to being very careful about to whom I offer my help. It's not from the lack of "thank you's," the getting sprayed with mud/slush/gravel, or the failure of the driver to understand the meaning of the word "wait." It's the almost getting run over part that ticks me off. After that happens a few times, you get "gun shy" I guess.

Oh God yes!! It happens all the time. Of course at this very moment in time, I can not think of a specific incident.

Zigzago said:

The sad thing is that sometimes you'll help someone and they still turn around and say, "You carry a flashlight around with you? You're weird!"

All you can do is add them to the "Do not help" list.

Click to expand...

Those are the type of people that are generally unprepared (and useless) in most emergencies. :thumbsdow

We were on a train trip to Thailand, in a first class overnight bunker, which had a sink & faucet. The faucet was leaking. so I called one of the train operatur guys to fix it. The light was sorta dim in the bunker, and coupled witha moving train, the guy was strugglling to fix the leaking faucet. Voila! out came my Fenix and my SF C2 to shine some light on his work and also my Leatherman SuperTool .

He was impressed!

Zigzago said:

The sad thing is that sometimes you'll help someone and they still turn around and say, "You carry a flashlight around with you? You're weird!"

All you can do is add them to the "Do not help" list.

Click to expand...

Now that's funny! Also when I helped out CalTrain/ACE Train service crew when they had their Rayovac or Energizer yellow industrial plastic 2D flashlights that reflected poorly on the train and tracks. I helped them out one time by shining the track and one side of the train with my SureFire M6 until they've done what they're doing. Their look towards me was of 'no thanks' and of indifference. . .