Lending out your lights to neighbors.

A lot of CPFers have impressive flaslight collections, or a couple of high-end pieces. I'm curious as to what you guys would loan to a neighbor who needed a light. Would it be one of your more pricey lights, or do you keep a couple of inexpensive 2-D cells on hand, for when a neighbor comes calling?

If there was a Blackout, how would that affect your decision?

I'll just give him/her a small sheet of paper with FENIX-STORE.COM !
Plain people do not pay attention to those precious jewels which are flashlights , they do not respect them like we do, they do not care for them...
They will use it, scratch it, forget about it, lost it ... I will have nightmares about my lost flashlight, nervous breakdown, commit suicide after months of depression.
My stash of flashlight is mine, it is my own, MY PRECIOUS !

Have extra Ledbeam 3 C's, Safelights and Minimags.
Could also loan out one or two Mag's that are 3 Cell LED's.
For blackout of any time length, I have a generator for backup and recharging a lot of cells if needed. Real good neighbor could get one of my 3 Magchargers.
Fenix LOPse, Fenix P1, Scorpion 500, Electrolumens Tristar Phazer, 2 Nuwai 032's, and an assortment of 123 types would stay with me.

I have a half dozen lights or so that I tend to hand out while camping with non-flashaholics. They are primarily minimags with MJLEDs in them or some type of PT or Inova light. 10x better than anything they usually bring along, but no big loss to me if it is lost or damaged. I don't lend out my nice lights because I would hate how that person would feel if they lost or damaged it. I'm sure they wouldn't want to cough up $200-$300 to replace it. No, I keep my favourites to myself.

May be I may consider to give my nite-Ize minimag to a sexy neighbor lady...

I might lend out old obsolete lights that I don't use anymore. I don't like lending out my stuff. I lent a book out once, it came back in two pieces, ripped in half. Didn't replace it or anything. Leagally and ethically a person is responsible for the finacial cost fixing or replacing property in their care. Too many people have the attitude "It's not mine, so I don't care what happens to it".

Well...I like most of my neighbors and most of them like me. But there's one set that...heh...I'm not sure what I'd give them, but it probably would not bear any resemblence to a flashlight.

The ones I like I wouldn't even lend my nice lights to. Depends on what they needed it for. If they're working on their car or something, I'd probably lend them my trouble light. If an emergency, yeah...I have an old military 2 d-cell they can use. No worries if they "forget" to return that. They're about $5.00.

JM-99

I have real good group of neighbors. I wouldn't hesitate to lend them a light or two, especially in an emergency. They watch out for dogs when I not home, pick up packages so they don't sit on the steps in the rain, snowblow my walk, etc. The least I can do is lend or give them a light. Now my sister in-law and her fiance, that's another story. Took them 2 years to return an energizer headlamp and PT flashlight they "borrowed" for camping. The headlamp still does not work right. Sorry for the vent :scowl:

I usually hand out my beater minimags (modded, of course), but last time I let my friend use my GL3 (she teases me about my lights).

Since I am used to having to replace anything that gets loaned out, it would have to be something that uses CR123's and cheap. Maybe it would get returned.

Of course I thought my old C battery Rayovac workhorse would be returned because the borrower hated the concept of paying D battery prices for a smaller battery. It didn't occur to me he would give it away. At least it was cheaper than the leaf blower, lawn mower, ladder, etc.

Etienne1980 said:

May be I may consider to give my nite-Ize minimag to a sexy neighbor lady...

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Had to! :laughing:

Smjled PR in a rayovac industrial setup, cheap and awesome runtime.

So far, the consensus seems to be what I expected.... and what I would do in a similar circumstance.

Non-flashaholics are likely to treat ANY flashlight as though it were a cheap plastic, 2-D cell Disposable.

Monocrom said:

Non-flashaholics are likely to treat ANY flashlight as though it were a cheap plastic, 2-D cell Disposable.

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Overheard in wallyworld last week: Girl and Boy (college age) are buying stuff for halloween. I'm in the flashlight aisle. He's looking at the light beside me, Mag LED.

"Are these okay?" She says referring to a package of 2 Rayovac 2D with 4 batts.
"We'll talk about later," he says.
"Well maybe I'll buy a $20 flashlight for Christmas." She says.

I think to myself, wow I spent more than that on batteries and bulbs in the last month.

Most people don't see a flashlight as an almost professional piece of equipment. They see it as something that they use then forget about. So to them I'd give a $1.50 Everready 2D. But most of my neighbors are family and almost all are farmers or grew up on farms so they all have minimally decent lights (ie 3D mags).

nakahoshi said:

Had to! :laughing:

Smjled PR in a rayovac industrial setup, cheap and awesome runtime.

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Yeah, but I would WANT that set-up back! :laughing: It's a nice package especially with the built-in battery meter.

My neighbors are not the sharpest tools in the shed... They have never asked to borrow a light. Like the Eloy*, they may be unaware that light may be artificially produced after the sun goes down...

I do keep some cheap LED lights on hand to loan to my closest neighbors if I notice that during a blackout they are burning candles -- I don't want them to inadvertantly set fire to my house.

* Helpless race from HG Wells', The Time Machine. 1899.

h_nu said:

Since I am used to having to replace anything that gets loaned out, it would have to be something that uses CR123's and cheap. Maybe it would get returned.

Of course I thought my old C battery Rayovac workhorse would be returned because the borrower hated the concept of paying D battery prices for a smaller battery. It didn't occur to me he would give it away. At least it was cheaper than the leaf blower, lawn mower, ladder, etc.

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I'm reading that and I can't help but picture Ned Flanders.

I've got plenty of old cheap incands I wouldn't mind lending out. Kind of attached to my LEDs, but I might not mind passing out the old Dorcy Cool Blue and Metal Gear.

Geoff

I have a Walmart 87¢ light I wouldn't mind lending out, heh heh. And my Civictor V1, UK 4AA Xenon and SF G2 if I must, but only to people I think understand the importance of treating others' property nicely.

Last night I went to a corn maze (in the dark) with some guys from my college outing club. Amazingly, several of them did not think to bring any usable source of light. Fortunately, I expected this and came more than prepared. I lent one guy my old princeton tec headlamp which i keep in my car, and another a nite-ize minimag which i had brought as a backup. When the headlamp dropped off in brightness, I let that guy use my dorcy AAA which I edc. I didnt worry about lending the lights out because i was with these guys most of the time and I was going to drive them home. I think i could trust them anyways. I was using a task force 3AA luxeon which worked very well the whole time. They were surprised at me having so many lights with me, but they pretty easily understood the logic of being prepared when you know you are going to need it. I bet theyll have a flashlight in the next similar circumstance (or theyll mooch off someone else again!).

I've got a pile of those coin cell Photon type lights that Lighthound.com includes for free in their shipments. I would just give them away if someone came looking to borrow a light. It should be adequate for any blackout or other minor use. If they need a durable high power light then maybe they should buy their own. There are a few who I'd trust with my good lights but I really don't have any cheap ones. My Fenix lights are probably the least expensive but I'm not willing to give them away, which is what ususally happens when you loan something to a neighbor.