Why no flashlight magazines?

Greetings!

OK... so you can go to the bookstore, and find at least 15 magazines devoted to firearms, 5 or 10 magazines devoted to knives, a few that specialize in watches, half a rack of car/motorcycle/boat/plane mags... and probably twice as many devoted to clothes and fashion. Don't even get me started on the computer and gadget magazines - you need an extra aisle just for that stuff!

So... why no flashlight magazines?

Best wishes,
Bawko

Good point, there are thousands of members her at CPF and I cna bet the majority would have a subscription to such a magazine if it existed...I am a knifeaholic by heart and I find that there are not enough magazines about just knives, I always think why not anymore knife mags...but I never thought of having a flashlight magazine before...man that would rock! somethgin snazzy like "Torch Power" I would buy every issue!

Seems that flashlights tend to get covered in all those other magazines that you mentioned. How much do you think you could put into a monthly or bi-monthly periodical that was solely dedicated to flashlights. Financially, how would you plan on supporting such a publication? Would there be enough advertisers to cover the costs of publications (the money comes from the ads, not from the subscriptions.)

Atomic_Chicken said:

Greetings!

OK... so you can go to the bookstore, and find at least 15 magazines devoted to firearms, 5 or 10 magazines devoted to knives, a few that specialize in watches, half a rack of car/motorcycle/boat/plane mags... and probably twice as many devoted to clothes and fashion. Don't even get me started on the computer and gadget magazines - you need an extra aisle just for that stuff!

So... why no flashlight magazines?

Best wishes,
Bawko

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Surefire and one of the gun magazines work together to put out some pretty nice magazines on about a 6 month cycle dedicated to tactical lighting. I'm in the middle of moving so everything is in boxes but if I run across a copy I'll post more info.

The magazines have beautiful photography, real "flashlight porn".

Thats a good point, I haven't seen any Flashlight dedicated magazines.
People in general are into big cars, houses, boats, 4X4 wheel drives, games,
home mags, cooking ect. It's all about marketing $$$

Publishing it on the internet first would be a good way to judge reaction. I think a torch magazine would be a great idea. Reviews, technical information, lots of pictures, "mod of the month", those kinds of things. I don't know if it would fly where I live, as no place in town carries knife magazines..

KeyGrip said:

Publishing it on the internet first would be a good way to judge reaction. I think a torch magazine would be a great idea. Reviews, technical information, lots of pictures, "mod of the month", those kinds of things. I don't know if it would fly where I live, as no place in town carries knife magazines..

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American Survival Guide is in just that format . Used to be able to pick it up on newsstands or subscribe to printed copy ,now to get the snark fix is online *only* ... and it works for them . Then again , up to date info is available all day every day right here .

That's right NAlamo:thumbsup:

I asked the same question by myself.......and found the answer.
A magazine have to be daily appear with all this new stuff every day.

And none magazine would contain such many knowledge like CPF.

CPF rocks:rock:

Best regards

_____
Tom

There's only so much you can write about flashlights. It's not everyday you get an advancement in flashlight technology. When you do get an advancement it's covered in other science magazines. Tactical use of flashlights are covered in Gun/Tactical magazines.

It's like the topics of flashlights is a very small pie and the other magazines cover it in overlap with their huge pies.

Oh a torch magazine would be great!! You could have a monthly section on modding showing step by step processes, articles about police stories, military use, hunting, camping, fishing, survival preparedness (disaster stories) and the uber collection of the month, interviews with manufacturers, and the industry corner covering the latest advancement in leds not just in flashlight but on interior lighting to autos. I can see it now, you'd turn that first page and there would be a big 2 page ad showing the Titan. Letters to the editor in disagreement with the latest review results. haha

Atomic_Chicken said:

Greetings!

OK... so you can go to the bookstore, and find at least 15 magazines devoted to firearms, 5 or 10 magazines devoted to knives, a few that specialize in watches, half a rack of car/motorcycle/boat/plane mags... and probably twice as many devoted to clothes and fashion. Don't even get me started on the computer and gadget magazines - you need an extra aisle just for that stuff!

So... why no flashlight magazines?

Best wishes,
Bawko

Click to expand...

I think that's how a lot of enthusiast magazines get started...someone asking why no one makes a mag for them and then they go and do it for themselves! Now get busy and write an article about the newest led's available and they will soon achieve 200lm/W

When I read the title I thought you wanted a faster way to change your batteries.:lolsign:

maybe an entrepreneur publisher becomes a flashaholic...realizes that people on this forum is crazy about flashlights. gathering research and publish magazines sold strictly on the forum....thats over 20,000 readers already...

we're all happy

Mikeg23 said:

When I read the title I thought you wanted a faster way to change your batteries.:lolsign:

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I cant imagine a light with so much output that lithium primaries had to be installed on an ammobelt and reeled in when you use the light

Mikeg23 said:

When I read the title I thought you wanted a faster way to change your batteries.:lolsign:

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That's funny! I was thinking the same thing. I pictured a long flashlight with a curved battery magazine hanging down below it. The flashlight would be a zillion candlepower and you just pop in a new battery from the magazine every few seconds to maintain the brightness.

bridgman said:

Surefire and one of the gun magazines work together to put out some pretty nice magazines on about a 6 month cycle dedicated to tactical lighting. I'm in the middle of moving so everything is in boxes but if I run across a copy I'll post more info.

The magazines have beautiful photography, real "flashlight porn".

Click to expand...

I ask this question in 2005 and to date there is still no dedicated flashlight magazine.

The closest is "Wild Hunting" via "Guns & Ammo & Surefire". The photos and stories are great.

come to think of it...the only literature that can be classified as a magazine would be surefires catalog

most catalogs shows the title of product, picture, price, members price [If applicable], shipping info and a little about the company's history and alot about their contact info.

surefire catalogs tells the entire story from the beginning of the company to the latest cutting edge design, a preface of the covers, pictures...etc all on heavy weight, glossy pages...not the easily torn single sheet waxed leaflets that crumple when the gramps on the mailtruck cram it into your mailbox

no wonder $IZ€ XVs call it "the bible"

Flashlight Magazine would be a GREAT idea.


Can't wait to see the Center-Fold-of-the-Month !





And, let's not forget our roots --

Let's have a nice Retro-Section every issue.

I think there are a couple of people here into flashlight porn. . . he he he!

I know the mainstream mags are dying, and the future of publishing is in niche markets, but I still can't see a flashlight magazine working. There is too much competition online. The success of CPF and FlashlightReviews would deter any publisher from sinking money into the publication. And where would the advertising revenue come from?

tebore said:

There's only so much you can write about flashlights.

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Huh??? What about all the stuff written in posts here on CPF every day?!

For example, just think of the "Letters to the Editor" pages… You'd need about 5 sub-editors just to handle the "to strobe or not to strobe, that is the question" correspondence in the Fenix section.

Would there be a "readers flashlights" section?


CFU