Met another flashaholic at Target

I stopped by a Target today to compare the new 5.5w Inova to my modded QIII when a young fellow stopped by and asked if I needed help. I said that I was just comparing the Inova to my own flashlight. To my surprise he said "what are you carrying?" and I explained what I had. He seemed interested and mentioned that he was into tactical lights, so I asked him if he knew about CPF. That's when he mentioned that he knows OddOne from CPF.

Wow! It's a small world.

Then he went back to work and I went back to comparing beamshots... and then my battery died. I never did get to compare the lights to my satisfaction.

Some Flashaholic you are not carrying a spare battery. The shame. :shakehead

Yeah, I think that makes me a half-flasshaholic.

Very cool story indeed. Perhaps he will sign up here and become part of the CPF.

always carry spares! doesn't matter if its a flashlight or not

I carry a spare set of car keys....just in case I left my main beam on and the operator's seat is locked

I prefer a second light as my spare. And a third...... And a fourth.....

I've had the pleasure of meeting in person more CPF'rs than I can remember. (2X Milkey's Photon Fests, at least 4 Shot shows, a SanFran and Phoenix get-together, Radio in the northeast, and a couple locals.) I have NEVER encountered a fellow flashaholic in the wild! :thumbsup: PW!

Larry

I have never knowingly met a flashaholic in a store.

I am, however, seeing more sealed flashlight packages cut or pried open, left empty on the racks, with the flashlights missing from Fry's and Target. That's disturbing.

carbine15 said:

Some Flashaholic you are not carrying a spare battery. The shame. :shakehead

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Very funny story - and very honest (and ballsy!) of you to admit to your terrible mistake!!

I had a guy looking for batteries a while back who pulled out a pristine ArcLS to put them in.. didn't know what CPF was, tho..

I never met anyone interesting in target...only stares when I take lights off the shelf and examine it with a light I have on me

I made it back to another Target the other day with a fully charged QIII with me for comparison to that 5.5w Inova. After a few minutes of comparing beams on the wall and the floor, I decided that my QIII was just a tiny bit brighter than the Inova. I couldn't determine the condition of the battery in the Inova, of course, so I don't know for sure, but I left the store with the distinct impression that I could probably drop a K2 into my QIII and blow the doors off of that Inova.

Recently, I was in a Super Target in Clearwater looking for some of those Energizer folding LED lanterns (the ones with 3 LED's, since I have about 5 of the two LED types) and an older woman was looking at crappy plastic flashlights and started migrating at least to a M@G. She wanted to stay under 20 bucks, since that's what the Tax Free limit is in FL for Hurricane Supplies (I believe 40 bucks would be better). I then asked her what she was looking for, and she just wanted a light she could carry (I think she wanted an EDC purse light). I steered her towards that River Rock 1AA with the K2 Luxeon. Sure, it's still more than 20 bucks, but it's a decent EDC light. She seemed very thankful that I helped, and with the potential output of the light. Hopefully, she got home and was wow'd. If she was looking at old-school non-Krypton indys, hopefully she wasn't so shocked it scared her.

I've helped a few other folks there too, but I really felt good about helping this older lady.

Way to go, BytorJr! You've made a small but significant improvement in that woman's quality of life. :thumbsup:

carbine15 said:

Some Flashaholic you are not carrying a spare battery. The shame. :shakehead

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True. But that's forgiveable..... If he had an extra flashlight with him.

Monocrom said:

True. But that's forgiveable..... If he had an extra flashlight with him.

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Uhh, that's assuming that the keychain Photon had good batteries...

PhotonWrangler said:

Uhh, that's assuming that the keychain Photon had good batteries...

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You let the batteries go bad?! :shakehead

What can I say... shoulda-woulda-coulda... :shrug: I normally keep at least a couple of additional ligihts in the vehicle though. Does that count?

PhotonWrangler said:

What can I say... shoulda-woulda-coulda... :shrug: I normally keep at least a couple of additional ligihts in the vehicle though. Does that count?

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Only if you're in your vehicle.