Having to "make do."

I know I'm not the only one with, at the very least, a small collection of lights. Ever been in a situation where you had to "make do" with the light you had on you.... even though you knew you had one that would be perfect for the job, but it was sitting at home or in your car or at work?

For me, it was when I visited my best friend Upstate one weekend. I brought along my E2d, and used it all weekend. But my Gerber Infinity Ultra task light would have been perfect for the job. I spent most of the weekend navigating through the house at night, trying not to put out too much light so as not to wake up my friend and his girl.

I was hiking in Sequoia National Park at dusk. I was on a seldom used trail and it was overgrown with vegetation. I was having a good time exploring a rigdeline. Then one of the most incredible sites I've ever seen happens. In front of me the sun is setting. Behind me a full harvest moon is rising. Needless to say I'm mesmerized by this incredible sight. When the sun finally sets it got dark really fast. I had just gotten an Opalec Newbeam module for my minimag and this was the hand held I brought along. Well if it wasn't for the road noise of cars passing below me it would have been a long scary ordeal trying to find and keep the trail. I just kept heading towards the sounds of the road and eventually found the trail. At home sat my E2D and L2.

Duh!!! Not very bright of me. Now when I hike a trail with the possibility of darkfall I always have a bright light, like a 9P with a full SC1. I now always carry a headlamp when hiking also!

kelmo

The bad news: I left my trusty QIII at home today. Of course I wound up needing to crawl under a desk and read some tiny numbers in a dark area.

The good news: I remembered that I had a pair of Mag 3-Cs with me, one with a MagLED and the other with a K-2 drop-in, which I originally bought for comparison.

Yeah, I had to "make do" with a Mag, but it turned out to have a bright white LED in it so I didn't feel too put out.
One of these days I'll get around to doing that comparison. Until then I'll have to remember to wear the batteries evenly in both.

Thought I took with me my usual EDC lights one morning, but it was one of those mornings where I just left them at home for no known apparent reason. Worked till dark at a home where there were no lights. I did remember that in my grip I had a Coleman MicroPacker LED Lantern and my PT.Predator. That provided enough light for the last 3 hours. Besides the other fella had double and triple A batteries in his van for his just in case scenario.

So these did "make do" I would say.

Murphy's Law: No matter which light(s) you carry, you've always got one better for the job sitting at home.

Hans

I find more often that there's some jerkface using a rediculously bright light when they don't need to..

ACMarina said:

I find more often that there's some jerkface using a rediculously bright light when they don't need to..

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Yup

ACMarina said:

I find more often that there's some jerkface using a ridiculously bright light when they don't need to..

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You make that sound like a bad thing.

Sometimes you have to be happy with the light that you have

ACMarina said:

I find more often that there's some jerkface using a rediculously bright light when they don't need to..

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so your saying i shouldn't use my surefire M3 with HOLA as a closeup reading light at night?

I usually carry my Arc AAA, and a modded 1-AAA dorcy to 1W, and while it's not super bright, it works for most tasks. I keep a MagLED 2-D in the car, but I'm usually too lazy to dig it out when I have something "good enough" in my pocket.

I just bought a L0D CE, and some Li cells. All I can say is WOW :twothumbs

The worst is when you're using a perfectly adequate L1P and some jerk pulls out a 15MCP spotlight and blinds everybody in the vicinity who are already semi-night adapted.

Once, trying to do some on-console work in a data center at night. The lights in that area were on a timer, aka 'off', and the facilities people were so inept they literally *could not* figure out how to turn on those particular lights.

Of course the only light I had was the 4-d Mag I keep in my car (MagLED dropin). Not a great light for typing, or using close up to read a computer screen.

GregY said:

Once, trying to do some on-console work in a data center at night. The lights in that area were on a timer, aka 'off', and the facilities people were so inept they literally *could not* figure out how to turn on those particular lights.

Of course the only light I had was the 4-d Mag I keep in my car (MagLED dropin). Not a great light for typing, or using close up to read a computer screen.

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the screen didn't have a built-in backlight?
stupid they turn off lights in a datacenter. the one my personal server is at is open 24/7, and the lights never are off. it's not like turning the lights off will make their electricity bill go down with any noticable amount, considering each of those servers uses about 150 watts, and there are like 40 in a rack, with a few hundred racks per floor.

carrot said:

The worst is when you're using a perfectly adequate L1P and some jerk pulls out a 15MCP spotlight and blinds everybody in the vicinity who are already semi-night adapted.

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Years ago I worked as a full time technician at one of the county's oldest community theatres. We would train volunteers on an ongoing basis to fill as many of each show's technical positions as possible. It's almost impossible to run a production's technical staff with 100% volunteers but sometimes we came pretty close.

It was often interesting to work with people who had never really given any thought to how much light they actually needed to accomplish a given task (their light culture.) From experience I know that most use lights simply to replace the darkness with no consideration of any other factors.

We would explicitly tell a group of new stagehands that they had to think about light differently. That they had to realize that hiding the 'nuts and bolts' of scenery changes and other technical business was very important to giving the audience the highest quality experience we could deliver. Most grasped the concept very well but I recall a few -- one in particular -- who had to be followed around continuously at first and reminded that he could not turn his light on for that task, or that one, or that one, or that one... :sigh:

He eventualy came around but it is interesting that many who have used lights their whole lives may have a very limited or nonexistant grasp of any of the subtleties involved. In technical theatre the participants must always "make do" with lights far dimmer than others would choose for similar tasks.

GregY said:

Once, trying to do some on-console work in a data center at night. The lights in that area were on a timer, aka 'off', and the facilities people were so inept they literally *could not* figure out how to turn on those particular lights.

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One of the few intelligent things that the client site I work at has done, they keep the lights on 24/7. But only in the main Data Center. Nothing more fun than patrolling a floor, only to have the freaking timer kick in! ..... Sometimes, literally a minute after reaching the floor and turning on all the lights. No flashlights provided for the security officers, either. A few weeks after I began the night shift, I found several cheap 2-D cell plastic flashlights, and a 3-D Maglite in a cabinet, in the security console. :ironic:

You also need a flashlight because the building was wired by an idiot. Several switches in several parts of one floor that each control the lighting at different spots of each floor. Nothing more fun than finding a tucked-away light switch, turning it on..... only to discover that it's for a section of the floor on the other end of hall; behind a closed door. Ever hit a working light switch, only to remain standing in the dark?? I have!

ACMarina said:

I find more often that there's some jerkface using a rediculously bright light when they don't need to..

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Ahhh but sometimes things work out! I was walking one night and a family approached from the other direction. There was a 7 or 8 year old with a 3D Maglight. Well the kid shined the light in my face. I asked him to please not do that. But his parents thought my discomfort was pretty funny and just laughed and the kid kept on illuminating my eyes. But as it turned out I just got a turbohead for my 9P with a MN16 LA and was out testing it out. So I flashed back. Now it was my turn to laugh. As I walked away I heard them curse my existence as they waited for their vision to return.

kelmo said:

Ahhh but sometimes things work out! I was walking one night and a family approached from the other direction. There was a 7 or 8 year old with a 3D Maglight. Well the kid shined the light in my face. I asked him to please not do that. But his parents thought my discomfort was pretty funny and just laughed and the kid kept on illuminating my eyes. But as it turned out I just got a turbohead for my 9P with a MN16 LA and was out testing it out. So I flashed back. Now it was my turn to laugh. As I walked away I heard them curse my existence as they waited for their vision to return.

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nice one, but might i suggest a "mine is brighter" approach next time. build yourself a mag85 or similar, and let them wonder why theirs is so dim.

kelmo said:

Ahhh but sometimes things work out! I was walking one night and a family approached from the other direction. There was a 7 or 8 year old with a 3D Maglight. Well the kid shined the light in my face. I asked him to please not do that. But his parents thought my discomfort was pretty funny and just laughed and the kid kept on illuminating my eyes. But as it turned out I just got a turbohead for my 9P with a MN16 LA and was out testing it out. So I flashed back. Now it was my turn to laugh. As I walked away I heard them curse my existence as they waited for their vision to return.

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you have good restraint

kelmo said:

Ahhh but sometimes things work out! I was walking one night and a family approached from the other direction. There was a 7 or 8 year old with a 3D Maglight. Well the kid shined the light in my face. I asked him to please not do that. But his parents thought my discomfort was pretty funny and just laughed and the kid kept on illuminating my eyes. But as it turned out I just got a turbohead for my 9P with a MN16 LA and was out testing it out. So I flashed back. Now it was my turn to laugh. As I walked away I heard them curse my existence as they waited for their vision to return.

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Excellently done, good Sir.

It's been my experience that some adults are nothing more than children themselves. People physically grow up no matter what. But as far as mentality goes, for some; they never mature. They got what they deserved. Seems like you ran into 3 children that night. Only thing is, two of them could pass themselves off for adults.