Your own flashlight hall of fame nominee

Now this is not your brightest, the most expensive, the most exclusive. This would be your own personal nominee for a hall of fame. Choose the light that served you longest, most personally, most faithfully, more times, or with distinction.


Mine would be my old 2AAA Minimag followed closely by the old Solitare. I carried it and my Solitare for over 10 years or so, every day. It never once failed me, and served me literally thousands of times. Nothing has come close to such a long track record yet. And with the advances most likely will not, it is the Cal Ripken Jr. of flashlights for me.

The Arc AAA as my key torch has yet to fail me!!!


I can't say the same for may of 'em!!!

The light that has served me longest? Seen the absolute hardest use - like smashing out windshields and side windows in cars, and breaking out windows glass, yet still works although it's hideous? Gone for numerous swims? Been in continuous service since 1975?

TruGrit 3D. Yeah, it's dim by todays's standards, yellow and an incan, but it will still take any Surefire and use it as a nail.

I am fairly new to the game, but I would have to go with my HDS that I have been EDC'ing. It was one of the first purchased, and has not been dethroned yet.


Tim

Hmm... Probably my P2D, or my E2E. I love them both. The G2/6P might be worth mentioning, since they have converted many non-flashaholics.

My girlfriend bought me a Fenix L1T V2.0. It is very special to me and is used all the time. Belt-mounted holsters are very, very useful.

Lee1959 said:

Now this is not your brightest, the most expensive, the most exclusive. This would be your own personal nominee for a hall of fame. Choose the light that served you longest, most personally, most faithfully, more times, or with distinction.

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That's easy - my 2AA minimag. Bought back in 1992, traveled around the world with me, been out in the field, used in trains, planes, cars, buses, boats, under water, you name it... it's been there, done that.

I have brighter, better, more expensive lights now, but that particular one has a special place in my heart.

Golston 7W - it was the first apart from plastic things - it smoked its resistor when run on RCR cells so first mod was repairing the thing.

Not the brightest, smallest or best but it was cheap and was my first "real" light, though far from the last.

Cool thread!

Guess my first LED, a 10-multiLED Ledfinity 3AA falls under personal nominee. I remember when I got it, I was so astonished that the batteries lasted so long and that the floodlight was so much more usefull than the horrid incanbeams I had. My old incans I rarely used, since they ate up the batteries in a couple of minutes.
And the Ledfinity was also so cheap(like 5-10USD from Ebay) so I didn't worry too much what happened to it. I tossed it around, drenched it, beat it, "priested" fish with it,generally abused and did things to/with it I never would have done with a more expencive light(in the end I more or less wanted it to die so I could justify myself buying a fancier luxeon-light). And still, the ******* never died. Not the brightest or fanciest, but now, one of the most cherised of my lights.

For an old light, the Arc LS, of course. Groundbreaking and state of the art, at least in my eyes. For a new light, the Zebralight headlamp, for its uniqueness. I might also include the Proton Pro and the original Proton in this esteemed group for its originality. And then there's the granddaddy of them all, the CMG Infinity, or maybe the original Photon. I'll stop now.

Geoff

My 3C Maglite that I had my parents buy me when I was in 6th grade for a school camping trip. I even had a Gold label made for the tailcap with my name on it, which eventually rubbed off through the years.

Unfortunately, I lost it a few yrs ago... but when I find it, I'm gonna upgrade to a LED bulb. I loved that light, I was so proud of it when I was a kid.

I would have to vote for my first seriously quailty light. A surefire aviator. It was a gift to me a couple of years ago from a wealthy co-worker that overheard me bragging about my maglites. It was brand new in the packaging and everything along with about 10 batteries. That was when I stopped using maglites. I bought an stinger and a 6p about a year later, then recently an L1 because I gave my lil bro (another maglite lover) the A2 when he was deployed to Iraq. He would email me every now and then specificly to tell me how he used the aviator in situations. He is still over there and uses it every night, mostly the red leds on it. He tells me that it would upset me to see what condition it is in after all the use and abuse, but I would love to see what it looks like now. That is my vote for the hall of fame.

I just recently discovered this site and am now in lust over a surefire E1b cree. until then I carry my 6p and L1 with me.

by the way, aparently my old aviator is a "collecters" item around these forums. I remember it having flat sides on the body.

Flying Turtle said:

For an old light, the Arc LS, of course. Groundbreaking and state of the art, at least in my eyes. For a new light, the Zebralight headlamp, for its uniqueness. I might also include the Proton Pro and the original Proton in this esteemed group for its originality. And then there's the granddaddy of them all, the CMG Infinity, or maybe the original Photon. I'll stop now.

Geoff

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I'd say the Zebralight hasn't been around for long enough yet - but I really, really like mine. I'd also contemplate the Photon Rex but again it hasn't been around long enough. Again I really like mine even if the beam is way, way too blue, but I'd say that about every Nichia LED I've ever come across.

That said, the Zebralight might well feature in a future hall of fame - just ordered another one for my dentist to take to India when he goes there teaching in March. Electricity where he goes is a rare thing and the Zebralight is the first one he's seen that might actually work for him.

The Photon 2 and its clones also probably ought to be there - there are probably 1000 clones for each real photon one out there but the idea was brilliant which is why there are so many clones.

Flying Turtle said:

For an old light, the Arc LS, of course. Groundbreaking and state of the art, at least in my eyes.

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Good point, FT - that's the light that really turned my into a flashaholic.

Without a doubt, my Eveready Dolphin Mark II, purchased in 1982 and still in front-line service.

SureFire 6P, the light that started high performance flashlights.

My light that has seen the most use, and I am sure many will agree with it's placement in the "hall", would be my McLuxIII-PD. The tint on the UV1J luxIII emitter is sooooo good, I have yet to replace it with a Seoul....and I have a couple USVOI's just sitting here waiting. The PD will always be a classic in my book :twothumbs

I have an elektrolumens BlasterIV that I've used as a beater/loaner for years.
It looks like some kind of horror movie prop but it still works like day one.

It's gotten over 4 overhauls now, including change from stock to x-bin/reflector, from luxV to regulated lux3, had the lux3 change to u-bin and change to mcR27/custom cut UCL and finally change to u-bin ss p4 emitter.

Red Mag 3d with almost all of the red worn off. Still rides in one of the vehicles, but with a led and sputtered reflector.

But the CMG Inf Ultra is overall champ. Just unbeatable in it's simple, straight forward takecareofbusiness design and performance.

Relatively new, but the Fenix P1D-Ce, or whatever. Lost one, bought another one without even thinking of getting something else.\

Crenshaw