what do you do with cheep lights

i started working permanent night shift little over a year a go so thought carrying a light would be a good idea .
i looked out my lights and found most were not up to the job to big to carry comfortably or just not working or broken,
so picked up a new one then another , one year and 20 or so lights later of up grading to a better one than the last one i have 15 or so lights that are so poor quality and performance i will probably never use them
they are in good working condition so don't want to just throw them out what do you do with your cheep lights you have no use for
Barrie

I've given away lights to friends and used them as "tips" to people who have provided service, e.g., plumbers, etc.

parnass said:

I've given away lights to friends and used them as "tips" to people who have provided service, e.g., plumbers, etc.

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I have actually never accumulated "cheap" lights.

I save my money and buy expensive ones. Mainly Surefire. A lot of them.

the cheep lights were before i found CPF know i look for quality light :twothumbslovecpf:devil:

Use them to learn how to mod lights! :thumbsup:

Eventually you will realize nobody will make what you want commercially and custom builds are really expensive. Once you can roll your own, there are no more limits.

Then gift them out or sell them.

I usually turn them into emergency light with Led's and rechargeable batteries.

i love the ideas :thumbsup: but don't have the tools or knowledge :shakehead think ill give them to one of the Charity shops then they might raise a Little money for some good :twothumbs

As long as they work, I just keep them around the house and in the garage to use as worklights. I have many old cheap flashlights that I would never even consider carrying on a walk, but they are still useful for seeing the ground outside at night, and for jobs where I wouldn't want to run down the batteries of my nice lights.

I put mine away for a rainy day in the future.

I also do the same things with my knives and alot of other things.

If they work the kids usually get them. If they're in the least bit temperamental I keep any parts that might be useful and throw the rest away.

I gift them to torch newbies.....when I whip out my EDC and save the day there is usually someone there that comments what a great idea carrying a light is so very soon they are recipients of one of my cheaper lights that I have upgraded and more than likely it is mucher brighter and cooler than anything they have ever been exposed to.

Like another poster I also leave some of my cheapies outside and in various places that they will be useful but if get stolen lost or damaged no big deal.

Bob

If you start collecting them or they just tend to grow in numbers with no real future of ever being used, you might want to still have those lights you would consider giving away now.

I try to find and keep everything, not sure why.

If I have no need for them then I just pass them on to people that may appreciate them.

I have a cheap 3aaa chinese light with a generic led. I took the reflector out of it to use it for an area light. It will light up the inside of a family tent with no problem.

Give them out during camping trips with friends etc. Most of the time gear is never returned anyways so this will save you money in the end.

I Used my cheapie until i found out about CPF and now i have a LiteFlux L3XT on the way:twothumbs

i usually mod them, its fun and cheap.

I stow them all over my life.. hah.. give them to family and friends, drop them into my cars, into my familys cars, into every house, garage, shed etc. i spend time at.

that way i know i should have atleast somekind of light somewhere near by even if the one(s) on me would fail. or someone else needs one too.

even crappy cheap nearly useless light is better than none when u need one.



just received second set of 10 fauxtons today, and already i have "found" a location for 4 of them.

hmm next month i need to buy few cheap dx lights to be Loaner lights.. gave the previous ones away already.

Sgt. LED said:

Use them to learn how to mod lights! :thumbsup:

Eventually you will realize nobody will make what you want commercially and custom builds are really expensive. Once you can roll your own, there are no more limits.

Then gift them out or sell them.

Click to expand...

I'm in the middle of this process.

I, too, have a few cheap lights from before discovering CPF. I'm slowly modifying them to be longer lasting slightly brighter lights, primarily by converting them from incan to LED. The nicer ones of these are going through major makovers, though.

If you are not married, yet, keep them for when you are. My wife has no care as to whether she is pulling out a cheap or expensive light or if the light puts out enough light for what she needs it for or is way overkill for that situation. That's why I'll never own an ROP. Actually, another reason for not owning an ROP is that I'm worried that my kids would light the house on fire with one. I keep the cheap lights available for my wife and kids to use. As my children are getting older and more responsible, I've started to slowly give them some not so cheap lights.

They go into my big 'ol box 'o lights down in the basement. It's right next to a bunch of other big 'ol boxes of other stuff. Maybe I'll have a yard sale some day. Or, I'll just let my son figure out what he wants when I head off to that great big 'ol box in the sky.

Geoff