The great recession flashlight!

I have been spending way too much $$ on flashlights!
Not unusual, for a newbie, but I'm now getting very picky
about what I buy. I am doing alot more research and way
less "impulse" buying.
I have gotten over the "nothing under 500 lumens is any good"
newbie syndrome.

So, my question to you guys is, what effect has the economy
had on your flashlight hobby? Got any stories to share?

I haven't been able to get a Surefire 9p due to money being tight. Also I've stopped using my 6p as batteries are expensive. Also I'm starting to use more LEDs for the long run time.

Yea I would have to say that I am like you in that I try to make smarter purchases. If I can afford a light now and maybe not later than the one I buy now will be the most useful for my immediate needs and fill a better niche within my collection. So instead of trying to buy another monster thrower wich already exists in my collection, I have decided to go with a Surefire L1; it can make use of extra batteries lying around, easy to carry and has a great warranty. All of wich make better use of my money as of right now.

I would say that my mindset has changed from buying what I would like to have, to getting something that could cover more options if I couldn't buy another light for a good while.

Nice topic

I have a mostly stable job (theres always someone to put in handcuffs) but I am now switching all my lights that I use over to rechargeable cells.

I wouldn't say I am cutting back on purchases, but am going the direction of modifying lights that I own to fit my needs (well wants anyway)
In fact I just sent a E2e off to milky that had been in my closet for 3 years because I was not happy with it.

Id rather spend $200 with him, then with some company in china for a new light. Right now we need to be taking care of our own.

PsychoBunny said:

So, my question to you guys is, what effect has the economy had on your flashlight hobby?

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I haven't totally figured it out yet, but since my employer is cutting my salary by 5%, it could pretty much put an end to my flashlight hobby for quite some time

I'm going to pick up a couple more Gerber Infinity Ultra lights and then sit on the sidelines until I see where things fall.

Black Rose said:

I haven't totally figured it out yet, but since my employer is cutting my salary by 5%, it could pretty much put an end to my flashlight hobby for quite some time

I'm going to pick up a couple more Gerber Infinity Ultra lights and then sit on the sidelines until I see where things fall.

Click to expand...

Ouch!! sorry to hear that, but look at it this way, you still have a job!

At my company, we have been told the bonus program has been
suspended for the rest of the year, and if you want a pay raise, you
better have some good justification, which means, forget it!

Yeah, the educated customer is wise customer, while impulse customer is what made the store rich.

Good thing for me is the fact I am not an impulsive buyer. Better thing is some helpful CPF members alreay gave me nice advice and I like what they said. The best thing (recession-wise) is I don't have enough budget to follow all those good advice given by them.

Seiko said:

Id rather spend $200 with him, then with some company in china for a new light. Right now we need to be taking care of our own.

Click to expand...

China has been buying all our bonds to support all the goverment spending. Infact, Clinton just went to China to make them buy more bonds to support the just signed Porkuless package and the bailouts.

My job is fairly stable in that pressure washers are not built to the same standards as when I first started working on them.

I have two more repairs tomorrow to with the ones today.

If I could quit pushing new posts on CPFM, I'd be in pretty good shape.

I've gotten some pretty good stuff however!

I took a 15% paycut. $3.00 an hour. It hurts...

Ouch. :shakehead Here's to hoping the recession starts to lift in 2009...

Most of my collection has already been LED for a while now, but lately I have been going for lights that have some sort of low level to save on batteries. Also, I'm not buying any more multiple-cell CR123 lights. They must be single-cell only.

Well the sun is just over the horizon for me, I dont have a steady job (well one that pays anyways, theres always work for me on the farm) but spring and summer means WORK whooo hooooo!!! so long as that big yellow thing keeps rising and falling Ill be in good shape. tobacco will still need planting, grass will still need trimming and cattle will always be hungry

I work for 6 to 8 hours any day that the weather permits (spring and summer time basically) pay out here isnt the highest, but then again I didnt pick the most expensive hobby did I....ohh wait I did (firearms)

PsychoBunny said:

I have been spending way too much $$ on flashlights!
Not unusual, for a newbie, but I'm now getting very picky
about what I buy. I am doing alot more research and way
less "impulse" buying.
I have gotten over the "nothing under 500 lumens is any good"
newbie syndrome.

So, my question to you guys is, what effect has the economy
had on your flashlight hobby? Got any stories to share?

Click to expand...

Hahaha, I've always been an EDC guy for flashlights. So I picked up a good collection of most of the highly rated single cell CR123 lights. But my EDC quest is slowing down since I found McGizmo's lights. The road pretty much ends there. So, I'm the opposite of you because now I've started looking at higher output silly brightness lights. The next lights on my list are the Creemator Noir and the Eagletac Megalight. I can't see it going too much beyond that though. You, my friend, have a lot opportunities to personally provide economic stimulus in the under 500lumen category!

The recession sucks. Personally, I think it will be worse than the Great Depression. Bank nationalization is becoming a serious consideration! However, the Great Recession should have less people hungry or homeless on the street. I don't know... Everyone had better get prepared to ride this out at least through 2010. And I don't mean buy-more-gun-knives-and-ammo prepared, I mean find all ways to reduce debt now.

when money is an option.. buy in bulk.
seriously I buy my cr123 cells in bulk. I've bought multiple lights so I can split them up and resell them.

I lost my job a while back, which made me put off buying a 3p until the P7 mods came out and jacked up the price. C'est la vie.

I'm currently waffling between an iPod touch 32gb and a Milky mod. I better make the right choice, as it's basically my toy for the year.

I've kept buying bulk CR123, and switched my 6P over to a 6R configuration (should cut my CR123 use by about half or more) making the majority of my go-to stuff guilt-free. LAPG has the conversions for $30 last I looked, and they work pretty well driving my Malkoff M60 (though I have issues with momentary switch reliability, whether Malkoff or P60... hooray for lifetime warranty!) I've also held off buying a Ra Twisty TR-85, even in light of their imminent discontinuation; while the Pelican case might have pushed me over the edge while I was a bit more flush with cash, I just can't afford to buy something I'll hardly use and I'm not certain I'd switch over to it.

i've been out of job for some time, but i have always chosen my lights based on use & never buy a light that consumes batteries like a light snack. :sweat:

The shop I was working for recently closed, now I'm back being self-employed. No new lights for awhile until my budget stabilizes.
I am using only lights with rechargeables (luckily most of mine are).

I recently bought an E1L with economy in mind. It wasn't what I'd call a cheap light, but I'm sure it'll pay for itself in time. I'm not sure if we have a recession in the UK, but if we did I probably wouldn't notice. I'm p**s poor anyway. :shrug: If things get worse I'll live in a cave and run bulbs off lemons.

I've started "rationalizing" my flashlights. Going to generally American (& MJP) builders or American products (Surefire for Legoing). Selling the ones that don't fit with what I want to keep. Also, primarily using bored Surefires or FiveMega "Surefires" (LOVE the "12P" incan with AW 3 level & soft start) so that I can use Li-ion.

What I do want is to sell enough to get a LS20

But, I seem to find items in the B/S/T and custom B/S/T every time I have a balance in my PP acct.

Recession or not I probably would be doing what I'm doing.

I've been unemployed since January 1st. I'm trying not to spend any money so I've been trying to finish projects that I started but never finished. Unfortunately, most of those projects were unfinished because I needed a part or two, which is why they were unfinished to begin with. I did make a few purchases this year because they were items that were on sale but I'm starting to have some buyer's remorse because of it.

How did that poster go? "Due to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off."