your family berate you for spending money on lights?

have your family members berated you for spending money on flashlights?

How do you respond to it? I am curious to know your answer. I need good excuse before they flay me like a sushi fish.

My girlfriend rolls her eyes, I'm cutoff buying more until she has a ring on her finger. My friends and most of my coworkers don't get it either. I have a few other expensive hobbies, my girlfriend actually prefers if I spend money on my R/C car! If I dropped $5K on accessories for my Jeep I'd be considered normal. If I drop $500 on flashlight stuff I'm considered weird.

I justify it because it's a tool and I'm on the search for the perfect tool for the job. I've given up on cheap flashlights. I'd rather have a few nice expensive flashlights than a drawer full of cheap ones. This causes a problem since buying a whole bunch of small ones goes unnoticed more. Throwing down $100-300 on a flashlight raises some eyebrows.

Some people collect stamps, coins, dvds, etc. I know a guy who has $20K in comics books. Some guys collect knives, some smoke fine cuban cigars. Everyone needs a hobby or life is just work and paying the bills until you die. You don't want to do things to excess though, it's all about balance. Constantly buying lights might come in handy if you can't pay the electricity bill

Kestrel said:

How about giving top-quality lights to family members for them to use (and appreciate)? I've gotten my wife to keep a SureFire L2 on her side of the bed, a StreamLight Stylus Pro in her bag, and a SureFire G2 / Malkoff M60LL in her car. She still thinks it's kind of funny, but she can appreciate having good tools to use. I
[/FONT][/COLOR]

Click to expand...

Good idea, I did his for my girlfriend after showing her my flashlight collection and the differences between good flashlights and bad ones. I bought her a Leatherman S2 for her purse and she loves it. She actually is a good sport about my affliction, she just doesn't fully understand it but finds it cute in some ways and annoying in others (ie. money).

Having them shipped to work helps.

Only having 2 or 3 out at a time also helps.

The "rental" approach also helps - I've probably bought 60 lights, maybe 120 items (drop-ins, clips, bulbs, glow things, switch upgradess, anodizing...) over the last 2 years, but I've "only" got about 15 lights that are over $100 - I've sold almost all the cheap ones and tried out alot of nice ones.

Having a use for them REALLY helps (I only walk the dogs in the dark).

Most of that I have now are keepers.

No one except you understands why you spending that much for the stuffs.

I posted my opinion that's bit too straight forward, could be offensive for some, so I edited it out.
Basically, they won't flame you buying stuffs if you earn enough is what I said.

Just watch how your collection grows, and try maintain a certain number of flashlights at a time.

picard said:

have your family members berated you for spending money on flashlights?

Click to expand...

No, actually it's gotten to the point that they now ask me if I want a light for a present

Everyone can find places for cutting back spending, find your relative's weak spot and focus on it. Things like smoking, drinking, gambling, expensive cars, $3 "energy" drinks, eating fast-food, fancy clothes, all add up.
Add up a smoker's yearly expense and see how many lights THAT would buy.
Best defense is a good offense. Attack.

picard said:

have your family members berated you for spending money on flashlights?
How do you respond to it?

Click to expand...

Read my sig line.

bansuri said:

Everyone can find places for cutting back spending, find your relative's weak spot and focus on it. Things like smoking, drinking, gambling, expensive cars, $3 "energy" drinks, eating fast-food, fancy clothes, all add up.
Add up a smoker's yearly expense and see how many lights THAT would buy.
Best defense is a good offense. Attack.

Click to expand...

+1, smoking is so freaking costly...in so many ways.

My fiancee doesn't mind this new hobby of mine.
Getting her a keychain light.
But she does caution any excesses cuz we're saving up for the big day.

When I talk about lights my GF tells me I don't love the baby..

Search said:

When I talk about lights my GF tells me I don't love the baby..

Click to expand...

Tell her you love your lights as much as she loves her wardrobe.

Not after hearing how much I have spent for one Case SFO peanut knife or one custom handled peanut. I have not mentioned how much my surefires cost except the TW4 my daughters mate keeps pocketing "accidently". I just ordered a fenix TK10 and the cost didn't even raise an eyebrow but the $ 25 for overnight shipping did!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been told that I have far to many Flashlights,
My family members would rather me buy Flashlights than BEER!

My wife doesn't know what I actually spend on lights. The amount of money we have spent on stuff she doesn't use is far greater than what I spend on lights (which course get used) so I don't feel bad at all.

my only family is my dog, he doesn't care, i'm pretty sure

My wife doesn't mind my flashaholism as long as the new buys are from my own fun(spending) money. She thinks it is weird but kind of cute. The 2 new Quarks I ordered are from the money of selling some guitar pedals already bought and paid for.

Kestrel said:

It's easier to simply avoid it than to justify the lights, I find that the best way to avoid this is to go for the stealth method: lights that look very similar (all-black SureFires, for example) or Malkoff drop-in LED modules for the ultimate low-key approach.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

LOL!!! I do this with firearms! A stainless semi-auto is just a stainless semi-auto... has saved my bacon more than a few times!

my wife usually asks how much when i get something new and is always surprised by the price but then says it's your hobby and seems fine. i don't think it's the price necessarily but that there are much cheaper options available.
plus
i usually sell the ones i dont use so i never have this overgrown collection so it doesn't seem like i'm buying needlessly. it's more of a function for me than a collection.


why don't you fake a power outage and that'll set you free for the future.

My sister thought I was a little strange when I told her one day how much some of my lights were worth. I had to explain to her that I recycle a lot of the hobby money in order to buy new lights. Then when I told her how much my Surefire Beast cost, she looked at me in disgust :sick2: