How long is too long to keep a borrowed light?

Okay, I loaned two lights to a cop buddy and it took until day nine for me to get them back. (My wife had to ask for them; she got tired of me whining about it.)

NINE DAYS?

Whenever I borrow a light I try to get it back within a day or two.

Anyone?

I have never borrowed a light before.
Never loaned out a light that I would miss either. The nice ones don't go anywhere without me.

9 days does seem a bit much but I suppose it depends on the circumstances.

its too long when you mentions the light this month of last year and the friend has no idea what you are talking about

A friend of mine let me borrow SF Titan #924. :nana:

I had it about 5 days I think....

What did you loan to him, what's its value, and do you need them on a daily basis while they're away??

I think all these things play into it.

Have them put a refundable deposit down of say 125% of the cost to replace it and you wont worry so much about when they return it. As a mechanic I would loan someone a tool twice and then they had to buy their own tool. I forgot to mention if they broke it they just bought it, and none of this " I'll pay you payday" the bill is DUE NOW. Word gets out quick on your loaning policies.

Here's a tip . . . .


When somebody asks to borrow one of my expen$ive Camera Lenses,

i reply:


" I never rent out my camera equipment. "



Note: they never mentioned anything about renting it.



This has always worked for me.


_

Borrowing things aswell as lending things are a bad idea in my opinion!

Can cause to many issues, and possibly a loss of a friend...

I'd say 9 days may be stretching it a little, but it's not totally unreasonable. Maybe you should have given a time limit when you loaned the lights.

A week should be plenty of time to get to know a light and use all its capabilities, but your cop friend probably thought you wouldn't have an urgent need to get those two back, as you have plenty of others to use (non-flashoholics don't understand these things, lol).

I've got a little battery case for my cr123s, and I made the mistake one night of taking it to the PD.

Everyone suddenly ran out of batteries. Freaking optics started dying also.

I'd like to know what he thought of the light and what it was used for. I'll bet he loved it and was so impressed by it that "flashaholism" was taking another victim. Now show him some even better lights!

I don't borrow or loan out my lights. Selfish? I don't think so. If I borrowed another's light and somehow I broke it or dinged it, I'd feel lousy. There are few folks in my area to whom I'd loan one of my lights who also had any idea of the cost of the light. If they damaged one of mine, I'd feel they were responsible and yet I might feel guilty in having them repair or replace the light--some really can't BE replaced.

Timeframe for lending? If you have to ask for it back, it's been too long in the hands of the person to whom you loaned it. Now, I agree with setting some timetable fot the return but that may be difficult. What's
"reasonable"? I dunno. Too short a period of time lent might not allow the person to actually use the light and, too long and they may think it's been a gift of sorts. Therefore, I don't borrow or lend...


Karl

What did you loan to him, what's its value, and do you need them on a daily basis while they're away??

I think all these things play into it.[/QUOTE]




Two Malkoff MD2s, one with a M30W and the other with a M60W-MCE. I use them daily.

I let him borrow them because his department is going to buy lights for their troops and he asked me what I thought would be best. I suggested the Malkoffs and let him try them.

A couple of days would have been fine; I've got other lights to use around here but after a week I started to get antsy.

DimeRazorback said:

Borrowing things aswell as lending things are a bad idea in my opinion!

Can cause to many issues, and possibly a loss of a friend...

Click to expand...

I borrow lights from Russthetoolman all the time but you're right, if something went bad...:sigh:

DM51 said:

I'd say 9 days may be stretching it a little, but it's not totally unreasonable. Maybe you should have given a time limit when you loaned the lights.

A week should be plenty of time to get to know a light and use all its capabilities, but your cop friend probably thought you wouldn't have an urgent need to get those two back, as you have plenty of others to use (non-flashoholics don't understand these things, lol).

Click to expand...

Are you pulling my leg again?

You're right about non-flashoholics; I really should have stipulated a return date. I'm really not usually anal about my lights but I really like the floody beam of the MCE on low. It's perfect for reading to my kids at night and navigating the dark house in the morning before I head to work.

bladerunner said:

I'd like to know what he thought of the light and what it was used for. I'll bet he loved it and was so impressed by it that "flashaholism" was taking another victim. Now show him some even better lights!

Click to expand...

I chose the M30 and MCE to show him the difference between throw and spill and how it makes a difference when clearing rooms.

I haven't heard from him 'cause I had to send my wife to retrieve them yesterday while I was at work. NINE DAYS!

Before lending an item to or borrowing an item from a friend, decide which you need more.

Haven't loaned a light to anyone yet (except the fiancee). I think I wouldn't loan anything that I couldn't afford to lose. I'm planning on getting some Surefire G2L's or Fenix TK20's to serve as loaners.

I think having some good loaners is key, if someone wants to borrow one of my expensive aluminum Surefires, I'll say this one is brighter and give them one of the loaners. Meanwhile if the loaner is a cheap low-powered light, they will feel like you don't like them or something.

DimeRazorback said:

Borrowing things aswell as lending things are a bad idea in my opinion!

Can cause to many issues, and possibly a loss of a friend...

Click to expand...

Exactly, I've had many a bad experience of being so dumb arse stupidly nice an let someone borrow something of mine only to have it: Not returned (in a few weeks)until I have bug them for it, or been so long I even forgot who I lent it to, or have gotten it back and broken and I get, "oh sorry, my bad" and not offer to pay for it or them sum bitchs lie and say it was broke and even missing some components( with those lil small compartments empty). Yup, I've ended quite a few so called "friendships" over this issue and after som life learned insidents, the policy now is: HELL NO.

nine days of nice lights is pushing it in my mind.. if they are the ones he knows that you like and use all the time.. should of atleast contacted you after few days or week and said is it ok to keep them while longer..

it might take some time to show it to everyone in the squad (different shifts and weeklymeetings and maybe the bosses wanted to show it to their boss etc..) few days is easily lost in such an effort..

next time you know to set limits. "do you need it today or tomorrow. (oh friday.. come by pick them up on thursday then) when will you return them. etc."

me myself and i:
if i use it and need it every day. loan time is either seconds, minutes or hours. (and only if i have a backup on me.. -most likely i give them the backup.. hahah)

or if they have a good reason for longer loan (such as showing it to someone else and testing it) still its only few days. week at most.

but the actual time is agreed up on when i give it out. followed with lecture: "this is how it works, you break it, you buy me new one. and this is what it costs"

*general rule.. i dont buy and use anything i cant afford to use/lose/abuse/break/replace with ease..**

**i have cheaper beater/loaner lights to lend instead of the ones i like. some i like too much to allow anyone walk out of my sight.. only allow them try it out while i am close by (lummi raw).

***i hate to loan stuff and be loaned from. i try to avoid it. just like debt.