We CPF'ers are kinda spoiled in a way.....

It never ceases to amaze me how we CPF'ers have become somewhat spoiled by all the latest and greatest emitters, lights and the like when 99% of the general public knows SOOO little about LED's and Incans in general when it comes to flashlight applications. Case in point:

My sister throws a Fourth of July bash every year at her home, which is situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere- lighting is indeed a necessity at her house after nightfall for sure as people need some form of lighting to negotiate her 5 acre yard in the dark. What gets me laughing every year is some of the crap that guests bring for lighting- those 3$ 9 LED lights seem to be a popular purchase amongst many of these folks. And, as always, there is always some clown who thinks that by shaking a flashlight with dead batteries, it will suddenly resuscitate it. But, as always, there is always that one "gadget guy" who believes EVERYTHING they read on the packaging or in the description of a product.

To make a very long story short, a guest had what could best be described as a REALLY poorly executed Surefire E1 knockoff light. It was an incan, which isnt a bad thing, but, the light focus and spill could best be described as abysmal. After watching this poor guys crappy light chew through one 123 primary after another(DD light??), I lent him my 4sevens Mini XML for the evening. To say he was blown away by this lights performance would be an understatement! He honestly thought his "250 lumen" Ebay special was performing as advertised, because he honestly had no idea what exactly 250 lumens is or was.

After hopping on CPF from my Droid,I gave him a really brief primer on lumens vs. candlepower, definitions of spill and throw, etc. After about 5 minutes, I looked up and realized I had a small audience gathered,and all of them were asking the same queries "what is the difference between lumens and candlepower? What is a candela? What sort of things should I look for on the packaging of store bought lights?" etc etc.

Question for you guys/gals here: Do you find that non-flasholics place way too much credence on the marketing and/or the packaging of a product? What is a good explanation I can give to people about the difference between lumens v. candlepower? The best I could come up with was to just say "lumens are a better indicator of TOTAL light output than candlepower is." Other than that, I had to explain that, like many things in life, lights are like anything else- people develop a taste for that "favorite" emitter, battery config, tint bin, etc and it just comes down to personal preference with some lights. Am I on the right track here? Feel free to put in your two cents- I just want to make sure I'm giving out accurate info to people. Thanks!

Non-flashaholics have no idea what to go by because every other manufacturer offered at your local Wal-Mart uses some other bizarre standard - this one is rated in candlepower, this one in watts, half of them just say "LED" as if that's all there is to know, etc. Just tell them that flashlights are like any other tool in the hardware store, there's the cheap stuff, and then there's the serious tools. If the packaging doesn't make mention of lumens, then they'd prefer you not know how their product actually compares to the real deal.

Great story, always good to hear people getting interested.

I had a similar story this 4th of July. I had a buddy bragging about his 250 lumen walmart special for about an hour and showing everybody how bright it was. I was talking to him about how manufacturers lie quite often and how there is a difference between true OTF lumens, emitter lumens, or how they'll even state the maximum lumens the emitter can give out not how much it's being driven to. Essentially, it didn't look close to any of the 200+ lumen flashlights I own. I brought out a tiny ti preon with a 10440 which should be somewhere around 200+ lumens at the start and blew his away. Short story, he was a little mad that he was lied to. Then I think he got a little mad at me when I turned on my Mac's Ti tri-edc and he got to see what a 700 lumen flashlight looks like and it was MUCH smaller than his. He stopped bragging about his light and wanted to know where to get a tri-edc but called me crazy when I stated the price of the flashlight.

Anywho...I wouldn't say we are spoiled I would just say we are INFORMED.

Everytime i turned on my flashlight, my friend will WOW, and when i told him the price there goes another WOW.

I think most of the non-flashaholic will act like what i said.

One ace store guy was promoting his 3aaa power led 3mode light, and you could tell him really believed it was among the best in the world. I thought about how much better a proper regulated single aa light is or a 2 123a light with a proper r5 or some such bulb and it was just a funny moment.

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Non-flashaholics just don't know any better. I recently went camping and one of the Dad's was excited about his flashlight, a Mag LED. He actually thought it was the brightest thing out there. I really felt bad when I gave him my 9P with a M91 to check out. I really like the guy so to make a long story short, I gave him a 6PX-Pro the next time I saw him. He loves that light. He is a trucker and he is really tickled pink that he now has 200 real lumens strapped to his hip for those early morning pickups.

I did good and yes, we are spoiled!

To give this 'general public' some credit, we are behind the curve on some things just as they are behind the curve on flashlights and LED technology. Just the way things are.

I think it's a joy and a duty to share this bleeding-edge-of-technology information with anybody willing to learn.

My mothers boyfriend recently commented on the throw of one of my lights. Long story short, I recently (july 4 20% off sale) ordered them a 4Sevens AA2 Turbo. They showed some genuine interest in a good strong flashlight (they go for evening walks on trails) so I was more than willing to introduce them to a real flashlight. The only thing I will ensure is that the logo and model is etched off the light so they can't easily go online and find out how much I paid for it. They still believe no light should cost more than $9.99, and I'd rather they just enjoy the lumens and not think about the price.

Not that the price for a 4Sevens AA^2 Turbo is high, but they haven't gained an appreciation for the cost. Some people are only willing to pay $3,000 for a car while others (them) like to spend $45,000 on a nicer car. Same logic applies.

Don't state the price of the flashlight without first stating the practical value of it.

If you had limited knowledge of automobiles, would you pay $500,000 for a Ferrari when you grew up on $5,000 Hondas and didn't know the difference?

Lend one of those lights (and a small collection of batteries) to them for a month, then see whether they think the price is outrageous. Depends on their lifestyle and needs too, if they're suburbanites and never wander off the well-lit sidewalks and their only dark portion of the day is between the car and the front door, or the bed and the toilet, then perhaps they really don't want or need a good light.

For somebody who works outside at night or outside of the suburbs and forest of street lamps, maybe they will inherently see the value in a nice bright light, and won't be fazed by an expensive flashlight.

I know when I bought my first 'expensive' light, a Fenix LD20 R4, forking out the money for it was painful. Once that was passed though, it served me well and I never regretted it since I actually used it. If it was to live on a nightstand and only see service in navigating me from the bed to the bathroom in the middle of the night, that would not justify the $$$ outlay.

99% of the people I know could care less about flashlights. If one goes out, they pop in new batteries or simply grab another one from the closet. It works for them.
I now have a couple of decent lights based on reviews of this forum. Whether or not I'll make this a hobby is up in the air.

I have fishing gear ranging in price from inexpensive to absurd. The inexpensive rods/reels do the trick still to this day, the absurdly priced ones are just fun and come with lifetime guarantees.

We have different hobbies. Alot of the time, the fun just outweighs the perceived benefit.

95% of non-flashaholic people I meet could not care less about the benefits of using a quality flashlight. The general standard out there is "as long as it works and I can see with it, as long as it can take dollar general batteries, and as long as it available at kmart and walmart, that's all I care about".

Marc999 said:

99% of the people I know could care less about flashlights. If one goes out, they pop in new batteries or simply grab another one from the closet. It works for them.
I now have a couple of decent lights based on reviews of this forum. Whether or not I'll make this a hobby is up in the air.

I have fishing gear ranging in price from inexpensive to absurd. The inexpensive rods/reels do the trick still to this day, the absurdly priced ones are just fun and come with lifetime guarantees.

We have different hobbies. Alot of the time, the fun just outweighs the perceived benefit.

Click to expand...

No one (as in non-flashaholics) cares about flashlights until they need them. People in my own family thought I was silly to keep so many flashlights and cells in storage until Ike hit and took away our electricity for 2+ weeks. I keep a ton of batteries and back up lights around the house as well as auto emergency lights that plug into empty wall sockets. I have a feeling there's going to be another big storm (or two) this year and I want to be prepared.

Shao

"Good pheasant hunting is worth whatever you have to pay for it. "-Ernest Hemingway

I try make all of my purchases, lights included whilst repeating this quote to myself. Most people, however, do not, or just do not care enough to doubt what the marketers have pumped into their brains. These are the same folks that will pay $5 a bottle for water and think the cotton in a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt is better cotton than the Polo you get from Target. I have found that a person who tends to be passionate about buying a quality product... any quality product, generally spends the time and does the same across the board.. They'll buy the surefire, the Wilson Combat, the Benchmade, the Marine Master, and the Honda. Just the nature of the beast. The rest? It's all whatcha see awn teee veeee.

So my answer is, yes they do.