Miss the old days. (Too many lights now!)

Ah the old days. I'd gotten the Surefire E2e incandescent. Greatest thing since sliced bread and man oh man did it impress everyone I'd shown it off to! Took it everywhere with me. I really did get to use that and ONLY that light for about a year or two. I really did get to know how long the back pocket of a Levi's jeans would last. Dings? Never even thought to look for nor cared about dings. Never even thought to check if the lens was scratched or not! What was important was that every other flashlight I'd ever used before wouldn't...ahem...hold a candle to it.
Point is I LIVED with this tool like no other before it. Every day and especially every night.
I think I've gone past that point to some degree now. I do know more about the subject (just the lithium battery thing is one of the reasons I appreciate knowing more) but I wonder if something has been lost. EDC rotation. Gotta rethink that.

:shakehead

It is a blessing and a curse to have so many new lights constantly available. It's nice to have something new to be interested in, but it sucks that your new toy is old news in a couple months.

Overall it's a little exhausting to put so much time and effort to find just the right thing only to have it be overshadowed by the latest and greatest all the time. It's not just lights either. It's everything from phones, cars, TV's etc...

I love the fact that there are so many to choose from - fun time to be interested in flashlights.

I also find I'm more content now with "older" lights - personally don't feel the need for the latest and greatest, at least not for the lumens.

That's why I love my Surefire C2. Its a well made flashlight that can hold its own against all the fancy designs out there. Its a timeless classic but at the same time it can be upgraded to the latest and greatest and still maintain that aura that the Centurion has.

Sometimes I miss the old days when I had a Maglite Solitaire, MiniMaglite, Maglite 2D and a Maglite 6D, and when I actually considered these lights to be very BRIGHT! I miss the old days when I had no creditcards to pay off every month...

I don't know...long before I found this forum, I had an original (laser products) 6P and 9P, and that was pretty cool. But just in the last few months the lights I've wanted for about 10 years (good high CRI power LEDs) have become available, and that's been pretty exciting. And I can still appreciate a good incandescent

I know exactly what you are talking about.

Back 11 years ago I also had a Surefire e2 with the teardrop head. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Same amazement and love affair.

It's like anything in life. There is something about the discovery and the fun in just enjoying something and not worrying caring about the tech specs or details or mulitple choices. Seems like all the good memories are from our youth when we saw everything that way . Then as we get older we spend our time searchiing for those feelings experiences again.

AaronG said:

It is a blessing and a curse to have so many new lights constantly available. It's nice to have something new to be interested in, but it sucks that your new toy is old news in a couple months.

Overall it's a little exhausting to put so much time and effort to find just the right thing only to have it be overshadowed by the latest and greatest all the time. It's not just lights either. It's everything from phones, cars, TV's etc...

Click to expand...

That is what the marketing people want you to think, but the reality is that the next greatest model is rarely vastly better, usually it is only marginally better and sometimes that improvement has cons as well. Just look at all the XML complaints of green tints.

I have found a group of lights that meet my requirements (the Zebralight SC51 and H51, Photon Freedom Micro, Quark AA regular, Fenix TK45 and TK41, Nitecore Infilux IFD2). I still search for a better light for me, but despite many new lights being available they need to beat one of my favourites by a significant margin to be considered at all.

The large number of products in any sector of the market these days does make it very hard to decide on the best fit for you. Some times this is a pain, but other times is is part of the fun.

subwoofer said:

That is what the marketing people want you to think, but the reality is that the next greatest model is rarely vastly better, usually it is only marginally better and sometimes that improvement has cons as well. Just look at all the XML complaints of green tints.

I have found a group of lights that meet my requirements (the Zebralight SC51 and H51, Photon Freedom Micro, Quark AA regular, Fenix TK45 and TK41, Nitecore Infilux IFD2). I still search for a better light for me, but despite many new lights being available they need to beat one of my favourites by a significant margin to be considered at all.

The large number of products in any sector of the market these days does make it very hard to decide on the best fit for you. Some times this is a pain, but other times is is part of the fun.

Click to expand...

I agree with that. Several times I have thought that the best would be if I could make a decision for a few lights I really am going to use, and then use and be satisfied with them for maybe 2 years. After that I could look for what's happened the last 2 years. Then the development will make it really worth to upgrade the collection, instead of regularly getting updated versions with a very slight improvement.

Just sold two MiNi AAs to a guy (to use by himself and her wife) and he was really happy about the light. It's his first real flashlight and he probably will cherish the light till he got a better one, he told me that his fiends also have them and maratac AA and was extremely happy to get one.

Okay I've gone over it again. EDC rotation is a fishing expedition. Don't ever Reealllly know what you'll land do you? . Being on CPF let's you stack the odds in your favor as in going where there's the best fish to be had. :thinking:
After being with the E2e for a good while, I heard about the L4 Lumamax. First LED and I hopped on that bandwagon. I'd heard about it in magazines. Not the internet. Again from the pre-internet grapevine I discovered the E1B Backup. Still my go to EDC. :bow:
Along with the internet the Fenix LD01 then the PD20 changed the whole playing field. LED WARS had begun! Hallelujah I exulted, there are some really good lights that utilize a single CR123A battery and are really bright and built like a tank! (HDS/Ra) Surefire Lego! DROPINS! BORING! (uuuh, you know what I really mean by boring :huh: ) Twisty vs. clicky. Battery Rechargeable lithiums. Again battery safety protocols. Til now really admiring 1x18650 XML's...whew!
Hopefully to be continued...

purelite said:

It's like anything in life. There is something about the discovery and the fun in just enjoying something and not worrying caring about the tech specs or details or mulitple choices. Seems like all the good memories are from our youth when we saw everything that way . Then as we get older we spend our time searchiing for those feelings experiences again.

Click to expand...

I can definitely relate, and one way that I try to cope with this is to remind myself that things that were useful once are usually still just as useful today as they ever were. It's not hard for me to convince myself of that, seeing how much effort and "advanced" technology--one piled on top of another--it takes to completely supersede in every way even the simplest devices used in the past (and how many failed attempts have been made over the years), such as the incandescent lightbulb.

This perspective (which by the way is reflected in my username--a mix of the old and the new) somehow seems to help me view the world somewhat as I once did as a child, and to amplify that effect I literally live it by continuing to use "obsolete" technology. It's not about being old-fashioned, I feel, or against new technology in the least (judging from all the high-tech gear that fills my home), but for instance I still write with fountain pens like I did as a child (I just thought they were cool, like flashlights), and still find them to be quite practical, in addition to being nicer to write with (virtually no pressure required) and the fact that they produce nicer-looking lines than typical ballpoints; the one I'm using currently is a Sheaffer Snorkel (from the 1960s), which is perhaps technologically the coolest pen ever made in any era. Of course, I also use old flashlights, such as a 6V incandescent lantern, an ancient 2AA Duracell flashlight (made in the USA oo: ), and my very first EDC tool, which is a 2AAA penlight I got as a souvenir from Disneyland about 30 years ago (also made in the USA--shocking!). :rock:

This may seem weird, but using these old but still useful tools often puts a smile on my face, and I really do think it helps me capture some of the feelings I had back when everything was new to me. Much of that is nostalgia, to be sure, but this perspective also helps me enjoy new things in a similar way, as opposed to merely looking up specs and trying to keep up with the bleeding edge all the time, where the cost/satisfaction ratio can be extremely high (with satisfaction being particularly elusive).

Been carrying a McLux PD-S for about 5 years now. Only thing I worrynabout is loss, and with the strong Ti clip, not too big a concern. Dings, scratches, whatever. I guess that means I'm still living the old days

One way to deal with this endless technological change is to build a base that you can upgrade.

I went with the Surefire "lego" style, so 3P, 6P,..., types that you can drop-in the LED.

As new and better LEDs come out (not only lumen but also warm tints...) you just get a new drop-in and you are good to go.

As you start this is more expensive, but over time you don't have to buy over and over again the same material (aluminum, bezels, tailcaps...) that you'd be paying in a new flashlight. Just the drop-in.

Some fancy stuff like programmable UI you miss out on, but I find that I tend to not really like the fancy stuff, by having several different types of flashlights I can match the capability of programmability just by using a different light.

What else? Battery meters I guess, but if you know your flashlights you should be able to keep track of how much runtime you got left.

You can even get a drop-in to work with titanium! Believe it or not. So you don't even miss out on titanium if you really want to have that!

Finally, what about durability and reliability? The 6P and related lights are simple and so very reliable, if the drop-in is reliable. And you can get very reliable drop-ins, so reliability can also be excellent.

Plus since you can get interchangeable parts, you can just use a new tailcap (for example) if one of them fails. Pretty fool-proof and so, time-proof!

I can't keep track of the new lights coming out anymore. Or even just the brands - too many new ones.

A lot simpler in the old days.
For rich folks a Surefire.
Middle class a Fenix L1P.
Poor an Xnova 8.
-
For pocket carry:
Richer folks Arc AAA.
Poorer Dorcy AAA.
Ahhh. The good old days.

LEDninja said:

I can't keep track of the new lights coming out anymore. Or even just the brands - too many new ones.

A lot simpler in the old days.
For rich folks a Surefire.
Middle class a Fenix L1P.
Poor an Xnova 8.
-
For pocket carry:
Richer folks Arc AAA.
Poorer Dorcy AAA.
Ahhh. The good old days.

Click to expand...

Yeah, same for me. Seems like every week there's a new brand coming out. Just here recently I think there's been about half a dozen new companies popping up. And they're not exactly cheap either. I've been sticking with the old standbys; Fenix, SureFire, 4Sevens.

I'm pretty much done with all the "15% brighter" upgrade hype. Even fairly big jumps in lumens aren't really all that noticeable anymore if you're going from 250 to 300 lumens for example. The beam profile makes a bigger visible difference.

I recently bought a Fenix PD31, not because of the supposed "300 lumens", but rather for it's ability to take a wide variety of batteries that I use, its small size, and really low mode (~2 lumens?) that gives it a really loooooong runtime if needed. All perfect for a general use edc. In regards to its max brightness, I compared it to my older TK11-R2, which is about 220ish lumens out the front, and I really couldn't tell much difference between the PD31 and TK11. (that was up close on a wall of course; the TK11 is a better thrower)

Anyway, I think all relates to the "stages" of flashaholism.

1) Discovery: "Wow! I never knew about all these awesome lights out there!" Massive random buying spree ensues.

2) Quest for the Holy Grail: "All these lights I bought are neat, but they're not quite right." Thus begins the search for the PERFECT light, whether it's brightest, toughest, most features, etc. Lots of endless optimism along the lines of "This next upgrade/new light will be the best thing EVER, then I can stop!"

3) Enlightenment (sorry!): A few favorites are established; these get carried and used all the time. No longer impressed by small upgrades in lumen output or user interface gimmicks. Know what he/she likes and sticks with it. Occasional purchases still made, usually at first to "fill in the gaps" in the collection regarding battery types/configurations. After that, not much buying except for real breakthroughs or uniqueness.




I think I'm somewhere between stage 2 and 3 right now.

Stress_Test said:

Anyway, I think all relates to the "stages" of flashaholism.

1) Discovery: "Wow! I never knew about all these awesome lights out there!" Massive random buying spree ensues.

2) Quest for the Holy Grail: "All these lights I bought are neat, but they're not quite right." Thus begins the search for the PERFECT light, whether it's brightest, toughest, most features, etc. Lots of endless optimism along the lines of "This next upgrade/new light will be the best thing EVER, then I can stop!"

3) Enlightenment (sorry!): A few favorites are established; these get carried and used all the time. No longer impressed by small upgrades in lumen output or user interface gimmicks. Know what he/she likes and sticks with it. Occasional purchases still made, usually at first to "fill in the gaps" in the collection regarding battery types/configurations. After that, not much buying except for real breakthroughs or uniqueness.

Click to expand...

Perfectly put.

Not that I am necessarily 'enlightened' I am now at stage three.

Well put Stress_Test!

Stress_Test said it nicely.

Back then, I remember Mag Instrument and Streamlight then others entered the game. There were very few custom makers then as well. The Aleph line of goodies for the SF E series for instance. The far east lights don't appeal so even though the specs are tempting, I doubt I'll seek those out. For myself, Peak and Henry's HDS/RA series have the most appeal. I'd get a full custom though I'm not looking for that upper end, it gives me pause whether if I lose it how would I feel. Although I do carry a custom knife but if lost, I'll simply make myself another. A $300+ light...not likely in a pocket so it becomes impractical for me.

What a fun thread! I love the rich/middle/poor flashlight groups and the stages of flashaholic enlightenment!

The method I outlined, with upgradeable parts, is a kind of scientific approach, though. You define capabilities, and upgrade when the new LED plus battery complement satisfies those capabilities at a smaller size, paying attention to cost, of course.

So if in the past you needed a 4xD Maglite to get a certain amount of light for a certain period of time, and you can now do it with a 2x18650 and a new LED, it pays to upgrade. It does not mean you keep paying to upgrade if you get a 13% improvement in lumens.

I agree that many seem to fall into the trap, get the biggest and baddest flashlight. But this does not achieve anything into itself, it's the use that matters.

If you are going into a cave, then you need a robust, foolproof light that can give some degree of lumens with a burst mode of maybe 100 lumens, with a lot of throw and perhaps a standardized diffuser that can give out flood instead. Or you get two lights, one floody and the other throwy. Maybe it all has to be housed in a headlamp formfactor, as well (the floody one). You don't upgrade randomly, but if you can get this at 1/2 the batteries, you'd do it! If not, you wouldn't bother.

The other big trap is the "one flashlight to rule them all". There isn't such a thing, there are many different flashlights for many different needs. This trap results in many EDC type lights bought one after the other as none really achieve world domination. OK, the Ti-PD and variants came close in this category but still, if you want a bigger lumen plus throw you'd probably still need a second flashlight. And a third for your key chain...