Who uses a flashlight because they need to?

I know that sounds like a silly question, so let me clarify:

I wear glasses. I have since I was nine years old. Going hand-in-hand with my poor distance vision is poor night vision. As a rule, I turn on every light I can, and almost never find it to be too bright indoors.

Since I have embraced flash-aholism, I now enjoy having light with me wherever I go, so there are no more stubbed toes, no more stepped on Legos, no more frustration looking for something in the dark while my wife is asleep. I know some people have fantastic night vision, but I want to hear from those like me, who use a flashlight so they don't walk into walls. :shakehead

(BTW, my wife is the exact opposite, always running around turning lights off.)

I don't use my lights due to any problems with my vision, but more because I spend significant portions of time doing my job when the lights can't be turned on. I work in theatre, and am constantly needing to see into dark places, underneath platforms, or work on bits of scenery or rigging while the lighting guys have all the lights turned off to work on something.

I use a flashlight every night.
I have a long way between where I park my truck to my front door.
I need the flashlight to light my way to the house
That's at the minimum, and I may encounter other uses besides that.

I carry flashlights far more than I use them. The majority of the time I use them I don't HAVE to, but it is convenient and nice.

Mine comes out of my holster 20-30 times a day for work as I am an auto tech.

I use it daily to walk my dog and do few other things.

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I rarely NEED a flashlight. I am one with good night vision. I however find plenty of times to use flashlights though, it is just easier with one. Biking is really the only instance where I need a flashlight on a regular basis, can't quite see obstacles and critters far enough ahead at 20mph. The last time I was biking I was using my Nitecore EZAA R5 160lm which was much brighter than anything the LBS had to offer, but as many here would guess it wasn't bright enough. Riding along at 25mph we saw two black bear cubs cross the trail, too close for comfort, we had no idea where mama bear was. The M60 6P was used the remainder of the trip.

I use mine every day at work. Although the area is well lit, the machinery has dark areas underneath and coated with black grease. Of course I play with them at home too.

Crap for night vision and work second shift. Eber try to aearch a auspects vehicle or back pack in the dark? Writing a ticket is even harder

madecov said:

Crap for night vision and work second shift.

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I feel for you! Ironically, while I have horrible night vision, my ability to detect motion is excellent. My wife has great night vision, but can't detect small amounts of motion (chipmunks, squirrels, etc) at all.

I would qualify here as I use one every early morning and night here on the ranch, I have to check on livestock with it, this am it was my Olight M20 tonight it will be mt Steamlight Strion. I will probably use my Thrulite TN11 next. Thats the fun of it.

Tiggercat said:

Going hand-in-hand with my poor distance vision is poor night vision. As a rule, I turn on every light I can, and almost never find it to be too bright indoors.

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Ah! A kindred spirit! I've had glasses since 3rd grade and I'm pretty much blind without them. Sucks. I'd love to have the surgery but forget it cost-wise.

My night vision is very poor and I'm incredulous when other guys say they can navigate/walk the dog, etc. on a few lumens. I need a good 100 lumens before I'm comfortable outside. I use my lights all the time-same as you-to avoid accidents and they make things much easier. The dimmest I use is an XP-G triple on medium setting. Thank God for XM-L's-now LED's are finally bright enough! (in triplicate)

One thing I found out is that neutrals are much easier on the eyes than cools. My triple Mag mods have 4500K neutrals from LED Supply-they are wonderful, and they still light up the world.

Cools I use for brute force lumens, but I don't use 'em too much now.

Rich

Tiggercat said:

I wear glasses. I have since I was nine years old. Going hand-in-hand with my poor distance vision is poor night vision. As a rule, I turn on every light I can, and almost never find it to be too bright indoors.

Since I have embraced flash-aholism, I now enjoy having light with me wherever I go, so there are no more stubbed toes, no more stepped on Legos, no more frustration looking for something in the dark while my wife is asleep. I know some people have fantastic night vision, but I want to hear from those like me, who use a flashlight so they don't walk into walls. :shakehead

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It's actually good to hear stories like this, Tiggercat, to help gain a little perspective from a different viewpoint. Most of us need extra light in the form of flashlight or headlamps to help improve some aspect of our lives, but many among us push our flashaholism to the limits of self indulgence, often far beyond any real need (I do that to a certain degree myself, but probably fall somewhere toward the middle of the pack in terms of the average CPF member). It's good to think about the technology having applications for some of us beyond just personal wants or work needs or daily help needs but as extended to areas that involve improvement in quality of life issues like you describe.

Me. When ever I need to pad my ego.

Any law enforcement officer uses his lights every day to stay alive.

I'm in the convenience / safety camp. I don't need to use a light for most of the things I do use it for; I could get by with the dim / poor lighting conditions that exist. And my night vision isn't stellar, but it isn't crappy either. I use my lights because it makes things easier and safer. It's that simple.

flashlights are my primary tools besides a pen, working as a line mechanic during the swing shift.

outside of work, my lights make moving around my house and yard easier. always better to be able to see where the dogs leave their steaming piles :thumbsup:

Every night, all night!

I'm always fixing something for somebody. I use EDCs and others to help me see into dark areas and find the problem. I also use them to navigate around the house at night.

I almost feel a little guilty, as I am 46 years old and still don't need vision correction. But let me tell you, I don't take an instant of my gift of good vision, or any other one of them for that matter, for granted. Even though I love flashlights, I actually walk around in the dark all the time. In fact, I used to teach a backpacking course, and while I carried a flashlight (usually to assist students as needed), I rarely used it while walking around camp because it really caused tunnel vision for me, and interfered with my dark adapted eyes. I never hiked the trail at night mind you; camp was set up almost every night prior to sunset. Most of the time I used a candle lantern (an actual wax candle) hung by my tarp so that I could find "my campsite" after hangin' out at a campfire.

The heaviest duty my flashlight sees is while road cycling once the sun goes down, which is WAY too early beginning this time of year. Below is my Liteflux LF2XT, set to a medium speed strobe, placed in an empty prescription bottle. It acts like a glow tube so that I may be seen from multiple directions at once. I used it tonight and arrived safely back home in my driveway a little after dark:








The other use I have for a Princeton Tec Miniwave LED flashlight is while SCUBA diving, both at night and cavern diving. Below is a 12 second clip while cavern diving in the Cenotes of Cozumel. The video is not exciting; it's only to demonstrate the true functionality of our flashlight hobby in action:











And this basketball sized octopus would never even have been spotted if not for the help of our battery powered, hand held beams of light. The photo was taken on a night dive a few nights after the Cenotes trip, but in Cancun. This little guy was in the open ocean:







Finally, one of my main uses is to ensure others can see me and my buddies when we're walking at night while crossing roads, rather than the other way around. No flashlights below, only gratuitous dog photos:




Sorry this post was so long...