WAS I a 'Flashaholic'....loooong before the word existed....???? :)

{Visited here, now and then, in the past...and finally registered... Always appreciate a good forum/site, serving a good interest so, thanks to the owner-operators/mods}

Thinking about lights 'n lumens.....conjures up memories of...that one night many, MANY moons ago when, in my youth:

I had a ceramic lighthouse nightlight, or...was it that wooden covered-wagon with a light inside....?? Either way, I took the 115V socket/cord out and, using the 'twist-on/twist-off' function (or, that is, unscrew the bulb a bit to power-off, and screw-in to power-on...., I had it in bed under the covers with me.... Well....it seems that, in the just-barely-off mode....it managed to move to the ON position while the night's sleep was underway. Needless to say, there was the smell of burnin' cloth in the bedroom that night...maybe even some epidermal tissue, but can't recall...:) Think so, though... I DO recall it goin' through to the mattress pad, at least....

Yup...that was well before'n some of you guys were even...errrr...seein' the 'first light' at the business end of the birth canal....



Sometimes....the right instincts, and inclinations, are there....just gotta search out the right technology

But, HEY....those WERE the days of the big 6V cell flashlights.....just a bit too young to have my own, I guess.....

Great post, welcome!

I turn 51 in less than two weeks. I hear ya!

love of light in the dark is as old as the love of fire, everyone is a flashaholic if they only would realize it.

Although I'm 35 years old I only started getting into lights 12 years ago when I quit smoking :thumbsup:
Its definitely better for me, and I'm glad I found CPF because I thought I was odd before I found CPF.

For the record, I am odd but not because of my love of lights

:welcome:

Lightemitter said:

....those WERE the days of the big 6V cell flashlights.....

Click to expand...

Still got mine. Out throws my MTE-P7 '900 lumen' torch.

When I was a little kid my folks would ship me off to summer camp every year. Of course, all the kids had flashlights and we spent a lot of time fooling around with them. Like everyone else I had one of those 2D Eveready or Ray-o-Vac lights (an angled one in olive drab) with an anemic beam that often required slapping in the palm of your hand when they would blink out on you all the time. One year, when I was 8 years old my Dad bought me an Eveready Big Jim 6V sealed beam lantern and it was "the bomb!" Not only did it blow away every flashlight any kid in my bunk had but anyone at the entire camp, including the counselors and it was a total blast to use. (and 100% reliable) It was like having the spotlight from a police car in portable form with a handle. My little friends and I spent a lot of time pointing it at low clouds and at the girls camp across the lake. I dragged it around everywhere I went at night and the battery lasted most of the summer, (well, almost). Well it sealed my fate, along with the beam, as far as flashlights are concerned and I've been a "flashaholic" ever since. I've been collecting them and modifying them since those days. The thing is that I had never heard the term "flashaholic" until I discovered CPF several years ago. For decades I've referred to myself as a "flashlight freak".

All the stories here at CPF about folks who have just discovered the "hobby" or who have to deal with friends and relatives who think an interest in flashlights is weird just make me chuckle because I've had this experience for so many years.

I know I was. Cub Scout/Boy Scout camping with the brightest of the junky lights I could afford at my local True-Value hardware store.

Carried around a 3D Maglite in my car in High School and college until I bought a MagCharger, which was AWESOME compared to anything I had ever seen before.

When I started doing repos in college for extra money and needed something just as bright, but a lot smaller, that was about the time that Surefire was selling their 6P, 6R, 8X, 9N, etc... I could only afford the 6R as it was the least expensive of the rechargeables, but WOW was it awesome!!! So small, so bright, and rechargeable with primary backup option when you swap 123's out with the Ni-Cad and remove the extender tube. The best of both worlds!:thumbsup:

I still have a few of those plastic body slide-switch lights that came in the multi-packs at target back when I was a kid. I think the fascination with flash-lights started around age 6ish, and grew stronger through most of my childhood. I also have those memories of the cub-scout/boy-scout flashlight wars across a big lodge in the mountains. Top bunks offered better sniping position