I didn't have a clue? How did you get hooked?

As a kid in the 80s I was into trading cards and I could tell you anything about one. I studied beckett mags religiously waiting on my chance to land my big score. Then I went to r/c cars but realized quickly that I was out of my league and I couldn't handle the prices. It seemed like I couldn't wash enough cars or cut enough yards to get a competition r/c.
In my adult life I went to harleys, watches, knives, cafe bikes, but never ever did I think I would get into flashlights. My general goal is to limit my mistakes in my purchases. I want quality and the most bang for your buck. I have achieved that with harleys but def not with flashlights. I'm still a novice at this point but its interesting and I like its utilitarianism.

How did you get into flashlights?

My old lights were bad and insufficient for the purposes, so I started looking for better ones.

I guess the internet and forums like this speeds up the learning curve a lot when it comes to specialized instruments.

Somehow I came across the name Surefire, probably through Popular Science, and decided to see what all the fuss was about. This eventually lead me to here, and I now I've been hooked for a few years.

I don;t buy much, but I like reading reviews. Computers are the same to me. I don't buy much, but I love to learn about the latest and greatest, along with the best bang for the buck.

I started out looking for a weapon mountable light so I purchased a G2 from my local outdoor store (around 2005). Then a friend gave me a 6P for helping him with something and I was amazed with the build quality.

Then I bought P60L drop ins to replace the incan P60s, then found Malkoff, then found CPF, and now I have tied up entirely too much money in lights :thumbsup:

thaglyde said:

I want quality and the most bang for your buck. I have achieved that with harleys...

Click to expand...

:thinking:

thaglyde said:

As a kid in the 80s I was into trading cards and I could tell you anything about one. I studied beckett mags religiously waiting on my chance to land my big score. Then I went to r/c cars but realized quickly that I was out of my league and I couldn't handle the prices. It seemed like I couldn't wash enough cars or cut enough yards to get a competition r/c.
In my adult life I went to harleys, watches, knives, cafe bikes, but never ever did I think I would get into flashlights. My general goal is to limit my mistakes in my purchases. I want quality and the most bang for your buck. I have achieved that with harleys but def not with flashlights. I'm still a novice at this point but its interesting and I like its utilitarianism.

How did you get into flashlights?

Click to expand...

By needing a new light and innocently typing the words "Bright LED Flashlights" into google... Boy, was that a mistake!

The search gave me tons of results, and I found a few retailers and CPF. I looked at the retailers, but couldn't figure out what was really a good light, so I followed the link to CPF. Once I started reading CPF, that was it. I'm a "research guy" and before you can say 18650, I was reading everything I could find from opinions to reviews and trying to get a "feel" for LED lights, batteries, and chargers. CPF saved me from buying a bunch of crap (like I've unfortunately done with other things in the past) and led me straight to the "Good Stuff"!
lovecpf
CPF has saved me a lot of time, trouble, disappointment, and frustration.

Thanks guys!

I was looking for high quality lights for wilderness backpacking...

Then it moved to EDC.

Then disaster preparedness.

Then more EDC...

...

I think I'm reformed though, as I haven't bought a flashlight for myself in about 6 months. I guess "done" is the word to describe my practical collection ... Except for maintenance and LED upgrades of course ...

I wanted a better light than the Maglights I have had forever. Something smaller and brighter than the 5D I had been lugging around for the last 30 years. Then, God help me, I found this place. :naughty:

well I have always liked flashlight since I was very young I had several old incans and then I saw some of the inovas at target and they where not the best lights but way better than anything I had so then I started looking for better lights and then I happened upon this place and it was over . and about thirty lights later here I am

I bought a flashlight on Woot.com that was supposedly a couple hundred lumens. It was a serengetti and took 3*AAA and blew every other flashlight I had out of the water. Ever since I've been interested and hooked. That serengetti is now my dimmest flashlight.

I brought a malkoff drop in.... That was the beginning of the end.

I'm NOT hooked ! ! !


Unlike the REST of you guys !



_

Always wanted a nice one and my Parents never bought me one and all stores sold were Surefire and I was applauded at there prices (similar to first seeing Beat by Dre before I got into better more expensive headphones) I wanted something <$100, but it wasn't till I was about 20 that I googled "tactical flashlights" and found Goinggear and CPF $$$$$$$$

Similar story, always liked maglights, collect watches, knives and guns. Got into tactical shooting competitions, learned about surefire and got a Z3, then an e2e and loved them. Then, with no help from the forums got one of the first Dominator 10x's, was on a waiting list for a year. And that was it for awhile, then I was on one of my knife forums and somebody started a "what lights do you carry with your knife," thread and one guy posted a Muyshondt Aeon a McGizmo and I went nuts. I looked them up and was shocked at the prices. Well I bought the Aeon, joined this forum, later added a Sundrop, then a Haiku, and about 40 lights later I am hooked. I keep telling myself that no one flashlight costs anywhere as much as one of my better watches, but then again, I don't have 40 watches.

In spite of that, I really do like this forum.

Nice thread.

T

I once decided to get a better light other than cheapo 5mm LED ones. Looked around the internet and found this forum

Have liked lights since I was a kid, but never really collected them except occasional penlights, little oddities, and a MiniMag. Then eleven or twelve years ago I got a Dorcy Cool Blue and an Energizer Folding Lantern. Loved them, so I started searching the internet for info on LED lights. Found the LED Museum site, Brock's site, and then CPF. That warm feeling I got told me I was home.

Geoff

I found CPF..... After buying my first surefire and then found the custom section.....

My dad was real handy, and had flashlights and pocket knives. I grew up in the 70's always having some kind of pocket know in my pocket. Half the time it was a cheap Swiss-army style knife. I just never lost my fascination for flashlights and knives. If my dad were still alive he would be amazed at the LED /emitter technology. Heck I remember when the red LED watches first came out!! That was high tech man.

Hi thaglyde, and :welcome:

As long as I can remember I have liked flashlights. In the early 80's I bought some lights (don't remember the brand) with focusable beam. After that I have had some 4AA and 4D typhical incan lanterns. In the 90's I wanted real quality and got several Maglites: Solitaire, MiniMaglite AA, 2D and 6D. The 6D I thought was the king of flashlights, it was SO impressive, as well the size and the brightness. Also I then considered Solitaire, AA and 2D to be bright for their sizes...
Around 2007 I saw that Maglite came out with new LED versions. But a salesman at a store in my city then persuaded me to get a Ledlenser 3AAA light instead of a Maglite LED 2/3AA. Short after that I found CANDLEPOWERFORUMS. Fenix 1AA(don't remember the title, it's sold) and Tiablo A9 were my first flashlights in the beginning of the true flashoholism. And it will never stop, just read the post "my collection" (in my signature) you can see what happened since 2008...