Are you faithful to only one brand?

When you first started buying torches, did you remain with one brand? I bought my first quality lights last month, all Streamlights, and thought I would only buy Streamlight torches from here on, but I couldn't pass up a 4Sevens G5 V2 Maelstrom on sale for $65 at goingear.com, a light I don't need! Nice for the nightstand, camping or ghost-hunting but geez. It's as if I blacked out and when I came to, I had a nice light on the way. Did this happen to you when you first started your flashlight inventory or did you diversify the brands from the beginning? Am I on the way of becoming a "collector?" Anybody know what the symptoms for OCD and Aspergers are?

Nope, not at all attached to one particular brand. However Fenix makes up the bulk of my collection for the simple fact I can drive to a retailer that has demo models you can check out before you buy one. Last time I went I was determined to come home with a TK35, but upon inspection I found it a little odd too hold. Too short and squarish. So I came home with a PD32 and an LD40 instead. Can't believe it took so long to pull the trigger on the LD40. What a beaut light!

There are some brands I won't touch now because of bad experiences and a few too many dollars wasted. Overall I'd say my collection is about average for the average CPFer. I have some 50 battery powered lighting devices (17 of which are Fenix) ranging in price from free to around $200, which is the most I'll pay for a single flashlight.

My last 4 were SWM, Eagletac, Shadow & Nitecore so no I'm not.

90+% of my lights are Surefire. I do throw in the occasional McGizmo and Mirage Man.

So I would answer, somewhat.

rocketsurgeon01 said:

When you first started buying torches, did you remain with one brand? I bought my first quality lights last month, all Streamlights, and thought I would only buy Streamlight torches from here on, but I couldn't pass up a 4Sevens G5 V2 Maelstrom on sale for $65 at goingear.com, a light I don't need! Nice for the nightstand, camping or ghost-hunting but geez. It's as if I blacked out and when I came to, I had a nice light on the way. Did this happen to you when you first started your flashlight inventory or did you diversify the brands from the beginning? Am I on the way of becoming a "collector?" Anybody know what the symptoms for OCD and Aspergers are?

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please try other brands there are much better lights then streamlight out there

I'd say I'm not. So long as The light seems to have a quality build, Ii go for it. It seems that some are more "brand conscious" without realizing/wanting to realize that there are better brands out there. Just imho. To each his own

I'm not faithful to a single brand of light. However, if I had an exceptionally good experience with one brand, it would bias me when looking for a new light.

Yes, my own customs

Not to one. I almost always stay to one of five brands though. 7 Surefire with some 2 Malkoff, 3 Zebralight, 2 Quark, and 3 Peak thrown in.

Brasso said:

Not to one. I almost always stay to one of five brands though. 7 Surefire with some 2 Malkoff, 3 Zebralight, 2 Quark, and 3 Peak thrown in.

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Except for the Peak brand, I have the same brands as you.

rocketsurgeon01 said:

It's as if I blacked out and when I came to, I had a nice light on the way.

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I blacked out too! I took an P60 aspherical off the sales thread. I totally didn't need it; now I have to buy the xr-e as well :laughing:. It's a very flashaholic behavior. I haven't bought anything for the past few years to amuse myself until now.

As for brands, I'm loyal to venders who provide the most practical products, namingly Solarforce and various CPF modders.

Not at all, I have a small assortment of different brands. Every so often I add a new one.

Not from when I first started. When I first started, I was all over the lot.

And during the early days, I didn't know enough to stay away from the Chinese brands.
Then, I learned a little more, and became more particular about it.

Now, I have mostly 2 American brands that I buy, which I feel give the kind of quality and performance that I expect, and while they are fairly costly, they are worth every penny spent.
I do have a couple of the small cheap Chinese lights left over, and they can be okay as long as they don't cost much. Like, $20 or under.

Zebralight, 4Sevens, Fenix and Thrunite is what I bought in my first few months of flashaholism.

I don't see a reason to stay true to a single brand, buy which light you like best. If it happens to be the same brand as others that you bought, so be it.

Nope, I buy whatever light has the best features at the price I want, even of those are cheap no-name brands.

I only buy Surefire lights these days but some of them have Malkoff dropins so I'm not sure if that means I'm not 100% loyal to one brand? I guess if you mean a stock item without any modifications whatsoever then I probably don't qualify!

Although the majority of mine are Surefire, it's only because of they have the features I want and warranty to back it up. I do also have Quark, Fenix, HDS, Malkoff, Thrunite and ITP as well. Oh, almost forgot Armytek.

I've got an assortment of different brands but there's only 2 brands of light that i have more than 1 model as these are the 2 brands that i like better than any other,they're HDS & Surefire,in fact the next 2 lights i've got my eye on are both Surefires
then as soon as Henry gets up & running at full tilt i'll be buying another HDS.

I have a wide variety of brands...some I have 1 of, some I have 2-3 of.

I do tend to like some brand's UI or other features more than others, and tend to gravitate towards those versions...but once I find a light that fills a niche I need filled, I am typically looking for a different niche next anyway.

Some lights are just experiments to SEE what they are like and how they work for me. Some experiments get promoted to active duty, and some are stashed as spares or given to the unenlightened, etc.

If I really like a light for a limited application, I will put it into the bag that goes out when that application comes up...but may not see it for a long time if the application doesn't arise. I do tend to end up with back up back up lights though.

I find out what my needs for a light are first, then check to see if any USA made lights are out there that would fit. Surefire is good, but they really don't offer a mini or micro light. Customs or drop-ins almost seem like the way to go, versus off the shelf stuff.