Ever buy a light, not use it for years, then suddenly find it useful?

Ages ago I bought a light that sounded cool but never really warmed to it and couldn't think of a good reason to use it over my other lights.
The light in question is an MG PLI MC-E it was September 2009 when I bought it and at the time 700 Lumen was a LOT for a flashlight.
So this light has been sitting in a draw pretty much unused for over 5 years.

Recently I've been getting mozzies flying in at night and being really annoying, when I hear that irritating bzzzz I grab a light and my fly zapping racquet so I can find and zap the pest/pests.
For this task I have found a bright light with floody beam to be the best, too narrow a beam and it is really hard to get the light on to a tiny insect flying around.
My Jetbeam RRT-0 works pretty well for this and so does my Nitecore D10, but they don't have a hugely long run time.
What I wanted to use was a light with the right kind of beam that runs from a higher capacity cell like an 18650, I have some 3,400mAh cells I can run.
Then looking through what I've got in my drawer full of lights I see the MG and decide to try that out for the task - BINGO!
Finally I've found a task that really suits this light well.

Anyone else leave a light sitting in a drawer unused and then one day realise that it is just the perfect tool for a certain task?
Can you beat over 5 years unused before finding a purpose for a light?

This is a great idea for a thread! I don't have a story to add, but am looking forward to the responses from those who do!

I hate to post the truth here for fear of sounding stupid. But I have found one I forgot I bought. It had fallen behind my sofa in my man cave and it was still in the shipping package. It was a total impulse buy from EBay. It was there well over a year. A Surefire G2. All black with no drop in. Lol. It is super minty.
When I found it, it was like Chritmas. I honestly had no idea what it was. Nice surprise.

Cool story... I don't have any story close to this. The only story that even comes close is that, when I bought my first two SF lights - E1L and E2e - I used both for about a year, after the incandescent bulb blew, other brighter and shinier lights took centre-stage and I put those two lights away. It was only after finding LED dropins and other CPF'ers modding abilities did I come to really appreciate my E-series lights, so much so, that I use an E1 + Tana-modded KX2 head as my favourite edc / go-to light.

I think many of us can relate to this in some way or another. It's actually what made me really slow down and think about my purchases. I realized I was basically wasting my money just because I wanted the nicest newest thing. Many times they just wound up on a shelf or in a drawer. Now I only purchase lights that I know I will use. In most cases it's to replace a light that I have used extensively and decided it's time for a new one. As a result, I have found I actually enjoy it more now. I still keep up on the new lights, but only get something I'll immediately use.

I will add that I think a big part of it was getting caught up in the lumen race. Most of the good lights out now put out plenty of light for most uses. Now I focus more on efficiency and other features.


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Like Berneck1, I am a lot more selective now than I was early on. My stable of lights is "mature", and I will not buy any kind of light unless it is a) totally unique, unlike anything else I have, or b) flat out better than something I already have, so I can give away the older light it is replacing. Even then, if I don't find myself using it after a while, I get rid of it. No point in hoarding. There is always someone who can use a light - and what better way to share the hobby than to give away lights you no longer need?

I also slowed down my purchasing drastically, in part due to buying the MG and after playing with it a little parking it in a drawer.
In the last 2 years I've bought 3 lights only, each with a different UI to anything I already had.
I have been very carefully considering what a new light offers compared to what I already have before spending the money, primarily because I've been spending too much elsewhere.
The fact is that I can't spend the same dollar on 2 different things so I try to be careful with my decisions.

I don't like selling off lights though, there is no way I'd get close to what I paid and it seems a real shame to spend say $60 on a light and then sell it for $20.
This is why I'm pretty happy to have finally found a worthwhile use for my MG instead of having it just sit in a drawer. If I'm using a light then it seems to me that I didn't waste the money I spent to purchase it.

One of the directions my money has been going on is a new vehicle which I'll be using to go camping more often, this is handy because going camping gives me a good reason to use several of my lights.
The hardest thing is keeping the lights I take with me to a single digit number.
New camping vehicle:


My current plan with lights is to only buy another one if there is a very good reason, like a need that none of my current lights are able to fill very well. Given the number and variety of lights I have it is hard to think of what need I can't meet. Hopefully I can just look through my collection and find a light that very nicely meets whatever need, like what I did with the MG PLI. There is quite a good cost saving in finding an existing light to do a job rather than purchasing an new one.
Even my oldest lights put out enough light for many tasks, I don't always need a huge light output. The MG is 5 1/2 years old and puts out 700 Lumen, nothing wrong with the brightness of that one - I'm mostly using it on medium output for my mozzie hunting.

Kind of... I got a warm quark tactical around 2011 and carried it for about a year or two with a single 14500 lithium ion. I stopped carrying the Quark for the most part once I got a M61HCRI/VME then a few months ago I wanted to find a warm light that would run on two AA. After searching on line a bit I realised I have a couple different bodies for that Quark and now a light that has been sitting idle for a couple years is being used again.

I have a really old Nuwai 5w light 2xCR123 from 2006ish. Luxeon Rebel LED. It mostly sat in the glovebox for years after I got newer lights. I didn't use it much because it wasn't good on batteries for the amount of light I got from it. Old tech. But I just recently noticed that the LED was on a star that I could replace. I replaced it with a warm 80CRI XML2 star, and now it's a modern again for only $10. I will definitely be using it more now, as I love the warm color from it. All my other lights are cool whites.

On a sidenote, I also bored it out, hoping I could run an 18650, but it doesn't work. The light is a simple 3 mode dimmer, but maybe the lower voltage of the 18650 doesn't trigger the power circuit. Still happy with it running primaries though.

I started scattering my flashlights more last year just because they didn't get enough usage. I even use my extra pocket sized lights as a one-way ticket from the desk to bed and bring them all back once a week. The oldest of these lights had been in my flashlight box for maybe a bit over 5 years and were used perhaps twice a year when I took out my whole collection for fun and took it to the field.

I too have slowed drastically from buying lights except one last year to replace a lost favorite that only got EDC time as a shiny weekend light. My plan for the future is to only buy lights in the same format as those that I actually use regularly and one big monster when the lumen leap is high enough (at least a 1000 lumens leap from my biggest light).

Yes, the LRI Proton Pro, I am starting to see it as one of the all time great lights.

Definitely, I bought a Petzl Duo years ago for general camping. I wanted a tough waterproof head torch (bearing in mind I bought this lamp 10+ years ago before I knew about places like this)

It got put to one side in favour of things like my Malkoff Surefires or HDS rotary. The main halogen bulb in the duo was horrendous and the 5 LED setup not much better.
I came across it on a clear out of stuff and wondered what could be done with it. A quick google later and I came across this guy who makes a dropin for it. Well they are well made headlamps and although the upgrade was more than i paid for the lamp to start with I eventually pulled the trigger......oh boy was i glad i did, what and upgrade! artefact free pools of light, and more than enough power to make it a very useful addition. Easy to figure out UI and more than enough settings for every eventuality.

Highly recommended if you have one that needs a new lease of life

http://www.customduo.co.uk/Pages/omniv4.aspx

I bought a Jaycar 4xD torch about 4 years ago. Similar to kiwimark's it
was a 750 lumen MCE. I got it before really getting into lights, ad for a long time
it sat on a shelf being useless.
With a change of car I felt the need to carry a decent light in the car. I thought to
myself what could I keep there that doesn't matter if it goes missing.
This torch is perfect for the role, stable nimh 10,000mAh cells, easily enough light
and a useful lump of metal if ever needed for self protection.
Definitely a 2nd lease on life.

I bought some lights to have as an emergency or backup use so they are not being used and probably won't be used for years. One is an LED 240(?) lumen Minimag Pro+ which i wasn't sure what i was going to use that one for, i got it in case my other smaller flashlights stopped working. I haven't used my 3rd Gen 3D Mag yet, i tried it out and it wasn't too bad, but good to have if i got some D cells handy. I also got a couple of Fenix lights that i have as backups in case a couple of my older lights were to fail but those lights are so good i want to take care of them so they'll probably stay as emergency lights. I had a power outage so i threw some Eneloops in my LD41 so it would be ready in case i needed another light. The outage only lasted a couple of hours though but i wasn't sure how long it was going to be so i wanted to make sure there was a light with low lumen settings available, but have higher lumens when needed.

I like this thread, a lot of thoughtful posts.

I was thinking along the same lines recently too. I rediscovered my Inova X5, which for those who don't know is a 2xCR123A light with 5 (now outdated) LED's. It's one of the first LED flashlights that I got when I started on this hobby, more than 5 years ago.

However, it has some interesting properties:

--it puts out useful floody light, about 22 lumens or so, with a runtime of more than 5 hours. So certainly enough light to move around indoors and to do reading or kitchen-raiding.

--It doesn't get hot, so no problem to put it against your skin to prop it in some useful angle.

--it is strong, one of the original "built-like-a-tank" lights.

--it is almost as small as a 2-CR123A flashlight can be.

--it is in my eyes quite a good looking light.

So, actually, it has been superseded by more modern LED's, that can more than match its output with more runtime, but certainly it continues to be useful and to do the job. I find I use it now that I rediscovered it!

The more general point is that older LED lights can still be useful and contribute something that is not necessarily easy to replicate by many flashlights selling today.

It is interesting the OP mentions the MC-E LED, which I also have in a Malkoff drop-in format (for 6P Surefire lights and those compatible with them). This particular LED has been superseded in efficiency, but actually it was rather expensive to produce because of the way the large sized wafer that is uses, and it is not easy to find today when cheaper-to-produce LEDs are everywhere. For "wall-of-light" type of very floody light, it remains quite useful.

So indeed for many uses I still use it, say in the yard or the basement, or when there is a power outage when it can serve as a "room-lighter".

Then there are other older flashlights that I find I still use quite a bit. I have an Elektrolumens modded Anglelux (a right-angled light), with 1 LED with 500 lumens but a runtime of 12 hours using 2xD rechargeable batteries. This is just handy to grab a hold of for almost any use, indoors or outdoors. Today he makes the same light but at 250 lumens and 24 hour runtime. That, too, would be pretty useful especially for long power outages.

In the Malkoff line, the M30 and M60 drop-ins and their relatives have an excellent optic which generates long throw. More recent offerings have only come with reflectors. So, many users remain loyal fans and continue to use them. Also, they can use both CR123A, RCR123A (rechargeable versions), and also some AA combinations! (including all types, such as lithium, alkaline, and NiMH). So many still use these lights as "survival" lights that can use multiple types of batteries with long runtimes and useful throw.

I can go on with examples, but the general point the OP makes is quite excellent: many older lights had excellent function, with all of the advantages of LED lighting, even as the efficiency of LEDs has continued to improve.