I came on board here in 2003

I joined these forums while it was still a small community of like minded friendly people. If you made a deal with somebody
people usually sent the item to the other person before you got payment because there was a high level of trust. The reason
I am posting today is, way back then , the standard for an edc light was still Surefire, their little nylon based 60 lumen light.
Today, I just received two Olight S10R Baton II lights which have three brightness settings, a side mounted switch with its
own little micro stand charger combo. Back then to have a light that would approach 400-500 lumens wasn't even a dream, and
nobody used led's for anything but the flashlight inventor designer. Maglite was the major player that competed with the dramers
here by trying to sue everybody that posed a threat, out of existence. They were the most despised flashlight company of all time.
They thought they could rest on their laurels, but they weren't aware that they actually didn't have any. Back in the day, Police
used them because they made convenient clubs that doubled as really poor flashlights. Some of the enterprising folks here stripped
out the entire innards from the maglites and put in what ever higher powered bulbs, or mostly led's because the mag reflector was
pretty good at that point in time. Most of the inventors did custom runs and got people to commit to buy one based on faith. Every
once in a while a scam artist would slip into our midst and offer a light which never came to pass in reality. People who lived nearby
would go by where they lived and see what was up. I would be surprised if anybody here remembered this sad scenario.
Mostly I am here today because after spending several years here compelled, like most, to visit several times a day, just to make
sure we didn't miss anything. It was an absolute addiction and we all knew it but didn't care. Now there are so many spectacular performing
lights that in the last few years I have bought some of them, just because I knew that with my latest purchase I could shine my new light
at a street lamp and force it to turn itself off because its sensor told it that daylight had come.
It was nice to have a place to come and remember the good old days, thanks

Welcome back Kiethhr. Lots around to like these days.

It was a nice read but I'm not sure if you are happily reminiscing, coming back after a hiatus, or saying goodbye?

I will always have a warm spot in my heart for the cpf, we were ahead of our time and all that came for a look stayed. It was miraculous how invested people became after just a couple of visits. The wonder of it all. There were a lot of electrical engineers, physicists, enthusiasts of all kinds. I was reminiscing and trying to give a glimpse into the past that some would find interesting. it was a wonderful community of people that had great affection for the others.

seery said:

It was a nice read but I'm not sure if you are happily reminiscing, coming back after a hiatus, or saying goodbye?

Click to expand...

Sounded almost like "get off my lawn" to me. ;-)

From what I've seen, that community is alive and well.

And then they showed up.

Kinda like when Mickey Nunez, Robert August, Greg Noll and about 50 other fellows had the shores of Hawaii to surf all by them selves.
Then the Gidget movie came out.
Suddenly every beach in America was packed with sun burned wanna-be's...

Yup, what kept you here, has been the same thing that has this beach of a forum so packed these days.

Surfing is fun.
Flashlights are fun.
CPF is fun.

Its not necessarily "better" or "worse", and not "us" vs "them", but CPF and the flashlights industry was just different then.

In my comment there was no malice intended or anything meant to say anything negative.

I sensed the thread was started by somebody smiling about the good ole days when things were simpler and less crowded.

The crowd is here to stay it seems, and along with it lots of ideas and more important imo, more enthusiasm about battery powered fire on a stick.

Being a fairly new arrival myself and not knowing the history of how the place has expanded subforum-wise...I'd surmise that in 03 the 'LED' section was where a select few rocket scientists lurked, general discussion was mainly focused on topics now being discussed in the incan portion, and at times posts were few n far between.
Now LED is normal and instead of bragging about a few dozen lumens they seek thousands in a double aa pocket size light.

I can see how those good ole days are missed.

Ahh memories
Chris

I never quite understood what was what back then - though that is probably my fault. I knew it was a small 'community' with some excellent engineers but I really did not strike lucky with the CPF 'specials', which is what drew me in the first place. I lost a fair bit of money sad to say.

One project took my money and was over 2 years to anything being made, when I got the light the captive rechargeable cells had gone bad through storage.
One project took money and gave absolutely nothing in return.
One project had the maker banned from CPF and no light ever materialized.
One had a never ending stream of sob stories - no light.

So out of four projects I spent time with, all four got nowhere.

But these days, we have less 'personalities' (may be a good thing), but way more innovation and exciting new lights from the major players. Sad to say I will never take part in another one off special build, just looking around at some of the current projects I see similar problems to what I saw in 2005.

I remember the Mag domination too - kind of sad to see them do that. So much water under the bridge...

Minimoog said:

.............But these days, we have less 'personalities' (may be a good thing), but way more innovation and exciting new lights from the major players. Sad to say I will never take part in another one off special build, just looking around at some of the current projects I see similar problems to what I saw in 2005.

I remember the Mag domination too - kind of sad to see them do that. So much water under the bridge...

Click to expand...

I gave all my kids a mini Mag light of their favorite color with a Terralux module. I quit modifying Mag lights 6 to 7 years ago. I could see the writing on the wall. Newer efficient LEDs being released......along with tons of new LED flashlights. I can't believe how many new lights being released by the various manufacturers. It use to be when a new light came out I had to have it. Now there are so many and to me the options are getting a little gimicky too..........which I don't like and so the temptation to buy has dropped off. You just get to the point that its getting harder and harder to improve on what I already have. I think the market is going to get saturated if not already.

mind blown from a stock olight? get a vinh! im going to take a different approach. when I joined the olight M20 and fenix tk10 were duking it out for Chinese manufacturer supremacy (ended in a tie/). in the 6 years since i don't think any light in todays market shows a significant improvement to the M20 and the tk10 in same size light. more floody, higher output? sure. more light going to where you want it? not really. fault of the LED companies, only way to get more light is to keep making the LEDs bigger I suppose. or by making flashlight battery monsters, devouring cells for breakfast lunch and dinner. so while some might see vast improvements over the broad range of things comparing apples to oranges, I see little improvements when simply comparing apples to apples.

Neat storyline. The past makes one think of the future. Wonder what that holds? Currently, I think 47s is on the right path. It was or is only a matter of time before smart flashlights take over the market. Needless to say, the UI is going to be insanely cool and fun. However, there will still be those who prefer a single mode indy.

Great post.

I think CPF still is a good community - just a bit more crowded. More of a city rather than a town. You know how people are a bit colder and less friendly in a big city? Same here.

The things I dislike about the forum now are endemic of the whole internet in general and social media in particular.

There are still fantastic people here on CPF.

I still find out stuff on here like nowhere else.

I still go to great meet ups with fellow CPFers.

I still like torches (OK, OK, Flashlights).

And, once in a while I'll carry my Surefire p60 incand...and smile when it lights my path.



Group hug everybody!

:grouphug:

I wasn't trying to say that it was better then, nothing could be further from the truth, I was trying to give a look through my crystal ball, I'm glad that things have expanded
to what they are now. The coolest part is back then, flashlight technology was just in the beginning and to say that surefire was the pinnacle now I think is laughable. My main
comments about mag were directed at a company who tried gain status for designing a flashlight with a round head on it. It was awful and they did put people out of business.
But now You guys can have it all, I have more than I need as well. I do have a light that will turn off my streetlight out front, why, I have no clue and I was glad to be able to
share some thoughts, I'm not gone,just a less frequent visitor.

Sometimes being able to look back and see what was is just as valuable as the here, now, and future. Reminds everyone who missed it from where we came. I remember doing way more reading than posting (really!) and posting with a bit of trepidation my first few times in the McGizmo subforum as a newbie... What if they throw me out!!! Damn kids!!!

I've seen your post almost by chance... and I felt compelled to jump in and say "hi!".
I joined CPF in the halcyon days of the flashlight (torch) hobby, when it took days of my time just to sort out a Luxeon mod. Still have an hundred or two of lights around, but the time spent on them is now minimal. I still wear permanently a premium AAA light on a neck lanyard, and -just for the sake of nostalgia- I replaced the Prion with a red CPF edition Arc AAA, which still works wonderfully and made me feel better. No levels, no SOS, but it is better for night trips, when my sleepy fingers won't come to terms with the multi function switch. And it says CPF in a "circumferential" fashion (does it ring a bell -when ARC had to remove all "round the circle" engravings).
Thank you for bringing back memories from different times.

I came on here in 2013, and have made multiple friends, and have been GIFTED multiple lights! thedoc007 actually runs a giveaway thread, and while he was the principle gifter, he has obtained lights from other people too.
Better then or now? Who knows? You may have more affection for that time, when you were a newbie learning with others and were more active and made more friends. It seems... my time is now.

At any rate, I read your initial post, and follow-up post about mag-light, and while I don't recall being aware of any lawsuits at the time that they were occurring, they have been mentioned often enough at this site that I am now aware of them, and can understand why some people may be upset, yet... that's big business.

Back in the late 60's, I recall carrying a mag-light solitair on camping trips and being very happy with it, later I purchased multiple 3D and at least one 3C mag-lights. They served as legal clubs to be carried in my car/s. AND they were the most dependable flashlights that I ever heard of!

When you wrote:

Maglite was the major player that competed with the dramers
here by trying to sue everybody that posed a threat, out of existence. They were the most despised flashlight company of all time.
They thought they could rest on their laurels, but they weren't aware that they actually didn't have any. Back in the day, Police
used them because they made convenient clubs that doubled as really poor flashlights.

Click to expand...

I googled dramers and couldn't find anything, so I still don't know who or what the dramers are/were. Not that it really matters, but I do disagree with you when you derided the company regarding laurels, and poor flashlights.

It's true that many police officers gave up their night-stick and crappy flashlight, and replaced them with a mag-light. Many a police vehicle also had them in the rechargeable stand.

LEOs probably stopped carrying mags, when they switched to the PR24 baton. I imagine that it was about then, that surefire came on the scene, and LEOs switched to a smaller light and the PR24.

When you wrote:

keithhr said:

<SNIP>My main
comments about mag were directed at a company who tried gain status for designing a flashlight with a round head on it. It was awful and they did put people out of business.

Click to expand...

it sounds to me like you have a personal axe to grind. I checked your past posts, and since November 2012, your few posts were all directed against mag-light.

Sorry to point that out, but I have found that over the years my mag-lights have served me well.

Not really knowing anything about the lawsuits, I decided to google them and found on wikipedia: some information.

It seems that the founder successfully sued his two illegitimate boys, who worked for him in corporate positions, and who, broke away and formed a competing flashlight company "Bison Sportslights Inc." Further, the founder had been in a 8 year palimony suit with their mother. He didn't file his suit against Bison until two years after the palimony suit was finalized.

Filing a suit, and being able to prove "malicious intent" is VERY difficult to do. However the courts ruled that the boys' actions were in fact malicious. One of the charges was "malicious false advertising"