How old is too old?

On this wet and dreary day I find myself pulling out the boxes for my lights (kept all in bigger boxes in a closet), looking at the stats and thinking which of my lights are too old for practical use today.

I have have an old HDS light from before the Novatac fiasco. Really cool light but it is a 60 lumen light IIRC. Clearly too old. Same for my Arc 6 and a bunch of other early run Fenixes; Nightcores (including their first), etc.

But XM-Ls from a couple of years ago clearly still useful. Also XP-Gs for AA lights.

How do you decide where the cutoff should be?

As long as they continue to function, I'll generally still use them.

A very abbreviated list of some older torches I continue to use with some frequency (albeit not necessarily daily) includes ...

• Ra Tr-85

• HDS 100 Clicky, 170 Clicky

• Peak (too many to list, even back to Matterhorn era)

• Arc AAA

• SureFire A2, A2L

• SureFire G2, G3 (mostly with Malkoff dropins)

• Surefire 6P

• SureFire C2, C3 (including P60, P90 lamps)

• SureFire E1B (gen1, gen2), E2DL

• SureFire L4, LX2

• SureFire T1, T1A

• Photons International Ion

• McGizmo SunDrop (including original stock N083 emitter)

• McGizmo Sapphire

• McGizmo AMc-Mule

• McLuxIII-PD-S

• among others

I still use my Eveready Cordahide blue
2-D cell, with PR-2 bulb flashlight.

Which I got 60 YEARS AGO !

It has earned a permanent spot
on my night stand.


https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?150257-What-was-your-first-loved-flashlight&p=1910137#post1910137

That's a tough question. I have many older lights that are 40-60 lumens and I do still use them. The problem is we as a group have gotten spoiled with 1000+ lumen lights the size of a chapstick.it wasn't many years ago that 60 lumens was referred to as bright as the sun ☀️ I think it's more of you like the UI and shape and size of the light.i love older HDS lights due to there small size and I'm always looking to buy more even at only 45-60 lumens.

Burgess said:

I still use my Eveready Cordahide blue
2-D cell, with PR-2 bulb flashlight.

Which I got 60 YEARS AGO !

It has earned a permanent spot
on my night stand.

Click to expand...

60 years! You my friend are my hero! 👍

I still use my old lights. Some I upgrade. Some stay as they are. I find I like some of the old lights for UI, or build quality or just the way it feels to use it. Realistically for most of my uses 80 lumens are sufficient.
I have also sold some older lights that I either did not use or could not modify easily.

As long as I either have a use for it or enjoy it (Surefire e2e/6P or minimag) it's not too old.

Older flashlights I like to repurpose like putting in emergency kits, bugout bags, glove compartments etc.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

As long as they work I consider them all good flashlights that are never too old. You never know when you might need to rely on a good flashlight. Low lumens still can lead you around in the dark.

trailhunter said:

Older flashlights I like to repurpose like putting in emergency kits, bugout bags, glove compartments etc.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I totally agree with this. The simpler the better. No electronically fancy stuff that can go wrong.nothing wrong with a little upgrade tho. Take an old sf 6P and drop a Malkoff in it and you got a light you can bank your life on.

I think it was Kestrel that once said "dark isn't getting any darker". Maybe it was Scout24?

Anyway what they were saying was push button, out comes light, good enough.

I have a few older lights that I have placed strategically around the house and garage that are plenty old but I've also gotten rid of most of my old incan lights that I didn't want to bother converting and some older LED lights that I don't use any more.
When you stop using a light and haven't used it in 10 years it may be time to retire it if it isn't in backup or emergency standby mode.

It wasn't me, man... 😁

bykfixer said:

I think it was Kestrel that once said "dark isn't getting any darker". Maybe it was Scout24?

Anyway what they were saying was push button, out comes light, good enough.

Click to expand...

Love it.

My Arc LS First Run still puts out enough light to check the mailbox, or look for dropped parts at the workbench. Nearly all of my lights are brighter, but I love that small, simple twisty.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Candlepowerforums mobile app

datiLED said:

Love it.

My Arc LS First Run still puts out enough light to check the mailbox, or look for dropped parts at the workbench. Nearly all of my lights are brighter, but I love that small, simple twisty.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Candlepowerforums mobile app

Click to expand...

I still have a couple old First Run LSs, but they have 500 lm triples in them.... you woudn't know anything about that would you??? [emoji16] hehe

bykfixer said:

I think it was Kestrel that once said "dark isn't getting any darker". Maybe it was Scout24?

Anyway what they were saying was push button, out comes light, good enough.

Click to expand...

Search function found this ...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...right-enough&p=2740657&viewfull=1#post2740657

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...stems-EDC-18&p=4727859&viewfull=1#post4727859

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...-quot-to-buy&p=5048731&viewfull=1#post5048731

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...d-EDC-Lights&p=5014857&viewfull=1#post5014857

... so I guess it was "they" :lolsign:

It was that one by NBP I was thinking of. If I recall correct it was shortly after I had joined.

Thanks Archi.

bykfixer said:

.... Thanks Archi.

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I love it. The darkness that was once dispelled by a "retina searing" sixty lumens from a Surefire incandescent is the same darkness outside tonight. The human eye has not evolved since that time. This is not to say that innovation is unwelcome, but that lumen chasing must be held in tension with the needs of the human eye.

It has been a little while since the last example of this, but my current favorite new threads remain the "Recommend me" ones asking for keyring lights .... one thousand lumen output minimum, please