No more Shelf Queens!

Its lunch time and I'd thought I would share a story or two. I 1st got into highend lights in 2003. I bought an Arc AAA premium. My 1st $100+ light was an Arc LSH. So along rolls 2004 and I buy my 1st Surefire, an E2D. During the next 12 months I buy lots of SFs, L2, L4, E1L, G2, E2E, E2O, & 9P. But the problem was they were all shelf queens as I didn't want to scratch them up. So I would go camping and bring along a G2 and a mini-mag with an Opalec LED conversion and leave the others at home.

Well this changed this year. My wife, who is not a big fan of my collection, said why do you buy those dam things if you never use them? Suddenly the light goes off in my head! Pun intended.

Highlight #1 camping! - I went for a flashlight walk with my nephew. It is really dark and we light up the road with a E1L, L2, and a G2 with a BOG 3W LED. A sheriff who is parked in the dark shines a spotlight on us and asks us to approach the vehicle so they could see what we were using!

Highlight #2 Vacation - I was on the beach in Valencia Spain recently with my family. My Wife, Dad, and Sister decide to go check out the surf. It being dark I give my Dad my E1L. 4 Spanish fishermen go nuts over the light. In fact they don't give it back until they get the SF website info. I will always remember them saying "Shura Fiery."

Highlight #3 4th of July - I got to show off my moddest collection to my non-flashaholic neighbors. Many "Man thats a bright light, what is it?"

Now all my flashlights have character marks. My only shelf queen is my Arc LSH. And when we go camping all my lights get used. I just remind people if you lose it you buy it. When they find out how much they cost they never get lost.

Anyway, thanks for reading my story.

kelmo

Great stories and great advice! Out of 30-40 expensive lights, I only have maybe three that are true queens - bought to remain pretty. THe rest get carried - some have dings and scratches but that is life. My son recently dropped my EDC Bare LionCub and put a good little dent and a scratch (the scratch pretty puch polished out though). I was in shock at first but now? Well the light still works and has gained a bit of character!

Me too but I dealt with it differently. I sold them all off except for the couple of lights I actually use. Now I have a bunch of cash to buy more new lights.

....I don't have shelf queens, just a bunch of drawer zombies...
Actually, that's only partially true. I don't use any of the ones in my minimag collection, and I have a mint LSH stashed in a small box. I'm saving it for a special gift. Oh, yeah, my Peli M6 that has very little use.

Never mind, I just remembered I have "a couple" of Infinities. But really, other than that, my 2-3 beater minimags get almost daily use, and my GL3 is now my biking light (every day).

Geologist said:

Great stories and great advice! Out of 30-40 expensive lights, I only have maybe three that are true queens - bought to remain pretty. THe rest get carried - some have dings and scratches but that is life. My son recently dropped my EDC Bare LionCub and put a good little dent and a scratch (the scratch pretty puch polished out though). I was in shock at first but now? Well the light still works and has gained a bit of character!

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I was obssesive about keeping thing's in perfect condition when i was a teen, and young man,. Magazines, my guitar gear etc. when my daughter was born
That really was a change that cured the compunction of perfection.

I often tell friends with this malise you need a 2 yr old to do a summersault
in the living room and tear the front's off your two VCR's to understand
a deeper meaning in life. Trite as this sounds it really changed my life
and unburdened my spirit.funny too is at almost 14 she has some of that trait in her own way, neat and gentle with her own movie and music magazines. I love to watch her turn the pages and I realize how much I love her and also the little fears of the changes she like us all with go through in life. VDG

Moast of the enjoyment I get from my lights is useing them for varios things... they all have a scrach or a ding soumwhere excpt for my aleph it just dous not show the ware for soum reason..

My EDC is my Surefire E1e with an Aleph CR2 body on it, it's with me at all times, but the real fun is to rotate the use of all my other lights on a daily bases. Got to have at least 2 lights with me at all times so this gives me the chace to use all of them.

Chuck

Only shelf quenn I have is the Silver raw, it gets carried, rarley, in a leather pouch (Victorinox).

I don't have any shelf queens, all of my many lights have a
purpose and are used quite frequently

Great story kelmo.

I admit I do have many as in many as in alot of knives that are Shelf Queens both fixed blade and folders.None of my flashlights get overly protected.
Topper

I agree. Excellent point, Kelmo. We've got to remember---this is supposed to be fun !

i dont have any shelf queens - largely because i dont have any shelves for them to be queens of, but also because i simply can't afford to buy a flashlight and never use it!

--neg

greenLED said:

....I don't have shelf queens, just a bunch of drawer zombies...

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Even if I did have a collection of "shelf queens", they wouldn't stay that way for very long. Seeing how my one-eyed cat loves to scoot things off shelves, my desk, countertops, or any other flat surface for that matter.

The very same minute that my then new SF L4 was taken out of the package, it was immediately cat-slapped off my kitchen table and onto the Spanish tiled floor.

"Crap! Thanks, stupid cat, like I really needed you to test out the HA-III finish on my new light!"

kelmo said:

Now all my flashlights have character marks. My only shelf queen is my Arc LSH. And when we go camping all my lights get used. I just remind people if you lose it you buy it. When they find out how much they cost they never get lost.
kelmo

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Everytime I say the same thing to people: you can used it, but you buy me a new one if you loose it, they laugh a bit. how much can a light cost?
Well, it could set you 250 back for the U2 you are handeling now...
I get the light back in no-time, they don't want to hold it anymore!
odd people, what can be nicer to use than an U2 on a dark, dark night at the camping or in the woods?

I don't have any shelf queens either. I never buy lights that cost so much that losing it would hurt my feelings. I really don't have the money to buy tools that I won't use. I always keep that in mind when I make a purchase.

The most expensive lights I have are a SL Stinger HP and a Strion. The lights alone without the chargers are fairly modestly priced.(I can't foresee why I would loose or destroy the chargers, but it could happen)

Then there is my Inova T3 which I was lucky enough to score on ebay NIB for $41 w/S&H and my SL 4aa Lux for around $27.

These lights have the power to impress and a price tag that makes daily use worry-free.

voodoogreg said:

so where'd you bury the cat? VDG

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She's still alive and kicking. In fact, she's sitting right here in front of me as I type this.. She loves to lay on this stupid Dell keyboard.