What was your first loved flashlight?

carbine15 · Jan 25, 2007

What was the first flashlight that made you love flashlights?

For me it was this 2d Eveready that was waterproof. It was black and had a red button switch on the side. I loved how bright it was. I remember one summer swimming in the lake at night with my buddies and I was starring a big old fish right in the eyes underwater and he took a bite at my nipple! Scared the crap outa me. I yelled "piranha!" My buddies all heard the urgency in my tone as we escaped with our lives. You've never seen four teenage boys run so fast out of the water. My ex wife ended up with this gem in the divorce..:rant:

Image from flashlightmuseum.com

DonShock · Jan 25, 2007

4D Maglight bought in the early '80s. I was in college and had to go to a gun shop to find one. I even spent the extra for the Pachmayr rubber cover for it. I still have it even though it's gone through a few new bulbs, reflectors, and lenses.

karlthev · Jan 25, 2007

A three-color 2D battery light that my brother used to frighten me with at night. Nothing after that one until my first Arc LSL several years ago. The flashlights of my youth were undependable and frequently had substantial damage due to battery leakage. :rant:

Karl

duffman · Jan 25, 2007

mines was a garrity flashlight/lantern.. neat little contraption... got it when i was like 7... thats when it all started....

Casual Flashlight User · Jan 25, 2007

Mag Solitaire and Mini-Mag AA, both purchased in the mid 90's...I thought they were so good when I got them, real quality flashlights at the time

Most of the lights I had when I was a kid were crap...apart from an Eveready side-by-side 2xAA light that I had when I was about 8 or 9 years old...very neat little light, pretty sturdy and reliable.

Great thread, Carbine15.

CFU

Coop · Jan 25, 2007

For me it was a 2D flashlight from the Hema (Hema is a dutch chain of stores). It had an aluminium body which was coated black and a red plastic bezel and a red sliding switch. My parents bought it for me when I was just a little kid, before we went on a family holiday. Too bad I don't have that light anymore...

Long John · Jan 25, 2007

For me it was a 4D Bianchi in the '70s. It looks like a Mag, but Mag wasn't exists at this time.

Best regards

____
Tom

carbine15 · Jan 25, 2007

I just thought of an earlier light that influenced my hobby.
Duracell had these really good lights they called Durabeam in 1988. I swear I had one that looked just like this one but I remember it taking a single 9volt battery.

I remember at Boy Scout camp I was holding this light after using “Deet Woods Off” (bug repellant) and touched the lens. It melted the plastic in the shape of my fingerprints. I was so distraught for days after. I swear it took one 9V battery.

Sharpdogs · Jan 25, 2007

Simple old maglites, both the 2xAA and 3xD lights. I still have them both. Growing both lights were standard equipment in each car. Now I added a few more lights to my cars. What really kicked off the addiction was probably my first Surefire and E2. It was down hill from there.

Sub_Umbra · Jan 25, 2007

I really liked the Duracell Mallory Flashlight when it came out around 1970. There were a few models called the "Duracell Mallory Flashlight" but the one I'm referring to was 222x2AA side by side. It couldn't compare to today's lights but it was light weight, could easily be held in the mouth and was a real improvement for climbers and backpackers. They were good lights for their time and price.

TORCH_BOY · Jan 25, 2007

For me it was the Eveready Dolfin that I had when I was a kid

SaturnNyne · Jan 25, 2007

carbine15 said:
Duracell had these really good lights they called Durabeam in 1988. I swear I had one that looked just like this one but I remember it taking a single 9volt battery...I swear it took one 9V battery.

Wow, that light brings back some good childhood memories. I used one of those as a kid, probably still have it around somewhere. But mine took two AAs, they fit into a tray that slides out when you squeeze the red squares on either side. That's probably the oldest light I have memories of using.

JNewell · Jan 25, 2007

2C Kel-Lite, 1977. No one's ever made a 2C as good, before or since.

Atomic_Chicken · Jan 25, 2007

Greetings!

I didn't catch the flashlight flu until about 4 or 5 years ago. Before that, I had owned the usual collection of a few plastic junker lights from grocery and hardware stores, and a 2-AA Maglite that someone gave me for Christmas one year. For some reason, I just never noticed flashlights or thought there were even "good" and "bad" lights.

Anyway, I was shopping at a sporting goods store in 2000 or 2001 checking out binoculars, when I noticed a Surefire L1 (the pre-optics Gen. 1 model) in the next counter over. It was love at first sight - I bought that light after playing with it for only a minute or two... and it was all downhill from there. I still have that light, and still love love it as much as the day I bought it. Currently, I own a LOT of lights I like better than the L1, but that was the first one that made me stand up and take NOTICE of flashlights! :)

Best wishes,
Bawko

WNG · Jan 25, 2007

The ol' big gray Radio Shack plastic 5D flashlight that was given away with a Xmas flyer coupon. I got several for free, along with numerous 'a battery a month' cards to keep feeding it. A Radio Shack was near my Junior high school, so I'd drop by regularly.
:)

There was no quality to it, but what stood out and left such a childhood impression was that it could throw a beam and it was bright. It was during the NYC blackout that I really got to enjoy that sucker. Imagine being too young to be inconvenienced by the event, out with all your friends running around the neighborhood that's pitch dark except for a few cars. Them with their 2-cell weak incans, and you with a bright plastic blunderbust and pants pockets full of Radio Shack D cells.

During high school, I had bought my first 3D Mag. Very proud owner back then. Lasted several years until my car was broken into and they stole it.

NutSAK · Jan 25, 2007

WNG said:
The ol' big gray Radio Shack plastic 5D flashlight that was given away with a Xmas flyer coupon. I got several for free, along with numerous 'a battery a month' cards to keep feeding it. A Radio Shack was near my Junior high school, so I'd drop by regularly.
:)

Same here, I had two of them. Mine had a red bezel. That thing was BRIGHT for the time.

Veto · Jan 25, 2007

Whoa, "Battery a Month" card, that brings back some memories. I had a 4D from Kmart(??) that had a huge reflector and a black ribbed body that was my first purchased flashlight back in '77 or so. Before that I borrowed my dads 6V lanterns quite often, the green and grey ones and the bolt on lanterns as well. I also had the flashlight as the OP, but mine was grey and black and I really liked it until the switch failed. After that I remember my 500k cp LSI rechargeable in the 90s and my varmit light which runs off a 6v sealed cell on a belt pouch, good to 250yds through a Leupold 4x.

I grew up on a ranch in Texas meaning that flashlights have been near and dear to my heart since about the time I could walk.

carbine15 · Jan 25, 2007

You guys should try to post pictures of the lights you're talking about.

Flying Turtle · Jan 25, 2007

As a kid I had a little 1AA light that got a lot of use. No idea of brand. In more modern times I suppose the MiniMag and Solitaire got me going.

Geoff

atm · Jan 25, 2007

TORCH_BOY said:
For me it was the Eveready Dolfin that I had when I was a kid

Same. I remember at school camp in the 70s they were the light to have. Tough, waterproof (and floated), bright, but pretty big and heavy too. Cool light.

'70s Dolphin

Still have one of these. I recall the original version was more rounded than this one.

What was your first loved flashlight?

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