I don’t think it’s true that most people don’t believe they need one. However most people in modern countries, especially big cities, don’t usually have an urgent need for them since they are rarely in a situation when they absolutely have to have one. I’ve traveled to a couple of 3rd world countries (Uganda and Peru) and remote US locations like Alaska and most people there definitely believe in the need for flashlights. For example we were in the Amazon and at 4pm in the jungle it was pitch black due to the trees. Without a flashlight or lantern it would be impossible to move even a few yards.
All you need is a small club and a burlap sack, and you can get started!
I’ve never been able to get my cat interested in flashlights,
but he is crazy about lasers.
I showed him my best lights and he started stretching and yawning.
He seems to be able to see in the dark unassisted
so maybe that’s why he doesn’t care much about the torches.
Ask (nicely) someone at random to pop his trunk and let you have a look. Maybe you’ll find a doughnut spare that’s still got air in it. How many have flares, water, spare fluids (oil, coolant, washer fluid, steering/brake/tranny fluid, etc.), jumper cables, anything else? Let alone spare fuses, bulbs. etc.
I think we can separate the answer in two points:
1. People are way too accommodated in their comfortable illusion that the grid will always be up and running. Hence why brown/blackouts catch them with their pants down and they flock in panic to the nearest hypermarket or hardware store.
2. They severely, and I mean severely, underestimate the potential of a real torch. After all, when the depiction of an item they so rarely use comes from Hollywood, where the light is either dim or unreliable because of Rule Of Drama, it’s easy to undervalue it.
Constantly lamenting their bruised shins.
I’m a new convert 
Before this, it never occurs to me on how useful a flashlight would be. Worst comes to worst, my mobile phone flash can double up as a low powered lights if needed.
When I get to know more bout flashlights, it occurs to me of it’s importance more and more.
So I started the buying spree.
Then comes the wife’s intervention. “Why you buy so many flashlights?!”. I kept quiet until one fine night with power failure. I literally lit up half of the house, or at least where light is needed.
The tide has changed, and me and the lights lived happily ever after… To a certain extent. Woman… LOL
1) because they simply don’t need it. There are developed countries with uninterrupted power grids, no natural disasters, no emergency situations. The worst that can happen to most people is breaking down while driving at night - today you can just hit the service button at your rear mirror and someone else will take care of it. Or there is an app for it. And most modern cars are fairly reliable, so I am not sure how often this would even happen.
If you don’t have a dog to walk at night and don’t go for a run in the middle of darkness - not sure if there is a need for a flashlight.
2) I didn’t have any flashlights until recently - my eyes were good enough to see even in very dark environments. With aging eyes I needed more and more light in random situations and that’s when I bought a sipik on ebay. Then I found BLF.
Some people carry a gun/knife around and think the same about people who don’t.
Some people carry a pack of cigarettes and think the same about people who don’t.
Some people carry a phone around and think the same about people who don’t.
Is this starting to make sense?
Like my keychain EDC, people’s phone lights will handle most of the short-term light needs and those have become pretty good too. But the truth is that most people are too shallow-minded to understand how valuable and necessary some of the simple things in life can be. They know all about the latest facebook trend and what some actress said, never realizing that in months or maybe minutes that will be forgotten and meaningless, and that there’s no value in it regardless. They don’t think bad things can happen because they rarely do. They are Darwin’s fodder and if they don’t learn when their time comes round, then leave them to Darwin because that’s where they belong.
If you need to be told that half your lifetime will be spent without daylight then you won’t have a flashlight. That says a lot more about people than you think 
Phil
It’s my observation that most homes do have a flashlight, but unless there’s a regular need, which there’s usually not, it won’t be a very good one. It could be years old and run an incandescent bulb off two D cells and I still see those on sale in the pound stores. They are used to find the candles in a power cut or look under the furniture for something dropped.
Mobile phones are good enough for that sort of use and they are always ready.
Spending £10 or $10 on a flashlight is an awful lot for most people.
I notice little plastic LED/3AAA torches in the local shop for £1. They’re supposed to put out 80 lumens. That’s a price and performance that suits most and they sell a lot of them.
Because its not on their mind or radar. before i got into lights i never did. Was their something wrong with me? nope. I think it is totally normal. shouldn’t expect otherwise. i personally don’t think it is normal to spend an average 2hrs a day thinking about getting more lights when i already have enough but i’m ok with that.
The reason they don’t carry flashlights is actually for us.
When light is needed and we provide the unexpected awesomeness and their expression changes to pure amazement, ours changes to a smile and we feel content that we have succeded in one of our purposes in life, at last all that money, effort and time spent has come to fruition :laughing:
Why am I believed I need more flashlight?
So, it’s my own experience
I always show my friends my new light whenever it arrives, they are always impressed
I tell them to get one, but they refuse because the cost(the convoy s2+ costs 12$, but they said there is flashlight in supermarket only about 3-5$, and ready to use(not necessary to buy battery and charger))
So
I guess many people dont need the flashlight we know and “play’, but the very basic and simple one
Many people dont know what is 18650 cell, what’s difference between li-ion and ni-mh, etc
When a friend ask me to recommend a budget light, i tell them to get the one which can supports both 1.5V and 3.7V battery, or/and have a usb-charging built in
Ps:sorry any typo/grammar mistakes, there are a lot, i’m sure
People don’t carry flashlights due to little or no common sense.
I just got back from a trip to Pinnacles National Park, which is famous for three things. The Pinnacles rock formations, the endangered California Condors that hang around because of the rock formations, and two talus caves that you can go through as part of the hiking trails. Basically, you hike a two mile loop that includes maybe 1/4 mile going through the caves. The park’s website, the information brochure everyone is given when they enter the park, and the signs on the hike all say that flashlights are required in the caves. Who knew that you need flashlights in dark caves!!
During my hike, I encountered one couple who was standing outside the cave entrance because they had started through and come back out - it was dark and they didn’t have a flashlight. They thought the cave would have lighting. I also ran into a family (mom, dad, three kids) who were trying to go through with one phone with flashlight app. There were also several people on the trails asking if they really needed a flashlight.
Whoever runs the park concession is pretty smart - they got the cheap 3AAA multi LED lights that are less than $2 in stores, had “Pinnacles National Park” put on the side, and were selling them for $9.99 as a useful souvenir.
I totally understand the ‘I don’t want to wait for it to come in’ mentality. So the best way to counter that is to order spares of the lights that people like, and that you feel they would be capable of using. Either models with built in chargers, or dual battery capable. Maybe even get a couple of the Liitokala-100 chargers. When you can put one in their hand and say: ”Here, gimmie $25 and you can take it home tonight.” it changes the dynamic. Plus - then you can put in an order for a NEW light that you want to try out!
^order a spare is not a good option, i think
What if they dont take it, then i have 2 same lights(which i only need 1)
:smiling_imp: I do not understand this statement.
Need has nothing to do with it. How can you not WANT a couple (dozen!) spares?
But it is a need! In computers, guns, and general preparedness, the saying is “One is none. Two is one.” If you only have one, it’s a single point of failure. Don’t be a SPOF.
- That is a common (but quite foolish of people) assessment. I felt vindicated on not trusting the grid to be always up when the Itaipu plant had that natural failure in 2009 and left HALF THE COUNTRY to bump their shins. And I wasn’t even a certified flashaholic back then!
Really, I think that assessment is only worth its salt if we’re talking about people living in Western Europe.
2) Valid point if you stay outdoors very often. I just keep myself aware that sunlight has difficuty reaching inside unlit buildings of so much as medium size, let alone moonlight.