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 $10 on a flashlight is an awful lot for most people.
I notice little plastic LED/3AAA torches in the local shop for £1. They’re supposed to put out 80 lumens. That’s a price and performance that suits most and they sell a lot of them.
Because its not on their mind or radar. before i got into lights i never did. Was their something wrong with me? nope. I think it is totally normal. shouldn’t expect otherwise. i personally don’t think it is normal to spend an average 2hrs a day thinking about getting more lights when i already have enough but i’m ok with that.
The reason they don’t carry flashlights is actually for us.
When light is needed and we provide the unexpected awesomeness and their expression changes to pure amazement, ours changes to a smile and we feel content that we have succeded in one of our purposes in life, at last all that money, effort and time spent has come to fruition :laughing:
So, it’s my own experience
I always show my friends my new light whenever it arrives, they are always impressed
I tell them to get one, but they refuse because the cost(the convoy s2+ costs 12$, 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!
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.
I’ve noticed that. Just over a year ago I was invited to go duck shooting. I was asked to bring a torch because no one else seemed to have one, or at least have one that was any good. We were in a valley and when we finished it was pitch black. I heard murmurings about anyone having a torch, so I produced a Cree XML LED torch, probably a good 500 lumens.
Shock and awe! Plenty of light to see our way back.
Where did it come from? How much? What sort of batteries? and so on.
I think part of it is that a lot of people don’t realise how big an improvement over what went before a modern, halfway decent LED torch is. I don’t see them in the shops much so I think they are mostly bought over the internet, and that makes a lot of people less likely to buy them.
Yep, yep, yep. Absolutely this. I’ve noticed that the folks at the library where I work, those who know I’m a flashlight “collector” (trust me, that single noun saves me a lot of weird looks) are often floored when the grid goes down and I’m the only source of reliable portable light around. Last week we had a blackout when it was getting dark and the stormy sky barely let sunlight through, and nobody looked at me sideways.
[On that note, I’ve made clear that while I enjoy people using torches, I’m not at all mandated to use my lights at the job, so count me out if you wanna keep a library open at night.]
On that last paragraph: there’s always the depiction of flashlights in fiction and media. They’re like helicopters: either they break all the tension when working right, or they’re unreliable to add drama. And like many here said, the real ones they know are the old beater 2D M@glite with incan bulb and absolutely zero power regulation.
People are consumed by their surroundings, their every day life styles, the way things are "convenient", there is no "need", as most necessities are close by. People are pacified, while fasting.
There are too many distractions to sway the mind to think of preparedness. Life goes on day by day, disposable, as they welcome the next. They have no worries.
I'm fine with someone having a deplorable lifestyle. No, mi casa su casa.
They will figure things out on their own. Or not. I am crazy, some have said.
The last time power went out for me was half a decade ago and it lasted like 15 mins.
Some people honestly do not need a flashlight for these super rare occasions.
If you think you need to always be prepared (for something as harmless as no light) would you also carry around an umbrella everywhere you go even if it’s sunny? Or a lifejacket in case of a tsunami? Or maybe a first aid kit in case you get bitten by a venomous animal?
Well I keep an umbrella in the car even in the dry season. Does that count?
(P.S.: Even if the grid where I work wasn’t so unreliable that we have blackouts at the slightest windy rain {guaranteed to happen at least twice between September and June}, I’d still carry the three torches I already do )
Couldn’t agree more, most people can’t even look where they’re going while out and about never mind comprehend what would will happen when the illusion ends.
Even though I always was “into” flashlights from the days when Rat Shack had those coupons for cheapie flashlights, what got me started in always carrying around at least an LED keychain-light was the oft-cited blurb that on 9-11, people trying to get down the stairs in the WTC when it was pitch-black were using their pre-flashlight-app phones for any kind of light.
I keep a small cheap Totes folding umbrella in my bag, juuuust in case. Never really rained so hard that I “had” to use it, but it’s nice knowing it’s there.
And first-aid kits? In my car, absolutely. Along with flares, fluids, cables, fuses, bulbs, etc. Doesn’t take much space, and at best (bulb, fuse) can save me from even a fix-it ticket, and at worst(?) can save me from getting stuck somewhere, or worse.
On me personally, I weigh (haha) the pros/cons of what I’d want to carry, and pack more or less depending on the situation.
