Why do most people believe they do not need a flashlight?

: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.

  1. 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! :smiley:

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.

Yup, its the first couple panels in this XKCD cartoon:

[quote=Lazy-R-us]

That is good!!! :+1: … And pretty well sums it up too. :slight_smile:

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?

Because I certainly don’t.

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 :smiley: )

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.

I get that too, but you have to be odd to be No1 :smiley:

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.

i have many lights that if i have a new one, i will only need 1( for collecting)
but, i guess you re:the more the better

“Most People” figure the light on their phone is good enough.

(usually it;s about 15 lumens in a completely unfocused ‘beam pattern’).

wle

Good to See that Vancouver BC is good with the power grid, I wonder if the people in White Horse (Yukon Territory) feel the same way? Being prepared is just another thing. If you don’t get “It” then don’t rag on those that do. Some of us in our lifetime have been in that situation that we don’t ever want to happen again. EG… power outage for more than 15 minutes, Or something worse. Flat tire on the side of the road, nearest town 90 miles away, and poring down rain mixed with snow. A jacket, flash light, gloves, and hand warmers all would have been welcome to people in this situations.

Where I live current I keep 2 separate sources of heat and light in the house. Am I paranoid? Nope This last winter we had 3 separate days there was no power for over 12 hours. No power means no heat, no heat means a cold, cold eventually leads to death.

I carry a flashlight with me every day as I work in the 2nd level basement of an all concrete building. I do not carry an umbrella with me every day, I grew up on the Oregon Coast, I know wet weather. I do carry a gortex jacket with me, again being wet and subsequently cold sucks. I carry a first aid kit in the car and a ouch kit in my back pack.

Don’t judge if you don’t get “IT”. Someday you may be judged because you did not have something that everyone considers “Normal.”

Easy, man. Ender said “some people”, he never “named the cows” so to speak. If you fit the criteria of stability he mentioned, you fit, if you don’t you simply don’t. I know I don’t fit it at all, but I know people in places that do.

That is one of the points I repeat the most when people question my addiction. An emergency is bad enough even when it’s not on that level, and it’s only made worse if you’re blind during it; now imagine both. I kidded about the South American blackout of Itaipu, but that was one HECK of an emergency, not only because of how many places went entirely dark (practically half of Brazil and Argentina and the entirety of Uruguay was just black on the world map) but also because it lasted hours. It was a night of nightmares for millions of people, and I’m afraid to so much as glimpse at the death toll. :zipper_mouth_face:

There are thousands of uses for a flashlight even though the power hasn’t gone out.
Especially a bright one.
Just one example: Look under a car in the day time for a lost ‘something’ - let’s see your phone app do that - usually needs about 500 lumens at least, 1200 is best.

Another one - look under a sofa for lost kid toy, 10 feet away from the light…

Another - enter dark room without waking your kids up by turning on a too-bright light.

I, too, once lived a tragic and empty life. Then I found [portable] light.

You forgot to mention clothes. I sold most of my clothes to fund my light collection. This is actually fine, since I only go out after dark, and most people can’t see me.

Finally, I got my priorities straight.

My response was not to all people that carry flashlights, just those people in this thread who are like “HOW CAN OTHER PEOPLE LIVE WITHOUT TWELVE FLASHLIGHTS???” without understanding that maybe some people don’t need or want it.