Sharing the things I learned in this flashlight hobby

1. Springs on the driver boards of some lights break off easily.
2. Have enough simple to use lights with batteries on hand to pass out to the neighbors when it goes dark.
(They could also be used to trade for other necessary items).
3. Have at least 4—4bay chargers on hand with a solar charging station.
4. Realize that the flashlight hobby is addictive. :face_with_monocle:

I’d amend the rules re: buying lights on flash sales to read don’t buy lights you don’t already know just because they are cheap. I have lots of great lights I picked up for a song but I knew they were great before I bought them.

You will need much shelf-space for many Shelf Queens that accumulate.

Or in my case, storage boxes for Box Queens (as in taken out of their boxes to test and then put back in and away for Just In Case).

Just wait for the ti version to release… Learned that a lot of times, but keep making the fault of buying the alu version first.

1. There are always newer, better, more beautyful, nicer tint, better output, nicer color, better ano, special edition, limited edition, BLF edition, better heat dissipation, new bare aluminium, farther throwing, better flooding, easier EDC-ing, etc etc light released after you just have pulled the trigger, after days of research for your new light.

Then you receive it after 4 weeks, and the whole process repeats :person_facepalming:

One thing I learned is in certain cases, it’s much better to “roll yer own”, as Lightbringer has put it before :smiley: lol

And also, don’t be hesitant in actually using your lights! They are tools, not toys! Well, some…

Sounds like it’s time to start a sales thread

As said. Patience
NEVER less that 30 days from China. Though 99.7% of them get here.
Amazing when you think.

We always buy more than we want.

I started off following the leader. with every latest torch on sizes I was interested in.
Have thrown away over 20. Nobody interested in torches out here. Earlier Zoomies etc.
rural coastal Queensland. City 50 kliks away.
Have another around 37, here in drawer. Hanging on doors, beside chair for watching tv fiddling
With a coupla knives.

Nowadays.

All sized torches I’d ever need are well covered. and I have ALL that I’ll ever need.
Plus.
My old eyes. DO NOT need. stronger, Wider, Longer, beams anymore.

All I do now. is look for Nice stainless. Copper (drool). Ti.
and switch around the ones I use every coupla days.

With MY fingers and eyes. I’m past the age/stage of internal fiddling that small.
I Fark them up mostly. As I learned over 4 or 5.
So keep my fingers to myself.

Great hobby. Can get exxy, depending on volume bought.
Same as Knives.
Just bought myself a new Japanese Kitchen Santoku (I have 3 already)
for my birthday in June. $470. Which is just a lower mid range knife.
Cost wise, but beautiful. To me.
We NEVER bloody learn. Do we… I’ll never use it.
Just love it’s looks, feel, and balance.
My fav is 7 yrs old and still floats as she works in my hand.

Keep collecting. There will always be another one you want.
Need or not.

This is exactly, positively, absolutely the very best #1 there will ever be in this thread.

Until the next one…

1000 lumens in a small light will get hot.

in my experience

-do not buy a light that you cannot repair yourself. (my otr m3 driver died and never got a chance to repair)
-your current light isn’t bad or outdated, you’re just greedy and want everything

Unless it’s a M@g-Lite.

There’s no hope for me…save yourselves

For me:

  • Be honest about buying the light. If you want it for asthetics or because it’s cool or basically as a toy, you have to be ready to admit, accept, and (most importantly) budget for that appropriately
  • If you are really going to say the light fills a need - or, okay, at least fills a plausible use-case - actually define that use-case. I wanted a light that ran efficiently on NiMh/Alkaleak/14500, had a tail switch, and was smaller than my SC62 by enough to justify using it with 14500 instead of just carrying the SC62. But then I got the Ti version because (and I admit this) it’s cool. I didn’t need the Ti version.
  • Budget. To me, Budget Light Forum doesn’t mean a forum full of cheap lights. What it does mean, is make sure you remember what your budget is. Your budget will be different than anyone else’s. One member may have more disposable income in a month than another makes in a year, so don’t try to “keep up” with others. If the Joneses are buying every new Imalent and all the McGizmos and Oklumas and stuff, that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong buying an S2+ twice a year.
  • Don’t try to get into modding thinking you’re saving money. Between all the tools, all the stuff you break, and all the parts you buy, it won’t be that cheap, and then next week there will be a new light/host/part that gets your mod done with 25% of the cash. I bought an L6 host and a separate XHP70.2 for a mod not too long before Simon started selling the fully assembled XHP70.2 L6 for less than I paid for the earlier combination.

In the end, it’s a hobby. Make sure you have an acceptable “hobby” budget, and accept that you’re spending your money to have fun. And don’t be afraid to enjoy lights that aren’t all that “special” in the eyes of others, just get what you want out of the hobby. That’s what it’s for and part of why I love this place, I’ll figure out exactly what I want out of a certain light and then someone else will have the complete opposite preference and that’s fine! Or even better, someone will have an idea I never did and change my mind :slight_smile:

Buy 1 quality light that is what you want, rather than 2 or 3 cheaper lights that do about 90% of what you want.
You will be using that 1 quality light far past the time when you’ve shelved the cheaper lights.

I’m still using Zebralights I bought over 5 years ago, and my more modern Zebras I use every day. I seldom use budget lights longer than about 2 months before I get tired of them. (There are a couple of BLF group-buy exceptions.)

This is so true, it cannot be stressed enough. Flashaholism (at least on this community) is not a competition.

First lesson I learned was that lumens aren’t everything and a flashlight with a balanced beam that puts out about 200-300 lumens is going to cover pretty much all my uses. Likewise, a focused 300 lumen beam can easily out-throw many floody 1000 lumen lights, so peak candela number and pictures of beam shots can mean just as much as the raw lumen output.

For an EDC light, UI, ergonomics and form factor are the biggest factors. If I plan to carry a light in my pants pocket but the pocket clip doesn’t retain the light or too much of the light sticks out the top of my pocket, then it won’t get carried. Likewise, if I can’t access my preferred one or two modes easily from turning it on, then it won’t get carried.

I personally like to try out a wide variety of flashlights and then just sell the ones that I don’t prefer. Reviews can be helpful, but I need to establish a baseline of my own first, which helps me separate the marketing from the reality.

With Chinese flashlights, price range is not necessarily a predictor of flashlight quality or performance, but is most definitely an indicator that the packaging will look nice. Some of my best flashlights came in flimsy, generic-looking cardboard packaging, while some of my least favorite flashlights came in really nice packaging with magnetic flaps and color photos printed on the outside.

This, for me, in a way. I have a couple lights around that I just don’t like. I figure there’s two options: mod it, or get rid of it. But getting rid of it presents some interesting opportunities:

  • Giveaway (did one already and I recommend this. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!)
  • Sell (kind of feels disappointing, because you’ll never get what you paid unless it’s somehow a collectible)
  • Trade (I think this feels best)
  • Just throw it away (Not recommended)

People are not much different from wildlife and will usually respond accordingly to a powerful, silent beam of light. Aggravated wildlife/people will not be deterred.

My first two ‘good’ lights were the Zebralight SC600 and the Klarus XT11, way back in 2012.

It always had charged batteries in them, seldom used, as months came to years. Then I started buying some other lights.

Years later when I owned 2 Lumintop SD75s and a Nitecore EA11 wherein these 2 lights has horrendous parasitic drain and ruined sets of 18650s and 14500, only then I realized the design advantage of minimal or negligible drain lights

I buy lights to enjoy them, not babysit them with lock-outs, etc.

Lesson? Avoid lights with high parasitic drain like the plague.