Why do people collect flashlights?

[whiteheat1963]

@Helios azimuth

@Whiteheat: Concerning the billy club 3) in your post, it used to be and probably still is a felony to possess a weighted night stick in the USA except for LEOs. Just a heads up.

Hi there. Thanks for that. I had heard a rumour that that might be the case but I heard it nth hand and nth years ago so I wasn't at all sure, but I am not surprised. However, this being said, I am reasonably certain that that particular law may not be strictly adhered too at all times in all places. I suspect that out in the deep woods or country, that rule may not be strictly adhered to. I am also sure that these specific torches are not illegal everywhere in the world either.

Moving the train of thought along, this illegality of carrying a night stick Maglite may just apply to this actual type of torch. Let me posit this idea. Suppose you carried the Imalent MS18 around with you. It is nowhere near able to be classed as a 'stick' as it is only 26.5cm long (or 10.4" in old money), which is not long enough to be classed as a swinging stick weapon. However, it could still be used as a kinetic weapon. It weighs nigh on 2Kg. Swing the butt end of that down on someone's head and blunt force trauma is sure to ensue. So, I can with some degree of certainty know that that law against nightstick flashlights is not and cannot be so universally applied to cover each and every flashlight that could potentially be used as a kinetic weapon.

This all said, it doesn't really matter as the point I was making was that certain torches of certain dimensions do give certain people a sense of defensive security, even though most collectors would be unwilling to use their flashlights that met this criteria (being long or weighty enough) to be used as a kinetic weapon. Would one really want to risk writing of a really expensive torch such as the MS18 when other 'weapons' would do a better job at a fraction of the cost?

[xevious (Gary)]

@chops728

@xevious

@SIGShooter

Way cheaper than collecting guns.

And safer!

Why— Most of my Gun Collection does exactly what my Flashlight Collection does— Take them out of the safe every so often / Try them out (not in the yard though) / clean them up / put them away till next time I feel like they need attention

A flashlight can’t kill you unless you deliberately beat yourself over the head with it, and only morons would do that. Of course, morons can also get into trouble charging lithium cells without knowing what they’re doing… An acquaintance of mine with many years of gun expertise dropped a gun, while momentarily distracted. Safety wasn’t on. Gun hit the hard floor and went off. Shot a bullet into his foot. Could’ve easily been an artery in his leg or a hole in his head. Even gun experts make mistakes.

[hank]

[richbuff]

Because flashlights create happiness.

[Lightbringer]

Doing your psych thesis, are ya?

I don’t get the whole “prepper” connection a lot of people have concerning flashlights. Same with knives. People are so often in need of them, let they look at you as if you’ve got a .45 stuck in your waistband if you use/offer one.

I’ve seen our IT guys at work threading cat5 cable through drop-ceilings in the dark, else using their phones (or trying to) to get some light up there. :person_facepalming: The receptionist at the time asked me for a light and they used mine.

And just last week or so, grubbling around behind my machines to disconnect an unused kvm switch, in the dark, trying to go by feel alone. I used “ceiling bounce” on the bottom of the overhead cabinets to indirectly light up the area, and he was done in seconds.

Knives? I can slice open Amazon boxes or peel a orange so easily, when others are trying to use one blade from scissors to open boxes, or trying to hack away with a styrene knife and making a mess.

They’re just handy, and weigh next to nothing compared to the benefits of carrying them.

[Muto]

Love when people try to use keys to open boxes.
Rips it like a Beaver tooth.

[xevious (Gary)]

@hank

Never get tired of seeing that one. Needs the higher res version, though:

[whiteheat1963]

Oooooh! And now that you mention it as I forgot about it. I wouldn't say that owning a light sabre is ultimate 'thing' on any guys wish list, but I reckon it'd be close, especially if you're the only one of a select few to actually own one (fanciful thinking only - yes, I am aware they don't exist in a real deal form). See your cartoon there with the 'Fwoosh' effect is just about as light sabrish as any of us are going to get. So, here's another reason to add to the list of why people collect flashlights. At night, you can have your very own light sabre - minus the ability to cut people in half or cut through multiple inches of steel. How cool is that?

[whiteheat1963]

@Lightbringer

Doing your psych thesis, are ya?.

Unfortunately no. I am just a casual but acute observer of human nature and having thought about it, put those observations and ideas to paper. I bet there are a multiplicity of academic papers on why people 'collect' objects though.

[Rexlion]

Flashlights (as a thing that could light up the darkness) always fascinated me as a child, and I never got enough of them… only 2 flashlights (a silver 2C Energizer and a 2D angle light, the latter found by my brother in a feedlot, and it never stopped smelling like **it). Now I can get all the lights I want.

There is something sublime about holding a small object in the hand that can illuminate more than my vehicle headlights. And having a light so small it practically disappears in the pocket, yet is far brighter than anything I had as a kid.

[hank]

[whiteheat1963]

Hahaha! Hilarious.

[Joshk]

@whiteheat1963

There are some good answers and some less good answers here. Thanks to everyone who has made a contribution. Outside of having a real need to fulfill a specific purpose or set of purposes, I could not see or discern any real rational reason to ‘collect flashlights’. Further, I get the impression that it is a pursuit mainly practiced by older guys, rather than say many younger age or other gendered group demographics but to reiterate, this is just an impression and of course there are exceptions - I tip a nod to Flying Luminosity.

So I return again to why do people collect flashlights. The answer it seems is multifarious and some inclusions to it have already been alluded to in some of the previous posts. Perhaps it is no coincidence that gun collecting was also frequently mentioned. Indeed, it seems as though many flashlight collectors are or were also gun collectors. With this in mind, here is my take on why people collect flashlights and I stress that this is just an expression of opinion:

1. Appreciation of well engineered and well made (now) high tech tools that can serve a very real and useful purpose. Appreciating them perhaps as art forms that have a certain beauty to them. They could be percieved as being at the pinnacle of where form meets function.
   
   2) Size, weight, feel in the hand. Handling and manipulating a usually hand sized tool designed to be used in hand. The better ones feel really comfortable to hold and are very easy to operate in that way. The ability the hold and operate such an object, imparts a certain degree of satisfaction, much more so than operating many other handheld items, for example, a screw driver or can opener, etc.
   
   3) There is some ego boost to having a tool that meets the above criteria that also has a certain “power” to it.

1. Power: Most of the really well made flashlights, are really bright, much more so than the usual crop of small dollar not so well made or tech heavy flashlights that can be had at the local hardware store, that is, not so “speciality” flashlights. When I say bright, I mean either in lumens or candelas, either flood lights or search lights.
   
   

2. Power: Ownership of one or more speciality flashlights could give an owner a real ego boost, knowing that he/she has a tool of certain “power” (as per 3i), that anybody else in their neighbourhood is most unlikely to have! Kudos.
   
   

3. Power: Much has been talked about the ‘defensive’ capabilities of ‘high power’ flashlights. So, much like owning a gun or knife, there is a certain degree of both wanting a flashlight to act as a weapon and then also having a small sense of security that such a flashlight would give you a means of ‘fighting back’. The intimation here is that used in a certain way, some flashlights can cause temporary blindness allowing you time to take other measures and/or take satisfaction that you have caused some degree of pain or debilitation to a would be assailant that was going to do you harm. However, the potential effect of such flashlights is still relatively mild thereby classing such flashlights as very low grade weapons. If they were any more effective, they’d be controls and regulations around them in abundance. People often cite those very long Maglites that could be used as billy clubs. Only a police person could or would do that because he/she sees the flashlight as just a tool to be used as such as and when the situation requires it and does not care what happens to the flashlight - another replacement can always be had. The serious collector however, would almost never do that. To the collector, the flashlight which personally cost him/her mucho dinero of their hard earned is not going to use it as a billy club, not when you can use an actual billy club that; a) will do the job much better, b) cost a fraction of the expensive flashlight, c) does not risk damaging/breaking said flashlight.

4. Collecting may be fulfilling a need to ensure that always have a ‘tool that can do the job’. I think this relates to some kind of survival instinct where it behoves one to be as prepared as possible for many and/or any situation/circumstance. I would call this the ‘prepper syndrome’. In some cases I think some people have a real need to have a plethora of different flashlights for a variety of reasons. In other cases, I think the ‘prepper syndrome’ is just a cover for wanting more flashlights, however rational or irrational the reasons involved.

5. Collecting as a hobby may be or become a source of pride and a means of identification. That is, you are advertising to the world that you are a specialist in flashlights and are knowledgeable about them. Further, as if to prove that, you can demonstrate ownership of a number of flashlights that is way above what most people would consider normally acceptable, For example, knowing someone has one or two flashlights is ‘normal’ and nothing to write home about. Knowing someone has upwards of a dozen flashlights implies that the owner of such an unreasonably large number of flashlights has ‘something going on there’ or otherwise may need to seek professional help. In most cases though, owners of large collections would be only too happy to show them off, talk about them and demonstrate their pride in them - just sifting through the forum posts on this site demonstrates this. It also serves as a talking point at parties or with other so likeminded people on forums such as this. So in that sense, flashlight collecting also serves as a segue in to social interactions.

6) Last and possibly most controversial, these things could be construed as metaphors for a certain part of the male anatomy. So, there could be an element of; “mine is bigger than yours” syndrome, which could be especially true if point 3 attains a high degree of prominence in any given owner’s sub-conscious. I know almost nothing about the psychology of metaphors for the male anatomy so I can’t speculate here, not with any degree of confidence at any rate. However, I will say that it wasn’t until very recently (and that took a very long time) that I suddenly saw the correlation between images of scantily clad women wielding some unfeasibly large firearms and that certain part of the male anatomy. I never understood that until I had an epiphany and saw the light (no pun intended). I am sure something very similar is going on with flashlights although to be fair, I have not seen any images scantily clad women wielding XXXL Maglites or equivalents, then again I haven’t really been looking.

That is my……I was going to say 2cents worth, but I’d be lying. It is more like my $2.50 worth of spiel.

You seem a bit over analytical. Perfect. Buy a flashlight and before you know it you will have a collection

[Lightbringer]

@whiteheat1963

Unfortunately no. I am just a casual but acute observer of human nature and having thought about it, put those observations and ideas to paper. I bet there are a multiplicity of academic papers on why people ‘collect’ objects though.

Hummels, shoes, spoons, hats, you name it.

At least collecting utilitarian things like lights or knives have a function. :laughing:

[Lightbringer]

@hank

World's LONGEST Lightsaber

[Sillen]

’cause Melbourne gets dark in winter.

[xevious (Gary)]

@whiteheat1963

@Lightbringer

Doing your psych thesis, are ya?.

Unfortunately no. I am just a casual but acute observer of human nature and having thought about it, put those observations and ideas to paper. I bet there are a multiplicity of academic papers on why people ‘collect’ objects though.

And also why people group, as they do… for certain causes or beliefs. To the point of “binding” their identity to it such that any challenge, no matter how logical, is treated as a threat and fought back with total blind stubbornness. Sorry, that’s “OT” for intent and just a general observation. But we need more experts to understand it… and come up with ways to address it.

[Nismo]

I don’t believe I collect them, but my reason to as why I have so many is to test and find my favorite EDC, headlamp, lantern etc… so that I have the best light I can for every situation.

I’m wondering if I should sell the ones I don’t use, but then again I might want to try them out again, compare them to newer ones or suddenly I find a use case for them.

I love lights, been loving them all my life, and I’m quite interested in either CRI or output. For example having a LED flashlight that looks exactly like an incandescent light (e.g SST-20 2700K) is my kind of thing. I didn’t know about all these LEDs and flashlights before I joined the r/flashlight subreddit, but now I’m like a kid in a candy store trying everything out.

[Nismo]

@Lightbringer

I don’t get the whole “prepper” connection a lot of people have concerning flashlights. Same with knives. People are so often in need of them, let they look at you as if you’ve got a .45 stuck in your waistband if you use/offer one.

This. I’ve always got my D4V2, Leatherman Charge+ and a lighter with me, and I can’t keep count how many times my friends have asked for help with either lighting or needed my knife, pliers or lighter. It’s not that I foresee myself stranded in the middle of a forest at any given time, but doing daily tasks that require these, and not having to walk to the car or back into the house to get the right tool every time.

Like you said, just opening packaging becomes a creative game of “what can I use to molest this packaging and extract the contents with” if they don’t have the right tool with them.

I don’t notice carrying them either, so I see no reason to not have them with me as they make everything so much easier.

[Macka17]

I had my FIRST torch about 1946/7.
Difference ’t’ween in and a match…. Very little.
It just lasted longer.

Over the decades. I made do. Till I started sailing at night.
“Channel Marker?” Hmm.
Somewhere in that direction. Bump. Oh shit. The hard stuff.
outside of channel.
While also rabbit.fox.Roo Shooting.

The search goes on.

70 ish yrs later. and over 50 torches. Most in a box in back of wardrobe.
Or out in the weekly bin.
I have throwers. Spreaders. and everything in between.

One day. Soon I hope. I’ll see THE ONE. Or so.
But not holding my breathe. I don’t have too many days left hey…. Chuckle.

No matter what you have. Get. or do.
SOMEBODY Always Gets. Does. Have’s.
Something better.
And so it goes.

I’m happy with what I’ve got. SO FAR. But don’t expect to stay there for too long.
Same as my fishing gear. Photography. Knives.

There’s always another one. One day soon. Maybeeeeeeeeee…

But. When all said and done.
After carrying a LOT of different knives and Torches.

In my pocket now.
I have a little flat/Black SOG Micro2.
and one of those dual flat cell things with LED hanging off the end.
Squeeze to activate. (10 for $11.50AUD del)
Does 99.5% of what I need 80% of the time.
With next step ups somewhere near, to take over when needed…