Because I like fine engineering, and can’t afford Ferraris?
One of the founders of Cincinnati Microwave and inventor of the consumer radar detector lives in my old hometown. He collects Corvettes and Ferraris. The crown of his collection is one of two four-liter Ferrari 250 GTs built. It’s been appraised at $40MM.
Because we’re nerds.
This is the first BLF post I had to laugh out loud.
And there’s a piece of truth in it.
Funny, but at least a similar car was in an ep of Lawn Order…
’62 GTO.
Another reason of course is variety, the “collect them all” impulse the Chinese manufacturers exploit so well by making endless variations on a theme.
I notice SK68 clones at Ali are down to $2 apiece, with multiple colors of LED and shell for sale.
Somebody in China must have a very full warehouse.
Because I just can’t throw anything away! 
And selling can be a massive pain. I just had someone spend 2 days talking to me about shipping for a LED I paid $5 and was now selling for $2. He finally bought it, but what a massive waste of my time. Selling whole flashlights is about the same experiences.
Especially if they’re the kind of people that believe the stated lumens on eBay listings, like “well why does this only have 4200 lumens and cost $30 while I can get a 10 000 lumen one from eBay for $10”. Same goes for battery capacity, 18650 batteries over 3600mAh are a fraud.
Whoa. $40 million? Nuts. I mean, you can’t even drive it around care free. Shelf-queen. Unless you’re a billionaire and just don’t care. Often it starts out as “Just want a few gems I’ve always drooled over.” Then after a few, you get to know other collectors, broaden your scope, get lured into buying others too. Soon you have a temperature controlled warehouse.
4 flashlights for now. 100 lumens, 300 lumens, 800 lumens and 4000 lumens. 100 for the computer desk, 300 for the keychain, 800 for pant pocket and 4000 for zombies.
And THAT’s what you call a collectors item hey.
Although I could do a lot more with “”potentially” $40mill.
Than a little red rust bucket.
Brightest I have is 10,000 lumens. That’s already stupid bright. I can’t imagine what those 100,000 lumen lights look like, but I bet they’re fun.
1000 lumens, 3600 lumens, 12000 lumens, 100,000 lumens. 1000 for the carry with me bag, 3600 to look for monsters with my 2 year old, 12000 because I wanted a light sabre and 100,000 because I wanted my own death star type weapon and because I could. Fun? Well, possibly. However, 100,000 is so bright a) I can only use it at that setting for 60 seconds - about as long as the death star could maintain its primary weapon for before it too melted/ran out of power, etc. 60 seonds is way too short a time to be able to use 100,000 setting. I'd want a minimum of 3 hours at that setting, however, I suspect such a torch capable of 100,000 lumens for at least 3 hours is very unlikely to be hand holdable. I'm certain it would have to be vechicle mounted because of it's size/weight. b) There are very few places I could actually switch it to that high a setting. Let's face it, switching on a 100,000 lumen light at waist level pointing down the high street is likely to cause a few road traffic accidents and blind anybody unlucky enough to be facing the torch. In time, some idiot is going to do just that! Which may result in the introduction of legislation limiting outputs and where and when you can use them, etc. However, I do have a reserve near me where you could use it that high for a very short time, before the neighbours will come out of their houses wielding large implements and yelling vociferously, streaming oaths and expletives in my general direction.
Which particular parts made you laugh and which parts resonated with you in the truth department?
I honestly don’t know why any civilian would have use for a hand-held light pumping out more than 3,000 lumens. I guess you could have a night film crew setting up hand-held flashlights on tripods strategically placed on the ground, if LED spotlights are too expensive for the budget.
I have to wonder if enough lines will eventually be crossed with massive output LED flashlights that state or federal legislation may be enacted to curb their use. This has happened with high powered lasers, where idiots & mischievous degenerates have pointed them at flying aircraft near airports.
I hope that the crack-down on lasers being pointed at aircraft is a huge over-reaction to to the actual threat. If pointing a hand-laser at an aircraft can bring it down, terrorism just became real easy. Similar to the restrictions about turning on electronics during take-off. Really? I hope the airplane designers test for that kind of stuff.
But, yeah, there’s nothing that government doesn’t like to regulate. So, I can see them banning high-output flashlights. They recently banned drones where I live, at least for all practical use. You also have to register them with the government to be put into a database. Apparently, the $30 toy drones are more dangerous than guns.
Lasers can blind people including pilots, so even though it may be unlikely, it's a real concern.
It wouldn't be a very effective method of terrorism, but it is dangerous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasers_and_aviation_safety
By the way, I wouldn't mind if California banned all lasers for civilians.
Lasers aren’t a grave threat to aircraft, but they are a safety concern. A high powered laser can cause eye damage to a pilot and possibly cause an accident due to the distraction happening at an inopportune moment (critical phase of flight path). Because most of it is an annoyance to air traffic and odds of taking down an aircraft is so slim, no terrorist would waste time with such nonsense.
Government regulation is necessary. If we don’t have it, we end up with a banana republic. Nobody in a first world nation wants that. But obviously, we need it balanced. Drone regulation is a whole other topic. It hasn’t been done quite right yet. Partly because the technology keeps changing. Drones from 3 years ago pale in comparison to the ones out today. It’s happening so fast. People are able to rig weapons to these things now. Civilian drones. They can drop incendiary devices. It’s… a tinder box.
Far easier and more accurate to lob a molotov cocktail where you want it.
They’re requiring people to register their $30 Costco toy drones. They need ID tags, names and addresses, etc. It’s ridiculous.
I wouldn’t want to be a bird, nowadays. Only a matter of time before they have to register themselves to the authorities.
I keep a light in the car capable of at least 5,000 lumens in the car which I use regularly for work and have used lights with three times the output when needed. I doubt that I am completely unique in this.