Why do people collect flashlights?

No idea. How hyu-mons didn’t go extinct by now is beyond me.

I like you :) I had no idea what a "hyu-mon" was, so I googled it. Turns out Google doesn't know what a "hyu-mon" is either, so I guess they did go extinct after all

So instead of the saying “One is none, two is one” now it’s “One dozen is none, two dozen is one.”

I’m gonna need a bigger gun safe.

Bit of an accent I picked up on Ferenginar…

I would accept that as an axiom.

Now you're just showing off.... The best I ever managed was a "luxury" resort on Eroticon III.

BINGO! You just clarified everything for me. So you’re needing that massive throw for work related application. And that I can certainly understand. I mean, there are guys who tunnel underground, excavating enormous tunnels that dwarf human beings. A dark place like that would require pretty beefy lumens.

I would think that if you’re gonna need over 10k lumens, you’d not be dealing with handheld lights and utilize industrial lighting units with their own power generators, like the kind you see construction workers using on roads at night.

Don’t tell me, you have a Rules of Acquisition book dedicated for flashlight ownership… :wink:

Nah, just an older edition of the ROA (only 236 rules as of its publication).

I don’t like darkness :smiley: . Each flashlight is different. Some of them are design gems. Collecting flashlights is an interesting hobby. When I go for a walk with the dogs at night, I take a flashlight and shine nicely into the night.

I’ve been fascinated with flashlights ever since I was a young kid, and back then it was just my dad’s orange plastic (Eveready?) lights.

I just love gadgets, and especially useful ones. They help me with my other hobbies of fishing, mountain biking, and trekking through the jungles here in Singapore. In the grand scheme of things, they don’t cost much either.

My 13-year old daughter is on a school trip in Thailand right now, and she’s armed with a Skillhunt H03 headlamp and two Convoy S2+ I’m happy knowing she’ll have better lights than anyone else, probably including the adults!

Ya' owe me a keyboard & another cuppa. Gotta clean the cat too...

slmjim

Because it’s funny and there’s a little truth in it.
It’s about me.
It is unnecessary to have over two hundred lamps, but I like it.

I love lamps from my childhood. When I was a little boy, I couldn’t own more lamps. My parents were sensible and didn’t understand why I should have more lamps. There were also limited choices.
In the then Czechoslovakia, lamps were made, but almost nothing was imported here.
Now the situation is different, I have LED lamps more than two hundred and more than a hundred old lamps.

Nowhere do I boast, none of my friends cares. If anyone learns, I’m strange to them, or a jerk (in good, friendly).

I used to collect pocketknives but they are generally much more expensive and less useful. A cheap flashlight is generally higher quality than a cheap pocketknife of the same cost. I walk at night in the desert or along a canal because I live in a hot area and it’s nicer at night. Out in the big dark walking most nights I have come across many coyotes, javelinas, raccoons, snakes, scorpions…so I have come to depend on lights with good output, throw, and heat management. My “collection” is pretty utilitarian, all budget lights. I have about 20 which came about from me searching for the best light for one of my use cases. 1 - edc light (pocketable, good low, good color), 2 - task/urban light (nice flood, color, duration), 3 - trail workhorse (good power, throw, heat management, duration - while not being monstrous in size) - hardest use case for me to satisfy btw, 4 - spotlight (my weakest use case, very rarely needed), 5 - emergency light (high battery capacity, good flood, can charge other devices).

I do have one current fav in each category and could lose all the others, not too attached to them.

I think if I were a collector my collection would have unique or special lights but that’s not the case. Like lots of folks here more an accumulation pursuing a goal. I regularly give my less wanted lights to my nephews who love them.

Because it’s funny and there’s a little truth in it.
It’s about me.
It is unnecessary to have over two hundred lamps, but I like it.
I love lamps from my childhood. When I was a little boy, I couldn’t own more lamps. My parents were sensible and didn’t understand why I should have more lamps.
There were also limited choices.
In the then Czechoslovakia, lamps were made, but almost nothing was imported here.
Now the situation is different, I have LED lamps more than two hundred and more than a hundred old lamps.
Nowhere do I boast, none of my friends cares. If anyone finds out, I’m strange or crazy for them (good, friendly).

Wow! That is a story. ...........................Wow!, no WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! More than 300 flashlights/torches/lamps???? That is dedicated if nothing else. Congratulations. I'd be surprised if anybody else on this site has a collection even a fraction the size of yours. Good work.

I don’t think my collection is any big. Nor does it contain any rare and expensive types. Some old ones from the 30th maybe, but I don’t have enough.

I started out back in the 70’s with the old chrome and orange ever ready special. Then I was introduced to the Maglight. 4 D cells of raw power… It was the best thing since sliced bread. Then I managed to buy one of the Xeon lamps for it. Heh, Moar power!!! After a few years and going to a lot of gun shows I was shown my first really powerful Light. A Surefire. I was floored at the price and the fact it had these rare Cr123 batteries. It had a run time of 10-12 minutes and was a whopping 110 lumes. I could shine the light down from my 3rd floor apartment and in to the pond and see the fish! how cool was that? Then I found Candle power forums. Holly Crap! Those hand made custom lights were $200-$300+ each (waaaaaaaaaaay out of my price range) , took more funky batteries, had unreal run times. After a few interactions and deciding that group was not for me I wandered the earth looking for better and more lights. Then I found BLF… Now I have all sots of lights that are all over the place that serve all sorts of purposes.

Woah, all the Star Trek/DS9 nerds came crawling out…

Found my people.

I recently spent a few weeks shopping around via phone for a bigger safe for my lights; NY metro area has lots of the countries’ biggest stocking dealers. When I inform them that I need a bigger safe for my flashlight collection, they automatically think that I am just saying that in order to not mention various valuables. When I begin to describe, yes, flashlights, really; they just chuckle and laugh at what they think is my silly sense of imagination. I settled on a used UL rated TRTL30x6 3,235 pound ISM safe.