Why do people collect flashlights?

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.

That’s hilarious, and this just keeps getting better. Now I get to update another meme:

My “collection” is mostly flashlights that would be problems in the hands of uncautious people, either due to flaky drivers, tricky switches, or untrustworthy batteries or poor QC on hosts I bought expecting better placed screw holes and better cut metal shelves, and so forth.
Sometimes you just can’t even give this stuff away. At least without investing a lot of time in repairs.

:smiley:

You have no idea how weird it felt the first time I ordered a dozen Zebralights at once.

It’s the “kick” of having a new one…then kept…then a new one… it’s all there is to this hobby.

This may sound stupid, but why do you need a safe to store flashlights in? Why not a regular box, drawer, cabinet, etc? Are your torches made of very special, rare, exotic or otherwise precious metals, e.g. gold?

Having just heard it from you and knowing it wasn't a bulk buy to fit out a platoon, yes, I think that be tad strange.

".........but I don't have enough." Seriously, seek help. How can 300+ torches not be enough? OK, how many would you need before you felt you had enough?

For some people, sure. I may have one foot in that camp. But for others, it seems to be down to a myriad of other reasons. I too have other reasons for "collecting".

I don’t care about quantity. It’s not about use. I use Lumintop Tool AAA Cu together with Leatherman Surge and DQG 18650 in my pocket. I like lamps. In my collection I have bad lamps, I like interesting lamps, but also ordinary. I never sell any lamps from my collection. One day it will be an overview of what was produced. My collection of lamps has no rational reason. I just like it and have it at its disposal.

a firearm wont fail with a vent with flames.
i would only agree that flashlight collecting is cheaper.
i have never had any type of dangerous failure with a firearm.
and i do my own reloading.
i have had 2 flashlights melt down and threw them out in the yard to burn out.
and 1 was a surefire.

I'm glad you weren't hurt, but what injures and kills more people worldwide each year, firearms or Li-Ion batteries?

Spoiler alert:

The answer is firearms, even though there are far more Li-Ion cells than firearms around the world.

You’ve had two flashlights melt down? One, I would consider bad luck. Two, you’re cursed. Someday, you’re going to accidentally fatally shoot yourself, probably twice.

Ooooh, I can see it now… Ultrafirearm!

As shown, with 9900 round magazine!

Bad batteries can be a risk, but so can cheap ammo. Nobody puts cheap ammo in a quality gun. Bad can happen.