Some people shouldn't own flashlights

Nearly a year ago I got a L2 with a MF UF 3 mode drop in and after my brother asked some questions he wanted one.

He didn’t want to buy one from China, he wanted one from Aus so he ended up bying a “1300 lumen” Skyray SR5 with XM-L on eBay that was nearly purple and the output was between the low and medium on my Manafont drop in. It come with a crappy $3 charger and 2 blue Ultrafire unprotected batteries.

Anyway $50 later for about $15 worth of junk he implied I am to blame because I told him to get one a XM-L T6 LED and it turned out to be garbae, despite me saying “I would’t buy it”, “Don’t buy it” and “Its not worth it”.

A few months of him complaining later I bought him a MF UF 3 mode drop in and some Trustfire flames for about $27 total, I went to his house and took his old batteries and disposed of them. I cut up a aliminum can in to strips and to wrap around the drop in and it fit very tightly without any gaps. Then used proper flashlight lube to lube the threads and I also told him to get a proper charge for $10.

Fast forward just under 1 year, the flashlight has been outside in the weather for months. 1 battery is missing and the one in the flashlight is flat and he doesn’t use it because he lost the adapter for the US to AU plug for the crappy charger. He wont pay $10 for a half decent one so it can just sit around and become junk, I regret buying the drop in and batteries for it.

On another note, I got my T10 and Ti from the Thrunite promotion yesterday. I picked it up from the post office and went to visit the same brother and open my mail. He asked to look at the Ti so I passed it to him, the first thing he did was rub his oily fingers over the lens…

Thats the end of any flashlight related gifts or even showing him something new I get in the future, he should’t own any flashlights.

On the other hand, my other brother who I have given about 5 flashlights to takes very good care of them all and most of them go back in the original boxes after he has used them apart from the one he keeps in his truck and uses nearly on a nightly basis.

Anyway… just wanted to get that off my chest…

If anyone has any similar stories of flashlight neglect or abuse add it if you like.

P.S. I still cringe when I see Foy putting his new flashlights on the rough cement for pictures :stuck_out_tongue: but I am sure he takes good care of them otherwise.

Some people just don’t appreciate flashlights. I know quite a few and it’s very hard to teach them anything about lights. That’s why for people who aren’t up to the task of listening to me for 10 minutes, will only get primary cell lights EXCLUDING CR123 since they’re expensive in australia. Anyone who can listen though will have the pleasure of owning a LiIon powered light which will decimate any primary cell light I give away.

It’s interesting. I got an L2 and a UF 3-mode XM-L for a buddy, and he bought some higher end 18650 cells and a good charger as I watched over - because I wanted him to have the safest set-up possible. He seems to love the torch, but in the back of my head I know he’s not going to be conscientious about li-ion management like he should be, would never buy a DMM, and probably won’t watch the charging process like he should.

On the other had, I’ve successfully turned another pal into a bona fide flashlight junky like the rest of us, and he’s a true geek about it. And it’s awesome to watch.

I think the casual flashlight owner won’t quite understand. We care a bit more because the technology and inner-workings and mod ops fascinate us. Some people just want a light that works, and wouldn’t notice the difference between 100 lumens and 300 lumens, or bins or color or whatever.

Hard to expect them to take it as seriously as we do, including the safety aspects. Plus, I hate to see a good SF L2 go to waste. To that first buddy, it’s just a flashlight. To me, it’s so much more.

Sounds like your brother would be a candidate for the 98 cent plastic Everready flashlight with the two carbon zinc “D” batteries…(sold at local grocers) LOL…

Brothers can be real wankers, I know, I'm the youngest 'kid' in a family of 8 and have 3 older brothers. For the most part, when people tell me they want to get one of my bright flashlights, I tailor my recommendations based on their personal habits. Most of the time I discourage Li-Ion and recommend an AA powered light for that reason. A few cycling buddies now have 18650 lights because of me, but there's one I regret turning on to them because he's a bit of an airhead. Puts the batteries in the charger at night, falls asleep on the couch and forgets about it. I'm worried one of these days he's going to cause a fire or something.

For my cycling buds that don't have lights (yet ) I recommend a dedicated bike light now that they have come down so much in price. There's only a few of them I would trust to get into Li-Ion batteries.

For most of us, these lights are a hobby. And like anyone who “gets into” a hobby, we tend to be a wee bit compulsive (witness the repeated purchase of items we may already own in duplicate) and just a little bit obsessive (how much time do you spend searching for that perfect light, or babysitting your charging cells). I think we almost have to be a little bit anal about the care and management of lithium ion cells. To be otherwise invites a nasty accident.

So I think flashaholics need to be cautious about who we gift lithium cell lights to. My brother-in-law loves flash lights, especially small ones and is always interested in my new lights. But he knows that he doesn’t want to mess with a DMM, let alone watch over each cell while it’s charging. Most relatives and friends just aren’t that interested.

If you want a powerful run off primaries you can go for olight sr50 or fenix tk41

More than just bad behavior going on here . . he’s obviously got some resentment or complaint with you and doesn’t know how to handle/resolve it like an adult . . .