New Year's Eve at my church, we were having a little get-together and hanging out playing games and eating good food. Sometime around 11:30, a transformer fuse blew somewhere up the street, so we lost all power. I just happened to have a flashlight in my pocket; my Ultrafire WF-502b with a fresh cell installed... AND my MF Ultrafire 3-mode XML dropin!
Room is totally dark, no emergency lights or anything, and I pull out the flashlight, point it at the ceiling, and 'CLICK' - straight into High-mode!
Of course, everyone was impressed... I was the only one who had a flashlight on my person and it lit the room up crazy-bright. I stood the light up in a vase (since it can't tailstand... yet) on low pointed at the ceiling and it kept the room lit enough for us to keep playing our games until the power came on about an hour later. Some people may think you're crazy for always carrying a flashlight with you...
Yep you never know when you will need one but when you do you and the people around you are glad you have one. Being winter and having a big coat with pockets, I usually have 3 flashlights on me. During summer only one.
I just get too excited when a power shortage happens. Not because it is dark but because I usually try to put 10 lights on medium and spread them around the house. So me and my lights, some those can’t stand by themselves usually get dropped, being cursed at, some kept on high for too long burning hands etc. total catastrophe but when I have only one a 55 lumens Fenix E10 is the king. You just enjoy the dim light in the room.
New Year's Eve, at a house of a friend, six families, almost ten kids (all less than 5 years old), at about 00:30, power goes down and a second later, just about the time kids started screaming, a sunwayman v10r lit the room... Now, I don't discuss my various strange hobbies with people that have no interest on them, so even a, somewhat, close friend dropped his jaws seeing that I carry a light in my pants pocket (and how bright that small thing is!). The only ones that smiled right away was my wife and my really close friend - in whose the house we were - who know that every solution exists in one of my pockets
I think the stories related in this thread are awesome. Goes to show that this is a "useful" hobby.
I've been thinking for some time that a flashlight collection can aptly serve as emergency lighting during power outages. A bunch of our efficient flashlights set to medium and/or low placed at strategic locations around the house would provide more light and be safer than candles and kerosene lanterns. Not only that, this contingency application may justify our growing collections in the eyes of our significant others, as long as spending remains reasonable...
Erik (E1320) used his collection, about two months or so ago, in this way, and it worked out well. Perhaps he could add his recent experience to this thread.
Had a similar situation 2 months ago when a car crashed into some traffic signs and fled the scene leaving debris scattered on the street, my DRY came to the rescue :).
Another fun time was at a rock concert where i brightened up the light show with sipik on focus which was brighter than those big spotlights who focus the light (in shapes). When i left i got compliments from the lead singer of the main band :)
Wow, great stories...Ive had to use mine a few times too for other people, once in a dark restaurant to see the menu, once to find something under the sink, once to find something lost in the car.
People are always impressed when they need a light and you have one available right away...
but when I have only one a 55 lumens Fenix E10 is the king. You just enjoy the dim light in the room.