Building an inventory spreadsheet of all of my lights and its getting big. I’m 72 and I haven’t even opening my “EMP trashcan” (though that is mostly outdated, old lights). I really am running out of storage space for all this stuff. How do you guys choose which lights to keep and which to sell? I mean, sometimes its obvious if you use it a lot or if you just don’t care for it… but the others. The ones you look at and say “well, but what if…”?
I was considering something like that. I figured to put them into categories. Those lights you absolutely don’t want to do without. Those lights that are nice but you know you’ll never use them (eg, other lights do what those do, maybe better). Those lights you don’t really care for.
Eg, I really like the BLF Q8, but while I have it at the ready and like that it’s floodier and has a quite nice tint, I rarely use it just because charging it is such a pain in the ass. The DC7 I got (more akin to the Sofirn Q8, ie, throwier, and crappier cooler tint) is my go-to light for lumens only only only because it’s simple to charge. But now with the BLF SP36 (with the ’351s), I might not even need that, ’though I like having 4 cells for that much more runtime, vs only 3.
Another example, the Folomov Camp D4. Physically a great light, flawless, great thermal path, but a hateful UI, enough so that I don’t use it and don’t want to, and kinda “gave” (essentially abandoned) it to a bud.
C8T? P30? GTmini? What do I want as a thrower? I’m still keeping all of ’em, simply because I can’t decide. Each has pros and cons.
So… my “nightstand light”. Was my Cometa, but the Blue Lighthouse was annoying in an otherwise pitch-black room. So I essentially kept it locked out. So now I’m deciding between an SD05 (way way way too-bright “lowest” setting), C8F, and even GTmini (little green “smile”…). Decisions, decisions…
I’d probably want to pare down a whole bunch, but really don’t want to take a bath on ’em. “Collecting” them, then selling them for about half-price, even though they’ve pretty much just been opened to test for non-DOAness, is kinda silly.
After dealing with evicting my sister from our parents’ house (don’t judge), and paying $5000+ to clean up her hoarding of every square inch of the house/garage/patio/backyard, we discovered on a pre-sale house inspection that the attic was likewise stuffed with worthless memorabilia from her past. Another debit.
Made me think about my own accumulation of stuff that is only valuable to me. I don’t consider myself a hoarder, maybe because I have room to store it (so far). Butt our garage is reaching its limit and my wife refuses to let me buy a new Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid until it can fit inside.
I need to have a yardsale!
I have thinned it down to about 40ish lights. I have a stash of lights for camping, kept in vehicles, a few throwers, a few flooders, a few beaters for loaning out and a handful of good looking lights. When new lights come out or something that I think I have to have. I first consider if I already have a light that does almost the same thing. If I do, I don’t buy it. If I really have to have it then I sell or giveaway the light it replaces. My buddy across the river from me usually gets anything I don’t need or want anymore. So I have it thinned down from almost 200 lights. Every once in a while I still find a light or two brand new in the box, forgetting where I had put it.
Then there are the ones I parted with that I now miss.
I have chosen to keep all of my lights that have the most sentimental value, but that have been superseded by technological advancement.
In order to keep my 21 main lights and a few others, I had to remove my nightstand and place a coffee table along my bed, and move up to a larger safe.
Hey, howbow making the subject line a bit more descriptive? Not many people are jumping in here…
“How to choose?” seems about as descriptive as “Suggestions?” or “Help!!”, so no wonder no one’s biting.
I can’t seem to part with any of my “ babies” even though many arn’t used .
Simple. Take pictures of your collection, followed by a list of what you have. I will tell you which ones to send to me and which ones to keep!
Real talk - Maybe make a triage list. Use a number system 1-5 to label them from “Gotta Keep” to “Gotta Sell.” After that, work your way backward through the list until you feel your collection is manageable.
I haven’t sold any of my lights. I haven’t felt the need to sell any of them. I have given a few away that I didn’t like that I have bought at Home Depot or Costco, but never sold any. I still have a box full of old Maglites and EVEREADY lights somewhere in the garage collecting dust.
I will never part with the light that my dad gave to me around 1991-92. It’s a Bright Star Tiny Taurus (Made in the USA) 2AA that looks like a maglite with a side clicky switch that is my avatar pic. It has the most sentimental value to me since It was a gift from my dad. He passed in 2013.
I mostly have EDC in my collection that I like to rotate depending on where I’m going and what I’m doing that day. Also, what pants that I’m wearing will determine which light that I stuff into my pocket.
Rather than selling any of my lights that I don’t use I’m going to start passing them down to my 8 year old son who will be turning 9 soon. He is starting to get into lights now thanks to my sister. She gave him a pack of Duracell lights for him to take trick or treating and he loves them, ugly beam and all. ( His beam preference is probably from his moms side) lol
To answer the question. I’m keeping them all in the family and the collection is growing. ; )