I donāt believe I collect them, but my reason to as why I have so many is to test and find my favorite EDC, headlamp, lantern etcā¦ so that I have the best light I can for every situation.
Iām wondering if I should sell the ones I donāt use, but then again I might want to try them out again, compare them to newer ones or suddenly I find a use case for them.
I love lights, been loving them all my life, and Iām quite interested in either CRI or output. For example having a LED flashlight that looks exactly like an incandescent light (e.g SST-20 2700K) is my kind of thing. I didnāt know about all these LEDs and flashlights before I joined the r/flashlight subreddit, but now Iām like a kid in a candy store trying everything out.
This. Iāve always got my D4V2, Leatherman Charge+ and a lighter with me, and I canāt keep count how many times my friends have asked for help with either lighting or needed my knife, pliers or lighter. Itās not that I foresee myself stranded in the middle of a forest at any given time, but doing daily tasks that require these, and not having to walk to the car or back into the house to get the right tool every time.
Like you said, just opening packaging becomes a creative game of āwhat can I use to molest this packaging and extract the contents withā if they donāt have the right tool with them.
I donāt notice carrying them either, so I see no reason to not have them with me as they make everything so much easier.
I had my FIRST torch about 1946/7.
Difference ātāween in and a matchā¦. Very little.
It just lasted longer.
Over the decades. I made do. Till I started sailing at night.
āChannel Marker?ā Hmm.
Somewhere in that direction. Bump. Oh shit. The hard stuff.
outside of channel.
While also rabbit.fox.Roo Shooting.
The search goes on.
70 ish yrs later. and over 50 torches. Most in a box in back of wardrobe.
Or out in the weekly bin.
I have throwers. Spreaders. and everything in between.
One day. Soon I hope. Iāll see THE ONE. Or so.
But not holding my breathe. I donāt have too many days left heyā¦. Chuckle.
No matter what you have. Get. or do.
SOMEBODY Always Gets. Does. Haveās.
Something better.
And so it goes.
Iām happy with what Iāve got. SO FAR. But donāt expect to stay there for too long.
Same as my fishing gear. Photography. Knives.
Thereās always another one. One day soon. Maybeeeeeeeeeeā¦
But. When all said and done.
After carrying a LOT of different knives and Torches.
In my pocket now.
I have a little flat/Black SOG Micro2.
and one of those dual flat cell things with LED hanging off the end.
Squeeze to activate. (10 for $11.50AUD del)
Does 99.5% of what I need 80% of the time.
With next step ups somewhere near, to take over when neededā¦
Because I like fine engineering, and canāt afford Ferraris?
One of the founders of Cincinnati Microwave and inventor of the consumer radar detector lives in my old hometown. He collects Corvettes and Ferraris. The crown of his collection is one of two four-liter Ferrari 250 GTs built. Itās been appraised at $40MM.
Another reason of course is variety, the ācollect them allā impulse the Chinese manufacturers exploit so well by making endless variations on a theme.
I notice SK68 clones at Ali are down to $2 apiece, with multiple colors of LED and shell for sale.
Somebody in China must have a very full warehouse.
And selling can be a massive pain. I just had someone spend 2 days talking to me about shipping for a LED I paid $5 and was now selling for $2. He finally bought it, but what a massive waste of my time. Selling whole flashlights is about the same experiences.
Especially if theyāre the kind of people that believe the stated lumens on eBay listings, like āwell why does this only have 4200 lumens and cost $30 while I can get a 10 000 lumen one from eBay for $10ā. Same goes for battery capacity, 18650 batteries over 3600mAh are a fraud.
Whoa. $40 million? Nuts. I mean, you canāt even drive it around care free. Shelf-queen. Unless youāre a billionaire and just donāt care. Often it starts out as āJust want a few gems Iāve always drooled over.ā Then after a few, you get to know other collectors, broaden your scope, get lured into buying others too. Soon you have a temperature controlled warehouse.
4 flashlights for now. 100 lumens, 300 lumens, 800 lumens and 4000 lumens. 100 for the computer desk, 300 for the keychain, 800 for pant pocket and 4000 for zombies.
Brightest I have is 10,000 lumens. Thatās already stupid bright. I canāt imagine what those 100,000 lumen lights look like, but I bet theyāre fun.
1000 lumens, 3600 lumens, 12000 lumens, 100,000 lumens. 1000 for the carry with me bag, 3600 to look for monsters with my 2 year old, 12000 because I wanted a light sabre and 100,000 because I wanted my own death star type weapon and because I could. Fun? Well, possibly. However, 100,000 is so bright a) I can only use it at that setting for 60 seconds - about as long as the death star could maintain its primary weapon for before it too melted/ran out of power, etc. 60 seonds is way too short a time to be able to use 100,000 setting. I'd want a minimum of 3 hours at that setting, however, I suspect such a torch capable of 100,000 lumens for at least 3 hours is very unlikely to be hand holdable. I'm certain it would have to be vechicle mounted because of it's size/weight. b) There are very few places I could actually switch it to that high a setting. Let's face it, switching on a 100,000 lumen light at waist level pointing down the high street is likely to cause a few road traffic accidents and blind anybody unlucky enough to be facing the torch. In time, some idiot is going to do just that! Which may result in the introduction of legislation limiting outputs and where and when you can use them, etc. However, I do have a reserve near me where you could use it that high for a very short time, before the neighbours will come out of their houses wielding large implements and yelling vociferously, streaming oaths and expletives in my general direction.
I honestly donāt know why any civilian would have use for a hand-held light pumping out more than 3,000 lumens. I guess you could have a night film crew setting up hand-held flashlights on tripods strategically placed on the ground, if LED spotlights are too expensive for the budget.
I have to wonder if enough lines will eventually be crossed with massive output LED flashlights that state or federal legislation may be enacted to curb their use. This has happened with high powered lasers, where idiots & mischievous degenerates have pointed them at flying aircraft near airports.
I hope that the crack-down on lasers being pointed at aircraft is a huge over-reaction to to the actual threat. If pointing a hand-laser at an aircraft can bring it down, terrorism just became real easy. Similar to the restrictions about turning on electronics during take-off. Really? I hope the airplane designers test for that kind of stuff.
But, yeah, thereās nothing that government doesnāt like to regulate. So, I can see them banning high-output flashlights. They recently banned drones where I live, at least for all practical use. You also have to register them with the government to be put into a database. Apparently, the $30 toy drones are more dangerous than guns.
