Why do people collect flashlights?

I collect hot babes . I'm just starting my collection and want to keep them in my basement .

Since I don't yet have a basement I'm hoping they will be excited about digging one .

Why collect flashlights ?.... I needed a place to put my battery collection .

Why collect flashlights ?…. I needed a place to put my battery collection .



rent a storage space, most likely cheaper :wink:

One of those extra large 12'x24' storage pods is what I need .

If you can find the answer,send it to me please.Perhaps you can help me save enough money. :wink:

Why do people collect flashlights?

Hell! I even collect chargers, batteries, nice tools, electric screw drivers with esoteric bits, even old packing materials that I think I can eventually use.

Enjoy whatever you can lay your hands on, you’ll never know when you can no longer continue with it!

Often it’s compulsive shopping.
It’s common on the era of consumer and materialism.

Yes, that’s true for most people. It's the utilitarian thinking of acquiring and keeping whatever you think will be and continue to useful in the present and future. To some degree that's a facet of hoarding which in moderation is probably fine. For some people it becomes a real issue though. But all that aside, the question I posed was pointed at why people acquire a multitude of flashlights assuming they didn't have specific need for particular flashlight or two. And even if there was a specific need for a particular flashlight or two, why were additional flashlights acquired when there was no specific need for them. That was where I was going with this.

You'd have to be very well heeled or not suffer from any shortage or constriction of coin to support that habit. But that doesn't demonstrate why people collect flashlights as a habit like that would show how all manner of consumer materials were acquired. In this case I draw a distinction between acquiring and collecting.

(I will use the word “torch” as we are both Commonwealth English posters)

  • Buy first torch, realise there are better ones out there.
  • Fascination with LED technology. Still remember as a kid wondering if anything other than dim 5mm red, orange and green LEDs would ever be available. (Blue & white 5mm LEDs came out mid 90s, high-power LEDs in the mid 2000s?)
  • Try different torches out and see which ones “fit”. Then shelve unused torches indefinitely rather than sell or give them away.
  • Realise there can be a size or type of torch/headlamp/lantern for different occasions so set out to acquire a decent collection
  • Desire to have the latest and greatest (I use two Zebralight H60s with XR-E LEDs daily but the temptation is to add a third headlamp?)
  • Buying stuff just because it’s cheap, rather than really necessary.

Yes Colonel, I like it. Your little sequence of occurrences fits well with what happens to many people and not a few on this forum. I particularly like point 1. Although, after buying your first torch, how did you work out or otherwise understand that there were better torches out there?

In the mid-2000s I used to walk around in total darkness without a torch. I bought a cheap bike light from Big W with three white 5mm LEDs but it was too dim to use for walks. I bought a 3xAA torch with maybe nine 5mm LEDs that was going cheap. It wasn’t that practical so I remained in darkness for a year or two longer. Eventually I wondered why I hadn’t looked up what else was out there as surely the junk I had was near the bottom of the pile. Then I found out in 2007 about high power LEDs, Candle Power Forum, DealExtreme and started from there.

it gives my friends and family something to laugh about.

What???? You mean you actually tell 'other' people about your 'habit'? Tut-tut. You deserve all the derision that gets piled on

So it was a process of trial and error realising that the locally available stuff just doesn't cut the mustard until presumably you did some online research that led you down the path of enlightenment (you know I even surprise myself with my literary comdic abilities - 'path of enlightenment' pun only just intended as I realised how apt it was as I wrote it!)

I humbly hope that it is ok to sort of disagree, kind of like sort of, in general, for the most part.

This, based on my observations of two things: other people and myself.

Materialism and Consumerism usually occur together. However, Collecting things is not indicative of Consumerism. Consumerism implies use, discard, replace, use, discard, replace, repeat rapidly long term.

Collecting implies not using to rapid discard and rapid replace cycles.

Therefore, I think that Consumerism is not related to collecting.

Next, you mention Materialism. I have interacted with many people who practice Materialism and who are very non-Spititual. Most of these people collect something, but almost none of these people collect flashlights. I have interacted online with people who collect flashlights, and I can say that I have observed that people who collect flashlights are very spiritual, a lot more spiritual than the general population.

Next, myself. In 59 years, I have collected very little. The total quantity of possessions that I have is very little. I have never owned a television, I have never purchased a roll of paper towels. The real property that I own and live in was given to me as a gift, by friends, not by family. The reason that I collect flashlights is that of all the physical things that can be acquired with money, flashlights bring me more happiness than anything else. I know that complete, long-term happiness comes from God, not from material things. For less than the perfect happiness that comes from God, for me, there is flashlight collecting.

Partly because I love precision. (I'd really be in trouble with guns!) Started out in 02 looking for a good light for night shift at a hospital. Security guard showed me his Streamlight Stinger and it was off to the races. Ran the whole gambit of CPF in the early 2000's with modding and groundbreaking LED advancement. Met up at the first 3 photonfests in NJ when I lived there. Lots of fun.. but I'm very far from the income of most of those folks and didn't fit in. Made one too many snide remarks there about the rich and got permabanned.

Badge of honor!

Been with BLF since its inception and I love it here... fits me like a glove! I miss Old Lumens terribly... he was the only other guy I ever knew, and the first, to do lights with hand tools and he's my spiritual brother in that aspect.

Why do I have over 100 lights? Because I love the things, I have the makings of a very fine hoarder and Asperger's plays a big part I'm sure! And I loved to mod before production lights outstripped anything I could mod.

Oh, yeah, my avatar... for those that remember I still have The Neutralizer. Greedy pricks at photobucket deleted all of the lost pictures in my post though.

Something about lighting up a whole field that makes me feel good. That’s why I like powerful flooders and pocket rockets mainly.

At this point, technology in CNC machining and LED emitters has progressed so that very attractively designed quality LED flashlights have become affordable to the masses. Prior to this, only the wealthy could parade around their McGizmo, Hanko, and Tain titanium flashlights copiously adorned in tritium, making the rest of us so very jealous. They not only produce light but some are beautifully designed, looking like art sculpture. Such a small pocket sized device that’s also useful is pleasing to have on hand.

Yeah, you're right. Now you can do that with an Emisar with far superior performance. Except for the money aspect I miss those days though.

Do tell. What’s The Neutralizer?