This has been a troublesome matter to me, one that is hard to explain. I have thought of how some users buy and buy, obsessively. It it their money, it is up to them what to do with it. In this hobby, there are less kinds of these people, all of us bought lights, but also many of us modify our lights, some of us modify our firmware, and we even have some that build their own, sometimes from scratch, even some that make them for the community. Some people simply buy lights, but obsessively so. It is a materialism problem, there is even a support page for those who just buy flashlights. Some people call something a hobby and that is where I ask you what you consider a hobby.
I have argued with audiophiles that call buying progressively more expensive hardware that what they are partaking in is consumerism not a hobby, it is the same if I say I am going to the mall and that is my hobby, or saying I am buying power tools and that is my hobby. I do not think that buying things is a hobby, it is something you do, something that others are not able to do, the more that nobody could do it, the deeper you are into a hobby. I think it is something that is harder than clicking buy, forking cash over, which anyone can do. Bargaining for cheaper goods may be considered a hobby the same way some people clip coupons (maybe some people here are obsessed with the utility of a flashlight and the adrenaline rush of a good deal). Maybe they are obsessed with giving away flashlights as gifts. Maybe someone is feeling like engulfing a whole shelf with objects.
I thought of it seeing how many people get obsessed with flashlights and buy many, I have many of them and was going to buy more, many are gifts, but most are for me and are unused. This concept came up to me, as the word of "bugman". This is a term that has been used to describe audiophiles and people who are obsessed with mechanical keyboards, as well as people who are loyal to a company for the sake of its brand. There's a lot of obsessive materialism, and sometimes I don't blame buyers who buy several of one light due to quality fade in many of the Chinese products. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/quality-fade-chinas-great-business-challenge/ The idea of manufactured scarcity may also play into fooling us many utilities that I buy I can sympathize with why they're purchased higher than the utility point (such as the constantly looming thread of gun bans).
https://www.meta-nomad.net/bugmen-what-are-they/
https://hackernoon.com/on-the-infestation-of-small-souled-bugmen-6561ae922e07
https://old.reddit.com/r/ConsumeProduct/comments/dwqey4/what_exactly_do_any_of_you_like/
Here is a little quote about a bugman if you do want to click the links.
A bugman is your typical big left leaning city dweller. He is usually obsessed with consumerism, lining up to purchase the newest iPhone or MacBook when it comes out, and using a smartwatch/smart home speaker for longer than the week after he bought it. Chances are he owns other throwaway smart gadgets as well. All his tastes in movies, music, expensive food, art, and more are determined by what review sites and blogs say.Everything about his personality and life is not defined by who he is, but by what he buys and his consumerist tendencies. He'll be subscribed to at least one, maybe multiple subscription services, he'll happily use social media and upload all of his information to the cloud, and he'll gravitate towards things that seem "rational" and use big words.In fact, their social media use defines a lot about who they are, as they try to get the most likes on social media bragging about their life and viewing the lives of others who do the same. Yet there is something big missing about their life, something that can be seen in their face. Something that can be seen the minute you strip away all the consumerist choices and realize, there's nothing else. Their lives are empty, hollow, and all about serving corporations, until they die, and this is seen in their empty insectoid stare that implies they're dead inside, giving them the name bugmen. Did you see that bugman standing in line waiting for the new iPhone X?
Upon reading about that concept, I asked myself that question, for me it was the thrill of finding a good deal and it having a lot of utility, Danny Kahneman the author of thinking fast and slow has said that we come to a conclusion and then make the justification after in his studies of psychology. I had an addiction to slickdeals for a while, buying things that I did not need as well. I did was happy that I had modded my flashlights even before reading about this, but it encourages me to try to do more than consume goods, there is a 4chan meme called the coomsumer.
What are your thoughts of consumerism and hobbies? Perhaps its just effective marketing, I could be wrong, perhaps when I started collecting them, there were many problems that are less common now, maybe at one point flashlights will get so good that modding it will be less common because they will be such great quality. What do you think the definition of a hobby is? If you collect enough flashlights beyond your own defined utility point, why do you think you do so?