I don’t get people who collect the SAME flashlight, just in different colors, or even emitters sometimes. Like, Olight’s FB group is full of people who buy every version of the M2R, or WM2, etc. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, they’re functionally identical and not exactly works of fine art, not something worth collecting in my opinion.
Along with that, I don’t really get people who ONLY buy Olights, or Thrunites, or Hanklights, Zebralights, etc. Unless there’s a very specific practical reason to get the same brand or model, I think a collection should be diverse and representative of various different design philosophies. Sure some brands are more reliable, or more interesting in general, but I can’t think of a single brand that is worthy of all my flashlight money in favor over every other.
Similarly, people who buy every variation of the D4V2 or similar models, I get the interest in different emitters, drivers, optics and the like, but I would rather invest in a wider variety of different lights which fill more unique roles. I would also rather have specific emitters in lights which use those LEDs in the best way possible, than multiples of the the same light with different color temps or whatever. Having an E21A, XPL-HI, and UV D4V2 makes sense, but having like 10+ of the same light is kind of strange in my opinion.
As for things I DO collect, I’m super into fountain pens, and hifi headphones, and most of all carnivorous plants. I grow mutiple species of Drosera (sundews) with the goal of collecting every species possible. As a plant lover, I think they make great collectibles, and are far more interesting than anything made by humans. They’re mostly only grown by people who are seriously into that kind of thing, which makes the hobby very niche and kind of fun. Carnivorous plants in general are just amazing, and there are so many various groups that you could spend a lifetime collecting them!
There are lots of fascinating plant groups to collect, but it can be difficult when some are not sourced responsibly. Tangent-time, but plant collecting can be both very helpful and very destructive for natural ecosystems and endangered species, depending on how it is carried out. There’s still much to learn about these systems, and many species that need help, living in environments where they are seriously threatened by human development. I actually spent a year producing video content on plants for a university, and there are just so many things to learn, the ecosystems these organisms help compose are incredibly complex.
…but anyways, yeah I don’t get a lot of the things people collect, but whatever, to each their own.