As a Flashaholic, what collectible(s) do you have trouble understanding?

[TermsakC]

LuxWad, I have some friends who are “Olight Fanatics” and they do buy same Olight flashlights in different colours and LED types.

One incentive motivating them to buy more and more of the same is the satisfaction of getting them at a good discount price, and to accumulate more points and advance in their membership class. With Gold, Diamond, Platinum etc., they gain early access to the monthly “big sale” and have first choice of rare models. In the end, it is mostly personal pride in bragging right over fellow “Olight Fanatics”.

BTW, the September Olight “sale” is underway. And I just spent US$150 on some Olight Open Pros that are good enough for year-end gifts for my daughters. And I am only at the novice stage of being just a “Silver” member. Still a long way to go and hundreds of dollars to spend on Olight each month in order to move up to the “Gold” level.

[Muto]

This is such a loaded question and it would be soo easy to unload on what others may perceive as “totally effed up” so I will just present a few random thoughts.

Gold, what if the majority of people across the Globe just realized it is just a shiny soft rock that can be molded into many shapes, not unlike a fishing lure that sparkles when the sun hits it in the water?
It would crash the world economy. Such a hoax, perceived value at it’s best.
Only Gold I own is my wedding band. Glad to be born without the vanity gene. To me people with 10 chains are trying too hard but realize it is a personal thing so to each their own.

Bitcoin, dogshitcoin, whatever coin.
Let me get this straight, it’s an answer to a really complex math formula/problem that takes computers forever to solve and therefore somehow it is worth enormous sums of money yet it is backed by no nation, no hard currency, nothing, like vaporware?
Yeahhh, OK, Suckers
Just shows the true value of peer pressure, media whoring fluff and dump. YMMV.

After that, yeah all our fetishes with flashlights, weapons, etc. are bullshit as well, BUT at least OUR bullshit can perform a function.
Can a Beanie Baby find your keys that have fallen into the bushes next to your car in the parking lot of the concert that ended 3 hours ago?
Or the Hot Wheels hippy van redline? Nope

Once I discovered Electric Aurora Thunderjet 500 slot cars actually powered themselves and it was possible to modify them to go really fast and loose, Hot Wheels got thrown aside for a “working toy”
Tearing into that slot car and modding it helped me in many ways throughout my life. Made my dare to tear into things to see how they work, what works and why and things no book can teach you without being hands on.

Anyway good thread, carry 0n!

[LuxWad]

@raccoon city

Do you know about the NASC Fall Auction on Facebook that ends tomorrow?

There’s not a lot of Drosera in this auction, but there are some.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/174784156190819

Thanks for letting me know! I wasn’t already aware of it, sadly it’s too late now to get into that but I’ll make note of it for next year. It’s cool to know you’re into these plants as well!

I try to be very careful about my budget and space for these things, and I haven’t really gotten into Sarracenia yet. I mostly collect the smaller sundews, I’m especially into the weirder varieties from Australia. I also have a couple Nepenthes, beautiful plants but they take up tons of space. The temperate plants have been much trickier for me to get the hang of, I had a little success with a couple Sarrs in the past but I’m mostly focusing on the smaller stickier carnivores for now.

@TermsakC

One incentive motivating them to buy more and more of the same is the satisfaction of getting them at a good discount price, and to accumulate more points and advance in their membership class. With Gold, Diamond, Platinum etc., they gain early access to the monthly “big sale” and have first choice of rare models.

Guess I can kind of understand that, some of the LE models are pretty cool and Olight does send lots of neat extras. TBH though I’d have to sell all the lights accumulated in the process, I wouldn’t want to have so many basically identical models. One thing’s for sure though, Olight is very good at what they do. I’ve given them a fair bit of money and am only Bronze…

[xevious (Gary)]

I have trouble understanding men collecting sneakers.

I mean I get it. Designer sneakers can look really amazing and interesting. But some of these people have whole rooms taken up with their sneakers. WTH?

Leather shoes is one thing. But sneakers are SYNTHETIC. And guess what? These polymers, rubbers, and plastics have a shelf life. I know this from experience. I had a few sneakers that sat in the back of my closet for 2 decades. When I unearthed them and started wearing them… THEY FELL APART! The soles separated.

So really, those rare collectible sneakers are not even meant for wearing. And that’s just stupid. I once spent an hour of my time watching a couple of videos on sneaker collecting. A few people have made a killing holding onto a sneaker release that ended up being limited enough and then coveted enough that they could turn a handsome profit. But MOST sneakers don’t appreciate very much, while many more depreciate. And that’s as an investment that you won’t wear.

[raccoon]

I have about 30 pairs of shoes.

One pair of water shoes, two pairs of Crocs knock-offs, a pair of sandals, and the rest are either leather or suede.

Most of them are like new, so I could try to sell the ones I don't care for (if I felt like it.)

I bought so many just to try to find the most comfortable (budget) shoes I could find.

I haven't bought any shoes in a while, but I might start up again.

[Lightbringer]

@sp5it

Used woman underwear… Hard to understand, but plenty of collectors worldwide.

Dat just nasty. Naaaaaas-ty.

[Lightbringer]

“Collectible” sneakers, and monkeys.

I don’t get the sneaker thing. Get some ugly-ass orange sneakers which some basketball player makes famous, go through a big stink about whether it’s “authentic” or a fake, pay hunnerts of bux for ’em, just to have ’em sit around in a closet. Can’t even wear ’em, lest their “value” go down.

And monkeys. I don’t get that, either. Who in Hell would want to collect monkeys? They walk around in diapers all day, they stink, and they can rip off your face if you piss ’em off. Worst ones are those that go “bloop! bloop!”, like it’s something cute. F ’em.

[gravelmonkey]

@NeutralFan

Rocks and purses.

My youngest son (19) is into rocks. Every time we go to a new city we have to check out the local rock store and of course he buys some more rocks. He’s got rocks on the floor of his bedroom, on his dresser, on his window sill, on the deck, in the playhouse, on the dining table, etc. They’re everywhere! And he has a rock tumbler in the garage that is constantly running.

But he likes it when I use my flashlights to shine on them to see all the colors. And he uses the UV S2+ for some of the rocks that glow.

Hey, I’m a geologist so basically do that for a living

I also don’t get people who have a knife/gun/flashlight obsession. You can be into something without going overboard, cover a few bases and have a favourite then get outside and use the gear you’ve got.

Re. Bags of coffee, I’m a coffee nerd and keep the front of the nice bags, they’re a bit like vinyl or CD album covers, they’re art in themselves.

[Bort]

@raccoon city

@Bort

Debt.

I know too many people that think collecting more and more debt will make their loves better.

Yeah, I hate debt, too.

The only debt I have is one credit card, and I pay it off every month or two.

I use my credit card due to the convenience and protection it provides, but my credit card company doesn’t make much interest off of me.

I feel bad for people who are drowning in debt but even when i have helped people tame debt they just dive back in soon thereafter.
Its as if they must have it and have as much of it as they can accumulate.

[raccoon]

When I was in college, and for some years afterward, I had some debt.

The tuition at my schools was pretty reasonable, and most college students rack up way more debt than I did.

Boy, was I extremely happy when I finally paid that off!

[zoulas]

@LuxWad

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.

I think the theory here is that you want multiple lights that you love as opposed to some that you love and some that you just like. If I love a light (D4) I will definitely get a few.

[Bort]

@raccoon city

When I was in college, and for some years afterward, I had some debt.

The tuition at my schools was pretty reasonably, and most college students rack up way more debt than I did.

Boy, was I extremely happy when I finally paid that off!

You are in the top echelon, i have seen people wrap their maxed out loans/credit cards in to their mortgage then max out the cards and LOCs again.

I am also all for debt free living, a mortgage can be reasonable becasue your paying rent otherwise (as long as you don’t buy more mortgage then apartment) but LOCs and especially credit cards are high interest holes that can be very hard to dig oneself out of. And in the USA predatory loans and balloon loans which we don’t have in Canada are horrifying.

And high 5 to 6 figure student loans :weary:

[Jack_Kellar]

Knives. Not so much the principle of collecting them, but how widespread it is. Possibly because I see them exclusively as tools.

[ch1ir]

Any overpriced American light, especially Hanko and Yellow Day Energy

[NeutralFan]

@gravelmonkey

@NeutralFan

Rocks and purses.

My youngest son (19) is into rocks. Every time we go to a new city we have to check out the local rock store and of course he buys some more rocks. He’s got rocks on the floor of his bedroom, on his dresser, on his window sill, on the deck, in the playhouse, on the dining table, etc. They’re everywhere! And he has a rock tumbler in the garage that is constantly running.

But he likes it when I use my flashlights to shine on them to see all the colors. And he uses the UV S2+ for some of the rocks that glow.

Hey, I’m a geologist so basically do that for a living

Good to know. I’ll let him know that he’s on the right path, just not necessarily in his parent’s home.

[LuxWad]

@zoulas

I think the theory here is that you want multiple lights that you love as opposed to some that you love and some that you just like. If I love a light (D4) I will definitely get a few.

That’s fair, honestly though if there’s a specific model I love I would rather just have a couple of my favorite varieties and use those as often as possible, and save my money by not collecting any more. I do think the D4 is great but I don’t feel any need to own more than one or two really.

This is totally hypocritcal of me to say, but I’m not actually into flashlight collecting in general, I feel like as with any tool, one should really only own lights neccessary to accomplish certain tasks… but then again, here we are

[raccoon]

@LuxWad:

I really like your avatar.

I wish I could do something similar with my real name's initials (which are not RC.)

[LuxWad]

@raccoon city

I really like your avatar.

Thanks, I’m actually pretty happy to hear you like it, as it took me a while to figure out a decent logo. I wanted it to evoke an LED while being simple and distinct

[xevious (Gary)]

@LuxWad

@raccoon city

I really like your avatar.

Thanks, I’m actually pretty happy to hear you like it, as it took me a while to figure out a decent logo. I wanted it to evoke an LED while being simple and distinct

If you ever make your own flashlight, you’ll have to give it the mode number L4U. :laughing:

[Renato_Azevedo]

Yeah, I don’t really get why people collect animals, I mean if you love animals you should care to leave them in their habitat and live their lives, and if you don’t love animals why the hell would you keep them?