If you had it to do over again how many and which of your lights would you buy again?

You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72932

This thread is a continuation of my How much did your light collection cost? thread.

Also this is also made complicated becasue new emitters/technologies/UIs have come out if you have been a flashaholic for years.

For me i would have fewer than i have now but all upgraded to the best available (at a reasonable cost, not gonna go Surefire pricing).
However i am a minimalist, but to

[quote myself]
(What lights do I need in my collection? - #16 by Bort):

1/4 but I had to buy most to determine which fit my needs and preferences. So no problem at all for my modest collection.

I’ll say 1/4 although kind of an impossible question. My needs and preferences have changed along with the technology. The more I learn and the more lights have developed the fewer lights I actually need or want. Just a few really good ones. Budget of course and even that has changed meaning significantly over the years.

I am a minimalist. At the minimum, all of them.

I love very small, small, small-medium, medium, large-medium, small-large, medium-large, very large and humongous led flashlights in dedicated thrower, pure flooder and power thrower configuration, made by medium cost manufacturers and nice budget quality manufacturers, with parts made in Upper Volta, Poughkeepsie, Peking, Shambala and Abilene, and with cells that are free to individually coddle, and with captive cells that need no individual coddling, in puke yellow and angry blue and dim white, and that other people love, and that other people hate, and with side switches and rear switches, and with standard user interface and with avant-garde interfaces.

That makes 51 real performance flashlights, one on the way, and about a dozen low performance lights that predate the 47s MMU-X3. How much did my collection cost? It cost me one-fifth of a life on the hostile surface of this planet.

Would I do it all over again? Yes, if I could pick a nicer planet.

My lights: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/9150/287

This thread was on hiatus so the OL contest could have its poll on the left of the screen but this thread is now back.

I’d keep everything I have, and not buy much if anything more for a long while.

I’ve never bought a flashlight over $30 that I regret. I’ve bought some cheap flashers, bike lights, and work lights that were junk, but every expensive flashlight I’ve bought works well and serves a niche:

Manker mk35 ii - Super powerful yet smaller than almost everything else in its class. For serious use.

Manker u22 iii 90.2 - same emitter, 1/2 or less of the size, and 1/2 the throw. Edc-able in a holster. Best throw/size ratio.

Lumintop F21pro - 200+ meter flood-monster that can replicate lightning strikes. Edc-able.

Emisar d4sv2 with quad w2’s - all around awesome, possibly the best light in its class. Edc-able in a holster.

Weltool w4 lep - almost 2 million candella, light enough and small enough that it goes everywhere my backpack goes, and I take my backpack everywhere.

Emisar dt8 dual quad 2000k e21a’s with clear optics - the farthest throwing candlelight mode, that looks like real candlelight, in the smallest host, that I’m aware of.

I wouldn’t willingly part ways with any of them, although I’d consider gifting them to friends.

some seemed nice at first

then the UI started annoying me

or it broke (manker, dqg, xtar)

some broke but i still liked them, but you can;t get them any more {xtar}

Trvth be told, probably lots fewer than ¼, because lots are “redundant”, but mostly because too many of them do like 90–95 of what a different light does. Or a light has a particular quirk which kept me from using it.

As much as I’d like “one of each”, there are plenty of even common lights that went right into the box (Tool AA/AAA, ferinstance) because other lights are shorter, brighter, higher-CRI, nicer UI, etc.

In fact, I probably should have a “garage sale” of lights that still might be NIB but I never used other’n to make sure each worked.

If I did this again, I would rent a 10x20 climate controlled storage space and go to town. Then assuming I owned every flashlight made in every color, I would charge $10 per person for a 15 minute viewing. After approximately 150 years I would break even. Then I would take all the proceeds and invest in a bigger space to do it all again.

Well played.
I would like to try many lights to know whats available then decide what i want to buy.
However there are no local brick and mortar flashlight stores to do this at (even before covid).

I regret nothing!

:smiley: