Do you loan friends your top lights?

In a word…NO. I always keep a couple of cheapo lights (beaters) around for occasions like this.
The last light I lent out came back with the lens cracked right thru. No big deal, since it was an old one, and I hated the tint anyway.

I have some friends I wouldn trust a glow stick with then there are friends that nothing but the best would do.plus it might open their eyes up to my addiction oops hobby...

No frigging way! :expressionless:

I have loaner lights for that! :bigsmile:

I used to. Not my top one, but I lent out my modded HD2010 to a friend who lost it camping. Sad part was it took me a few weeks to realize it wasn't around the house and remember I loaned it. There went ~$50.

Side note, built a 2D XP-G Mag for my parents. Alkaline batteries leaked in the tube so they threw the whole thing away before giving me a chance to salvage the H22A heatsink and LED :(

Top lights? I wasn’t specific enough the first time. I would not loan out top lights, like D40A, EA4W (I’m scared to use that one, silly switch), BTU Shocker, ArmyTek anything (even though they can take abuse), OLight, and monster Trustfires. The cheaper EDC sized and single cell lights could be loaned out for day-use.

one does not often need lights during the day :stuck_out_tongue:

Only my i2 can be borrowed, and for 3 minutes or so.

To friends who I know on a personal level I do, but they have never needed it for more than a few days.
But to people I only know, they get the beaters :bigsmile:

Heck no, all of my lights still look new except 1 Solarforce L2 I dropped on concrete once, it’s still 99%. I have let friends use lights in my presence and it just makes me mad, they sit lights down on rough surfaces and such. Every time I look at a picture by Foy with the lights sitting on a concrete block it makes my skin crawl, LOL. I know I’m OCD, it runs in my fathers side of the family but it skipped him, my grandfather was and a couple of uncles are. Nobody has ever asked to take a light but if they did, I would let them borrow some cheap Ultrafire ???.

I will loan out expensive lights and have done so many times. What I will not loan out are li-ion based lights. So basically, surefire primaries or aa/aaa lights.

I was going to loan SK68 the other day, but it had a good ZL14500 battery in it, I said you can chuck a AA battery in it if you want, but they weren’t keen, suits me!

I would too! That cell is worth more than the light. lol

I only loan out my idiot proof lights such as a mini Maglite because well… they’re not too knowledgeable about keeping a li-ion happy. :slight_smile:

Edit: It’s not about the price, it’s whether or not others can use it without too much hassle.
I would lend out an EA4 (if I had one) because it’s one of my easiest and safest lights to use.

No way, Jose

But last year I loaned my SF Yellow P1, XM-L T6 3C dropin with protected battery to my 11yrs old nephew when he went for a school organized caving trip.

Well, he came back & told me proudly he is THE lead man alongside two teachers :bigsmile:

what???
me loan my top flashlight to my friend???
even they beg real hard i only loan them no more than a $10 flashlight

the flashlight i mentioned loaning in the beginning of this thread cost $20… but so does my Convoy M1

Yes I would borrow some of my flashlights to good friends - but not the 60 or above € class. Some points are important: Only flashlights with low voltage warning and I told the friends, that they have to put in another battery, if the flashlights began to blink.

i bought a 3xAAA zoomie for this purpose.

Do you loan your friend your Ferrari or supermodel? lol

Not me. There is a reason things are termed “loaners”. LOL!

I have loaner lights, knives, bicycles even guns. I wouldn’t loan out my carbon fiber road bike to anyone even for a ride I was going on. It’s too expensive and if they mistreat it, the frame can be destroyed. One small crash or even just letting the bike fall over could put a hole or crack in the frame if it hit a sharp rock. It’s not something people who don’t have carbon bike know or worry about. An old steel or alloy bike can be dropped and might get dented but will still be safe to ride and not totaled.

Same goes for guns, I wouldn’t loan out my vintage minty S&W revolvers because I know people wouldn’t treat them with respect. They would flick the cylinder closed and spin it like in the movies. I once almost loaned a nice blued S&W to my brother but before he even got it out of my sight he put a large nick in the finish and I took it back. I handed it to him and he laid it down to put away and then tossed another gun right on top of it in the case! He put a nice chip in it that instantly dropped the value by 20% and ruined an otherwise pristine 60 year old gun. For 60 years people have taken care of it and not done stupid things like that and he messed it up in less than an hour.

Same with lights but I’m less worried about finish on them and more worried about LiOn cells and drivers/emitters getting damaged. I loan out AA/AAA lights unless they are in my line of sight. If someone can screw something up, they will find a way. I’m more concerned with them hurting themselves with the LiOn lights than with them getting damaged. Most of my lights are budget and none hold sentimental value like my guns, knives and bikes.