Summer is a difficult time for flashaholics. It never gets dark :) I go out at 10pm to test out a new light and it's barely dark. Several hours later it's as dark as it's going to get but it's never as dark as in the winter.
OK since this is just a BS topic/thread anyway :) ... what do you really use your flashlights for? I'm sure many have great need for flashlights but I think many of us (me) buy them because we like them and then try hard to find occasions where they come in handy :)
I have a few dive lights (necessary) and a few headlamps (necessary but not all that often). My general purpose P60 XP-G light is the most useful on paper but is rarely used.
The keychain button type lights that are frequently free get the most use just because that's the one I'll have on me. At night after coming home from the climbing gym I'll frequently soak in the tub. I turn the room lights off and hang a ITP A3 on a string (necklace style) from the shower head and I'll put in on 2 lumens. It's relaxing and makes for interesting lightling. Is it necessary...no. I do it because I already have it.
My headlamps are for hiking/camping/climbing but since I have them around they get used for reading the small print on boxes, small repair jobs around the house and going out to the backyard at night.
Having lights around does come in handy sometimes and does make many things easier that I used to do without additional task lighting. I can see why many people don't have any or many lights however. I only had one light in the house for many years and I didn't even know where that one was most of the time! Someone gave me a Surefire 6P as a present and when I opened it I thought...OK, uh it's a flashlight?..and threw it into a drawer for years!
So that there is a reason for others to post in this thread :) how about mentioning some of the things that you do with your lights that aren't exactly in the necessary category but are things that you do with them...just because you have them :)
Ive been carrying my new 18650 thrower torch around for the last couple days (during the day I must add). To me its just something to fiddle with, which actually works for something that is on the rare occasion useful. More a case of trying to find an excuse to use it - such as point out where stuff is with the light.
If im working, and wearing my aspheric headlamp, i usually use that to point at stuff to tell people where to look, rather than using my hands.
Your right summer sucks for flashlights. My main unnecessary use of my flashlights? Two actually. One, something to fiddle with on my workbench in the garage (my house is full of women) and two, my son and I doing a light show in the back yard like dumdums.
Now that I think about it those are quite necessary.
I used to wake up late so torches came in handy for night time walks (I did without them for a number of years due to a lack of research on the latest LED torch developments). Nowdays I mainly use headlamps (Zebralight H60) for around the house or camping. It's only summer for one half of the Earth so my main torch use is for finding my way to and from my car, light weight AAA-powered torches I find are the best for this, otherwise a DX keyring light suffices.
Well, I tried to use up all my half use alkaline cells. I have a lot of them. I use them in the bathroom. I let the kids use them as night lite. I tried to use them as much as possible. I tell my wife we are saving electricity(money), ye right. Also try to get the kids away from tv and video games, into something a little bit more useful.
Summer time is not really much different here daylight wise, a couple hours less night, a couple hours more daylight. So my torches really are just things to fiddle with.
My desk is adorned with a constantly changing array of beautiful pieces of machining and in most cases good engineering. Sometimes I have a block of aluminium on my table, and I envision what it could be. A heatsink for a mag conversion?, a new torch?, a new finned heatsink for my led spot desk lamp?, however its mostly used as a means of taking heat from the heater into my bed - pre-heating where my feet go. (no I dont use a waterbottle... This is doing it with what Could be a torchlight)
I use my 18650s mainly just for work. I am an automotive technician so the usefulness of a good flashlight goes a long way. Recently new to being a flashaholic as well, my buddy and coworker has turned me on to it and I’m totally hooked! It’s so bad my wife is already getting annoyed by how many lights I’ve been ordering :-0
Summer beats winter for flashlights, at least for me. Winter's cold, wet, and rainy, so yeah, it's nice and dark, but you're miserable outside and can't wait to get back in. Summer, you go camping, you go for long walks, you get revenge on the twit who drives side streets with his high beams on... you enjoy being out*.
*except for the bugs. mosquitoes, black flies, horse flies... ARRGH!
Yes I agree, summer beats winter for me as well. It’s more of a fun time to go exploring in the woods with flashlights, graveyards, camping, etc… also, very fun to get revenge on those pest drivers! Thank you for the welcome, I hope to learn much on here and have a good time! :bigsmile:
I built a summer home out of 4,354,665296 popcicle sticks .A nice place to relax and enjoy the diabeties .