Flashaholics Anonymous: The Flashlight Purchase Refusal Kudos Thread

I made it longer than May 9th - short of needing that 18650 SR51 battery tray - but now I’m fighting to keep from getting anything for another month.

ive been buying a bunch of stuff the past few weeks - nothing horribly excessive - as in its all within my financial means and what not

my wife today asked me - honey how many flashlights and related items did you buy this week and how much… after i told her 3 lights and a charger and about $190 she said ” oh thats not bad ”

shes not helping lol

on the bright side there was an extra $175 from overtime in my check this week

Quitters disgust me.

So you prefer people to continue smoking or drinking? :stuck_out_tongue:

So, I really don’t need more lights. That’s not what this is about for me.

This is a hobby, a form of entertainment. Something I enjoy doing.

With that in mind, I made kind of a decision a while ago that buying stock lights cheats me out of a large part of the experience. It’s a lot more entertaining and time-consuming to make what I want instead of trying to find one already built. And thus I can easily justify buying parts and tools when I have a good idea to improve a light in my collection. And then not only do I get the pleasure of making it, but also the pleasure of using something of my own creation, and the fun of writing up a post about it.

But brand new lights which won’t get modded? Nope, it has to be something really special for me to justify that.

This approach seems to get me more for less.

Funny you mention that ToyKeeper, just yesterday the first new “expensive” light I’ve bought in 2014 got here (an SR51), I was supposed to leave it alone and just use it. Know how long that lasted? 8 hours from the time it got here, one 30 minute walk with it. Then it got a complete tear down and resistor mod, dedome and direct bond MCPCB and now even more (driver swap, series -> parallel conversion, possibly even an SBT-90) is in the works.

Reminds me of an AA meeting. Are you off the wagon, or on the wagon this week?

What would this forum be if no one bought lights? Trying to quit while in a flashlight forum is akin to committing treason.Tongue Out

I need serious intervention. :bigsmile:
Hopefully my vacation will help me curb my buying habit… Then again, I might see nice stores in Hong Kong that sell cheap flashlight that’s not available in US :weary:

Last time I was in that part of the world, I mostly just saw little mall vendors selling UltraFire lights for several times the price they go for on FastTech or Wallbuys. There really wasn’t much of interest.

HK is a horrible, horrible city. Whatever you do, don’t take the Tsuen Wan line to Sham Shui Po, and get off at exit A2. Do not immediately turn left and walk 5 stores. Avoid Fu Li Dat electronics with their large display of solarforce goods. Do NOT walk the length of the street in both directions (about 3 blocks) getting overwhelmed by the chance to pick up, handle and test your purchases.

If you follow these instructions, you may escape with your wallet intact. Unless you’re bringing your wife/girlfriend/partner, in which case your budget is already pretty much a goner. This city is just one huge mall connected by subways.

True. The stalls are generally to sucker tourists, and avoid the street markets everywhere. One of my friends just got 10x 32gig usb sticks for $200 hkd (about $25 usd), but they’re fakes with ~500k of storage and a really messed up allocation table.
Most of the stores along that street focus on something else (hardware, tools, knives, photography, etc) but carry a flashlight section as a sideline.

There is something to be said for re-learning to love what you already have. I allow myself one flashlight purchase per month. And guess what—I’m happier with what I have!

In How to Design and Build Flying Model Airplanes, Keith Laumer said something like “There are perfectly good model airplanes you can buy ready to fly, but that way you miss exactly half the fun.”

I tried to stop for a few months. failed. Im back in it again. last i remembered was xml-t6 was the best i seen, now they have xm-L2? time for an update._

This is a very practical and realistic target. I will try to follow this, one month at a time. My last purchase (July 4) was a gray UF HD2010 from TMart. Twas a very good price ($24.76) I think. So I will resist buying a new light this July.

In the few months since I’ve been on here, I’ve bought more flashlights than I ever thought I’d own, and I already had several! I can’t vow to not buy anything else this month, because I’m waiting for the EE X6 BLF Edition light GB to produce fruit. I’m on the list for four of those! After that, I promise will try real hard not to buy any more lights for at least a month. Can I do it? Well, maybe!

Hey, I gotta start somewhere!

Yesterday I resisted buying a fourth LED camping lantern, having already bought three this week. Have yet to hit a month with no light purchases this year... HALP! :o

October is also not going to work... will be buying some LED gloves for halloween.

I wrote new firmware for two of my lights this month, thus breathing new life into old hardware and avoiding the need for new hardware. Then again, I also ended up with two new lights in the past two months. So I can’t really say I’m succeeding. (one is a gift, the other is a mod project)

It’s been a number of months between light purchases for me, but I did splurge this month on replacement ink cartridges for the pen addiction (sadly, it lives on).

ZOMG, pens. I’m glad I don’t have that particular addiction. I have a Fisher 400RB “rainbow bullet” in my purse, a black Fisher Stowaway in my wallet, and a set of red/green/teal/pink/purple gel pens for writing personal notes. And some metallic sharpies. Haven’t bought anything to write with in years.

Most of my hand writing goes onto a “Boogie Board Jot 4.5”, which gets wiped daily.

I think I have become a flashaholic. I started out slow, a single Solarforce L2P and a Z-1. Then a few parts and pieces. Then a grey L2P (you have to have a grey one, right?). More parts and additional drop ins. Then I saw a picture of a L2M mini on this website. At first I thought it was a silly waste of money. What could a L2M mini do that the Z-1 couldn’t do. Then Solarforce put the L2M on sale at a very low price so I bought one and I liked the feel of the mini but I had to put the L2T head on it to make it right. So now I am up to 4 flashlights (I know a small number compared to many here, but I don’t like clutter and 1 or 2 should have been the limit. Now I am in search of AR lenses to improve OTF lumens.

i knew I had crossed over to addiction when I bought a Solarforce low voltage (.8 - 4.2v) XP-G drop in and I compared it to the XM-L drop in I had been using. The XP-G’s voltage spread is better suited to a single CR123/RCR123 but I was so disappointed in the lux compared to the XM-L that I knew I had crossed over into full lux addiction. So I’ll keep the low voltage XP-G drop in, maybe I’ll try to upgrade it to XP-G2 with a new LED but I doubt it. It will stay in the draw for when I need to use regular and not rechargeable batteries. In the meantime I’ll use the XM-L with a smooth reflector in the Mini.

Of course, I don’t count the rechargeable battery purchases as part of the flashaholicism. I was lucky to start out with an old Dell laptop battery pack which I pulled 6 18650’s that are working fine. But since I like the CR123 I bought some 16340’s, then found out I could also use the slightly larger 18350’s and had to buy a couple. I’m using the 18350 in the mini now and it works fine very bright with the XM-L. I guess I have a little OCD, I have two hands and 4 flashlights and that makes me uncomfortable. But now I am addicted to maximizing lux. So I’m buying AR coated lenses. I hope this is the last of the addiction, but I can feel myself jonesing for a house flashlight with a need for 1500 lumens!!! :>)