Flashaholics Anonymous: The Flashlight Purchase Refusal Kudos Thread

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!!! :>)

Whew! That was close! I just turned down buying the Conrui!

i haven’t bought flashlights since the middle of July, and then i bought a cheap sk68 that tmart had a coupon for.

the reason for my lack of buying flashlights is that I’ve lost some interest in buying more flashlights:
-i have lots of them already (60+ i think, but that includes several sk68 for gifting), and i don’t use them that much.
-I have moved from the countryside, to the city. not much darkness and room to play with a BTU shocker…
-also i’m a married man since a month ago. my wife is a kind one, so if i wanted to buy more flashlights that’s ok. but since i neither need nor “need” new ones i haven’t bought any.

i need to start modding more though. haven’t made space for the soldering station and other tinkering stuff yet though.

oh, and i’ve also bought several really nice headphones* since march, so that’s where some of my spending money have gone.
*(beyerdynamic dt880, Creative aurvana live!2, Shure SRH840, TDK BA200, Sennheiser ie60, AKG K240, Beyerdynamic custom one pro, nuforce hp-800, vsonic gr-06, monster N-tune, nocs ns400…)

I’ve been on this forum for just over 4 weeks now. Since then I’ve bought 12 lights (I think) and 2 chargers. I need to use my money for other stuff. So I’m going to try to not buy anything flashlight related for the next month (now until 26/10). Good luck to me lol

Edit: Counted 15 to be exact.

At a month in, I was already hooked, so it may indeed be too late for you. Time will tell! :stuck_out_tongue:

I hope not buddy lol

Instead of a diamond did you get her a ring with a LED diode on it???