It was the early 90’s and I was a budding flashaholic. Back then I didn’t even know about Maglite, Kelite, Brinkmann just yet. There was Eveready though. It was at IGA and other shops. Always a low cost but the super heavy duty batteries were anything but and Classic was nothing to be fond of. Blink and they would be dead. And the lights if you dropped them too hard the bulb broke. The squeeze lights were pretty cool as an EDC item but had to be thrown away when they went dead.
I remember some other brand had an angled head ‘Fireman’s light’ but don’t recall who made it.
Then there was Brinkmann the almost Maglite. You had to look at it close to see it wasn’t a Maglite.
Lets chat about Eveready and other shoddy brands. Or maybe you love them. Anyways heres some pics I found around the net.
Man, I kinda miss those cheap soft plastic lights with the slide switch. They were like 5 lumens with new batteries. Even as a kid, I thought they were terrible.
The thin metal Eveready lights like the captain looked cool, but 3D lights were the bare minimum for me
The first one Everready 2D kit I got was before I was in preschool. The light produced was how to say underwhelming and the batteries didn’t last but somehow it didn’t even seem to matter.
In some holiday gifts I received later that year was a made for children 6v Lantern style light that probably used C batteries or the like.
That was kind of an exciting decade. Maglite was the cop flashlight. Energizer batteries kept going and going with Duracell being even better. At the end of the decade Energizer came out with this Lithium cell that was basically amazing. 7 times the runtime of a typical alkaline battery.
Back then I wasn’t so picky about what light I had just that it had working batteries and a bulb because I used them a lot at night.
Its hard to believe what we thought was “powerful” back in those days. The best Maglite could produce then wouldn’t hold a candle to what the little TS-10 perched on my hat will produce today. My first love as flashlights go was when Maglite came out with the colored ano AA size. I still think they are cool, especially when John McPoyle gets done with them!
I had so much fun back then. Used all of those plus rayovac. Getting the (I’m having a brain fart) the bulbs with the gas inside to make them brighter. Halogen, duh. But yeah, good times. We would also test how waterproof lights were or if you could use them while swimming.
I put a MiniMaglite in some pool water once, very shallow as I was still holding it, and it kept working. I tried the same with a pair of Double Barrel Energizer lights and soaked them. This was like in 2001ish. I miss the Double Barrel lights and had a chance to get one the first time I was on CPF but it well isn’t the best.
I remember I got a Mini Mag 2 AA for Christmas one year around 1998 and it was awesome. A year later I got the TerraLux LED upgrade amd it was even more awesome. Maybe like 100 lumens? Now the Cyansky M200 is at least twice as powerful and fits on my keychain.
My occupational endeavors back in those days primarily involved a sidearm and flashlight of one type or another. Went through a progression of all the “latest and greatest” handheld torches to include all the brands mentioned in OP. Still have my first Brinkmann. When Surefire hit the scene, my belt got a lot lighter. Still have those war horses as well, but they eventually got Malkoff drop-ins. Still carry one when necessary.
Took the garbage out tonight with my (somewhat) trusty USGI Fulton angle head. It doesn’t get enough love, and I feel guilty letting it sit on the shelf gathering dust. Flick the switch, and I got light. Even did a couple rounds of S.O.S… Nobody came to save me….oh well.
