I’ve always liked flashlights, ever since I was a kid. Back in the day, I remember looking over my dad’s Maglite catalog, and wanting to have one of them - or more. This was pre-LED era, so the go-to was Krypton-filled incandescent lights.
When I got into college, I started shopping at a store in Chicago (where I was attending school) called American Science and Surplus. There were a few of the new LED lights there, including these SWAT tactical zoomlights that came with their own charger. They had car chargers and even a red diffuser, as well as the ability to run on 3 AA batteries. They were a great upgrade from cheap lights I had, with decent performance. However, I forgot to charge one, and was left with a battery that needed replacing - an 18650. This little project revealed a whole bunch of lights. I ended up getting a few from Gearbest, and they blew the pants off my old SWAT light. (yes, those lights were so bad a basic zoomie left them in the dust.
Also, at work I manage to finally get a rechargeable 3C LED Maglite.
I picked up a charger and a few 18650 batteries, and started looking to improve my collection. Around this time, I subscribed to AmazonPrime, and did some shopping on sale. I got a VONT zoomlight with a nice holster, and then the Gearlight 1050. This was by far my favorite outside the Maglite - was reliable and felt great in the hand. It used a twist to zoom, which was more controllable than the other zoomlights. I was so impressed that I wanted to see what other people thought, and my search led me to a a review on 1Lumen.com…
Apparently, there was an entire community dedicated to flashlights, and people selling lights that could light up an entire runway! So I went to this “Convoy” site on aliexpress, and picked up a few lights on sale. I was totally blown away by the quality. That handheld C8 or S2+ was competing with my Maglite. And thus down the (very well-lit!) rabbit hole I went.
While I own several Convoy lights, I still remain fond of some older style lights. I found a couple old flashlights in a decommissioned space at work. One was a 3D Maglite! Gave it an LED upgrade, and it makes a good light for walking to my car late at night. The other was an old bright yellow plastic 2D flashlight. A cheap LED upgrade and a paracord cobra lanyard made it a great flashlight for leaving on the porch for getting mail. It’s not something people would steal.
