Confluence of their anatomy from a hole in the ground. BUT… I love it when my colleagues at work start talking about the new bu lb in their maglites saying how bright it is. The 880 lumen drop in I use in my L2N isn’t the brightest out there… But it eats those “High Caliber’ bulbs for breakfast.
I’ve seen few such potential hosts tbh, but the asda one’s aren’t bad
Well, it isn’t flashlight elitism.
It’s knowing how much more you can get for the same amount of money and less.
I often walked into stores and view their lights selection, and walked out quite quickly as they are either overpriced, or the specs and emitter are outdated.
I have ever seen a store demonstrating a SK-68 clone and comparing it with some other lights and at price of $30. Most people will be impressed and $30 might just close the deal. But I know I can get it for less than $7.
So knowledge is power.
Wales is a bit of a drive away, but Heinnie Haynes have a showroom in Barry.
It is the duty of all good flashaholics to spread the gospel of lumen, and anyone who sticks around to the end gets the tint speech.
Whoever's eyes didn't glaze over leave with a SK-68 with which to bring more into the fold.
Can I get a hallelujah ?!?!
BTW, the things for sale in the B+M stores aren't lights - they're hosts. ;)
A more upscale outdoor store in Melbourne was selling a LED Lenser X21 LED Torch with only 1068 Lumens for $300+! The guy even told me it was heavily discounted by almost half and was to be considered a steal at that price in his opinion!
I have to admit that I have felt this way about lights that I’ve seen in stores. Like the way that some cheap, plastic lights seem to brag about their 40-50 lumen outputs. Or the fact that a Coast HP14 costs close to $80. Perhaps it’s not too bad of a light. But would you really rather have that than a Nightcore EA4 for much less money?
Of course, there have been exceptions. One was the Coast HP550 from Costco. If you can get past the fact that it uses NINE AA batteries (which are time consuming to recharge unless you have multiple chargers or a high capacity charger), it’s actually a pretty good light. You just can’t argue with a 1000 lumen light with a solid (ie NO powering down) 2.5 hour runtime. And for $49 for the light with 9 alkaleak AA batteries to give to friends, it was certainly not a bad deal.
Also good deals were the Defiant XM-L lights from Home Depot. With around 500-600 lumens and a price tag of around $20-$30 (depending on model), these lights are cheap and just plain WORK. For someone who wants long runtime (without overheating or powering down) and a good bright light without the hassle of Li-Ion batteries, these lights just plain rock. With a Defiant light and three NiMH C/D cells, you DEFINITELY have a light that’s a cut above most anything available in stores (and, in many ways, even many popular lights around here, depending on what you expect from a light).
Best flashlight I have found a general computer-electronics store is a duracell daylite 2C.
It has about 160 lumen output, has TIR optics, and very strong aluminum body.
Price is less then $15.
The lights I see in the store do indeed, make me chuckle :bigsmile:
Like you say, mostly they are way-y-y-y overpriced and also the selection is severely limited.
I wouldn’t call this elitism though; it’s more like knowing your (flash)lights and what’s available out there - and at what price.
I have a friend who is an avid fisherman. I tried to encourage him to get a decent light for his night-time fishing, but he went out and got one of those $30, (barely) 100 lumen flashlights with a horrible tint/beam pattern. And he insists it’s whats best for him. Oh well…. 
I really think if you’re going to buy something (like a flashlight) you should do your homework first, or consult with someone who has some knowledge about these things.
I've seen very few decent lights in B&M stores here. There are a couple of local online retailers who deal in the good high-powered stuff but they are rarely competitive on price with some of the Asian dealers who can also offer free shipping.
I find it ironic that I can get lights shipped free from HK when the local guy wants (sorry NEEDS) to charge up to $10 to post it from 50 miles away. But Australia is a relatively small market for lots of items and our prices often reflect that.
Elitism? Maybe. But how comfortable would the rest of you be knowing that any nuff-nuff could could buy unprotected 18650s and unknown chargers off the shelf. The great unwashed have little to no knowledge of this chemistry and the precautions that need to be taken. "Batteries" to most people are AA, C and D cells that can be picked up cheaply at any corner store or milk bar. They stick them in a charger and leave them there forever or let them rattle about in kitchen drawers and toolboxes.
I for one am happy that my neighbour on the other side of a thin sheet of plasterboard is not charging some cheap Li-Ion on the carpet and risking setting fire to us both. I am happy that her kids who might leave a flashlight on until it's completely run down don't get to play with these mini hand grenades.
The legal implications for retail stores must be horrendous. I dare say it's not because the big box retailers don't know about our lights, but rather they don't want the legal cases when Billy Bob's light explodes and takes his hand (or his reproductive organs) off.
It would be nice to see some of the better AA lights such as the EA4, Shadow mini TC6, Javelins, etc making their way onto the shelves but I really don't think the general public is ready for the Li-Ion stuff we mostly get so much pleasure from.
I agree gadabout. Most people have no business with li-ions. Sad but true.
If that makes me an elitist [or an asshole] so be it. 
More eneloop-friendly lights will help spread the gospel some. That I would be OK with. Hopefully my neighbors won’t find a way to kill me with eneloops.
I certainly don’t feel elitist just cuz I have a “better” light at a cheaper price. Its when I lug around my Surefire M6 and mock all the other lights for being so inferior, is when I feel above you. lol…I kid, I kid.
lol. compensator? 
I walked in to a local machine and farming supply store a couple months ago, and noticed a few staff kids aweing over a new arival stock of ” New technology” LED lights, (it was basically a clone, of a clone, OF a clone of a Ultrafire C8 with a XP-G that was under-driven by a single 18650. ( it came with a single, unmarked/un-labeled 18650 Lithium cell and de-branded charger and retailed for $ 38.99 on the shelf !) and it averaged probally 200 - 230 Lumens at best with its single mode.
I walked up to them and i actually said: “you have to be kidding” to them.
They were so intrigued on how powerful they thought this little name-less light was compared to their usual line of plastic multi-5 mm blue-tinted disposables they sold. 
So i pulled out my Trustfire Mini-01 XM-L2 CW on my keychain with the BLF 3-mode low-med-Hi Driver, and turned it on…
I believe one of the staff kids nearly had an orgasim from the light output from the mini compared to their “new” line of “high-end” lights.
I refrained from further embarassing them by walking out to my truck to bringing in the SR90 to show them. J)
It was just so funny so see how so many people are unaware of what is out there when it comes real torches. S)
:bigsmile: haha nice. 8)
the mini01 can really impress. I gifted a couple and literally got “wow”s when they first turned them on.
Was looking at the energizer light at target the other day and thought they looked cool ...I think they said 55lumens..$15..Nice looking body and clip but thats about where the excitement ends .for a novice they aren't horrible and I think energizer lights are the best of the big box lights
Was looking at the energizer light at target the other day and thought they looked cool ...I think they said 55lumens..$15..Nice looking body and clip but thats about where the excitement ends .for a novice they aren't horrible and I think energizer lights are the best of the big box lights
The only place in the UK I’ve seen and decent torches on the shelf is in Harrods, they has some Fenix’s and a couple of others. But still limited choices and quite pricey.
I’ve never seen anything even as good as incan MagLite in places like Homebase or Wicks.
B&Q apparently sell some good “Pro Series” Cree lights, e.g.:
http://reviews.diy.com/2191-en_gb/11227530/reviews.htm
If you go to an special outdoor store over here, you might be able to buy something exotic like a Fenix.
But not in an normal hardware store. Since LED-Lenser/zweibrueder is more or less local, you can sometimes get their lights as the expensive top notch product. All the other lights are either 5mm cluster or those awful round Chinese emitters :Sp . Even my old Akoray 106 is superior to them.
Aldi (local discount supermarket chain) sold something quite similar to the dx c30 XR-E zoomie for 10€. For most people something like that is now state of the art I guess. 
Many bought one of those 5mm 5000-10000mcd button cell lights when the got available 10 years ago. When I talk about LED, compact and powerful, they think of those things.