On average, i seem to spend a week or so, for my current one i’ve done easily a few hours a day over a week and still have not decided, i know this is overkill, but i am extremely thorough on researching my purchases, right now i am looking for a 1AA or 2AA there are so many to sort through before deciding.
So i pose the question to everyone else, how much research in hours do you do before pulling the trigger?
Not much in the beginning, a lot more now. So I like every light I bought in the last one year. 
For me, it can just depend on what else is going on. Mostly the real budget lights, if I want one I just wait until I see someone else raving about it or need a battery, or whatever, then boom, done, ordered.
For more expensive items (like current knashing of teeth) over a (and which one) big thrower vs a big flooder*… I read, read, read as many posts as I can and try and separate the information into digestible tidbits. Once all the BLF information is processed, then spend much less time hunting vendors to see their angle and prices on the one or two items that reside at the top of the must buy list.
And it should always be a pleasant process. Then comes the truly hard part of the whole thing - waiting for the box to show up. Glorious anticipation. And my biggest beef - never having enough $ to really get what I want. Too many other hobbies, family responsibilities and the ever present wife who shamed me once, big time, ‘you paid how much for that?!’ when sussing out the CC bill. Guess I really need that separate source of revenue to truly enjoy this hobby.
- see the conundrum, one or the other, not both. And by the time I can afford the other category, the first one that I bought will have been surpassed again by the latest and greatest. And almost back to square one. Please dear god, make it stop!
In the beginning, lots of time.
Now, I know most of the lights im interested in.
Once/if you start modding lights, you use less time reading up on lights, and more time browsing after hosts you like and parts to put in them… 
When I say browsing after hosts, I also mean complete lights that need most of the parts swapped out.
The good thing about this is that I like my modified budget lights way better than most premium lights. Hence, premium lights are not much attractive. The bad thing is, I have used the same amount of money on flashlight parts that I have used on flashlights, if not more… 0:)
I like browsing for parts though, dreaming and thinking about what can be put together. I would rather not count the hours of “research” I have used, buts its been fun!
But when I do, my Google-Fu gets an extreme workout.
you sound like that most interesting guy in the world meme 
i used to be quite impulsive about 6-9 months ago - then my wife went back to school last fall… so i usually spend anywhere from 1-6 weeks with a light on the “wish list” researching it and deciding if i want it since my wallet is a little less full
well… i should say a little more empty… since it was never really “full”
I’m with r86, very little time researching lights, literally days and days thinking about hosts, emitters, drivers etc.
I now try to see a task for a light and go from there.
As an example, my two sons love daddies lights, lukes favourite is my d4 blf a8 driver build.
I want to build them both a light of their own to play with. Being that one son is two and one son just turned one, li ion is not really a good idea, cheap nimh is the way forward.
Upon learning the tlf mini 02 drivers would run on nimh, I ordered a couple with the mini 02 and they do infact give all three modes with a run down 1.1v aaa alkaleak.
Next is emitter, I’m having a bit of a love affair with nw xp-g2’s and many aa hosts are xp-g specific so that seems like the logical direction.
then its the host, anodized aluminium doesn’t seem to cope well with small destructive boys (they are my ultimate test of light durability, take boys and light upstairs, run a bath, give light to boys and let them play) there are though some nice stainless aa hosts on cnqg, their about $14 so not cheap but still under £10 so it looks like my boys will be getting stainless 3 mode xp-g2 nw lights as their first torches.
I’ve got days of pleasure out of researching all this and they’ll both be chuffed to bits with their own edc’s just like daddy’s.
Mrs gords has drawn the line at a lanyard that clips to a belt loop sadly. 
Normally tons, I don’t like to buy the wrong tool, and I don’t want to collect them, it may take 2 or 3 years to replace my key chain light.
When I first joined in begging of year , the misses and I check how much time we eat up on satellite provider and I spent over a week on 1st C8 and you guys never steered me wrong, by comparison I have a buddy that went to ebay read reviews looked for highest lumen output and he ordered within a couple of days and he still curses that light battery charger combo!
Way too much time, which is what I do with almost anything I buy. Just trying to prevent buyer’s remorse.
Me too. Think of it like there is always part of me saying, “You don’t need this, why do you think you need it?”
Same with me too. My fiance always jokes about the time I spend researching but when we need things she puts it in my hands and trusts what we end up getting because she knows I research the hell out of it before spending our money.
I seem to always want a certain light for a long time, and when I get enough money for it I start thinking of all the other lights/batteries/parts I could get for the same money then research everything so much I confuse myself.
I seem to always want a certain light for a long time, and when I get enough money for it I panick and start thinking of all the other lights/batteries/parts I could get for the same money then research everything so much I confuse myself.
what he said.
i do look up a lot of lights, and there are a certain few that i really want that i have looked at many times (sl3 and v11r for example). but when the time comes, i usually end up with something else.
i find most of my light purchases are spur of the moment deals. now components, i usually do the research and buy what i originally wanted. i guess as others have mentioned, a flashlight is just a flashlight… its whats inside that counts
^this
Months.
I read a lot about the VanIsle Quad, and after that, all of Vinhnguyen54’s 8 sales thread.
The only item I was able to resist was a $650 carbon tripod. I spent more hours reading about that thing than I shot photos this year.
I’ll try and hang out for a review or two. Sometimes other members feedback on a great light tips it. Otherwise I’m cautious to drop money on an unknown light. Usually looking for something more cutting edge these days anyway- peak performance etc. I’d say for these type of light 3-6 weeks checking before pulling the trigger. Unless it’s really cheap.
It varies. Sometimes I see a light that really grabs my attention plus the price is right and I’ll jump on it right away.
Mostly though, I will review the specs/price/UI/form factor and most importantly I rely on positive reviews here on BLF
Maybe spend about a week or two before making a decision. I have learned (the hard way) to exercise a little patience before hitting that “pay” button 