New flashlight users: What threads should they read?

Just wondering what threads on BLF new people 'should' read?

All stickies?

Most people who have been on the forum for years don't remember how they learned the things they know. But everybody would agree that they learned something they could have known ealier, only if they would have read the information. How to educate new people to learn the most important basics in the shortest time as possible?

Here is a list of recommended flashlight threads for Newbies:

  1. How to choose a flashlight. The main things in simple words. https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/57956
  2. Lithium-Ion battery safety 101 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/38554
  3. How far can LiIon batteries be discharged: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/39080
  4. LEDs and other stuff: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/23020
  5. The Fake-Cree LED Awareness Thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/34914
  6. Flashlight User Interface Cheatsheets : https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/45874
  7. Got a Lux Meter? Now what: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/18797
  8. Introducing the ceiling bounce App for runtime graphs: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/45138

Forum:

  1. How to Post Images on BLF : https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/47268

Other websites:

  1. Flashlight Wikipedia: https://flashlightwiki.com/Main_Page
  2. Comprehensive grease and lube thread: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?126645-Comprehensive-Grease-and-Lube-Thread
  3. Parametrik Flashlight library: http://flashlights.parametrek.com/index.html
  4. Battery chargers roundup: https://lygte-info.dk/info/roundCellChargerIndex%20UK.html
  5. Battery comparisons: https://lygte-info.dk/info/batteryIndex.html

Any other threads that are important for new people to read?

Any recommendations?

Lithium-Ion battery safety 101

How to Post Images on BLF

https://flashlightwiki.com/Main_Page

(It's not a BLF thread, but it has a lot of useful info.)

If we’re talking about non-blf sites, the following are also worth mentioning:
Parametrek Flashlight Search
HKJ’s List and comparison of chargers
HKJ’s List and comparison of li ion batteries

Most of the useful non-blfsites are of course on the left, but I think new users don’t notice them because they are at the bottom of the page.

This is not a suggestion but questions, about some things that I find pertinent to get information on when getting into this hobby!
Threads or information about:

- how to measure current draw (multimeter, clampmeter, …)

- how to measure parasitic drain (multimeter, clampmeter, …)

- how to measure lumens

- how to measure candela

  • differences between/properties of the main materials of flashlights: aluminium, brass, copper, titanium, stainless stell

About internal threads:
LEDs & Other Stuff - (Reference Guide), by CRX
Flashlight User Interface Cheatsheets, by CRX

One of the first sticky's I read when I became interested in budget lights & joined BLF was the Fake Cree LED thread. I found it helpful in many ways.

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/34914

slmjim

I found that usually the best people to ask about learning something new is asking new learners. (Not very new, but maybe 1-2 years experience).

They still remember the struggles of being a newbie.

Same is probably true for many other occasions, think about learning a second language, playing an instrument. etc

Thanks for the tips guys, maybe this kind of thread could be a great source for newbies to start with.

I’ve been around for almost 4 years, and I am still new to many things, so some of the questions of newcomers may still be questions of “oldies” :smiley:
Thanks for the innitiave :wink:

Most of what I was going to mention has already been said (li-ion safety, CRX’s LED reference, UI cheat sheets).

If a user is interested in taking measurements, maybe a “lux meter how-to”. Something like these:

Got my lux meter… now what?
Introducing Ceilingbounce - flashlight testing and runtime graphs for Android

Speaking of threads: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?126645-Comprehensive-Grease-and-Lube-Thread

An up-to-date flashlight recommendation guide for several price ranges; that is easy to understand and navigate with ranges such as $0-15, $15-30, $30-50 and so on… I have seen way too many people buying the astrolux A6 and S4x series as their first lights because that’s what bangood always tries to push but IMO those are not the best pick for the money.

A thread like Narmattaru’s guide but with flashlights recommendations, with short description of each product, its pros and cons. The amount of entries for each price range are limited so it would be constantly updated with the newest and most worthy stuff, and the recommendations would be community submitted and open to discussion.