I have just figured up the flashlight budget for 2012. It's not pretty! Net loss was $1,000.
Well, there's the problem and it needs a New Year's resolution.
I have decided that the flashlight hobby will now be a stand alone affair. It will have it's own budget and no money from the household income will go into it for any reason, (my wife doesn't believe me
),
Sink or Swim. Either it continues or it dies for good. With all of the costs concerned with my wife's failing health, that's the only way to keep it going and I don't feel bad to have to do it that way. If I do not sell them for what it really takes to make them, then I'm a bad money manager (well I already know that, LOL).
My resolution also consists of looking for ways to improve the odds and cut the costs down. The 1D lights, while popular, are very expensive to do. This coming year a 1D bare host will be about $40 and with a reflector, heat sink, glass lens and driver, it jumps up to about $60. Then add all the miscellaneous, such as Copper, solder, wire, etc and it's more like $65-$70. Even that does not cover doing any visual mods such as crenelations or removing ano from areas. I'm looking at basically $100 1D lights. Now that sort of kills the 1D arena for me, don't know about you, but I wouldn't buy one for that price.
What I can see, is doing the 2AA or 1AA Mini Maglites, because the costs are less. A 2AA bare host will run from $8 to $22 depending on if it's a solid color, camo or the US flag light. Components will total about $15 and overall, even with visual mods, the lights should run from about $35 to $40 or $50 for a US flag light. Those are shipped prices and they are Estimates. I am concerned that, as inflation rises, the costs will end up outweighing the benefits, but time will tell.
For now, I have started a new PayPal account and put in the money given to me as Christmas presents (my sincere and humble thanks to BLF for that), and I have placed orders for more components. I will not be buying 2AA hosts till the last of the 2012 1D stuff goes. (It's gone).
It will be interesting and probably frustrating at times, but I have resolved that if the hobby can't support itself, it can't continue to live. Much the same as I feel about me.
I will be figuring out how I want to approach the 1D lights. I feel I will only do a few as "custom orders", where the customer asks for one and the price is determined in advance. I know there's good and bad in that method and I don't really want to do it that way, but I see it as the only feasible way. Fun is fun, but money is a necessity of life.
Now that I have spit out a page of crap
, (It's really an FYI is all, an update, if you will).
What kinds of flashlight related (or non-flashlight), resolutions do you intend to make in 2013... If any at all.
