While I was at the other place, one of their members either mentioned BLF in a post or had it in their sig. So I checked out BLF which was back in March of 2010 and never looked back. 
In a word, Grunta.
I'm here because of the infamous down-time at CPF. (12-10?) I had been a member there for a few months, scared to say anything, basically just absorbing all I could. Then, it was gone and not just for a few days. Looking for another place to get more information, I landed here and was surprised by how quickly the realization snuck up on me . . . whatever it was you were looking for, you found it.
Then I saw Don's beam shots in the woods. Until then, I didn't own anything with an XM-L in it. Wasn't long after that . . . Don's assistant passed and people were chipping in small amounts to Don as a courtesy and if I've learned one thing in my 53 years (this Sunday, actually) making a token gesture like that, even if it's small, invests you emotionally. So, I sent my paltry sum along with everybody else. That is when BLF became mine.
Flashlights are merely the conduit. Suddenly, growing old doesn't look so bad after all. What a well timed, pleasant surprise that was.
itaintjustaforumFoy
CPF is what made me find this place
I was looking for reviews on Solarforce L2 and it brought me to this site. Since then whenever I want to buy a new light I go here first to search for info.
Before Blf I had picked up a c-78? flood to throw and was pretty impressed with it for about a year or so .A friend had mentioned cpf a few years back and I knew it existed and started reading the forums picking up bits of info ..I had heard enough good reports about tank lights to be sold on the idea and I liked the look of their lights .
Almost too long ago to remember how or when I stumbled unto BLF I think it was about Oct 2010 I started reading threads ..
I was looking for deals and had just missed the trustfire 801ebay deal for 7$ by a day , I enjoyed reading about all the enthusiasm people had in this thread . https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/688 I had bought lots of lights from multiple dealers including a couple hundred bucks worth of lights from Dino Direct and nothing had shown up yet .I remember having an 18650 light for weeks before even ordering a battery and charger from DX .(afraid to buy the wrong thing)
I must admit that even the bad advice here on BLF was good advice .
Buy it and give us a report was some of the best advice ever ..(someone had to take one for the team )
too many lights never killed anyone
Two main things, I was looking for decent but cheaper 18650 cells and wanted a cheaper i.e. ~$100, not $250+ 3x XM-L light. I had seen mentions of this site on CPF and when no one on there really wanted to talk much about either of those things I figured I would come here and see what people had to say and everyone here had a lot more to say than at CPF.
Have always like flashlights and I was searching for a Sipik review and stumbled across Don's Hugsby P31 review which he borrowed from Vectrex. Saw the great camaraderie and wealth of knowledge so I jumped in.
Yay for BLF! :party:
^ I don't care who ya are, those Grunta pics are scary, although trooplewis is probably enjoying them in a weird sort of way... 
I've been a member of various Mustang and cycling forums for years. About 4-1/2 years ago my group started trying some evening rides in the Fall as the days got shorter. 2-3 friends had old Nite Rider and other HID systems and I had a crappy 3AAA flashlight from I don't know where. My brother is a cycling commuter and he recommended a Fenix L2D, so I bought one and used it for a whole season, then started seeking brighter. Finally settled on a dedicated bar light from researching over at mtbr forums (They really are the bike light experts over there). My first budget bright flashlight was a combo pack of P7 C8, 2 18650 cells and a cheap charger. Once I broke the li-Ion battery barrier, it was all over. Someone in mtbrforums mentioned CPF. I tried to join and must say it was the most convoluted and frustrating forum experience in my long history on the inter-webs, particularly for the first few posts. I stumbled on BLF in a Google search and joined right away.
I am usually on and off forums. During the outdoor cycling season I don't do much night riding when we have daylight. Now I have so many flashlights I look for excuses to use them and we extend our rides into dusk. I also loan out 3-4 to others in the group. In the past year, BLF has really grown on me - I love the comraderie and personalities and the wild irreverent humor and members from all over the world. The fact that it's self moderated and very civil and friendly is just amazing and I'm proud to be a part of that. Oh, and I've learned a lot from you guys. BLF Rocks.
Cool. A witness to the birth of BLF. That little bit of BLF history was fascinating to me. There is always a story of how something came to be. So, the founding fathers were rebel CPFers. I presume that SB was member 1, you're 8, Don's 7; who else is in the original ten? Are they still here? I, very intrigued now. Would someone please tell us the rest of the BLF genesis story.
Cone, here's the very first BLF post: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/73
Enjoy.
that stupid red banner.
i still can't access all the damn marketplace sections because i never remember to post "yes, I would like to buy this" or "hey that looks cool" because it would get deleted. ergo, I too am also here because of
+1
I started out with doing my own mods, entirely from scratch, and stumbled into DX. From there, I picked up a couple of budget flashlights and a few parts for my mods, and started watching the flashlight forum on the DX site. I would occassionally try to hit CPF (never joined!) but was never satisfied due to their lack of budget-friendly material. During the big CPF outage where they lost all their content, I started looking elsewhere, and stumbled on BLF. I realized it was more within my budget limits, so I joined and have been hanging out here ever since.
Although, now, even BLF is less budget friendly than before... I mean, come on! The Dry? What is that thing, like $70? And forget about that "Golden King"! We need more sub-$3 light reviews... :p
One day I googled ”He-Man Women Haters Club & Flashlight Emporium” and been here ever since.
It was using flashlights as bike headlights that got me into "high-powered" LED lights and I might have stumbled upon BLF through some Google searching back then. Where I definitely ran into BLF and joined was when I started looking into higher powered lights for my co-workers working underground. I ran into some lights that seemed so powerful for so little money that I had to give them a try myself and I got hooked! (It was that darned KD C8 that did it! How could I pass it up when there was a review thread with 500+ posts and it was on sale at the time for $16.99. There was even a post by someone over at "that other forum" that posted that the KD C8 was his favorite go to light.)
I admit I had registered and posted a few times over at "that other place" but I wasn't impressed with responses to my questions and I felt scared that I'd post something unacceptable and get banned! I came over here, "felt the love", and never turned back.
-Garry
You can look up members by number.
1 sb56637
2 doesn't exist
3 administrator
4 cccpull
5 doesn't exist
6 VegasF6 (???)
7 Don
8 brted
9 boomhauer
10 alfreddajero
That's really funny. Sounds like lousy advice, but I can see how it would work out. Like if you ask someone how something works and they just say "Figure it out yourself."
IIRC it was on the DX forums where someone referenced BLF. Once I found my way here I never looked back.
EDIT: I just realized that 8 days ago it was my 1 year anniversary with BLF. I wish I had realized it on that day!