Hi Dim, i’m really enjoy reading all the comments. i use my flashlight mainly for biking my dog but rarely turn it on. cuz the streets here in Orange County always bright. other than that i take it whenever fishing late at night. rarely turn it on as well because im usually fish where i shouldn’t fish lol. i’m just amazed at how i just recently got this addiction of buying flashlight but don’t know what to do with them, yet. i’m still happy though, release so much stress when i buy something new lol
I just love the dark, so I can take my lights, who all have names and their own character!!, for a walk.
People think I have escaped from a loony bin(which I did last april), there is a walkway near me that goes through the center of what used to be an old airfield, 2 bench seats are there, unlit and 2 miles from anywhere it’s a no go area at night, but not for me, I lay on the bench and watch the sky, having seen 2 UFO’s in my time, 1 at night 1 in broad daylight, with 2 other people 1 a 28 year ex army special forces guy, the other a serving raf dude, we all saw the same thing, huge hovering and lightly golden in colour hovering in a army training area, neither will admit to anyone else what they saw though!!
It is for this reason I watch the sky near me, and there are strange things happening around 10% of the time, recently I annoyed some farmers though(who own the old airfield, now a pig unit)lighting up the runway etc they were searching for vandals, pikeys etc, even moved their pulveriser and jcb away due to the suspicious activity, they were going mental looking for a car!!
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thats some handsome looking pooches there, be sure to hunt down the furry friends thread and update it.
Thank you, Gords. I hadn’t even noticed that thread.
Hmm… what do I use a light for, or have I used one for? (just a few recent examples off the top of my head)
- Reading. (floody light recommended)
- As a replacement for overhead lights; very handy when worn around the head or as a necklace.
- Determining what color something really is, regardless of any environmental lighting factors (Nichia 219 is great for this).
- Up-close work, such as painting fingernails, treating wounds, cutting out small parts, fixing delicate items, etc. Headlamp + binocular loupes work well.
- A “night light” in the bedroom.
- Late-night trips to the bathroom, without hurting my eyes (ow, bright light!) or waking anyone up.
- Flagging people down while trying to meet up (it’s hard to miss a bright beam of light in the air, especially while it’s snowing).
- Better lighting for video chat / recording.
- Navigating my crawlspace without walking through spiderwebs, and peering into the boxes there.
- Mood lighting.
- Pointing at things in the distance (SK-68 is great here, or a C8).
- Sneaking around at night, purely for fun.
- Testing out different ideas for interior lighting.
- Impressing people (SRK or C8 or ZL SC52 is great here, or comparing a 1xAAA keychain light to an old 4-D cell incan Maglite).
- Finding keyholes (and the correct key) at night.
- Selecting the most effective “blackout” curtains (simulate the sun with a SRK!).
- Better lighting for photographs.
- Inspecting potential apartments for damage before moving in.
- Seeing better anywhere without good lighting, like behind the entertainment center or under the sink.
- Walking at night.
- Biking at night.
- Taking out the trash at night.
- Finding something I accidentally dropped into an air vent or trash can or sink drain or other inconvenient places.
- Projecting logos relevant to whatever event I’m at (SK-68 + transparency + loupe).
- Finding stains and other things with a UV torch.
- Finding small things I dropped on a flat floor (shine the light parallel to the floor, and anything sticking up will become quite visible).
- Tricking bugs into going outside (turn off all lights, lead the bug out the door with a flashlight).
- Looking through semi-translucent objects, like… my hand. Or, ahem unopened wrapping paper. But I’d never spoil a surprise… really.
- Perfectly aligning the big precision paper cutters at Kinko’s (put a light under it, and the cutting edge shines brightly).
- Reading house addresses from the street.
- Finding the cat (or other animals) at night (hold light between your eyes, and it will cause eyes of other creatures to light up).
- Detecting imperfections in mostly-flat objects.
- Making my drink glow.
- Projecting pretty patterns onto the wall from inside the bathtub.
- Seeing dust and dirt better while cleaning a screen or mirror or window or table.
- Checking junk mail for non-recyclable bits before tossing it (unopened) into the recycle bin.
- Checking how full a liquid container is without opening it.
- Signalling to cars when I’m on my bike, so they won’t run into me.
- etc, etc, etc…
So, um, yeah. I probably use a flashlight at least half a dozen times per day, day and night, indoors and out, to the point where it’s a running joke among friends (many of whom have “seen the light”, so to speak, and now carry a light with them after seeing how useful they are).
A) You need a piss light: Nichia 219 Motion Sensitive Piss Light
B) You need one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/Search?storeId=10051&langId=–1&catalogId=10053&keyword=keylight&Ns=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All
C) Was just at Kinkos cutting apart solder stencils with their “precision” paper cutter. Rather difficult. The stencil material is 3.5 mil Kapton, same thickness as paper. The cutter just glided over the material and didn’t cut it. I had to stick it between two sheets of paper to get it to cut. Also, cutting the last pairs messed up. The stencils are 1” wide and those cutters only go down to 2”
I strapped my P7 flashlight/torch to my
helmet and went for a ride on my bike 
A good thrower is great when you have livestock or a farm! I can check things out from the back porch. Plus when you live in the sticks power outages aren’t that rare. Helps to have a good light when starting the generator at 2am… :bigsmile:
I put decent light in the trucks, at the back door etc. Lights are used daily here, we free range chickens so, they have to be secured every night and that usually takes us past dark thirty…
White wall hunting. Watch the ceiling fan. On foggy nights I shine them over the trees across town. Shine s o s o s o at flying by airplanes. Shut my headlights off at night and navigate with my lights. Test to make sure my light meter and multimeter are working. Make sure I have a package en route from China.... It's a fun hobby :P
Sorry for the OT, just curious, how common are the power outages? How long do they last?
Where I live (North East NJ, about 20 minutes from New York city) power outages are fairly rare. For me personally, only two lasted for more than a few hours, one during a freak fall blizzard, and power was out for three days, and another time was years back in 2003, when the whole east coast went down. That lasted for maybe a bit over 24 hours.
Aside from those two power outages, there are occasional blips with power going out and right back on, and maybe one that lasts a few hours every two years.
A significant reason I've become interested was due to the 4 day blackout I had to deal with in 2011, and then when a whole lot of people around me lost power for days, and weeks after hurricane sandy.
I suppose by now I've long since surpassed the goal of having plenty of light for up to a week. I define plenty of light, as enough to comfortably read a book from ceiling bouncing.
The question is really to anyone that lives in rural areas... how common are blackouts for you guys?
Depends on the weather. In the winter an ice storm will kill the power for a couple days to two weeks. Been getting tornado’s more often lately, seems like at least one per year now. We had 120 mph plus winds and took heavy damage, a large tornado and it’s sisters took out many houses and blocked all our roads. Many died, I was the only one in my family with major damage though. Took me hours to get home, had to cut my way in. Two years ago we had another direct hit, lost power for a week and one end of the house. Had to replace the roof twice so far, back covered porch was lifted up by wind and had to be rebuilt. A few years back we had a tree fall into the living room. The barn has lost it’s roof more than once, severe weather sucks! Only had one truck damaged by a falling tree, thankfully the tractors and work shop made it through OK.
We loose power about once per month on average, but after the recent tornado’s the trees are fairly cleaned out now. So, the outages are shorter usually. I’m still cleaning up from the EF5 we had three years ago. Still have blown down trees and such to clear out. Insurance doesn’t cover tree damage unless they are laying on a structure ie; house, barn, shed etc. The last couple big storms were minor in comparison to that monster tornado.
We went many years with no major damage though, in the last 10 years we have been hit hard three times with heavy damage. This year we have lost power a few times, I think the longest was maybe a day and part of one night. So far, I’ve had enough batteries! In the winter when we loose power I burn kero lanterns and heat with wood. In the summer we light things up with Coleman Max compact lanterns and flash lights. We loose power enough to need a generator so we don’t loose the food in our freezers and fridges. Last month I lost power for about 4 hours. Its been fairly tame this year, just to much rain.
… which says, second sentence: “Womankind will just have to sit this one out…”
Translation: texaspyro is having a party and I’m not invited. 
… but I have a 1xAAA keychain light already, and I don’t like watch-battery lights. I had an old Photon light, but I like my iTP A3 EOS much much better.
Wow... I feel kind of somewhat embarrassed because by comparison I'm quite spoiled, and usually end up complaining if my internet is down for more than 5 minutes. I can't imagine losing power like that on a regular basis.
The only time I had trouble getting home was 2011 because of fallen trees... but there was one approach I was still able to use, and only had to get out a couple of times to push aside large branches. Never had a failure in terms of gas or water, during the past ~15 years. Basically since I've moved to the US.
Actually two personal goals I'd like to take care of before the fall, so sometime within then next couple of months, are to put together some non perishable food & water to last a little while, and a basic bug out back... something to toss in the car in case I need to leave quickly.
I hope you have a safe and very mild year.
That light is built into a house key. They sell the uncut lights and duplicate your key pattern onto it. No need to carry a keychain light…
I never lost television or internet through the storms since I use satellite and a quite Honda that’s safe to use with computers and sensitive electronics. During the bad one my hughes.net dish actually held up great even though the metal roof lifted. My dishtv didn’t move either, its a pole mount in concrete. I’m surprised the dish didn’t fold up, must have been the wind direction.
I find the most used light during a major power outage is a head lamp and then a small EDC AA torch. I use my SRK everyday to light up the chicken coop on low. Pretty good battery life with the 4 18650’s. I use my LD20 almost daily also, its my most used torch. Being out in the sticks there is no street lights, just moon light here.
I find a good flooder is great for working on cars/trucks/tractors etc. Drop lights get in the way, a good cheap flooder that can tail stand works well for me. We have lots of trees here, heavily wooded areas of mostly pine. Last month some dead pines over 100’ tall took out the main feeders along highway 278. The power company has done a good job though, there is just so much they can do. My power easement was cleared out recently and the brush is already 6’ tall due the the constant rain.
I definitely agree about using a headlamp during power outages. But then, I like headlights the rest of the time too. If I could only keep one light, it’d be my ZL H51.
i just found a good use for my Aleto zoomie, it’s hand shadows, been having so much fun doing it with my gf lol
I was outside, at night, with my BLF A6 on turbo. I pointed it straight up into the sky. I was amazed at the amount of particulate matter floating in the air (on a seemingly clear night). It seems that the air is not just air, it is “soup”. And the harder the wind is blowing, the faster the particles move across the beam. Caution: don’t look into the emitter (goes without saying, but hey).
I just had to bump this thread to scare all those with allergy phobias (just kidding). And I do apologize if someone has already mentioned this.