You’ve asked a question, here’s my answer:
My very first torch was one of those box lights made from stamped tin which would take two D-cells, and had integrated colour filters which could be slid up and down. It died a slow and agonizing death at the hands of a four-years old; I found the rusted remains in the sandbox when I was a few years older.
Then of course, M@gLites were quite the fashion in the 80’s. I could beg as much as I wanted, yet my parents wouldn’t buy me one. Instead, my father bought me a genuine Fulton anglehead, the fabled MX-991. I loved that one dearly; but I left the alkaleaks in it for too long, and my mother persuaded me to throw the “corroded, broken rubbish” away.
After that, I tried my luck with a few cheaply made Chinese mini-maglite-ripoffs (back then “made in China” was a synonym for “Now why did I waste my allowance for that, again? I know its sloppy build quality will annoy me, first, and then it will die on me anyways!”)
Don’t know when I finally got my first proper M@glite, I believe it was a Mini sometime around the early 90’s. I’ve burnt up so many of those dear incan bulbs! Finally, I was playing with the thought of cutting it up and turning it into a handle for a M9-bajonet inspired knife. I never got around to that, as it got lost somewhere.
Enter the bigger ones! 3 C-cell Mag for Christmas, sometime in the mid-90’s. Of course, followed by a quite stern dressing-down by me parents after the first night, for shining it into other people’s windows. I really loved that one! It was stolen from my (unlocked) car around 2000 or so, don’ recall the exact date anymore, along with all my tools and spare tyre.
To compensate for the loss, I bought a 4D M@glite, and another one for my best friend. Those did cost £ 50, back then, whilst making £ 8.80 per hour, only, working for the local state construction office. Eventually, watching cop shows on the telly late at night made me aware of those fancy new tiny torches police investigators shone everywhere, with a bright beam. $urefire lights! Learning about the price of $urefire torches were a jaw-dropping experience, to me. In Krautland, they were pretty much non-existant by that time; and when I went to Manhattan, NY in 1999 with me brother, only one store did carry them - selling to LEOs, only. That’s put quite a spanner in the works!
Around that time, the first LED-lensers came out. “Photon-pumps”, they were being advertised as - quite silly. And so bloody dear! I was EDC’ing a sleek, black UK (which stands for Underwater Kinetics, not United Kingdom) penlight by that time which I have had since 1998 (a good friend lost it, a few years later). However, I was being busy with Uni, but slowly, my collection started to grow. Another Mini-M@glite, and another 3D, and yet another 3D (they were becoming CHEAP all of a sudden!). And then the ubiquitous multi-emitter “shower head” torches became available, all of a sudden, at rather low cost. I gave one of those away to an American traveller, the other one ended up in the garage of the ’Nam vet who does help me with the ’67 Mercury (oh, that reminds me, I haven’t driven the darn thing for almost two years!)
By 2010 I got aware of some serious torch modding being posted on the internet, decided to buy the $urefire 6P I’ve always wanted, and learned about SolarForce L2 (which I ordered a couple of days after I got the 6P). An XR-E R2 dropin completed my very first Cree light!
From that year on, it had been an avalanche!
L2, L2P (at least three), L2R, T4, EZAA, more $urefires (mostly used, all private offers, cheap), LD20, LD10, SRK, Convoy S2, stainless Maratac, stainless DQG in both AA and AAA (lots more for family and friends), L2M, SK68 (lots!), SK98, 4sevens Quark X AA² and quark tactical QTA (too expensive, but - wow!), Solarforce M3 with picatinny mount and remote switch (no idea what for, I don’t even own an air rifle, I just had to have it)
