I'll celebrate my 32nd birthday this year, and I have come to the conclusion that being non-offensive is just no fun anymore.
To add, I think the key thing to keep in mind is to set the person’s expectations somewhat low. Subtlety has elicitted some great reactions from buddies of mine:
1.) Get them comfortable with the performance of a typical 2/3-cell Xenon Mag that is well focused.
2.) Allow them to unwittingly open up the dump valves by handing them a wicked bright light that will turn on in High when they press the switch.
3.) Act like nothing is wrong with the torch in your hand.
+5; offensively bright flashlights only serve to enhance this mantra.
Must be it 
They’ll be seeing spots for short time after. 
American Flag bikinis and cowboy hats FTW :bigsmile:
You gotta admit, Dale looks damn fine in a bikini! :party:
DITTO…… Because I don’t understand and need large, color pics
I can’t wait for power outages.
I turn on flashlights shining at all the window blinds (from the inside at night) on the front of my house and all the neighbors wonder why I am the only one with electricity.
thats a good one haha
I agree, that is a brilliant idea, and I will be doing that during the next black out.
The darker it is, the more impressed people are, outdoors at night with street lighting most people don’t recognize they are holding a 1000 lumen monster, in a forest at night and no moon with the same light its like you handed them pure gold
Also outdoors is more impressive then indoors
Dale. Maybe there are some people out there that think that CowGirls can’t be patriotic. Lol.
Back to showing off flashlights. We have been staying at a motel for the last three months while conducting business. We have a little dog here. We are on the first floor and the window faces a parking lot that is surounded by trees at different distances. The area right outside my window is an area where the dog can take care of business. To make things easy on this long stay, we removed the screen in the window so we can just open it and let the dog out at night without having to take her down the hall and around the back every time. I open the window and play with the lights while waiting for the dog to finish. The other day, a man in a room upstairs asked my wife where in the hell I got flashlights that bright. I think I made a new friend and future flashaholic.
I like handing them the light and letting them blind themselves with it. Then they wanna know more about the light, instead of being mad at me for flashing them with hi.
That’s only for friends I trust enough to hand my better lights to though, wouldn’t just hand off the best lights to some of the people I know…unfortunately.
And it’s simply un-American to have issues with a pretty girl in an American flag bikini! I know this is an international forum, but really? I say show n tell anyway, the old saying “When in Rome” and all that.
My brother in law picked up my flashlight in my car so we could look around the back yard. He turned it on and was liking it. Then i told him that was low mode and showed him high. Surprise daylight 
. I keep all my lights default on low.
To me a light is most impressive when it is lightly snowing and there is plenty of snow already on the ground. The light snow falling (not too heavy) shows off the beam, and the white snow on the ground shows off the spill.
Another VERY impressive demo is to stand on an unlit street with trees on either side (for a tunnel effect) and a curve about 300 meters up the road. Wait for a car to pass with it’s headlights on. After it disappears around the bend, turn your light on. Even a well drivin XM-L C8 will then appear MUCH brighter than the car headlights that just passed (even though it isn’t)
A walk in the woods will do. Even a 100lm 5 bucks zoomie will be impressive when cutting through the treelines by light fog. 
Power outages are no option here. Last time I checked my UPS recorded <30 seconds off-time for 2 years or so.
Here in the citiy flashlights are less fun than in the country anyway. Darn bright streetlights.
Go outside and find a distant object in the dim dark night. Turn on your light to illuminate a few things nearby with ease, then focus your light on that distant object. Seeing it lit up at such a long distance is sure to impress. To me, that speaks volumes over the “wall of light”.
cool, i learned some new idea’s.
it actually is more impressive outdoors than indoors now that ive tried some new things.
so most say start on high mode except one person.
It’s a matter of taste I guess, but I would start with high mode too. The Eyes will eventually adjust to the brightness, belittling the awesomeness of the light.
So the most impressive effect might be full output after adjustment to low enviromental light.
It’s also good to have a “standard” light to compare it to. Like, if they have an old incan Mag or something let them show you where they want lit up with theirs, then overlay their puny pathetic beam with a shot of Hi from yours! Very impressive, direct comparison.
I have a 3D Mag drop-in coming tomorrow that is reported to light up an entire football field and some of the stands on either side from the track behind one goal post. 2000 lumens. That should be good for a few choice curse words of amazement!
I think I impressed a friend when I did a comparison… I saw a big 2-D cell incandescent light sitting out and asked him “Is that your flashlight?” He said it was, so I turned it on, said “just a moment, I have something for you”, got out a SK-68, then shined it at the same spot as the incan. Even on the wide setting we could barely see the tiny speck of yellow coming from the incan. Then I zoomed it in and totally wiped out the yellow spot with bright white light.
“Here,” I told him. “I think you need this. It’s yours now. Enjoy!” He gave me a big grin and immediately wandered off to try it in a dark room. By the end of the evening, I’m pretty sure his wife regretted letting him have it, since he was shining it everywhere and threatening to wake her in the morning by flashing its strobe mode at her.
… and that was just a $6 SK-68. I’m tempted to go back and show him some of my other lights. The Fenix TK75 is the same size as his old incandescent… would be fun to see his reaction to it.