What was the flashlight you consider to be the one that started your addiction?
For me it was the Fenix E21…and then the flood gates opened.
It started with bike lights. L2D mounted to the helmet with 2x L2D on the bars powered with Eneloops it was the “cat’s meouw” at the time. Moved up to s-mini on the helmet and P-Rocket on the bars. Now the s-mini is still on the helmet but a XinTD and a Solarforce L2M reside on the bars.
Then there’s the edc light . . .
besides always having an assortment of mags and impulse hardware lights… my first light that got me on the search was my iNova x03. kind of a shame i ended up selling it :~
i was looking for a simple AA light and bought it from dealextreme
when it came, i was surprised by the brightness as it was much brighter than those cheap flashlights i could get from neighborhood shops.
and then it started.
I bought a C8 with charger and battery for $15. Of course I didn’t know what a C8 was, but it was brighter than any flashlight I’d ever seen. Now it is the fun of modding that has me craving for more hosts.
I got into these lights back when costco first sold the Techlite lumen masters, the 2 pack. i still have them. They are the original ones with about 160lm? or so, cree xpe, with the “smart” switch that had a red LED telling you low charge. Of course, they had horrible tint, and very bad parasitic drain. But of course the brightness was amazing since i have never had anything better than a 9-14led showerhead at the time.
my interest fell for a while till one day i just for some reason wanted a very bright light, and looked at amazon, and saw the tk35. I started researching, relying on the “other” site, and settled with the bc40, which is much cheaper and has a simple, no BS UI, simple clicky switch design, bight 800lm torch. rest is history
The tipping point for me was the Fenix HP10. I loved the output, battery type, battery life and the beam pattern, but hated the bulk and weight, and wasn't crazy about how overly bright the lowest mode is. I've been searching for the ideal replacement ever since.
for me it was Ultrafire WF 502b perfect sized, nice solid feel to it and it was bright for it’s price 
then from then on… wanting a brighter and brighter light until i found Fenix TK75 … suddenly the urges to buy another flashlight is kinda slowing down 
Solarforce L2P. I still carry one daily. I’ve yet to find a more perfect EDC.
PPtk
Ultrafire WF 502b - I didn’t get it per say but I had friend who got one and I used it for a while, blew my 1xaa light out of the water and prompted myself to grab a XinTD.
Since then who knows, I’ll probably start working on some solarforces before too long (One w/H=S and another w/LMH drop-in) since I’ve got a few good uses of them (Basic medium lights w/forward clicky’s).
Salvaged a bunch of 18650 sanyo and panny’s that I use + 2x2600 sanyo’s I grabbed and 2xTF flames. I had a accucel 6 so I just rigged up a holder for that. I’m planning on getting a few bike based platforms rigged to run off of larger lipo’s so I don’t have to mange cells, those lions do like to take their time charging.
Someone turned me onto DX around 2008 and I purchased a SSC P7 C8. It’s still one of my favorite lights, it’s an excellent flooder.
Mine definitely was the Inova X1 aa flashlight. In particular it was the Tiros version. I miss it and it’s perfect circle of light, lost it some time ago and by then I felt it was no longer worth purchasing because they switched over to a conventional reflector.
My first high performance light though was a Trustfire TR-801. I got that light years ago and still have it and use it as my general purpose EDC. All I did was change it to a nanjg 1 amp 3 mode driver. It just about lasts forever on a 5% low mode with my salvaged Samsung 2600 mah laptop cells.
Originally it was searching the internet looking for a way to modify my Streamlight stinger. When that failed I bought a generic c2 with q4 emitter. It was all over after that. LOL
Olight M20, bought to mount on an AR15 rifle.
L2M i tripped across foy’s review somehow from watching flashlights on youtube then i bought it cause he took such nice pictures of the thing i cant resist have since bought 4 but now i am over the P60 setups
Tank007 M10. Still have it, just bought a new one for modding, actually.
I started out on lasers, then using flashlight drivers for 445nms (cheaper) and then looking at flashlights. I think I bought a Q5, P60, 501, was brighter than 2 cells tungstens. Then the a P7, SST-50, then T6s. Always wanted a SST-90, Qbin, but my 3T6 was way cheaper. Now, I have a ton of lights, and gave all my family T6s and U3s for Xmas.
It was a mixture of lights and information I gathered here on BLF as a lurker.
It was the first time I heard of shiningbeam.com and there ongoing sale to that time, that results in purchasing my EDC light an ITP A4 Eos.
The same time I’ve read of Solarforce and purchased myself a wonderful L2r to use with Eneloops.
Both lights were brighter than everything I used to own before, that started the addiction I guess.
One year later I came back as an registered member, the L2r got a new home in Virginia right now but I still got my ITP.
I was flashlight-addicted since I was a child… but it was the first flashlight that I bought at DX the one that made me crazy (TrustFire F23). Since then, my addiction has…………………. :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: more and more and more. But at least I have something that stops me from buying flashlights: the money. I dont have much. That stops me buying… and most of the ones I have are cheapo xxxFire. The most expensive is the JetBeam BA20 (aboout 40$)…. if I am not wrong…
However I only buy flashlights that I am going to use. Not… to buy only to have that one, and the other one, and that one in all the available colors, etc…
I have always bought flashlights, I have many, I can't really point out one that started me off. It went pathetic when I discovered the cheap dx-lights. The search has always been for pockatable and high output with a bright hotspot, but nowadays tint, CRI, well separated output modes and compatibility with standard batteries (AA, AAA) is added to the search.
If I must mention one than it will be the Uniquefire S10, it was the standard against which all following lights were tested (and many failed). It is the only cheapie I never modded 
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