Is it my imagination or, is this Forum declining?

[abeazar]

Maybe everyone's batteries are low and need recharging. I plan on reading more and responding more in the future. I first responded regarding rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. I also agree that I am about flashlight'ed out. The innovations are far and in-between. My everyday carry is a UltraFire $6 flashlight that I bought on Ebay. The more expensive ones are at home. So if I loose my cheapo flashlight that is very dependable, or loan to someone and never get it back, no big loss.

 

[Spiller]

New member, and new to owning modern flashlights. I still remember my first non
maglite flashlight. A stocking stuffer gift. You know the lights, zoom lens, very bright,
no english instructions. Came with this funny looking battery and a charger that had retractable prongs that fell out of the socket too often. I thought it was junk, a joke really. Then I took that little sucker outside one night. Wow. Had no idea what a loo-min lol was, or a AA battery on steroids was (mAh, volts, Continuous Amps), or this tiny light. How did this thing outproduce my big ole maglite? I catfish often, nite time, always used rechargeable lights, head lamps, lanterns. I look back at my nite time gear 10 years back, 20 years back...bait and tackle have not changed much. Tactics not changed much. Vehicles have changed much, clothing, but more than those- Flashlights/ any rechargeable light, and Cell phones. Small personal hi performance Tech. I have enjoyed the fruits of CPF founders and hard core members trails and tribulations pushing the envelope on tech in this area. So I am greatful that the new norm is a better product. I am also pleased that folks like yourself have put all this info in one place to be looked at like a fine book, we need we search. So is it in decline-or just taking a breather after on heck of a long marathon?

Also maybe led hand cannon lights are reaching a summit in performance- maybe the next marathon are the lazers, or hybrid, or something old made anew. My gut says the biggest hang up on hi output lights is heat. Micro fans may help, or some other way to use the heat/ recycle some energy. Just as you original members pushed this tech from musketball to sniper grade, so may the next "new tech" also need a group to push the next envelope.

At any rate THANK YOU for what you all have done, Im forever greatful and enjoy
your efforts daily as I use my lights daily. I cant imagine having a headlamp made from maglite with a "D" battery that would probably throw 50 feet at 200 lumens and wieght 5 pounds. Its a joke, but thats how far behind we were 2 decades ago.

 

[CHNeal]

I believe this is my third account on CPF since 2012 or so. I came the first time to find out how to make my work maglite better. I got the answers and faded away.
A few years later I started seeing smaller and brighter lights on the job site and got interested again and knew just where to go. Hung out for a couple of years and 100s if not 1000s of dollars and worked my way thru the HDS, Tain, haiku, Aeons….burned out and faded again.
Came again a couple years ago just to kinda keep up with the times and now Ive come full circle and just want the best tools for my application.
I think ive seen a pretty good cross section of CPF over the years and I agree with others that the place has just matured with the tech. The youngsters ( no offense meant ) have been brought up with better lights on demand then we had to work for. No need for them to research, invent or build what they need as someone else has paid those dues.

 

[Krumbbs1976]

I've noticed a decline in frequency and content in the last two months. Posts are fewer, vapid and of mostly little useful interest.

Is anyone noticing the lackluster energy here?

There's nothing really going on as far as lights.. no game-changing Technologies. No really and truly unique designs. I even have money in my pocket for a new flashlight I just haven't seen anything that blows me away. Nothing that leaves my old lights in the dust..

 

[Krumbbs1976]

There is so little going on with flashlights that at that I decided to customize my titanium water bottle with a titanium skull!

 

[CHNeal]

There is so little going on with flashlights that at that I decided to customize my titanium water bottle with a titanium skull!

Thread drift….Love the ITS bottle holder

 

[ironhorse]

There are peaks and valleys. Right now we are in a valley. I come on every day still, but haven't had anything to say.

Not much exciting going on in the flashlight world right now.

 

[dochoorah]

I'm with NHP, I like the builds. DIY how too, with pictures.

 

[scout24]

As said above, a confluence of factors. Emitter tech has plateaued. Same with cells. You can walk out of the big orange store with lumens you couldn't have imagined back in '08 when I joined. Culture has changed with social media, it's ok to pop in and ask a question and then ghost. You don't even see "RTFM" posts on FB or Reddit anymore. You used to come here, research, join, find like minds, find other rabbit holes to go down, and suddenly it's 13 years later. As I write this, 31 members, 400 "guests" and a pile of bots on the site...

 

[Extrasensory]

I think it's a lot that lights have improved so much, I have my first 18650 light, a Darksucks Alpha Blue followed by 4 Convoy S12s which seem every bit as good for about 6% of the cost. Are they as pretty, no, are they as sturdy, I assume not, but they are seemingly as bright and they work as well and are they the lights I grab while the Alpha sits on the nightstand. I just ordered the Convoy 21700 equivalent, my first 21700 light just to see if it's an improvement. But unless you're collecting to collect, I think you're better off with a bunch of batteries, 18650 or 21700, a really high quality charger and a bunch of Convoy or equivalent lights. At the end of the day, I'd have been way better off with 6 Convoy lights, 18 18650 batteries, at least a few with built in USB charging ports and a good charger and I would have saved money and been way more prepared for any problem one needs flashlights for.

Ira

 

[Jim Bonney]

I definitely miss the MBI shenanigans. That guy was brilliant and did all kinds of wacky stuff. But, aside from a few sidetracks into Bykfixer's right angled light and old lights threads I'm mainly here for classifieds.

I'd imagine I went through a similar process as many which is I found and tried it all, now I've found what works and I don't really have anything new or useful to say about it. That being said, this is the only forum I've ever participated in that hasn't fallen apart or been totally derailed. Hope that keeps up because it's a great depository of knowledge and a front row seat to the development of the modern electric torch.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

CPF is a great forum, and the transition to new ownership has gone really well. Understandably, long term members are not getting/seeing what they had years ago. Seems like it is helpful to remember our newer members, and the excitement and wonder they might have for our satisfying passion here at candlepowerforums.

 

[lightfooted]

We can all pretend that we don't know why things have been in decline here, but it doesn't matter anymore. I have my reasons for not posting as much anymore and it has nothing to do with the current state of tech. Too many times I've seen entire threads deleted because the discussion covered a topic that some Mod deemed not "proper".

 

[bykfixer]

I've noticed a lot more participation in the "hello" section since the change. And I also noticed a lot of names chiming in threads I'd never seen before but have been members for years.

Now that user servicable is a thing of the past it's kinda like when I was in high school everybody drove V8 engine muscle cars built in Detroit and when my son was in high school everybody drove 4 cylinder cars made in Japan. Still plenty of cars in the parking lot, just a different kind.

Sign of the times.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

We can all pretend that we don't know why things have been in decline here, but it doesn't matter anymore. I have my reasons for not posting as much anymore and it has nothing to do with the current state of tech. Too many times I've seen entire threads deleted because the discussion covered a topic that some Mod deemed not "proper".

For some time now, I've been thinking that moderation was being administered is smaller doses than in the past. Perhaps you read a lot more threads than I do. FWIW.

 

[bykfixer]

I'd say in my years here there have been times moderation mania had set in. Other times not so much. Yet this is also a very tight ship so these days members tend to police themselves.

Now I feel like had it not been for the strict adherence to policies, this place would have a lot more drama and a lot less peaceful conversations.

Perhaps part of that is we're a bunch of flashlight fans so we're kinda chill anyway? But nit pickers and trouble makers tend to go away for whatever reason.

 

[fivemega]

I've noticed a decline in frequency and content in the last two months.

I can see many people came with different and good reasons but I wonder why it happened in last two months.

 

[Lark Hunter]

I came here mostly for automotive lighting after stalling out on creating an account for years. Sadly, that sub-forum is extremely low traffic these days, and seems to have been declining for a few years now. Still, there's a level of expertise (and lack of bullcrap) there that I haven't seen duplicated anywhere else, so I'm in.

 

[RUSH FAN]

I miss the excitement of all the independent light makers. I joined many years ago when all these independent makers were making batches of lights, and everyone was excited about getting on their lists. Now, I'd say that about 2/3 's of these guys are either gone, or have flat out just disappeared. These guys were pretty much milling out titanium light sabers. Now, I don't see them anymore. Perhaps, they got tired of making flashlights, and are all working for Tesla now lol.

 

[parang]

Personally this is a seasonal interest, I am more into knives in the summer and more into flashlights in the winter.
Now, I would still like a Fraz labs light and maybe even a LEP some day, but I have enough lights for every use and every type of battery and I am more interested in maintaining what I have, in better chargers, better batteries, troubleshooting.
Also since I'm based in the EU, I can't contribute to discussions about US-only models.