So, what got you started?

[SFR]

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...

My interest in flashlights probably began in 1977 when I was four years old and watched "Star Wars" for the very first time. That's when I first saw it – when the whole world first saw it – a lightsaber: The weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster, but a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

Since then, I've been on a quest to find the smallest and brightest flashlight that I can carry ...

I became interested in LED flashlights in particular during the summer of 2001. I was watching a show called "Popular Mechanics for Kids" one Saturday morning and the show featured covert operations. One of the characters, Charlie, built a red LED flashlight from Radio Shack parts. He mentioned Navy SEALS use red light because it is the best for night time vision.

That intrigued me, so I went on Yahoo and eBay to search for red LED flashlights. I was ready to buy a small single cell AA white LED flashlight with a run-time of 40 hours, but fate intervened and I found my way to CPF and all the good review sites out there. Craig's site, The LED Museum, had a review of the Arc AAA and everyone was talking about it on CPF.

I waited a few weeks until I finally gave in and bought an Arc LE. That was the first time I spent $40 for a flashlight. Over the next few months I also bought a turquoise Arc, an Arc CPF SE, an Arc LS, and a Surefire E2e. And so, my quest continues ...

The Force will be with you ... always

 

[Sean]

I've always liked lights, I don't know why. Even as a kid growing up. Then, a little over a year ago I found this place and now I'm broke!

 

[JJHitt]

Living on the Gulf Coast, I've always made it a point to be ready for extended power outages.
I remember ducking under sagging powerlines to make a beer run durring Hurricane Alicia, but that's another story...
Prior to learing about solid state lighting, I kept a small collection of 6V railroad lanterns. When I saw an EternaLight in a up-scale catalog, I did a search and found Craig's site and the rest is history...
I've even got a LED railroad lantern now.
(http://www.star1889.com/2002.htm)

 

[dirobesh]

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Quote:-
"My interest in flashlights probably began in 1977 when I was four years old and watched "Star Wars" for the very first time. That's when I first saw it – when the whole world first saw it – a lightsaber: The weapon of a Jedi Knight."
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This is embarrassing - when I first saw Star Wars I thought they were saying "Life Saver" instead of lightsaber. Spent a good chunk of the film wondering why something that killed people had such a strange name....

 

[WNG]

Thirty some odd years ago my parents took me ringling bros barn and baily circus. They bought me a small white rectangler flash light with a red head that had a flip up cap that would turn light on, Wow i loved that light IT had a cord so you can swing it around your finger! That was my first start and this forum is my second start.

Wow! Thanks Ron, that brings back memories that were lost in the ol' gray matter. I forgot about that light, it was my favorite possession. Don't remember if my father or uncle bought it for me duing the Ringling Bros. circus in Madison Sq. Garden, NYC. Over 30 yrs ago too.
Must be how I got bit by the lightning bug. I can remember Everyready corrugated chrome steel C and D cell flashlights, a chrome penlight, and a black/yellow Rayovac or Brightstar from my childhood, but completely forgot about the circus light I wore around my neck.

Things plateau-ed with the ownership of D and AA Mags for more than 15 years. LEDs and CFP relit my torch. Like the old Depeche Mode song...."Just Can't Get Enough."

BTW, did anyone remember the kid's toy Lite Brites? Where you plugged colored shapes into the black board and they lit up? Sadly, parents wouldn't buy it for me as a child, but boy did it fascinate me!

 

[chesterqw]

you ppl got me addicted! arrggh!!111oneoneone(i am acting n00b)

uh...anyway,you people really got me started. but before then, i was searching for laser pointer to play with,then i hit appoint a site with the thing call"2 in 1 laser led light" which got me finding out what led is. and wala! i found led museum and soon after which i found the link to here!

at first, i lost the link to led museum and started to panic but after a few minutes of searching on google,i found it back. and you can see why i was so relieve.

EDIT: is it me or did most of the people here came to cpf from "the led museum"?

 

[Bravo25]

I don't know if I am convinced it is a "flashaholic" thing. Maybe I am not even a true flashaholic. I don't have to have every new, or custom mod that comes along. Although there are a lot of great ones out there. I really have never bought a mod or custom light.

For me it is "mission critical best". I own a Glock, and a SA 1911-A1. My bail out gear is Maxpedition, TAG, and Blackhawk. My lights are Surefire, Streamlight, Coast, and Fenix. I just want to know that when it comes to a "must work" situation that my gear is the last thing that is going to let me down.

I also think that at the root of most flashaholics there is a need for control. The natural state of things is darkness, an absence of light. Light must be created either naturally, or artificailly. By having a good flashlight we have better control than those with lesser lights. So perhaps in that regard, I am a flashaholic.

I came here for the lights, but I stayed because of the people.

 

[Flying Turtle]

First came the little penlight I used to read under the covers when a little kid. Jump forward about thirty years to the minimag and an assortment of other small lights. The Dorcy Cool Blue entered the picture five or six years ago and really got my interest in LEDs. Then about four years ago I found the LED Museum site, Brock's site, Quickbeam's site, and this forum. Like many have said, it was kind of a revelation to find other folks with the same "tendencies". I was hooked.

Geoff

 

[KingSmono]

Wow, it's not everyday a 3 year old thread gets revived!

My dad bought me a little blue led, button cell LED light. I had it on my keychain until it died. Then, when it was time to look for a replacement, I came across a $20 ASP keychain light. I could not believe I was about to spend a whole whopping 20 dollars on a little keychain light. But, what sold me was that it was guaranteed for life. If the LED ever burned out, or the batteries ever died, I could just send it back for a free, brand new one! The thing was BRIGHT! However, the battery died quickly. I never got around to sending it back... Instead, I found The LED Museum, and started researching my next keychain light. That led me to CPF, where I read about the highly coveted Arc AAA... But $40 for a keychain light was a little absurd. I swallowed my pride, and bit the bullet. I've never looked back since. Now, a $40 light is a BARGAIN!! hahaha

-Allen

 

[Bright Scouter]

With me, it was being with the Boy Scouts on campouts. As a boy in scouts, there really were no good flashlights. At least that i Knew of at the time. In college, I worked in the auditorium doing sound and lights. By then, I had heard of Mag. So that was king to me. After college, I kept camping a lot. So anytime i found a good flashlight, I bought it to try it. But then, I found CPF and about that time found out about Arc flashlights. That was what got me started.

I do remember asking Brightguys for a small flashlight with the best throw. I got a light that had throw, but didn't like it. Way too tight of a beam to be practical. So that was what pushed me into research mode. I didn't want to buy something I didn't like again.

 

[JonSidneyB]

I got started by being involved in a shooting. I learned that a light can be helpful.

Oh, I was the good guy by the way.

 

[KingSmono]

I got started by being involved in a shooting. I learned that a light can be helpful.

Oh, I was the good guy by the way.

You can't say something like that, without elaborating!! I'm pretty sure it's illegal. If not, it should be! :nana:

-Allen

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Like so many other kids I was fascinated with flashlights.

Later, in my teens I camped a lot.

I very clearly remember being a deckhand on big ships during my summers away from high school. Much of the deck work was very dangerous by any standard but part of it involved a crew handling heavy cables in the dark and I had to constantly signal a winch operator a couple hundred feet away. As if the danger and the dark and the noise weren't chaotic enough, sometimes it would also be raining and the light that was provided for me to signal the winch operator would get wet and then just turn on and off in a very random fashion. I still recall with horror the realization that the men on my crew could die or lose their arms or legs because of the messed up signals my light was sending the winch-man.

That was probably one of the first of many "flashaholic moments" I've had. To me a "flashaholic moment" is a realization that runs through your mind after some harrowing event and the line of thought usually starts out with, "The next time I get to a store..." or sometimes, "If I ever get out of this alive..." and ends with, "...I'm going to find a better flashlight!"

In the early 70s I was on a small tug with a tow crossing the Gulf of Alaska when we lost our generator (lights, radio) and our main engines just as the barge we were towing began to sink into the 35F water. Amazingly, the only light that could be made to work that night was a dopey disposable incan, wrapped up in a baggie in my kit, that I had carried around for years. I gave it to the engineer and he used it to finally get a gas powered pump running and it saved the day. That was another "flashaholic moment".

Old time Alaskans may get a kick out of this one. Once a friend and I were going camping in Bear Valley. That's the valley between the two tunnels on the way from Portage to Whittier. We used to take the train from Anchorage to Whittier and then walk back through the long tunnel and camp in Bear Valley. I've read that now you may drive your car through the tunnel but back then there was no road -- it was just big enough for a train.

The tunnel was 2 1/4 miles long and very dark. I only had an old plastic incan 2xAAx222 Mallory Light and the batteries that were in it so we opted to walk the tunnel on our way in in the dark so we would still have the use of the light in an emergency. If we had the light one of us could run through the tunnel for help if the other got hurt. It took a couple of hours to get through -- slowly shuffling down the RR tracks in the pitch black. It was uneventful but I often think of how much easier things would have been 35 years ago if I had something as simple as an old CMG Infinity with it's 40 hour runtime.

Like many others here I looked for adventure wherever I could find it and for me that meant that I was drawn to the Third World frontiers. I've worked in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and quite a bit in Latin America. I've logged over 5,000 miles on the Amazon River. Carrying my own lights has been important wherever I went. I always tried to carry the best lights I could find. Many here can tell stories of how their lights saved their lives in one place or another.

Today the frontiers are pretty much behind me but I am into lights because of some of these things that happened to me in the past. These few stories are a good example of quite a few weird things that have happened to me over years of tramping around the world with lights.

Most recently my six weeks on the high ground in New Orleans with no electricity after Katrina shows that even if you no longer actively look for adventure it may still find you and you'd better be ready.

The lights are still handy.

 

[Manzerick]

Mine began with a Disney on Ice flashlight with Mickey ears and a spinning chrome disk to make crazy light patterns.. Of course i took it apart and left it as a regular flashlight... man did I lov that thing..


THen I won a raffle @ my Local fish and game club. I was prob 6-8 years old and it was a colman 4 AA cell incad. Not a bad light for the mid eighties... still own it to date

I'll post a pic if I can

I guess it stems from a very very early age, probably about 2 or 3, and I was given a 2 D cell chrome bodied light with the classic 3-position switch with red blinky-button, and that had inbuilt red and green filters that could be slid up over the bulb inside the reflector to "magically" change the colour. Being the inquisitive sort, it didn`t last long. But I think that`s where I got my fascination for all things electrical that light up.
For years each christmas time while growing up, I would recieve a torch from Santa, futher feeding what has grown into a genuine addiction for lights, bulbs and torches.
Not for a long time of course, he doens`t come by here so often any more

Also anyone remember the TV cartoon series "Jamie and the Magic Torch" about a kid who had a special flashlight. I forget exactly what it allowed him to do, travel back in time or to exotic places or other planets or stuff. As a 6-7 year old I wanted one of those!

But even today I would love to get hold of the "other Magic torch" - another of those colour-changing lights. I think it was made by Pifco, and I`m sure I saw one on ebay a few months back. Being generally fond of the lighting products Pifco made, especially their seasonal ones, I search reguarly for them. Keeping my fingers crossed.....

 

[Sixpointone]

I can recall, when I was younger, stopping of my Grand Father's house the night of a huge storm. He was a collector of any and all types of Flashlights. He let me take a couple.

Not long after, the power went out. But of course I was not left without Light.

So, although my Grand Father has since passed on, in many ways his legacy of Flashlights lives today through me.

 

[bjn70]

I've been into photography for over 35 years. A couple of years ago I bought a new SLR body that used CR123 batteries. I was reading a photography forum when someone suggested buying those from surefire to save money. I started snooping around the surefire website, then started searching the internet for further information on surefire lights, and found cpf and flashlightreviews.com. I've bought lots of lights since, but no surefire yet.

 

[scrappy]

I was finished with an arbitration hearing and heading back to my law firm on 33rd and Park in Manhattan, when I passed by an electronics store where they had a Pelican M6 - Black Knight or whatever the hell they called it, I was really attracted to the packaging and never saw a flashlight that needed two 123 batts...I didn't know jack about them, but I went in and bought it (OVERPAID....60 bucks) what do you expect in NYC... anyway got back to my office, tried it and loved it... I didn't want to work anymore that day, so i hit the net and did some research on it... sure enough someone's response on amazon.com was "i'll stick to my surefires..." I said what the hell is that, googled surefire, ordered a E2E, E1E, A2, C3 my first sitting. Got them, loved it, then got an M6... googled around all the lights and found CPF... then through CPF's mantra of "buy em both" grabbed a bunch of other cool production lights Arcs, Streamlights, sf L6, KL1, KL3, KL6, and then started getting into custom lights... The rest is history.

Rich

 

[Kryosphinx]

I guess I've always like flashlights, but what did it for me was the Inova X5, which I played with at sharper image, but I never got it. I researched for a cheaper alternative, which led me to CPF. I still feel kinda bad for not having the light that started me off

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I have always had a fascination for things that flash, glow, project powerful beams, or otherwise emit light.
I didn't really "get into" these things though until I started my website on 10-18-99.
Now I have no fewer than 800 of these things.

 

[Pummy]

Also anyone remember the TV cartoon series "Jamie and the Magic Torch" about a kid who had a special flashlight. I forget exactly what it allowed him to do, travel back in time or to exotic places or other planets or stuff. As a 6-7 year old I wanted one of those!

That is what kicked it off for me, then various cheap in can models with salvaged batteries from wherever I could get them kept me going. Must see if I can get it as a ringtone for the phone :naughty: