Where did all the oldtimers go.

[KITROBASKIN]

It is Great to see longtime members return. selfbuilt is a premier flashlight reviewer. We are all fortunate with his reemergence.

 

[tech25]

Cool!! Welcome back! I love your reviews!

 

[Mandrake50]

Ever wonder what happened to that old selfbuilt guy?

I know this thread hasn't been active for a couple of years, but it seemed fitting to resurrect it to announce my (limited) return to flashlight reviewing.

My last flashlight review was almost six and a half years ago ... my how time has flown! I've lurked periodically over the years, and am glad to see so many "old-timers" from my era still present here. I had moved on to another hobby for awhile, which has been winding down for me these last couple of years (https://whiskyanalysis.com/).

Anyway, I recently dusted off my old lightbox, and have been working on some new flashlight reviews lately. I am just about ready to start posting again. Nothing too grand, as I don't have the time I used to - but hopefully you will find the new reviews to be a small but valuable contribution. I'll be posting a new thread in the reviews forum shortly, once I'm ready to provide more info.

It's great to be back everyone!

You were one of the big factors in me getting hooked on the flashlight hobby. I had a previous account that got hosed and I set up a new one, but have been around since around 2009. I look forward to reading your latest and greatest reviews. Things have really changed the last few years. I never would have dreamed back then of having a 4000 lumen light with a highly customizable UI... that fits into a jeans pocket, back in the day.

 

[Zak]

Ever wonder what happened to that old selfbuilt guy?

I heard he took up drinking.

 

[300Z]

Ever wonder what happened to that old selfbuilt guy?

I know this thread hasn't been active for a couple of years, but it seemed fitting to resurrect it to announce my (limited) return to flashlight reviewing.

My last flashlight review was almost six and a half years ago ... my how time has flown! I've lurked periodically over the years, and am glad to see so many "old-timers" from my era still present here. I had moved on to another hobby for awhile, which has been winding down for me these last couple of years (https://whiskyanalysis.com/).

Anyway, I recently dusted off my old lightbox, and have been working on some new flashlight reviews lately. I am just about ready to start posting again. Nothing too grand, as I don't have the time I used to - but hopefully you will find the new reviews to be a small but valuable contribution. I'll be posting a new thread in the reviews forum shortly, once I'm ready to provide more info.

It's great to be back everyone!

So good to see you back!
Will you be posting the reviews on your old youtube channel?

 

[sstrauss]

Yikes, just looked and it was 20 years ago when I first signed in to this madhouse. I have fond memories of McGizmo, Mr. Bulk, the Arc AAAs, oddball AAAA bare aluminum, needing a foam to not crush the batteries. Just started back in and the new stuff is so far ahead of even the biggest dreams from back then it is like an alien technology.

 

[dmenezes]

It's great to be back everyone!

Glad to hear you're back! You certainly won't remember me as I was only a lurker, but your awesome review of the iTP A3 EOS back in the day was what convinced me to buy one as my very first 'serious' led flashlight.

Looking forward to reading your reviews again!

 

[raggie33]

Wb selfbuilt

 

[selfbuilt]

I have taken a break for a while....maybe a decade or more. Life gets busy and other hobbies come up.

I will definitely spend some time on your whisky site! I have a son, he is named Hibiki (yes it is very interesting running around the Yamazaki distillery repeating a small childs name that also happens to be one of their whiskys LoL.)

Wow, that's a funny coincidence. Hibiki 17 was the first whisky I enjoyed so much that I bought a bottle in Japan (back when they only cost ~$50 USD). Those days are long gone!

It is Great to see longtime members return. selfbuilt is a premier flashlight reviewer. We are all fortunate with his reemergence.

You too, great to see you are still active here.

Cool!! Welcome back! I love your reviews!

Things have really changed the last few years. I never would have dreamed back then of having a 4000 lumen light with a highly customizable UI... that fits into a jeans pocket, back in the day.

That's exactly what convinced me to come back - the presence of 4000 lumens lights in something that fits in a back pocket. I will be focusing on exactly that for now - the compact 1x21700 class, which didn't exist back in my previous era.

I'll be writing up a little summary of why I left and why I'm back, and you'll see that's a big part of it.

I heard he took up drinking.

Haha, more accurate to say I took up reviewing drinking.

So good to see you back!
Will you be posting the reviews on your old youtube channel?

That's one thing I probably won't be doing. I've been working on finding a way to simplify the amount of work involved, while still keeping all the core features of my review (e.g., multi-light comparison runtimes). But also to enhance them, with text-based tables, downloadable database of results, etc. The videos are one of things I don't plan on doing at the moment, as they were time consuming and had limited uptake. But I will be describing UIs in more succinct terms now (i.e., less text, more straight to the point instruction manual style for that section).

You certainly won't remember me as I was only a lurker, but your awesome review of the iTP A3 EOS back in the day was what convinced me to buy one as my very first 'serious' led flashlight.

That was a great light - I still give Olight AAA keychain lights to people, and they are very popular.

Wb selfbuilt

Thx - and I like your sig. For years now I've invested in Light Dims, those small dark stickers that block out all or ~70% of LED light, to cover up LEDs on home electronics. Our rooms become full of ridiculously bright light sources otherwise!

Anyway, thanks for the warm welcome back everyone. I plan to start posting more details this weekend - stay tuned!

 

[Crazyeddiethefirst]

Ever wonder what happened to that old selfbuilt guy?

I know this thread hasn't been active for a couple of years, but it seemed fitting to resurrect it to announce my (limited) return to flashlight reviewing.

My last flashlight review was almost six and a half years ago ... my how time has flown! I've lurked periodically over the years, and am glad to see so many "old-timers" from my era still present here. I had moved on to another hobby for awhile, which has been winding down for me these last couple of years (https://whiskyanalysis.com/).

Anyway, I recently dusted off my old lightbox, and have been working on some new flashlight reviews lately. I am just about ready to start posting again. Nothing too grand, as I don't have the time I used to - but hopefully you will find the new reviews to be a small but valuable contribution. I'll be posting a new thread in the reviews forum shortly, once I'm ready to provide more info.

It's great to be back everyone!

Hey Selfbuilt,
You were instrumental in introducing me to lights. I read every review and many of my purchases were because you made a complex
Topic easy to understand. I had some serious health issues & had several years away from social media and for a while life itself(nearly died and spent way too much time and $ in hospitals. I am slowly coming back(my self designed rehab program is 4 hours every other day, with at least 2-3 miles walking and 2-3 miles biking each day. Still have way too many lights, but last night when we had a power failure my wife & I went door to door to check on 3 new neighbors & offer lights & lighting. I see Chance, Jon, Owen and a few of the other old timers here too. Welcome back! Ed aka Crazyeddie…

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

It's heartwarming to see ya posting and GREAT to read you're doing so much better, Crazyeddiethefirst!

Yes, I'm still around but I don't consider myself to be a CPF oldtimer.

 

[bladesmith3]

i am happy that you are back. looking at all the people in this op that i still remember even at my decrepit age.

 

[recDNA]

I've been a member for a while. I don't remember what year I joined. The improvement curve was straight up when I began. Every month there was a new, unbelieveable flashlight. As it flattened out I don't check in as often. The changes now are more subtle.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Such greatness to see longtime members checking in!

 

[recDNA]

Ever wonder what happened to that old selfbuilt guy?

I know this thread hasn't been active for a couple of years, but it seemed fitting to resurrect it to announce my (limited) return to flashlight reviewing.

My last flashlight review was almost six and a half years ago ... my how time has flown! I've lurked periodically over the years, and am glad to see so many "old-timers" from my era still present here. I had moved on to another hobby for awhile, which has been winding down for me these last couple of years (https://whiskyanalysis.com/).

Anyway, I recently dusted off my old lightbox, and have been working on some new flashlight reviews lately. I am just about ready to start posting again. Nothing too grand, as I don't have the time I used to - but hopefully you will find the new reviews to be a small but valuable contribution. I'll be posting a new thread in the reviews forum shortly, once I'm ready to provide more info.

It's great to be back everyone!

Nice to see you here at CPF again.

 

[selfbuilt]

Nice to see you here at CPF again.

Great to you see too, glad you are still active here.

 

[Jerimoth]

I'm still here! Although most of my lights from 2003 or so don't compare to what's available now. I have some Elektrolumens (sp?) lights as well as a number of other home-built lights, but most don't compare to what is available now.

 

[idleprocess]

I'm still here! Although most of my lights from 2003 or so don't compare to what's available now. I have some Elektrolumens (sp?) lights as well as a number of other home-built lights, but most don't compare to what is available now.

I've still got some lights from ~20 years ago that are no longer cutting edge that I still use, such as a tri-Luxeon III Maglite 2D mod I did myself and an Aleph that may have been one of the first XR-E flashlights released. Both still in working order and - despite the unimpressive specs by modern standards - surprisingly bright.

 

[Falcon9h]

Yikes, just looked and it was 20 years ago when I first signed in to this madhouse. I have fond memories of McGizmo, Mr. Bulk, the Arc AAAs, oddball AAAA bare aluminum, needing a foam to not crush the batteries. Just started back in and the new stuff is so far ahead of even the biggest dreams from back then it is like an alien technology.

Been around, but absent for the last few years but it's been 20 years also. Your mentions bring back wonderful memories!
Now great production lights are everywhere so modding became redundant but boy, I loved it when I did build/mod.

 

[HarryN]

Just checking in and saying hello.