Would You Lend Anyone Your Flashlight ?.

[MX421]

I agree with the people one here that won't loan someone something they don't have a sense of what the value is.

That being said, i give my flashlights to my kids when they go into dark places ahead of me but under close supervision and will usually bring backups yo loan out to friends/coworkers when necessary but i make sure i get them back afterwards. I certainly wouldn't leand a light to someone for a few weeks as the OP was asked to do by a "friend".

 

[Berneck1]

I have a bunch of "throw-away" lights for just that reason. Rayovac or Energizer, etc.

 

[biggman15]

I have an old stainless steel Jetbeam single AA that I don't mind loaning out. I think it's an E10S... I've had it for years and trust it with my life. I keep it at work in my locker. It's my work EDC. It's very beat up and doesn't even have a glass lens anymore. I had to replace it with a very thick piece of lexan that I cut from the leftovers of an RC car body. While I don't mind lending it. If someone manages a deep scratch, they won't ever be trusted with it again. I don't really know why a scratch bugs me more than a dent in that one though...

As for Friends and Family, I'm a bit picky as to who gets to borrow the nicer lights. I'll lend any of them a Mag for any amount of time. I pick those up in bargain bins. They are reliable and don't need special batteries to put out a beam.

 

[tech25]

I have loaner lights for family members to borrow for a while. For short uses it depends on who is asking, certain members get a cheaper one while others get my nicer ones. If it's just to play around with, the kids tend to like the throwers so my convoy C8 from mountain electronics is pretty budget friendly and not too easy to lose.

At work (EMS) most people tend to carry their own lights, even if they aren't good (horrible blue color that makes everything look dead or lights that they have to bang against their hands to make it turn on)

As far as my wife- she gets whichever light she wants to use. She does like warmer tints and will use mine but she won't carry a light around. So I carry a couple of lights and she puts up with my hobby.

 

[martinaee]

Haha this is why you have to rank your lights and put the ones you'd be fine with others using out into a space where they are accessible. Beater LED Maglite that is simple to use, but bright for general use? --- put that in a particular spot where others can get it. All of "your" lights (the nice ones) go on the specific light shelf. I have my yellow Surefire G2X always on my PC desk so my wife can get it if she needed a light. low/high simple.

 

[LetThereBeLight!]

Well, I buy very inexpensive but neat lights to give out to others.

An example would be the flip light that looks just like a light switch: Harbor Freight had them on sale for $1.99 last summer.

A second example: Home Depot had 5 light bulb lights in a pack for $10.00 (each powered by 3 AAA batteries) and kids I've given them to just love them. That particular light is best when it is pitch black in your bedroom as it emits a pleasing ambient light over everything when you hold it up high. (It's third mode is a fast blink mode so it would not be a good light to give to any child or adult who has epilepsy or other seizure disorder.)

Giving someone an inexpensive light fills me with much joy.

I WILL lend a light, if need be, but I'd rather have joy than anxiety, if you know what I mean, LOL!

- LetThereBeLight!

 

[Rubicon1000]

I built a bunch of surefire 6p's with led drop ins and so far I have given over 20 to my close friends and family members. My kids all have a favorite e series for camping trips but I don't loan any of my favorite lights to anyone period.
My wife has a 6p bored for 18650 with an EDC triple 3 stage that she carries in her purse and we have a spice rack converted into a flashlight rack that is mounted inside the door of the camper and each of the kids have their own lights that go back in the rack as soon as they come in. They are all e series and they take great care of them but they won't share with their friends when we go camping. It's funny how you get used to one light and carry it the most. Dan

 

[marinemaster]

Nope.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Anyone? No.

Someone? Depends.

I'm kinda particular when it comes to my tools. Sorry. Not sorry.

~ Cg

 

[Crazyeddiethefirst]

I loan my cheap lights to anyone. My other lights, it depends. My tools, to my youngest son only(which is not a great stretch as in the last few years that is where a lot of them came from. One exception: I would loan any of my lights to Chance or Mark(Ven) without concern....

 

[Sos24]

If it is one that I value probably not, unless a close trusted friend. I learned long ago, you don't lend something to someone unless you are willing to accept the possibility of never getting it back or it not being in the same condition when yo do. Most people are not going to treat it with the same care you will and even if they do things happen.

 

[Poppy]

Sure, why not? It's just a tool. Like a drill or a shovel.

Now if it were my foursevens Palidin prototype given to me by PK? Heck no. Be it my favorite daily carry...pffft no big deal if I don't get it back.

In life you get back what you give. And being stinjy with a simple flashlight means somewhere down the roads life will pay you back in spades or duds depending on the kharma you've accumulated.

I've seen many things way more important than my flashlight walk away. Was I happy about it? Certainly not. Yet down the road a ways I received much better in return.

I've also learned things like wearing my stainless steel wedding band when going to sketchy places where a dark alley might lead to being robbed. Or carrying a light or knife that if it were to get away would be no big deal.

Ah, so once again, I agree with Mr. Fixer :thumbsup:

I don't have any tritium, or jewel encrusted lights, so I'd lend them, no problem. Other than the D2 on my key-ring I don't recall the last time I loaned a light. The need just doesn't come up.

Oh... yes I do. About a month ago, a young man approached me in my driveway asking if I lost a dog. He had seen one and was concerned that it might get hit by a car. It was dark, and our streets are unlit, and there are no sidewalks. He was going to go door to door, alerting people that their dog may have escaped, OR he was going to see if he could find the dog. At any rate, all he was using was his cell phone light.

I gave him a Defiant triple that I powered with an adapter and an 18650. I asked that when he was done with it to put it into the mailbox. Apparently, he did. A few days later, it dawned on me to look and there it was, deep inside the box.

When I loan a tool of any particular value, I may give it with the admonishment: "you know... that when you borrow a man's tools, you return them in the same condition, or better." This generally works.

 

[bykfixer]

Good man Poppy.
Sometimes you just know it's ok to help out a perfect stranger like that.

I wonder how the story ended.

One day after a snow this kid knocked on my door asking if he could shovel my sidewalk. Me, being fat and outta shape I need the excersize. All he had was a square end shovel and the snow was the dry powdery kind. I have a coal shovel for that.

So I told the kid (who looked to be about 8 years old) I would do it myself later. I said "wait here" and went to my shed and grabbed my coal shovel and presented it to the boy, then handed him a $20 bill then pointed him next door. "Go do that one" I said and went back inside. That little kid worked his butt off on three of my neighbors sidewalks and put that coal shovel back on my porch.

Now to me when snow is powdery that shovel is worth a million bucks. To that little kid it was perhaps priceless. He'd have been shoveling snow for days with a square end shovel. Next time it snowed I saw that little kid with a couple of buddies who all had genuine snow shovels.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

When I loan a tool of any particular value, I may give it with the admonishment: "you know... that when you borrow a man's tools, you return them in the same condition, or better." This generally works.

You have better neighbours than me, apparently. I've lent lots of stuff to neighbours, and almost without exception I've got them back in abused condition, or not at all. Sometimes I'll get a "sorry about that" when they return it. Usually they won't say anything at all, hoping I won't notice. And we're talking about stuff I definitely would notice, such as a missing gas cap on a lawnmower, cracked wheelbarrow, etc. Some stuff I never get back. Other stuff I have to ask for after a few weeks.

I don't live in a trailer park with crack-addicts, and these are generally good neighbours. They just must have been raised differently.

Granted, one of my neighbours that liked to borrow stuff seemed to be missing a few cards in his deck. That might explain some of it. But he's not the only one.

If someone asked to borrow my flashlight, I'd now make sure it was an old crappy one I didn't care about. I have little confidence that people treat stuff properly when they borrow it.

I'd never buy a used car that was a rental.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

The last tool I let someone borrow was a 6.5HP Troy-Bilt walk behind high-grass cutter. The borrower called me the next day saying it wouldn't start. Pulling the cord it was obvious the engine had no compression. :sigh: After a few minutes of hearing the rest of the story - the air intake become clogged with dried grass, it overheated and started puking out oil, but I kept using it - the guy tells me to have it fixed and he'd see if he could get the money to pay me.

I looked at him and said - "One day when we're in Heaven, we'll look back on this and laugh..... But not today." I've seen him a couple of times since, but he hasn't asked about the machine.

I remind myself that I'm only a steward and that my neighbors are more important than things. However, trying to be a good steward, I've learned to be discerning about what and whom.

~ Chance

 

[bykfixer]

Wise man CG.

 

[lunas]

depends for how long and how far. And which one i keep a AAA x2 mag light in my bag as a loaner. i have also loaned my Nitecore tube led on occasion

 

[Burgess]

ALL of my flashlights have
special value to me.


Well beyond their original cost.


And many are "no longer available" !


I don't even wanna' BOTHER trying to explain
what my flashlight cost me, or why it's
special to me.


"Normal" people simply don't understand.


Learned my lessons in life already.
65 years have taught me quite a lot !

 

[Stu]

Well said, Burgess.

 

[bykfixer]

Picture this: After a bitter divorce and everything you have left fits on the passenger side of your Ford Ranger pickup...

One day you have to slam on the breaks at a stop light and your long forgotten minimag comes rolling out from under the seat...

Me? I would probably not loan out that one, at least not on that day.