So, what got you started?

dirobesh

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
352
Location
Scotland
Someone asked me this weekend why I was into torches so much and after a bit of thinking I realised it's all down to a comic I used to read about 30 years ago. Sadly, I can't remember it's name but it carried a weekly story about some boys who fought against ghosts with the aid of a torch whose beam destoyed them. The torch was called "The torch of Orion" - sadly google hasn't thrown up any hits so I can't track it down. Anyway, it got me wondering how other people got into torches/flashlights - any interesting tales to tell?
 

Chris M.

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 17, 2001
Messages
2,564
Location
South Wales, UK
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
tongue.gif


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.....

grin.gif
 

Tree

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 2, 2001
Messages
1,384
Location
Louisiana, USA, Earth
A few years ago a friend got a Scorpion and a Photon as a gift and I was impressed with the light output and size of both of them. Searched the web to find other lights like it. Found CPF/LED Museum/Brocks page... been obsessed ever since.
 

logicnerd411

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Messages
1,246
Location
Fairfax, VA
I saw a Photon 3 at a local L.L. Bean and then a local Brookstone. Searched and found Craig's site. Addicted immediately. Then I heard about the Dell you guys donated and found CPF...
 

tkl

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 24, 2002
Messages
2,332
Location
Tx
watching the tv show cops and though their mag lights were cool.
rolleyes.gif
many years later and being around gun boards i realized they were probably streamlights. then i found this site and it was downhill from there.
grin.gif
 

binky

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Messages
1,036
Location
Taxachusetts, USA
This sounds shockingly similar to BuddTX's post in the thread of why people hate M@g, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it. It may also be inferred as a narrative answer to the question asking "Why do you feel that M@g has let you down?"
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Well, I always wanted lights like in the movies, but I thought that was just special effects.

I had always thought my M@g light was bright. Y'know, for a real-life flashlight.

Then I bought a set of NiteRider halogens for my bike. (The 12V and then the 6V too) Wow. If only something that bright was in a flashlight. I'd use those around the house. Although it was inconvenient to hold the battery pack and light module, it was just so wonderfully bright.

I used to think my 2D M@g was about as bright as flashlights got.

Then I got pulled over by a cop who had a light that just made the whole inside of my car sparkle with brightness. (He didn't write me up.)

That did it for me. That proved there ARE bright flashlights in real life.

When I got home I surfed the web. There had to be something brighter than that big M@g I had. Maybe the charger version was really that bright, but there were these other companies Surefire and Streamlight that really seemed to be going at it and with apparently far more innovation than Mag and seemed to cater to customers who cared about the amount of light coming out the end.

I learned the difference between Lumens and Candlepower. Surefire listed Lumens. Streamlight listed Candlepower. I always go with companies that seem to be more straightforward, so I bought a Surefire, after a great deal of angst due to the price and no comparison between Lumens and anything I had seen already.

When the 8nx came in the mail I tore it open and stuck in the battery. That 1/2 second of brightness was all it took. "Holy cr@p! I can't believe I thought all this time that the M@g was the best I could get! And this thing is so much smaller! And just plain better in every way! This is soooooo worth the price!"

Shortly thereafter I bought an 8nx for my dad too, whose house is filled with those godawful dim "safety" flashlights with a built-in plug to sit in the wall socket. He loves it.

Now I've got a Tigerlight too and my wife is asking "What is it with the flashlights??? I'm getting a little worried about you. I think you're getting some kind of wierd addiction..."

"And what's with that calendar?"
grin.gif


I'm visiting my parents. My dad wants the Tigerlight I brought with me.

It just kinda spreads happy surprises, doesn't it?
 

Kirk

Enlightened
Joined
May 2, 2002
Messages
440
Location
Central California
My folks gave me a chrome Ray-O-Vac 2AA penlight when I was about 6 or 7 (I'm 45 now). It's been downhill since! Shoot, I even used to have grain-o-wheat bulbs (anybody remember them?) taped to the headboard of my bed to use as reading lights in my younger days!
Kirk
 

V8TOYTRUCK

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
Messages
1,793
Location
San Gabriel Valley + Burbank
Im not sure when it started but I know I was a flashaholic way back. When the doctor would check my pupils with his pen light, I would be fascianated by it. I was probably in the third grade, instead of telling my mom to buy me Nintendo games, I wanted disposable Energizer flashlights. As I grew older I had the cash to buy the Maglite and like many, thought I had the best there was. Then my Sheriff friend introduced me to Streamlight, found CPF through Craig's site, and now have more knowledge about flashlights than many dont care to listen about. But oh well, because my girlfriend right now is glad I am a flasholic because she just had a blackout. She is equipped with an ARC Turquoise and E2e with a few extra 123s. So she is well equipped.
 

Monsters_Inc

Banned
Joined
Oct 8, 2002
Messages
654
Location
Monstropolis
I had an old Eveready 2D light with adjustable focus thing that had the lens damaged. Hoping to replace just the lens with something, but replaced it with a Mag 2D instead. Being no stranger to modifications, (everything I own is modified or customised to fit me/my needs preceisely so it's no value to anyone who might steal it) Disappointed with the light output, wanting to modify it - stumbled into here.
 

Deviant

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 23, 2002
Messages
239
Location
Utopia
It started from when i was abt 6-7years old. I would take this really huge 2D 'Made in China' silver torch and walk in the dark areas of the house and shine it on the wall, in some way it made me happy
smile.gif
.

Then my dad got me a 2C energizer light, the whole body is a white painted metal and had a orange-red switch and head. With lotsa of tape that light went to the front of my BMX bicycle. As far as I remember it was the least helpful when I rode at night but I was still fascinated by it.

When I got older I started saving money for lights that I saw in outdoor stores. That was when I had a Docter Aspherilux 125 and later a Princeton 4AA. Till today I do not know why the maglight never caught my eye.
icon3.gif


Then I got conscripted, and started frequenting stores selling tactical gear. So along the way I spotted a short stumpy light that cost SGD120 (~USD90 at that point of time.). I was telling myself 'WTF!, who in the right mind would price a flashlight so high, this has definately got to be a bright light and I got to have it!' Yes it was and is today still hella bright! It has followed me to the jungles of Thailand and Brunei and the plains of Taiwan. Till today it's still running on the stock bulb and never failed me when I needed it
smile.gif
It's the Surefire Original 6P.

I never could feel the sentimental value of my 6P till I came to CPF and bought better lights (M6, Tigerlight, etc, etc) that blow away the output of a 6P. If there was only one light that I could take it would be this original 6P.

This is my story and a small tribute to my 6P, my precious
tongue.gif
 

Nerd

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 19, 2002
Messages
2,271
Location
Singapore
Aww... this board started it.... when you guys first discovered PT Surge... I was so fascinated by it that I immediately went out and get it. $88 SGD (!!!!!) - 15% discount = $74.80 SGD = $42 USD... (!!!!) The brightness blew me away... following that I got a PT Tec40 for my father. MO 12 ARC AAA LEs for some people @ SG @ $55 SGD each. Kept one for myself, end up giving it to my mum as birthday present (nothing but the best will do for her, after all, she's my mum) Followed up by a Energizer 6AA which I accidentally destroyed while using a Mag Charger bulb in it. And a 4D mag which I had ordered 2 6AA adapters to use with it for some halogen 12V type which I have not gotten, and a UCL from flashlightlens.com

What really made me start all these madness was prolly the feeling of "power" being able to light up dark areas... maybe it's because it's because I was afraid of the dark when I was younger (gotten over it now). Time for some 5 watt whites and some 30mm collimators.... yum yum... time to move on too....
 

Brotherscrim

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
247
Location
USA
Dan's Data, no doubt about it, started my mad LED torch buying spree. I've bought more than a dozen since Sept.
 

rrtanton

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
102
Location
Springfield, IL, USA
Craig's site. I'd read an article about blue LEDs and Nichia, and why this was such a major technological breakthrough. I wanted to find out more, and found The LED Museum. Craig's site tipped me to the fact that people made USEABLE FLASHLIGHTS with these things. Naturally that led me to CPF, where I too was shocked to learn that Maglite was not the King of Flashlights I thought it was (performance-wise, anyway.)

I'd never been a light-freak before then, mainly because I'd never known the true potential of lights...a USEABLE pocket LED light, or a standard handlight that's stupendously bright or has incredible battery life and better light color/pattern? Suddenly I realized these things were worth my time, both for their enhanced capabilities and for their ability to make my friends wonder "what's wrong with Rusty and why is he blinding me with that thing?"

rusty
 

brightnorm

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
Originally posted by Nerd:
.....What really made me start all these madness was prolly the feeling of "power" being able to light up dark areas... maybe it's because it's because I was afraid of the dark when I was younger......
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">OK, here's my hopefully not too laughable take on man's quest for light, and Flashaholics, copied from a much earlier post:

Whether it was early man's brandishing a crude "torch" in a sabre-toothed tiger's face, or a pioneer family reading by the yellow light of an oil lamp, our ability to "create light out of darkness" has enabled the development of modern civilization.
The basic need to "create light" was and is literally a lifesaver. Human-created light has enabled us to illuminate and vanquish our enemies both internal and external.

I believe that fear of the dark exists in our "genetic memory" and that the quest for light, regardless of how it is manifested, has its roots in that fear. Man was helpless in the dark, prey to many natural enemies. Bright light issuing from small, portable devices thus enables the projection of personal power, the neutralizing of helplessness and the overcoming of that genetically based fear. Flashaholics are the perhaps overly involved, but nevertheless glorious modern embodiment of that quest.



Brightnorm
 

AlexGT

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 15, 2001
Messages
3,651
Location
Houston, Texas
Huh? Aren`t we Born flashaholic?, I am sure that we must have a special gene somewhere,
grin.gif
. As far as I can remember I have always had a flashlight with me, only a couple of years ago I found this forum. And I thought I was the only weird guy
wink.gif
, have nice company now!

Alex
 

Monsters_Inc

Banned
Joined
Oct 8, 2002
Messages
654
Location
Monstropolis
I dunno if it's in my genes as AlexGT suggested, before my CPF days I was quite content to walk around my house at 2 am in the dark. In fact, I preferred darkness to the extent that I don't turn on the household light during evenings if it could be avoided. I'm a night person, I perform/think best from midnight to 3am. Yet since CPF, I've found some indescribable 'happiness' or pleasure from brightly illuminating a dark night, especially in the open outdoors where most pedestrian lights fail to impress.
 

Rotten Ron

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
142
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.
 
Top