# Its amazing what non-flashaholics will use for light!



## kelmo (Sep 1, 2008)

I was at the beach Saturday night with my wife. We were just north of Arcata CA. For those not familiar with the area it is your typical Northern California Beach. Cool, rocky, misty, and the water is literally deadly cold. It was dark and misty. I had a Arc6 and my wife had a E2x (a hybrid clipless E2e). We both had Arc AAAs on neck lanyards. We were enjoying the darkness and a series of blue LEDs in a circular pattern approached. It kind of looked like the mothership had come to probe ...er... examine us. It turned out to be 3 people taking a stroll using a Nite Ize LED flying disc! 

And you wonder why they laugh at us!!!


----------



## riceboy72 (Sep 1, 2008)

I have, on several occasions, watched people flip open their cel phone and use the light from the screen to navigate around movie theaters, and once to change a tire on a rocky riverbed once light had waned during fishing season. I wandered over and offered help with my truck headlights, but had a G2 available in case he needed it.

I admit I've done the open cel phone method to find my way upstairs in the middle of the night in my own house, but I'd never use it for anything serious.


----------



## Hooked on Fenix (Sep 1, 2008)

I've seen drywallers and painters use the light from their cell phones to do their jobs with. I can understand someone using that method for a movie theater, but if you need a tool to do your job correctly, buy it.


----------



## Sgt. LED (Sep 2, 2008)

WOW!
Painting by the light of a cell phone, I am sure that was high quality work. :shakehead Somebody got robbed.


----------



## bobli17 (Sep 2, 2008)

my neighbor takes his dog out to poop with a lamp and extention cord.


----------



## Sgt. LED (Sep 2, 2008)

NICE:laughing:
I think I'd just GIVE the poor ******* a light.


----------



## Rat6P (Sep 2, 2008)

From a utalitarian POV a cell phone does a fine job of helping you navigate around a movie theatre.
Hey, if your light is in a backpack for example, why bother open it up to reach in for the torch when I could just pull the phone from my pocket. It will do the job, especially with one push of a button that gives me access to the inbuilt light. In those situations its about reaching for what ever is handiest, be it the flashlight or the phone.

The Nite Ize LED flying disc and the extension cord guy are pretty damn funny though.


----------



## BlueBeam22 (Sep 2, 2008)

I usually see people using their cell phone for a light, and sometimes a weak half dead 2D cell Incan. I have been the only one in a movie theater twice to have a light, the second time I had my powerful Coleman MAX 115 lumen CREE and it was like a spotlight in there and lit the way for other people. Next time will be my Task Force.:naughty:


----------



## TONY M (Sep 2, 2008)

bobli17 said:


> my neighbor takes his dog out to poop with a lamp and extention cord.


That is pretty funny.

Before my buddy and I were flashaholics we would sometimes use the flint spark from lighters to see outdoors on windy nights...:shakehead

Cellphones should come with 10+ lumen lights built in.


----------



## nzgunnie (Sep 2, 2008)

I have a very basic Nokia, and it has an LED light built in to it. Not very bright, but brighter than the screen, that's for sure.


----------



## ozner1991 (Sep 2, 2008)

on an camping trip with school someone lost his light during one of the night time acticities. so when he was in his tent he used the matches he had for the gas stove he had to iluminate the inside of his tent (yeah not the brightest bulb ever ) after an while i just gave him my cheapo 9 led 3aaa light since our tent were basicly 2 ft apart so an fire would be an bad thing for both of us


----------



## Fallingwater (Sep 2, 2008)

I'll admit that I once stooped as low as to myself use my cell phone's light to navigate a rocky field. Yes, yes, I know, stupid, but this was years ago, before I knew of decent flashlights and of this board. I would never be caught so unprepared today.


----------



## Crenshaw (Sep 2, 2008)

a true flashaholic, should have a Light within as easy reach as his cell phone is. 

The low mode on the Zebralight is perfect for movie theatres.

Crenshaw


----------



## TONY M (Sep 2, 2008)

Crenshaw said:


> a true flashaholic, should have a Light within as easy reach as his cell phone is.


 Very true but the problem with my family is that there phones are as often left on the charger as in their pocket when they go out.


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 2, 2008)

TONY M said:


> Very true but the problem with my family is that there phones are as often left on the charger as in their pocket when they go out.


 
That's when it's time to hand out some cheap coin cell lights.


----------



## GSteg (Sep 2, 2008)

Everyone else will always look ridiculous when they done share the same hobby  I could go on with the same kind of stories for everything else


----------



## BIGIRON (Sep 2, 2008)

I was once told by a river "guide" that he had walked a mile thru a forest using his Timex Indiglo watch. He wasn't much of a guide either -- no knife, spare rope or first aid kit. We were far better prepared than he and we were just along for the ride.


----------



## SaturnNyne (Sep 2, 2008)

It's definitely a good idea to be prepared with a light when going into a dark theatre, but I think it's also important to be mindful of others who don't want their dark-adapted eyes blasted. A Zebralight on low would be a pretty good choice, a big brute of a cree light probably wouldn't, and a cell phone would be acceptable if it did the job adequately. I always set my HDS/NT to between 0.08 and 4lm before going in. But, in my experience, even that can be irritating to some, though I think that's more a reaction from those who are familiar with my hobby... The last time I went to a movie with someone and pulled out my light, she threatened to embarrass me by reenacting the scene from Harry Met Sally if I didn't put it away... I had to stop for a few seconds and really ponder what my next move was on that one.


----------



## brucec (Sep 2, 2008)

As a kid, I once captured 20-30 fireflies in a jar. You know, cheap, rechargeable, and eco-friendly. Unfortunately, they are not a very useful light source.


----------



## Marduke (Sep 2, 2008)

As some of you know, on a caving trip you are required to have at least 3 independent sources of light. Can you guess where this one is going?? 



On a recent caving trip, I noticed the secondary light of one girl was a $1 grocery store 2D plastic job with carbon zinc heavy duty batteries. I didn't want to be rude and say anything, but I had a quiet chuckle to myself. But hey, at least the light was new.... :shakehead


----------



## kramer5150 (Sep 3, 2008)

Casio G-shock electro-lume


----------



## Flashlight Aficionado (Sep 3, 2008)

Crenshaw said:


> a true flashaholic, should have a Light within as easy reach as his cell phone is.



Funny thing is, my flashlight is easier to reach than my cell phone. Not because I am a flashaholic, but because that is how my EDC items fit in my pockets and are most easily reached. Things just settled that way. :shrug:


----------



## dmonay (Sep 3, 2008)

Many years ago my wife and I had just moved to a new town and all the furniture we had was an alarm clock and our bed on the floor. We were too exhausted to bring in the rest of out furniture. I had my mag light on the floor some where next to me but I couldn't find it in the dark. So I picked up the alarm clock for light and waived it around to find the Mag Light. 

My wife laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 3, 2008)

dmonay said:


> My wife laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.


 
She's not the only one! :lolsign:


----------



## TONY M (Sep 3, 2008)

kramer5150 said:


> Casio G-shock electro-lume


 When you have night adaped eyes you can see a little in a brightly coloured room with a watch nightlight. Just a minute fraction of a lumen and a rare time when more light is nessecesary indoors with night adaped eyes I find.


----------



## TORCH_BOY (Sep 3, 2008)

I've seen people use matches, lighters, burning paper even the back lighting of their watch


----------



## Fallingwater (Sep 3, 2008)

Marduke said:


> On a recent caving trip, I noticed the secondary light of one girl was a $1 grocery store 2D plastic job with carbon zinc heavy duty batteries. I didn't want to be rude and say anything, but I had a quiet chuckle to myself. But hey, at least the light was new


Was her primary light at least decent?


----------



## divine (Sep 3, 2008)

dmonay said:


> Many years ago my wife and I had just moved to a new town and all the furniture we had was an alarm clock and our bed on the floor. We were too exhausted to bring in the rest of out furniture. I had my mag light on the floor some where next to me but I couldn't find it in the dark. So I picked up the alarm clock for light and waived it around to find the Mag Light.
> 
> My wife laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.


 They make alarm clocks WAY too bright. I have mine on the dim setting and it still brightens half of the room for night adjusted eyes. =\


----------



## jchoo (Sep 3, 2008)

divine said:


> They make alarm clocks WAY too bright. I have mine on the dim setting and it still brightens half of the room for night adjusted eyes. =\



I know what you mean! I put a strip of 20% window tint on the face of my alarm clock, and now it's tolerable. Why they EVER switched from red LED digits to yellow-green LED's is beyond me. As far as the movie theater goes, I too tend to use either my cell phone or nothing at all until I got the EX10... a single mode E2DL isn't exactly dim in a dark theater. It does, however, come in handy to blast the idiot in front of you tapping away on their crackberry.


----------



## ozner1991 (Sep 3, 2008)

so im not the only one thats pissed off because of the green alarmclock display. i kinda fixed it with an baseball bat :devil: and recorded it that alarmclock was broke anyway


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 3, 2008)

You guys could just set your alarm clocks, and then turn them to face the wall. :shrug:


----------



## Hondo (Sep 3, 2008)

divine said:


> They make alarm clocks WAY too bright. I have mine on the dim setting and it still brightens half of the room for night adjusted eyes. =\


 
A major +1.

I did not need anything fancy, but shelled out $20 for the Sony Dream Machine clock just to get the variable brightness option. It is only three levels, of which I can just live with the lowest one. I wish my ancient GE clock had not died, it had a constant variable brightness all the way down to nothing, but it would no longer set the alarm time to where I wanted it. They don't make them like they used to, only lasted about 25 years :laughing:. I must admit the Sony is nice with two independent alarms, which are much easier to set/adjust.

Monocrom, I still want to be able to read the time when I wake in the middle of the night!

Also guilty of using a cell phone to navigate, but could have had my hands on a good light with slightly more effort. When camping, we use those cheap glow sticks around the site, but mostly as markers to be able to find ours on the way back from the bath house.


----------



## kramer5150 (Sep 3, 2008)

Those must be some _REALLY _bright alarm clocks. I point the clock away from my bed, roll over and face the other way.  I wear a watch with good lume when I sleep at night to tell the time.


----------



## rackness (Sep 3, 2008)

Monocrom said:


> You guys could just set your alarm clocks, and then turn them to face the wall. :shrug:




Unless the display is tight against the wall you may still suffer from ceiling/wall bounce !

I have been lucky in my very, very old red led alarm clock still functions.


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 3, 2008)

rackness said:


> Unless the display is tight against the wall you may still suffer from ceiling/wall bounce !
> 
> I have been lucky in my very, very old red led alarm clock still functions.


 
Damn! I didn't know McGizmo was modding alarm clocks.


----------



## kramer5150 (Sep 3, 2008)

Its equally amazing what dedicated flashaholics will use for light. Some of you guys/gals are _really _out there:thumbsup:.


----------



## Ayeaux (Sep 3, 2008)

I once bought a Sony green led alarm clock after my old GE with dim red leds stopped working (about 12 years old). I couldn't sleep with the intense glow coming from the Sony. I had to put it on the floor facing under the bed.
I returned it the next day and luckily found an Emerson that was very similar to my old GE, especially the dim red leds.


----------



## lronchef (Sep 3, 2008)

Sweet, I guess I'm a flashaholic! I wear my P3D everywhere I go (even on my belt to church!) and my phone and knife.

I do use my phone (BB curve) for light, and since I put on a leaked copy of BBOS4.5 which has video recording..and hence a steady light from the flash LED, i can use that very bright LED for walking at night..of course I'll have to record video and it has to be dark enough to stay on. So with my keychain light, I carry 4 lights daily with me! NERD ALERT!


----------



## Marduke (Sep 3, 2008)

Fallingwater said:


> Was her primary light at least decent?



PT Quad


----------



## Black Rose (Sep 3, 2008)

Before joining CPF, I was perfectly happy carrying a Garrity 2xCR2016 LED light in my pocket and having a Garrity 3xAAA 5-mode light by the bed.

I have since bought better and brighter lights and keep on adding more lights to my inventory & wishlist.


----------



## slvoid (Sep 3, 2008)

bobli17 said:


> my neighbor takes his dog out to poop with a lamp and extention cord.


 
As least you know he won't be crapping very far... unless it's a really long lamp cord.


----------



## dmonay (Sep 5, 2008)

Wow look at all the alarm clock posts!
That old alarm clock of ours also lasted about 20 years it was a Montgomery Ward Airline model I think. It had dual alarms, clock radio and variable brightness for when the lights were turned on. The brightness never bothered us, but it gave off enough light to see a dark room. 
Now I have an Inova X1 2nd generation a 2AA Mag light with a Nite Ize 1 watt upgrade w/clickie and my old 3D mag with a mag led upgrade on the floor for things that go bump in the night.


----------



## CARNAL1 (Sep 5, 2008)

This past weekend I went to a Party in the Mountains at a friends cabin(Goodyear's Cabin). I saw alot of young people (20-30) using their cell phones to walk around the surrounding area. I was using my SF 6P w/R2 drop-in and RCR123's to navigate the darkness. My 6P gets 1 hour on rechargables, 2 hours on primaries. I had the chance to walk two young ladies to their car down a 200 ft long pitch black driveway. The 6P performed flawlessly. One of the young ladies commented that I was using a serious flashlight, to which I replied well we are in serious darkness. You can't see your hands in front of your face once you get away from the area lights near the cabin. It was a great weekend to be a flashaholic. Lights used over the weekend were:

SF 6P w/R2 Drop-in, SF M2 w/R2 drop-in, Fenix P2D Q5, ARC AAA-P (CS) on a Neck lanyard, my SF E2E Winelight w/TLS Q5 Conversion Head and last but not least my Pak-lite Super w/Ultralife Lithium 9 volt battery. These lights handled every dark situation that I had over the weekend. 

H.D.T. = Happy Dark Trails


----------



## SureAddicted (Sep 5, 2008)

Lighters  

I'm guilty of that myself.


----------



## FrogmanM (Sep 5, 2008)

SureAddicted said:


> Lighters
> 
> I'm guilty of that myself.


 
Hey, if its good enough for Indiana Jones....


Mayo


----------



## SureAddicted (Sep 5, 2008)

I think his one mite of been modded.


----------



## Till (Sep 5, 2008)

People who are using their cell phones for light always look at you like _you're_ the idiot when you take out a flashlight. 




FrogmanM said:


> Hey, if its good enough for Indiana Jones....
> 
> 
> Mayo




A flashlight would be better suited for navigating through a liquid petroleum sewer, though!


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 6, 2008)

Any of you acted like this guy?..... :candle:


----------



## Fallingwater (Sep 6, 2008)

Back when I used to stay at my grandma's place for extended periods of time, whenever a power outage happened she'd break out the candles. In the end she was forced to buy a supermarket incandescent because she had trouble finding the candles with no light at all. Of course this was a long time ago; today I'd give her a decent light, and replace all candles with cooking oil lanterns.


----------



## superflytnt (Sep 6, 2008)

I carry at least 2 lights on me every waking (and dressed) moment but I still use my lighter for some tasks. When the power goes out I still use tealight candles. There is just something about the light of a flame that agrees with me.

As for alarm clocks..............I dumped mine because of both the annoying screech (and equally annoying radio morning shows) and the bright glow. I now use only the alarm on my trusty Timex and the hands glow enough to see at night (or there is always the Indiglo) 

Once when I was in the Boyscouts, five or six of us got stuck a ways from camp in the dark and our leader had the only light (probably a MM) which promptly died. We had to navigate about 100 feet of a tricky trail with a steep dropoff to one side and we did it with some other kids camera flash. We all stop and gather around while he flashed and then try to remember what we saw in our heads and make it another 20 feet..........................Good times!


----------



## LED-holic (Sep 6, 2008)

LOL using camera flash to navigate... that's a good one...


----------



## Cyclops942 (Sep 7, 2008)

superflytnt said:


> Once when I was in the Boyscouts, five or six of us got stuck a ways from camp in the dark and our leader had the only light (probably a MM) which promptly died. We had to navigate about 100 feet of a tricky trail with a steep dropoff to one side and we did it with some other kids camera flash. We all stop and gather around while he flashed and then try to remember what we saw in our heads and make it another 20 feet..........................Good times!



So, what did the pictures look like?


----------



## superflytnt (Sep 7, 2008)

Cyclops942 said:


> So, what did the pictures look like?


 

LOL, he actually brought them to a later scout meeting. 

This one is a narrow trail with a sharp drop-off................. and this one is a narrow trail with a sharp drop-off................. Repeat half a dozen times, LOL They were, for the most part, really good shots all things considering.....................really brought back the memories :laughing:

His poor mother probably removed him from scouts the next year after seeing the pics and hearing THAT story.........................


----------



## 276 (Sep 7, 2008)

lronchef said:


> Sweet, I guess I'm a flashaholic! I wear my P3D everywhere I go (even on my belt to church!) and my phone and knife.
> 
> I do use my phone (BB curve) for light, and since I put on a leaked copy of BBOS4.5 which has video recording..and hence a steady light from the flash LED, i can use that very bright LED for walking at night..of course I'll have to record video and it has to be dark enough to stay on. So with my keychain light, I carry 4 lights daily with me! NERD ALERT!


Is that an Hissatsu CRKT folder I see, well built knife!


----------



## 276 (Sep 7, 2008)

Just a couple of weeks ago from friends car got towed & when he got it back he wanted to check the engine & asked me how bright is your cell phone, I just gave him a look and pulled out my Nitecore DX10


----------



## lronchef (Sep 7, 2008)

276 said:


> Is that an Hissatsu CRKT folder I see, well built knife!



 Indeed it is!


----------



## abvidledUK (Sep 7, 2008)

I just use the Moon on occasion !


----------



## TITAN1833 (Sep 7, 2008)

A balloon and a nylon shirt


----------



## Marduke (Sep 7, 2008)

How about the flip side. It's sometimes MORE amazing what a flashaholic will use for light.


On occasion, I have used the light given off by a single tritium vial to navigate by in complete darkness. The brightness is laughable at less than 1/10 of a lumen, but the runtime is impressive at over 12 YEARS to 50% initial brightness.


----------



## american lockpicker (Sep 7, 2008)

I once used a laser pointer. If you sweep it back and forth rapidly you can see things in the dark.


----------



## TITAN1833 (Sep 7, 2008)

american lockpicker said:


> I once used a laser pointer. If you sweep it back and forth rapidly you can see things in the dark.


that is cool,can you PM me wth tipsl


----------



## Juggernaut (Sep 8, 2008)

Crenshaw said:


> a true flashaholic, should have a Light within as easy reach as his cell phone is.
> 
> Crenshaw


 
I wouldn't call myself a flashaholic if this wasn't the case.


----------



## m16a (Sep 8, 2008)

Juggernaut said:


> I wouldn't call myself a flashaholic if this wasn't the case.



I have at least two lights that are in more convenient or the same convenience reach of my cell phone


Flashaholics rule!


----------



## Sgt. LED (Sep 8, 2008)

I usually forget the cell at home!

Good thing I have a light on me at all times. At the very least a Fenix E01, and usually an EX10.


----------



## GMWIGGS (Sep 8, 2008)

A Flashaholic, thats me! I've finally come to terms with my obsession!:duh2::duh2: Is there a cure?


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 8, 2008)

GMWIGGS said:


> A Flashaholic, thats me! I've finally come to terms with my obsession!:duh2::duh2: Is there a cure?


 
There probably is, but we're all too busy dreaming about our next light purchases to care. :sleepy:


----------



## Sub_Umbra (Sep 8, 2008)

I was at the helm of a ~190' boat one night at the extreme southern end of the Gulf of Mexico in the Bahia de Campeche. I came really close to creaming a local fisherman. It was dark, and he was out of sight of land. He had no running lights or even a flashlight -- he was standing up *flicking his Bic.*


----------



## 2000xlt (Sep 8, 2008)

bobli17 said:


> my neighbor takes his dog out to poop with a lamp and extention cord.



We need to see a pic of that, "the lamp with extension cord that is"


----------



## Turbo DV8 (Sep 8, 2008)

Hondo said:


> Monocrom, I still want to be able to read the time when I wake in the middle of the night!


 
I found that being able to readily see the time throughout the night every time I awoke was causing me to get poor sleep. You know, you have to get up at 6 AM, you sleep crappy, you wake up at 4:30 and see the clock says 4:30, your mind says, "Oh crap, I feel like I haven't slept and it's already 4:30," then you wake up every five minutes thereafter and look at the clock until 6 AM. My sleep improved greatly when I began to place my small LED alarm clock face down at night. If I awoke in the middle of the night, it took some self control and practice, but I forced myself to not lift up the clock and take a peek, and I've slept better ever since. Perhaps when I wake up in the middle of the night, I may only have 30 minutes of sleep left, but at least by not looking at the clock and not knowing it, I will sleep for the next 30 minutes instead of toss and turn, ticking off the minutes, waiting... Morning will come all by itself when it will, without looking at a clock! Now, I have gone to a battery powered night stand clock that does not glow at all unless you tap the "indiglo" light bar. "Ignorance is bliss!" And I don't even us the alarm on the clock. It's a very rude way to wake up in the morning. I have a Sony CD player/alarm clock that allows me to wake up to any track on a CD. Pick the right song, and it's a very nice way to wake up! Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens is one possibility...


BTW, if you must be able to see the clock but it is too bright, I have had good luck taming bright displays using sheets of Safety First window tinting. It is for use in a car to shade baby. Enough comes in a box to cover a hundred clocks. It is vinyl and is not permanent, but sticks very well. Just cut a small rectangle out. Downside is during the day you will have a hard time seeing the clock.


----------



## Sgt. LED (Sep 9, 2008)

Talk about a rude wake up....

I have a clock radio on a desk on the other side of the room and it's tuned to pure static and cranked! That thing blasts me outta bed like a cannon with my heart racing like mad every time! Let's ya know you're alive:tinfoil:

I can get away with this because everyone else is already up and gone by the time it goes off.


----------



## SaturnNyne (Sep 9, 2008)

That reminds me of the beastly Cobra alarm clock phone I had to use in elementary through high school. Nothing else could reliably get me up at such an ungodly hour, but this thing sounded like a fire alarm and jerked me out of bed with a shot of adrenalin. Imagining the sound of it still makes me feel antsy.

Great idea starting a thread about flashaholic alarm clocks!


----------



## TorchBoy (Sep 9, 2008)

superflytnt said:


> LOL, he actually brought them to a later scout meeting.
> 
> This one is a narrow trail with a sharp drop-off................. and this one is a narrow trail with a sharp drop-off................. Repeat half a dozen times, LOL They were, for the most part, really good shots all things considering.....................really brought back the memories :laughing:
> 
> His poor mother probably removed him from scouts the next year after seeing the pics and hearing THAT story.........................


Does he now work for Google Street View?


----------



## rockz4532 (Sep 9, 2008)

i once had to use a glow in the dark wristband to find my flashlight!, now i carry my RR1W at all times


----------



## Fallingwater (Sep 9, 2008)

SaturnNyne said:


> That reminds me of the beastly Cobra alarm clock phone I had to use in elementary through high school. Nothing else could reliably get me up at such an ungodly hour, but this thing sounded like a fire alarm and jerked me out of bed with a shot of adrenalin. Imagining the sound of it still makes me feel antsy.


A few links for your enjoyment:

This is a real honest-to-goodness fire alarm clock, and here are a few more really annoying alarm clocks. If you really have a lot of trouble waking up early you can get them all and set them at the same time


----------



## Flashfirstask?later (Sep 9, 2008)

A plumber I was working with today had a Maglite 2D LED so at least he had something decent.

Before this forum I never really considered edc options as my small pocket light was a Solitaire on keychain that ended up being more of a battery drainer and not ever really useful.



Fallingwater said:


> A few links for your enjoyment:
> 
> here are a few more really. If you really have a lot of trouble waking up early you can get them all and set them at the same time


I almost got the Sonic Boom and ended up getting a Ameriphone Wake Assure instead. It vibrates the bed (or if you dare, the pillow), a loud alarm and can make a plugged in light (directed at pillow) strobe on and off and has a really big/bright red display that makes me place it face down when sleeping. I also have a Shake Awake but it is a bit lumpy under the pillow and has been thrown across the room narrowly missing my TV or such a number of times while still half asleep.


----------



## Turbo DV8 (Sep 9, 2008)

Well, I guess if you are a deep sleeper, a rude awakening is what you need to jolt you awake. Not I. There use to be an "alarm lamp" that mimics a sunrise. Some study found that if you wake up gradually you feel more rested. This alarm lamp turned on an hour or so before your set time, but very, very dim. Over the course of the next hour or more, it gradually increased in brightness until it was fully ablaze. Presumably by this time you hed been pretty much gradually awakened. I belive at the set time in case you were not awake yet there was some sort of audible back-up. The price was insanely high for what it was. But it sounds like the way I would like to wake up, not with an audio-induced heart attack! From the number of alarm clock posts here in a flashlight forum, I think if some flashaholic here designed, built and sold such an "alarm lamp" at a reasonable price, it just might be a hit!


----------



## Illum (Sep 9, 2008)

BlueBeam22 said:


> I have been the only one in a movie theater twice to have a light, the second time I had my powerful Coleman MAX 115 lumen CREE and it was like a spotlight in there and lit the way for other people.



there was this family with two kids who are in the threatre watching the new star wars movie. A kid had a toy that was making noise...okay, sometime passed and the kid dropped it and started crawling around on the threatre floor looking for it. I happened to be seated on the highest row up so I simply watched. 
[I guess its the dad] lights two bic lighters and lowers them down beside the seats [keep in mind that the seats were CLOTH and there are FABRIC DRAPES on the sides of the theater walls!]. Someone [later found to be an employee] rushed up to them and made him extinguish it, then pulls out a small light [minimag, by the size and output I have no doubt] and help him look for it. 

I wasn't watching the movie anymore by that time but looking at two grown men crawling on the theater floor and the kid sitting in mom's lap crying all this time. 

I happened to have my M6+1185 handy...so 10th row up dawns a spotlight to the guys in the 3rd row...the employee with an apron shot straight up then ducked immediately down and I heard a voice shout something regards to @#$%. So I turn it off and strolled down the side aisle with my E2D + LF-EO-E1R and helped out. Turns out the boy's toy was a robot and when it landed on the floor the batteries [heavy duty AAs] rolled away. When everything was ordered and seated I was escorted out for being a distraction and carrying a weapon 
no one complained of the kid wailing and the dad that might have set the place  :sick2:

be advised, don't engage your light even if see someone who needs it until you have identified what your pointing the business end at. Turns out when the employee stood up I shot him squarely in the eye in a dark theater room with the 1185, he was not impressed to say the least. 



brucec said:


> As a kid, I once captured 20-30 fireflies in a jar. You know, cheap, rechargeable, and eco-friendly. Unfortunately, they are not a very useful light source.



they smell real bad if you 
1: stimulate their glands
2: forgot to unseal the can when the funs over


----------



## Turbo DV8 (Sep 9, 2008)

Illum_the_nation said:


> When everything was ordered and seated I was escorted out for being a distraction and carrying a weapon


 
"B-B-B-Bad to the Bone!"




> Originally Posted by *brucec*
> 
> 
> _As a kid, I once captured 20-30 fireflies in a jar._


 


Illum_the_nation said:


> They smell real bad if you
> 1: stimulate their glands.


 
How did you discover this? :naughty: Pervert! :shakehead


----------



## TorchBoy (Sep 9, 2008)

Illum_the_nation said:


> Turns out when the employee stood up I shot him squarely in the eye in a dark theater room with the 1185, he was not impressed to say the least.


 That *was* a bit inconsiderate of you, really. He was just trying to help, after all.



Turbo DV8 said:


> How did you discover this? :naughty: Pervert! :shakehead


----------



## Illum (Sep 9, 2008)

TorchBoy said:


> That *was *a bit inconsiderate of you, really. *He was just trying to help, after all.*



so was I


hey, fireflies emit an odor....its a defensive mechanism...at least to me.
I'm a naturalist but not to the extent of goin out and molesting bugs:laughing:


----------



## Turbo DV8 (Sep 10, 2008)

Illum_the_nation said:


> hey, fireflies emit an odor....its a defensive mechanism...at least to me.


 
I would emit a defensive odor, too, if something 100,000 times my size tried to start stimulating my glands! :laughing:


----------



## SaturnNyne (Sep 10, 2008)

Fallingwater said:


> A few links for your enjoyment:
> 
> This is a real honest-to-goodness fire alarm clock, and here are a few more really annoying alarm clocks. If you really have a lot of trouble waking up early you can get them all and set them at the same time


Wow, I had no idea alarms had come so far... I was really hoping the entire flying clock would take off and attack, now that one would impress me.




Turbo DV8 said:


> There use to be an "alarm lamp" that mimics a sunrise. Some study found that if you wake up gradually you feel more rested. This alarm lamp turned on an hour or so before your set time, but very, very dim. Over the course of the next hour or more, it gradually increased in brightness until it was fully ablaze.


I remember those, definitely the best way for a flashaholic to wake up.


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 10, 2008)

Best way to wake up..... Start dating a Morning-person, sleep over at her home as much as possible, have her wake you up.

Best part is, you can discuss before-hand how she does it. :naughty:


----------



## TorchBoy (Sep 10, 2008)

Illum_the_nation said:


> so was I


:laughing: One of my email taglines: "If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me." Plumbers' rates: $10 per hour, or $15 per hour if you watch, or $20 per hour if you help.


----------



## Flashlight Aficionado (Sep 10, 2008)

Turbo DV8 said:


> There use to be an "alarm lamp" that mimics a sunrise.





SaturnNyne said:


> I remember those, definitely the best way for a flashaholic to wake up.


No. A _TRUE_ flashaholic would aim a 10,000 lumen flashlight at their head, rigged to the alarm clock.


----------



## ozner1991 (Sep 10, 2008)

i have once been used as source of light... no not because i had an flashlight its because im so white i kinda glow in the dark:nana:


----------



## Illum (Sep 10, 2008)

SaturnNyne said:


> I remember those, definitely the best way for a flashaholic to wake up.


 
try strobe next

okay back tp topic...anyone notice any other forms of non-flashaholic lighting?

I was in my porch during the evening and I see a fire somewhere around the lake I live close to...so I went down to my neighbors dock and lo....
tiki torches on a paddle boat. I'm not sure who came up with the idea or whether its intentions were to create ambient lighting, but eitherway I thought I post it here.


----------



## zipplet (Sep 10, 2008)

I've seen people come out of their homes during blackouts and use the headlights on their car to check or read something (e.g. a phonebook). So sad


----------



## Fallingwater (Sep 10, 2008)

Turbo DV8 said:


> Well, I guess if you are a deep sleeper, a rude awakening is what you need to jolt you awake. Not I. There use to be an "alarm lamp" that mimics a sunrise. Some study found that if you wake up gradually you feel more rested. This alarm lamp turned on an hour or so before your set time, but very, very dim. Over the course of the next hour or more, it gradually increased in brightness until it was fully ablaze. Presumably by this time you hed been pretty much gradually awakened. I belive at the set time in case you were not awake yet there was some sort of audible back-up. The price was insanely high for what it was. But it sounds like the way I would like to wake up, not with an audio-induced heart attack!


Not for me. I hate hate HATE the gradual light coming in from outside. I'm quite sensitive to light, so this has the effect of effectively waking me up at the start and making me progressively more nervous as I have more and more difficulty nodding off again. I wake up in the mood for murder.
This is why I always close my window shutters completely at night (or should I say nearly at morning  ).


----------



## Monocrom (Sep 11, 2008)

*Introducing.... *

Monocrom's Wake-up service.

For only $50 a month, I'll come to your house and wake you up.... And you WILL get up.


----------



## SaturnNyne (Sep 11, 2008)

Flashlight Aficionado said:


> No. A _TRUE_ flashaholic would aim a 10,000 lumen flashlight at their head, rigged to the alarm clock.





Illum_the_nation said:


> try strobe next


I disagree. I view flashaholism as the pursuit of high quality lights, not merely of high quantities of photons (though that's a nice aspect of it). I considered more dramatic methods, such as these, but decided that truly advanced level flashaholism, in the purest and most refined spirit of it, has more to do with the picky and perfectionist desire to do light-related things in an optimal fashion rather than simply using the most photonic brute force possible. Discerning taste and skillful light culture over excessive quantity and vulgar displays of power. I would suggest that your suggested methods are generally more likely those of the less refined lumen-chaser and not the more experienced and cultured user—the true flashaholic, as I see it. But that's me, and I'm an elitist arse with a penchant for lights capable of extreme dimness and precise application of illumination; if simple power is what you're into, or if your definition of what it means to be a flashaholic differs from mine, go ahead and blast the sleep away.

That said, I stand behind my statement. If it does indeed work properly, I'd like to wake to a gentle, well thought out, precise application of light; not to a searing blast to my dark adapted eyes. I love the illumination of light, not the light itself.

But if you find a good deal on a 10,000lm flashlight, let me know and I'll give that a try too... 


On the topic, I recently saw someone use a barely functioning plastic 2AA incandescent running on, I believe, either substantially discharged NiCads or old and mismatched alkalines (against my warnings)... and then complain when it wasn't enough to see what he was after. And this despite the fact that I long ago gave him a respectable ~30lm led light. It breaks my flashaholic heart to see the decent light brought out only for occasional serious tasks while the convenient-to-hand but completely worthless light gets used (unsuccessfully) and the job goes undone because of it.


----------



## Flashlight Aficionado (Sep 11, 2008)

SaturnNyne - First, I hope you realize I was joking about _real flashaholics_.

On a more serious note. I am a very heavy sleeper. I have had times I slept through the alarm until it stops on its own. They all seem to give up after an hour. Yes, it was on and working, I checked. I bought a nasty alarm a few years ago. After a few mornings I began calling it "The Electronic Heart Attack" It was a terrifying experience to be awoken to. Guess what? My body adapted and when extremely tired, I can sleep for half an hour before it wakes me. Thankfully, it still wakes me up or I would have to buy a stungun attached to an alarm clock to wake me up.

So when I said 10,000 lumens aimed right at my head to wake me up, I was serious. Just not about the _real flashaholic_ part.


----------



## TorchBoy (Sep 11, 2008)

SaturnNyne said:


> ... truly advanced level flashaholism, in the purest and most refined spirit of it, has more to do with the picky and perfectionist desire to do light-related things in an optimal fashion rather than simply using the most photonic brute force possible.


So you'd use a timer to turn on a laser, which triggers a photodiode across the room, which starts a rotor, which gently starts rocking the bed, and you wake to see a scrolling LED display spelling out a "Welcome to the day" message ... :tinfoil:


----------



## zipplet (Sep 11, 2008)

Last night, I saw 2 walkers out at night with lights. One old lady had a reasonably useful LED light putting out about 10-15 lumens, and another middle aged guy was using an *incredibly* dim 2xAA incan. I'm not joking, I'd say 1 lumen at best, you could barely see the spot.

That's just sick.


----------



## Illum (Sep 11, 2008)

SaturnNyne said:


> ...and perfectionist desire to do light-related things in an optimal fashion rather than simply using the most photonic brute force possible. Discerning taste and skillful light culture over excessive quantity and vulgar displays of power.


 
Why settle with a pistol when a howitzer works just as well?


----------



## Turbo DV8 (Sep 11, 2008)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JGDLLU/?tag=cpf0b6-20


----------



## SaturnNyne (Sep 12, 2008)

Flashlight Aficionado said:


> SaturnNyne - First, I hope you realize I was joking about _real flashaholics_.


Yup and that's certainly fine, but I take my flashaholing seriously and actually did stop and consider if I could think of a better true flashaholic wakeup (meaning a better quality of wakeup that happens to involve photons, not just more flashlighty); plus it was 4am, so I wasn't about to let that go without saddling up my high horse.



Flashlight Aficionado said:


> On a more serious note. I am a very heavy sleeper. I have had times I slept through the alarm until it stops on its own . . . So when I said 10,000 lumens aimed right at my head to wake me up, I was serious. Just not about the _real flashaholic_ part.


Same for me, which is why the way I think to be "best" would almost certainly not work at all for me. Truth be told, I actually would need to hook that sunrise simulation alarm up to your 10,000lm cannon.



Illum_the_nation said:


> Why settle with a pistol when a howitzer works just as well?


:sleepy: If it's adequate, I think the pistol would be highly preferable in many situations... But otherwise, yea let 'er rip! It's like how I don't use my HID to read driving directions at night—I have to think up other excuses! 




TorchBoy said:


> So you'd use a timer to turn on a laser, which triggers a photodiode across the room, which starts a rotor, which gently starts rocking the bed, and you wake to see a scrolling LED display spelling out a "Welcome to the day" message ... :tinfoil:


I stand corrected. Change "laser" to "flashlight with aspheric lens," maybe add in a high output version of the sunrise thing, and I think we may be well on our way to a new best flashaholic wakeup. And I guess for an emergency backup, any of Monocrom's ideas would be quite adequate. :thumbsup:


----------



## EasySt (Jan 19, 2009)

I ditched my alarm clock over a year ago for a "Chumby". 

It wakes me up to internet radio, the local weather, my kid's Flickr pics and videos, and whatever else I might want from the net. It also has a nice dim night mode.

It's a little touch screen, motion sensing, WiFi enabled, always on internet device with surprisingly nice sounding stereo speakers, embedded in a leather covered bean bag. 

It has over 1000 free widgets that can be installed and endlessly cycled through, with more coming on line all the time.

It sits next to my bedside E2DL... 

http://www.chumby.com


----------



## greenlight (Jan 19, 2009)

When did this turn into an alarm clock thread?? 

My anti-flashlight friend refuses to bring a flashlight to work, even the one I gave him out of frustration, and he likes to use a LIGHTER to help customers find their way to their seats. I finally had to tell him that was unacceptable and to bring his damn flashlight. Some people.


----------



## TITAN1833 (Jan 19, 2009)

greenlight said:


> When did this turn into an alarm clock thread??
> 
> .


I was thinking the same thing!,
I guess it was today at approximately 10hrs.19mins AM, seconds unknown!


----------



## PCC (Jan 19, 2009)

I'm guilty of using my cellphone as a flashlight.

A former coworker told me once that he was trying to write an app so that he could manually turn on the LED "flash" on his Blackberry to be used as a flashlight. It's quite bright and is worthless as a flash as it turns on a good second before it takes the picture so you get lots of pictures of people with their eyes closed from this blinding light in their face. Turning it into a light would at least make it useful. Any person who has any interest in photography wouldn't be caught dead using the camera on this thing anyway but I'm not about to EDC a DSLR!

I'm a light sleeper so I set my alarm clock to some random radio station and the volume so low that all I hear is noise. It's enough to wake me up. OTOH, I have a nephew who lives downstairs who can sleep through a nuclear explosion who sets his alarm clock the same way I do except at maximum volume. A few times, now, he's forgot to turn the bloody alarm off before spending the night at his GF's house and it can wake me up. I'm upstairs not directly over his bedroom.

As for the brightness thing on my alarm clock, I once took a 35mm processed negative leader (the part of the film that is not exposed in the camera but is given back to you from the film processor's) and taped it across the front of my alarm clock because it was too bright.


----------



## brucec (Jan 19, 2009)

I once saw someone reading a magazine with the light from a bunch of glass vials filled with radioactive gas and phosphor. Oh wait, that was me...


----------



## lightcacher (Jan 19, 2009)

I've used the dial LED's on this watch to light my way. It has two and they are bright enough to illuminate a small area in a pinch.


----------



## chew socks (Jan 19, 2009)

My mom had an alarm clock once with blue LEDs that, based on comparable light ceiling bounce tests, was probably about 50 lumens. :shakehead


----------



## elumen8 (Jan 19, 2009)

Talk about expensive non-flashlight lighting...my buddy recently had a blackout without a flashlight around. He promptly turned on his laptop computer to light up his way around the house. Kept him from being bored as well. LOL

He is now the proud owner of an SF G2-Malkoff M60L courtesy of yours truly.

-JB


----------



## SaturnNyne (Jan 19, 2009)

PCC said:


> I once took a 35mm processed negative leader (the part of the film that is not exposed in the camera but is given back to you from the film processor's) and taped it across the front of my alarm clock because it was too bright.


Good idea! I've been looking for something to serve this purpose (short of going out and buying window tinting), I'll have to give this a try. Thanks!


----------



## Buck91 (Jan 19, 2009)

All these posts about cellphone lights makes me miss the two leds built into my old w810i... And the macro camera function...


----------



## 276 (Jan 19, 2009)

I still have my w810i thats why i wont give up that phone is because of the light.


----------



## Timothybil (Jan 19, 2009)

chew socks said:


> My mom had an alarm clock once with blue LEDs that, based on comparable light ceiling bounce tests, was probably about 50 lumens. :shakehead


I recently bought a small set of portable speakers for my mp3 player when they were on clearance at Walmart for $5. They have a blue power led that has to be close to 10 lumens. It throws about a one foot circle of blue light on the ceiling - and there aren't that many artifacts in it either!


----------



## VillageIdiot (Jan 19, 2009)

276 said:


> I still have my w810i thats why i wont give up that phone is because of the light.



Same here. It's really useful.


----------



## Guy's Dropper (Jan 19, 2009)

If I do not have a flashlight available, I'm going to use my phone. Most people do not carry flashlights. Being resourceful is better than not using light at all.


----------



## 276 (Jan 19, 2009)

I have also used my zippo to navigate through the woods.


----------



## Kingfisher (Jan 20, 2009)

http://www.johnhaney.com/flashlight/


----------



## ktafil (Jan 20, 2009)

I used to be a guide in the caves.
Almost all guides used maglites at that time (beginning of the 90's)
Once a collegue guide was walking through the caves on his own when the batteries of his 4D left him in the dark.

He still had matches, but not enough to to get him out.
He put his T-shirt around his 4D maglite and lit it as a torch.
This is how he gout out safe!

So remember to always have spare light with you in a cave!


----------



## Dods60 (Jan 20, 2009)

About twenty years ago, cousin of mine (he was fourteen then) was at a disused rubbish tip (Garbage disposal site) with his friends. When they found a crave so the smart guy that he is decided to explore it. As one could imagine, it smelt quite badly (methane and other toxic gases I guess) so his friend found a air freshener can that they thought they could spray to cover the smell while they played in the hole. My cousin then noticed a large pipe in the back of the crave that he wanted to look into to see if it led anywhere. As they were not in possession of a flashlight as it was daytime, one of his friends had a cigarette lighter. Well I guess you can imagine what happened next. BOOOM! The doctors believed that if it was not for his friends carrying him too a bathtub full of water used to feed horses in a paddock, he may not have survived! It was also a passer by that saw the injury and picked him up to take him to hospital that helped his survival also. He is now a father of two, has never smoked as I think he is scared of lighters.

Although this is a true story; I guess if you need a flashlight, use a flashlight! If not, have a basic understanding of combustibles!


----------



## parnass (Jan 20, 2009)

Here is a closed circuit video clip from a Brazilian Shell gas station which shows what happens when the attendant uses his cigarette lighter instead of a flashlight to look inside a gasoline tanker truck.

http://somkidsri.multiply.com/video/item/2


----------



## Isak Hawk (Jan 20, 2009)

parnass said:


> Here is a closed circuit video clip from a Brazilian Shell gas station which shows what happens when the attendant uses his cigarette lighter instead of a flashlight to look inside a gasoline tanker truck.
> 
> http://somkidsri.multiply.com/video/item/2


 
HAHA! Darwin's natural selection at work


----------



## TITAN1833 (Jan 20, 2009)

how dumb is the other guy?,right next to him is a very big watering hose that would have put him out in a flash


----------



## PCC (Jan 20, 2009)

Look again. Towards the end, the big hose is puffing out fire from the guy rolling over it and igniting it.


----------



## Stress_Test (Jan 20, 2009)

I've been guilty of the cell-phone-as-a-flashlight before, and it was totally inadequate, because my eyes hadn't had time to adjust -- this was after going into a blacked out basement. The irony was that I had several decent lights, but none actually on me at the time!

That was the instigator of my edc policy! 

I had some redemption at least, because just last week I was again in a dark basement at work, looking for a circuit box, and there was a section that apparently didn't have lighting like it was supposed to. L1D to the rescue!


----------



## andytheboa (Jan 20, 2009)

Illum_the_nation said:


> Why settle with a pistol when a howitzer works just as well?


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 21, 2009)

I used my mobile phone flash through my binoculars. Its a as good thrower as a rc-g2 no joke.(point it at the eye end)


----------



## balou (Jan 21, 2009)

My cellphone's LED (Sony Ericsson W850i) has a brighter hotspot than my Nitecore D10 on low. It's quite usable as a light, only thing is that you have to fiddle for some time to unlock the phone and get into the menu.


----------



## qwertyydude (Jan 21, 2009)

Ever hear of the one where someone was checking the gas tank of their car with a lighter? It's actually true, the guy was trying to steal gas, won a Darwin Award for that kind of stupidity. When we all step back you can realize how inadequate other light sources are, and perhaps how a P7 light can actually be too bright, yes there is such a thing. In the quest for more lumens I think the P7 and MC-E are about as bright as a flashlight needs to be.


----------



## Hooked on Fenix (Jan 21, 2009)

I've posted this story before, but it relates to this topic.

Years ago, I went to a drive-in movie theater. Between movies, a couple were trying to jump start their car. It is very common for car batteries to go dead since people use their car radios for hours to listen to the movie. Anyway, they were trying to see so they could hook up the jumper cables. I was walking by and found them trying to use a Mag Solitaire and a cheap coin cell crank light to light up the engine. The Mag was half dead. A laser pointer would have been brighter and more useful. The crank light was the type that used rechargeable coin cells and charges fine once before the fast charging fries the battery and makes it not hold a charge at all. The woman was constantly cranking it because if she stopped, the light would instantly go out. I tried to hold back the laughter long enough to help. I pulled out a PT Genesis light and lit up the whole engine.

While they actually did have lights (having more than one is unusual for a nonflashoholic), the lights were totally useless. We often say that two is one and one is none. That only works with decent, useable lights with good batteries. However, I'm sure that they thought they were getting the best lights when they bought them. After all, the average person thinks Mags are the best they can get and those crank lights promise 100,000 hour lifetimes for the l.e.d.s and that you never need to change the batteries. Unfounded brand awareness and gimmicks used to make the product seem better than it is make average people stay away from spending money for decent flashlights. They don't know what they're missing because they have bad experiences with lousy lights that promise them everything they want but fail when they need them to work.


----------



## balou (Jan 21, 2009)

qwertyydude, depends on the application. A searchlight with only 500 lumens wouldn't be useful.


----------



## Hooked on Fenix (Jan 21, 2009)

Monocrom said:


> *Introducing.... *
> 
> Monocrom's Wake-up service.
> 
> For only $50 a month, I'll come to your house and wake you up.... And you WILL get up.



Now what part of this is the real wake up call? Is it the penguin with the cymbals or the polar bear trying to scare me out of my bed so he has a place to go back to sleep?


----------



## GarageBoy (Jan 21, 2009)

All I had during the NYC blackout was a 2AA Ray o Vac


----------



## danpass (Jan 21, 2009)

with an updated OS the Blackberry 8310 can function as a pretty decent light.

The newer OS allows for the camera to be used a video camera and within that function the LED (usually a flash unit) can be set to 'on'.


----------



## qwertyydude (Jan 21, 2009)

balou said:


> qwertyydude, depends on the application. A searchlight with only 500 lumens wouldn't be useful.



True but a P7 does not a searchlight make. They're entirely different beasties kinda like the difference between a lighter and a blow torch, both make heat but I wouldn't use a blow torch to light a campfire, or would I? :laughing:


----------



## Monocrom (Jan 21, 2009)

*To: Hooked on Fenix ~*

We use the bear if the penguin can't get the job done. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

*To: GarageBoy ~*

I ended up being stuck upstate during the Blackout. After about 3 or 4 hours, the power was back on. I wasn't really stuck, so much as got to hang out longer at my best friend's sweet new apartment.


----------



## mpteach (Jan 21, 2009)

The max backlight setting on the iPhone is very intense for a phone. I prefer the jailbroken white flashlight app because it automatically increases the backlight so you don't have to go through a bunch of setup screens like the apple apoved ones. The light is very usable within 5 feet it's all flood. It rivals cheap incandescents. 

I remember painting with my dad on a gutted fire damaged house. We had two guys spraying bin primer sealer in the basement to seal in the smoke damage. That primer is 2/3 alchahol they sprayed several dozen gallons down there it was a mist. Then the breaker blew and one guy went for his lighter to see it and the other guy smacked it out of his hands. I was working outside the basement window!


----------



## mpteach (Jan 21, 2009)

Clocky is the craziest alarm it has wheels and runs away from
you.

I replaced the lightswich in my bedroom with h digital timer kind so I can program my lights to go on minutes before I have to wake up


----------



## Sgt. LED (Jan 21, 2009)

PCC said:


> Look again. Towards the end, the big hose is puffing out fire from the guy rolling over it and igniting it.


 Yep that's the hose you hook up to the truck to fill up the station's tanks.


----------



## PlayboyJoeShmoe (Jan 21, 2009)

To the subject of alarm clocks. I get awakened by my Dad on work days, and all he has to do is open the door.

When I have to get up early I set my alarm clock but NEVER get a good nights sleep on those nights.

I also HATE to wake up at like 5:30 because I never get back that 30 minutes.

As to using other stuff for lighting. I once used a stock Minimag!


----------



## Big_Ed (Jan 21, 2009)

Hooked on Fenix said:


> I've posted this story before, but it relates to this topic.
> 
> Years ago, I went to a drive-in movie theater. Between movies, a couple were trying to jump start their car. It is very common for car batteries to go dead since people use their car radios for hours to listen to the movie. Anyway, they were trying to see so they could hook up the jumper cables. I was walking by and found them trying to use a Mag Solitaire and a cheap coin cell crank light to light up the engine. The Mag was half dead. A laser pointer would have been brighter and more useful. The crank light was the type that used rechargeable coin cells and charges fine once before the fast charging fries the battery and makes it not hold a charge at all. The woman was constantly cranking it because if she stopped, the light would instantly go out. I tried to hold back the laughter long enough to help. I pulled out a PT Genesis light and lit up the whole engine.
> 
> While they actually did have lights (having more than one is unusual for a nonflashoholic), the lights were totally useless. We often say that two is one and one is none. That only works with decent, useable lights with good batteries. However, I'm sure that they thought they were getting the best lights when they bought them. After all, the average person thinks Mags are the best they can get and those crank lights promise 100,000 hour lifetimes for the l.e.d.s and that you never need to change the batteries. Unfounded brand awareness and gimmicks used to make the product seem better than it is make average people stay away from spending money for decent flashlights. They don't know what they're missing because they have bad experiences with lousy lights that promise them everything they want but fail when they need them to work.



I worked at a drive-in theater last summer and had to jump start at least 1 or 2 cars every weekend. I always had my Surefire L1 Cree on a lanyard around my neck to light up the engine compartment. Worked perfectly every time. By the way, that was the summer of a lifetime. It was a great place to play with my flashlights! I'm going back up there this weekend to visit my buddy who owns the place, and I'm going to bring lots of my lights to play with! Woo Hoo!


----------



## kongfuchicken (Jan 21, 2009)

ktafil said:


> I used to be a guide in the caves.
> Almost all guides used maglites at that time (beginning of the 90's)
> Once a collegue guide was walking through the caves on his own when the batteries of his 4D left him in the dark.
> 
> ...



This is one of the funniest stories I've read on this board. 
I can picture someone shirtless trying to find his way out of a cave, periodically swapping hands to hold his irony-saturated torch because of how hot it gets and thinking "damn my pants are next, I'd better find the exit".


----------



## Guy's Dropper (Jan 22, 2009)

Epic!:laughing:


----------



## KiwiMark (Jan 22, 2009)

PlayboyJoeShmoe said:


> As to using other stuff for lighting. I once used a stock Minimag!



I used to keep one a Mag Solitaire on my keyring - then I discovered decent torches. I switched my Solitaire for a Microstream - huge improvement. Now I use a L0D - even better!


----------



## AyeMayanor (Jan 23, 2009)

I was in Animal Kingdom, waiting inside the Tree of Life to get into It's Tough To Be A Bug...and saw a guy attempting to read a park map by his lighter.


----------



## leukoplast (Jan 24, 2009)

Crenshaw said:


> a true flashaholic, should have a Light within as easy reach as his cell phone is.
> 
> Crenshaw



Exactly, I never leave home without my SF L4 Digital Lumamax clipped in the right front pocket of my jeans. And let me tell you, it has come in handy so many times as it's always easy to reach and always ready to go whenever I need it.


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 24, 2009)

Of course a non-flashoholic with a car can use this...


----------



## TITAN1833 (Jan 24, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Of course a non-flashoholic with a car can use this...


 Now that is cool and worth remembering.
BTW the bit at the end, do not use this method when filling up with gas


----------



## 276 (Jan 24, 2009)

Thats a really cool vid, one of the guys at work got a kick out of that vid.


----------



## Monocrom (Jan 25, 2009)

276 said:


> Thats a really cool vid, one of the guys at work got a kick out of that vid.


 
Just imagine what Milky could do with a pencil. :huh:


----------



## hurricane (Jan 25, 2009)

Sub_Umbra said:


> I was at the helm of a ~190' boat one night at the extreme southern end of the Gulf of Mexico in the Bahia de Campeche. I came really close to creaming a local fisherman. It was dark, and he was out of sight of land. He had no running lights or even a flashlight -- he was standing up *flicking his Bic.*



Nice! That's a good story. I worked for Coast Guard SAR for a number of years and it's unbelievable the crap I've seen out on the water - even in North America where hopefully people have seen or at least heard of collision regs and perhaps even have running lights. Often, people in small boats are invisible on radar. You have to have the right tools for the job [combined with the training to use them] ... or don't engage in that activity.


----------



## lctorana (Jan 25, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Of course a non-flashoholic with a car can use this...


 

That's wonderful!

I've GOTTA try that. There's my evening, right there.

Carbon filaments and carbon filament lamps have long fascinated me already...


----------



## 276 (Jan 25, 2009)

Monocrom said:


> Just imagine what Milky could do with a pencil. :huh:


 
Hahahaha


----------



## Arkiv N (Jan 25, 2009)

balou said:


> My cellphone's LED (Sony Ericsson W850i) has a brighter hotspot than my Nitecore D10 on low. It's quite usable as a light, only thing is that you have to fiddle for some time to unlock the phone and get into the menu.


On my Sony Ericsson W800i i just turn on the camera and press * (the quick command for light on camera mode), i just takes 2 seconds to turn on the light then the phone is locked.


----------



## mwelch8404 (Feb 8, 2009)

TONY M said:


> That is pretty funny.
> 
> Before my buddy and I were flashaholics we would sometimes use the flint spark from lighters to see outdoors on windy nights...:shakehead
> 
> Cellphones should come with 10+ lumen lights built in.


 
Sorry to resurrect and old thread, but I've been offline for a while:

http://www.casiogzone.com/type_s/

It is in between the medium setting and the low setting of my Fenix LOP SE, but with no center hot spot. This is also the camera flash, but actually has a dedicated on /off button that sets it to flashlight...

I usually use my SF A2, just 'cause it's easier to get to, since it's on my belt and can really provide serious light when needed.


----------



## Search (Feb 9, 2009)

For those talking about alarm clocks.

Go to Wal-Mart or Best Buy and buy the one that is synced with satellites. Well, something like that.

It has a dim red light and you never have to set the time, just the date and the rest is automatic. It doesn't get any better than that.


----------



## ruriimasu (Feb 10, 2009)

Search said:


> For those talking about alarm clocks.
> 
> Go to Wal-Mart or Best Buy and buy the one that is synced with satellites. Well, something like that.
> 
> It has a dim red light and you never have to set the time, just the date and the rest is automatic. It doesn't get any better than that.



No.. you had to revive alarm clocks again! :hairpull::whoopin:


----------



## divine (Feb 10, 2009)

On the candleflowerforums they have a thread about what flashaholics will use for light.


----------



## qwertyydude (Feb 11, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Of course a non-flashoholic with a car can use this...



That's gotta be the stupidest workaround I've ever seen. You're in a car. There have got to be literally dozens of lightbulbs you can just pop out and wire up to your battery for light. Instead of working for 15 minutes trying to make a light, probably in the dark so you're using your DOME LIGHT to light your light making work, why not just pop the dome light out and use it. Problem solved.


----------



## KiwiMark (Feb 11, 2009)

qwertyydude said:


> That's gotta be the stupidest workaround I've ever seen. You're in a car. There have got to be literally dozens of lightbulbs you can just pop out and wire up to your battery for light. Instead of working for 15 minutes trying to make a light, probably in the dark so you're using your DOME LIGHT to light your light making work, why not just pop the dome light out and use it. Problem solved.



Not to mention that many of us do NOT have a pencil!

I may not have a pencil on hand when I am in my vehicle, but I do have a torch (cheap multi LED in a compartment) . . . and then there is my EDC (Jet-I w/14500) in my pocket . . . and my backup on my keyring (L0D) . . . and usually my EDC2 (Olight Ti Infinitum) in another pocket.

So I have 4 torches, 1 cellphone and no pencil.

My non-flashaholic friends are also pencil-less but most have some cheap *** torch in their cars that will hopefully not fail when they need it.


----------



## 325addict (Feb 11, 2009)

Well... you wonder what people use as a light... but my boss didn't use ANYTHING as a light, when we had one of those seldom blackouts here in the Netherlands.

Although I am the only one having a few flashlights on my desk, he didn't even use them, when I remember right, after the emergency lights went out (after about an hour).

He still asks us: WHAT the **** is so amazingly interesting in these lights??!!
(not only I am a bit - or more - of a flashaholic, at least three other people are carrying around fine illumination tools: either modded Mag AAs, or an Olight M20 Warrior, or an Inova 5-LED light...)

He still doesn't get the point 


Timmo.


----------



## GarageBoy (Feb 11, 2009)

Hey, if he doesn't need it, he doesn't need it. Better than the guys who say you don't need that, followed by can I borrow your....?


----------



## lctorana (Feb 11, 2009)

qwertyydude said:


> That's gotta be the stupidest workaround I've ever seen. You're in a car. There have got to be literally dozens of lightbulbs you can just pop out and wire up to your battery for light. Instead of working for 15 minutes trying to make a light, probably in the dark so you're using your DOME LIGHT to light your light making work, why not just pop the dome light out and use it. Problem solved.


 
OK, agreed...

But:

a) betcha didn't know it would work
b) betcha didn't know it would put out that much light
c) betcha didn't know it would last that long in free air
d) it's fascinating!
e) it is of vital historical interest - you can clearly see how the carbon filament light bulb got invented
f) it's easy do do and play with.

The fact that you wouldn't use it in practice around your car is neither here nor there.


----------



## bluecrow76 (Feb 11, 2009)

lctorana said:


> The fact that you wouldn't use it in practice around your car is neither here nor there.



Agreed! I thought was one the most impractical but coolest things I'd seen in a while! My wife actual gave a "that's cool" instead of the typical double eye roll.


----------



## flashy bazook (Feb 14, 2009)

on the subject of cell phones and light, I don't think anyone mentioned the Sony Ericsson models that can accept a little LED attachment (2-pronged) that fits in the recharging plug. Produces a blue light that is not bad for navigating say a darkened cinema theater. This is available from Sony as a "regular" accessory by the way.

an excellent option that I often use in cinema theaters is the Surefire L1, first generation with the red LED. On low it is 0.7 lumens and can run for 50 hours on a 1xCR123A. If you need the higher setting (22 lumens) it's there with a deeper depression of the tactical tailcap switch.

I've never had anyone threaten me with the When Harry Met Sally scream when using the red LED SF L1.


----------



## SaturnNyne (Feb 14, 2009)

flashy bazook said:


> I've never had anyone threaten me with the When Harry Met Sally scream when using the red LED SF L1.


:laughing: It took me a moment to figure out what the heck you meant before I remembered it was my own story you were referring to.


----------



## qwertyydude (Feb 15, 2009)

lctorana said:


> OK, agreed...
> 
> But:
> 
> ...



Actually I already know the lead would work because edison's original bulb was a carbon filament. But if you want to see real bright light what you can do is sharpen the lead to a point and contact it with a metal plate. Mechanical pencil lead works even better. The sharp point is a greater resistance than the rest so the lead doesn't all burn up at the same time. Only the point burns but it will be a brilliant white light instead of a dull orange. It's about the same color temperature as carbon arc lamps.


----------



## Illum (Feb 27, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Of course a non-flashoholic with a car can use this...



[email protected]
being a mod you could at least provide the link to that thread, its way back in 2007 when this came about 
*Turn A PENCIL Into A LIGHT !*


----------

