# What flashlight you have in hand before you get into CPF?



## Ben Wu (Jan 23, 2018)

Wonder what flashlight you guys used before you get into CPF, I have a Fenix LD12 and Wuben TO10R, welcome to post yours below!


----------



## XR6Toggie (Jan 24, 2018)

Led Lenser P7
Maglite 3D LED
Wolf Eyes Pro Police


----------



## DIPSTIX (Jan 24, 2018)

Bushnell from Wal-Mart. I went out on a whim and bought the brightest light I could that I thought I could edc. I Paid $45 for it and now I look back and want to smack myself. Should have bought a D1


----------



## Timothybil (Jan 24, 2018)

A couple of Photon IIs and a G2.


----------



## chainsolid (Jan 24, 2018)

Surefire A2 Black and 6P


----------



## rayman (Jan 24, 2018)

Got a green 2AA Mini Maglite before CPF then my brother got himself a Fenix L1D and that was what hooked on flashlights ;-).


----------



## matt4350 (Jan 24, 2018)

I was using D cell mags and then I found the Led Lenser X7. I wondered if there was anything brighter and found CPF when I looked into it. A couple thousand dollars later....


----------



## zespectre (Jan 24, 2018)

mini maglights, D cell mags, and the original MagCharger on duty.
(yeah I go back to the hotwire era)


----------



## vadimax (Jan 24, 2018)

Thrunite TN32. It was my... EDC light


----------



## tech25 (Jan 24, 2018)

AA incan minimag and 3D maglight.


----------



## Thetasigma (Jan 24, 2018)

Maratac AA Coppers, and Maratac AAA Brass.


----------



## Hugh Johnson (Jan 24, 2018)

LED Maglite Mini Pro+


----------



## LeanBurn (Jan 24, 2018)

The 2D Mag incan listed my signature.


----------



## Crazyeddiethefirst (Jan 24, 2018)

Led Lenser T7 TI, Led Lenser P7, Q-beam(One million Candlepower, can run off your cars cigarette lighter-Still available, WAIT! Get a second Q-Beam FREE, just pay separate S& H fee of $19.99), Fluorescent Snake light, Eveready two AA light... 
Wow, I owned 5 lights before I found CPF and became a "True" Flashaholic. For the youngsters here: cars used to have a round, push to use cigarette lighter in every car. Now there are USB ports and "ancillary power supplies", in case you wondered why on earth anyone would build a car with a cigarette lighter...


----------



## dhunley1 (Jan 24, 2018)

Fenix PD-20 then a PD-22 when I lost the PD-20.

Never felt the need to own more than a couple lights until I joined this place... Now I have a couple dozen or so.


----------



## bykfixer (Jan 24, 2018)

AA incan mini mag replaced a 5 LED Barney Beam (purple... get it?) Yup, the incan was _brighter_.
Then a Coast HP7 and Energizer 2aa Hardcase. 

Man, I thought the only thing man made any brighter was those spotlights on helicopters. Little did I know that Vihn character was doing those with light you can fit in a jacket pocket.


----------



## Repsol600rr (Jan 24, 2018)

There were a couple 2d and 2aa Inc and around. A mag solitaire also in can. Then I realized I needed some light with me sometimes and the solitaire didn't cut it. Got a microstream and not long after a fenix e11. Might have been the other way around. Anyway, found this place somewhere after that. When I look back I was Probly good with just that. But as it goes with this place, I went off the deep end a bit. Oh well. Good times. Well lit good times.


----------



## the0dore3524 (Jan 24, 2018)

P2X Fury, G2 Nitrolon, and Streamlight 4AA


----------



## Jrs99 (Jan 24, 2018)

Fenix PD35 and an Olight S2R.
Today was supposed to be a great mail day with the delivery of my Okluma DC1 however USPS screwed up and it's sitting in Richmond.
Tomorrow my precious should arrive!


----------



## Newlumen (Jan 24, 2018)

My first flashlight was pelican 7060. 368 lumen. Cree XR-E led? I bought in 2015 from ebay. I watch youtube, google, and discover cpf.


----------



## tanakasan (Jan 24, 2018)

2006 Surefire E2D w/KL4 LED head and a 2016 LAPG L2.

Robert


----------



## Phlogiston (Jan 24, 2018)

I had a Fenix E05 (1×AAA) as a keyring EDC, plus a Fenix E21 (2×AA) and a Fenix E11 (1×AA) in my backpack. The E21 was my main light, the other two were backups for it. These were all old versions, as sold in early 2013. Still perfectly good lights, too. I gave some to family members as well, and those ones are still in service, because the people I gave them to like them so much that they refuse all offers of an upgrade  

The first time I ever read CPF was mid-2013. I was looking for good NiMH cells to put in my lights, discovered Eneloops here on CPF and never looked back.


----------



## richbuff (Jan 25, 2018)

My first real flashlight: Four-Sevens MMU-X3, I researched and and then purchased from Sears marketplace October 2014.

CPF join date: 11-21-2014. 

All of my remaining flashlights I purchased based on my reading this forum. *Selfbuilt* at first, then shortly after that, I discovered *Vinh54*.


----------



## bykfixer (Jan 25, 2018)

Repsol600rr said:


> Anyway, found this place somewhere after that. When I look back I was Probly good with just that. But as it goes with this place, I went off the deep end a bit. Oh well.



Amen brutha!! 
Shoulda, coulda, woulda and all that....


----------



## JohnnyBravo (Jan 25, 2018)

Surefire 9P. Bought it for around $75 circa 1995. Joined CPF in 2011.


----------



## ArazelEternal (Jan 26, 2018)

Streamlight Protac 2AA and a Nitecore P12GT. Love the Nitecore. Extremely bright and solidly built. Cant complain for $50.


----------



## flatline (Jan 27, 2018)

I carried a purple 2AA minimag that my wife bought me in 2001. It had a NiteIze LED and tail switch.

It still sits on my nightstand (well, right now it's on my wife's nightstand...I'm unsure why that is, but she's welcome to it if she wants it there).

--flatline


----------



## KuroNekko (Jan 27, 2018)

I had a few Maglites (Solitaire, 4C, and 6C or D), a Surefire 6P, and a Streamlight Scorpion I bought all in the mid 90's. I used them a lot for camping in my youth. 
I then lost interest in flashlights for over a decade until my brother gifted me a Fenix TK15S2 which was my first high quality LED flashlight. Shortly after, my enthusiasm in flashlights was reinvigorated and I joined this forum. In the last few years, I have really expanded my collection and use of the flashlights in activities like night hiking and night geocaching.


----------



## ZMZ67 (Jan 27, 2018)

Various incans including Mini-mags and a 3D Mag. The CMG Inifinity and 2AA Reactor as well as the INOVA X1 were my LED lights before CPF. I tend to forget about the 2AA Reactor as it never made the "splash" other LED lights did but it was one of the best lights I had at that time and offered a step up in performance over AA incans. I may have had the original INOVA XO but I am really not sure if I was already lurking on CPF when I purchased it or not. I can still remember others describing the Reactor and X1 as bright when I used them! :laughing:


----------



## 1000cri (Jan 28, 2018)

I discovered CPF around 2000-2001. 

Inova green LED keychain coin cell light
2D cell with battery meter and Radio Shack halogen bulb 
4AA Energizer with Radio Shack halogen and cold cathode fluorescent
4AA standard fluorescent
Petzl Myo 3 Xenon / LED headlamp
Starlite red/white dimable LED astronomy light
200,000 candlepower halogen spot light with 8D cell DIY battery pack


----------



## Modernflame (Jan 28, 2018)

I had been collecting incandescent Surefires since the early 2000's, but I was not internet savvy during the early days of CPF. I also took a flashaholic hiatus from about 2008 to 2016, entirely unaware of the LED revolution. In 2016, I picked up a Surefire P3X Fury, but ended up selling it on after I discovered CPF.


----------



## mbw_151 (Jan 28, 2018)

I found CPF about the time LED flashlights became mainstream with angry blue 5mm emitters. I missed the whole high performance Incan era. Before CPF there were just MiniMags. Since Energizer L91s didn't exist, a steady stream of these died due to leaking alkaline cells. Fortunately the lights were only about $10.


----------



## this_is_nascar (Jan 29, 2018)

I forget the model, but the very 1st light that led to my addiction was a keychain led light from Pelican, which ran on a couple small coin cell batteries.


----------



## mk2rocco (Jan 29, 2018)

I had a Surefire E2dl I bought for work. I used the light as a hammer once backstage when a set peice malfunctioned seconds before it needed to go on. It was pretty early in that lights life so I got used to all the dents in the head [emoji23]


----------



## BrightLeaf (Mar 2, 2018)

My first light purchase was a Thrunite T01.


----------



## ven (Mar 4, 2018)

My first lights(not going back to when i was a kid and eveready/Duracell stuff) would be Maglite, then Lensers of various sizes. 
Quite a few still going today! 





Started on nitecore at the start, then soon after joined CPF or around that time iirc. As searching for reviews etc, certain brands like nitecore,olight,fenix and surefire popped up a lot. 




My 1st vinh light back in 13 was an olight m20vn with 219b single mode, this is still used in work . 





What did not appeal back then(early days) appealed later on, lumen chasing(still do it now and then) has made way for a nice usable beam, nice colour temp and tint. Although my family has been trimmed of most standard lights, i still have a decent variety of UI and LED options to more than cater for my needs. I probably have more lights in my tool box at work than most have altogether.............(excl CPF'ers haha). 

These days the latest and greatest dont always interest me, i like the older classics but with a modern twist(LED/driver etc).


----------



## Grijon (Mar 4, 2018)

Ben Wu said:


> Wonder what flashlight you guys used before you get into CPF, I have a Fenix LD12 and Wuben TO10R, welcome to post yours below!



Before CPF? I had 2xAA Maglite incans, a 2xAAA Maglite LED, and my "flagship" was a 2xD Maglite LED with a mind-blowing 100+ lumens, LOL.

First year of CPF was Fenix AA and AAA lights.

Second year was Malkoffs and Surefires.

Now I'm waiting on my first HDS.


----------



## Poppy (Mar 4, 2018)

Nice little trip down memory lane eh ven?

Prior to CPF, I don't think I EDC'd a light, unless it was a streamlight nano.
Under my workbench was a 3D incan Maglite. I had a handful of those super-bright 3* AAA 9*5mm LED lights. LOL. 

At just about the time that I found CPF, I got a Rayovac 3C LED, and a 3D Maglite LED.
Neither were good enough for wooded area SAR work, and I came to CPF.
Within about a month, I bought a Thrunite TN30, Thrunite TN11 (then a TN11S), a Fenix TK35, a couple of SolarForce lights, and more than a dozen 18650's @ $18 each, and I spent nearly a thousand dollars. LOL... I thought I was going to be a BIG Spender and spend $50 on a flashlight. 

I think it was before CPF, I found a Brinkman 3W LED 2D cell light on clearance for about $5 in Target. 
I modified that Brinkman in 2016 to run on an 18650, and it is still in use today.


----------



## Grijon (Mar 4, 2018)

Poppy said:


> I thought I was going to be a BIG Spender and spend $50 on a flashlight.



Hey Poppy, good to see you!

When I bought the LED 2D Mag, I thought for the extravagant price of $30 it was surely the cream of the crop, best of the best! (And I was indeed amazed when I turned it on, LOL!)


----------



## Poppy (Mar 4, 2018)

Grijon said:


> Hey Poppy, good to see you!
> 
> When I bought the LED 2D Mag, I thought for the extravagant price of $30 it was surely the cream of the crop, best of the best! (And I was indeed amazed when I turned it on, LOL!)


Thanks Grijon, it's good to see that you are still here too! 

It's funny, that many people still consider $30 an extravagant price for a flashlight.

Not long ago, I was speaking with a man who does house inspections for a living. Curiously, I asked him what flashlight does he use? His response was... "ah usually whatever the home owner has, and the batteries are usually half dead."
When I suggested that he could get a good LED light with an 18650 rechargeable cell, and charger that he could top it off while in his car for about $40; his response was some thing along the lines of... " ! FORTY DOLLARS ? !!! 

I guess we are still the outliers.


----------



## Modernflame (Mar 4, 2018)

Poppy said:


> Not long ago, I was speaking with a man who does house inspections for a living. Curiously, I asked him what flashlight does he use? His response was... "ah usually whatever the home owner has, and the batteries are usually half dead."
> When I suggested that he could get a good LED light with an 18650 rechargeable cell, and charger that he could top it off while in his car for about $40; his response was some thing along the lines of... " ! FORTY DOLLARS ? !!!
> 
> I guess we are still the outliers.



It amazes me that tradesmen will spend thousands of dollars on high end power tools, then hundreds more for fancy tool boxes, but when they need a flashlight, they have a $5 budget cap. 

Or maybe I'm just an outlier.


----------



## OEOE (Mar 5, 2018)

By the time I joined I’d been lurking for a while and greatly enjoying what I was learning from the group, but I had already been a flashaholic for years with a bunch of different maglights, a couple of which are still in use with suitable led replacement bulbs. My first breakthrough light was a pelican m6 with an incan bulb but a still a revelation after what I’d been used to. After that, my first led, a surefire 6px defender and from then on, it was all downhill. An olight m20x warrior, fenix pd35, acebeam EC50II etc. etc. 38 lights now and still going strong. Just ordered another emisar D4vn, this one in cyan with the XPl HI led. Just love those little guys!


----------



## DavidRZ (Mar 5, 2018)

I had a Surefire E1 before I joined eons ago. Just staring to get back into it and picked up a Zebralight SC5.


----------



## ven (Mar 5, 2018)

Yes +1 good to see you about poppy hope all well your side and family all well.

Sure is a trip down memory lane, from pretty much all cool whites in LED's to mainly neutrals now. Still managed to snatch up a nice sc62 6300k and a nice cool pure beam. Colours not washed out , so still enjoy a little bit of cool in the sea of neutral. As long as i have a few options, i am happy.





DavidRZ said:


> I had a Surefire E1 before I joined eons ago. Just staring to get back into it and picked up a Zebralight SC5.



Makes me ponder a little, how one of your lights pre CPF has become one of my latest lights. From 4000lm single 18650 lights, triples, quads n all kinds of crazy programmable UI's etc etc............to an old E1e





Granted its been tana'd with a singLED 219b 5000k, but i just love the classic surefire's. 

In the last year or so i have grown a few surefires of years gone by. Most have a modern interior though to keep my tint/beam fussy eyes happy once darkness falls. But when the day starts, i can look over the classics which fall as easy in hand as they do on my eye. Much prefer them to the latest chinese lights anyway....................they just feel like a flashlight should, look like one as well.


----------



## ven (Mar 5, 2018)

Poppy said:


> Thanks Grijon, it's good to see that you are still here too!
> 
> It's funny, that many people still consider $30 an extravagant price for a flashlight.
> 
> ...





In the last 6m or so, i have had at least 3 comments on "torches" and "cost". Most recently " yeh but how much was that? i am not paying £20 for a torch!" I just laughed, thought funny, i mean £20 yet they wont hesitate on spending £20k on (without naming) unreliable junk cars. The cars that wont get you home.................

Many peoples idea of a good light is the 3rd aisle past the veg, grab a couple of those torches just next to the light bulbs for £2 ea. So good we will get 2 of them in case 1 fails within the 1st week. Then when they really need a light, its there balancing on the engine bay lighting up a super small spot of blue............angry blue. Struggling for an hour instead of a couple of mins, dropping tools far more expensive than the cheap light in the engine bay abyss. 

Yep £20, forget that!


----------



## ChrisGarrett (Mar 5, 2018)

Ben Wu said:


> Wonder what flashlight you guys used before you get into CPF, I have a Fenix LD12 and Wuben TO10R, welcome to post yours below!



My first LED light was a Fenix P1D that I bought new, from some guy on SnipersHide, around 2007. I remember how amazed I was when I first turned it on, coming off of MagLites. I think I paid $37 for it, but can't recall.

Still works, although I don't carry it these days.

Chris


----------



## DavidRZ (Mar 6, 2018)

ven said:


> Makes me ponder a little, how one of your lights pre CPF has become one of my latest lights. From 4000lm single 18650 lights, triples, quads n all kinds of crazy programmable UI's etc etc............to an old E1e
> 
> 
> 
> ...



No doubt a great platform. I think your E1e is a bit nicer than mine was, or even could have been at the time.


----------



## ven (Mar 6, 2018)

DavidRZ said:


> No doubt a great platform. I think your E1e is a bit nicer than mine was, or even could have been at the time.



Yes, i am pretty new to the E series, thanks to a mr fixer i have a very special E2e to keep an eye on it.




The incand beam is awesome, my E1e was dead so had not tried one before mr fixer sent me the E2. I have a tana singLED which is a 219b 5000k to swap around. One head is on its way back from tana with a tripLED 219b and h17f. I will probably set it to a single mode, maybe 150-300lm type of do it all output(keep it simple yet ample). So between the 2, i can swap around the heads.
If you still have it, maybe want to give it a bump up in output, tana makes some very nice options


----------



## mikec49 (Mar 6, 2018)

Fenix ld20, have many years of use with it. Various no name


----------



## Darth_Cholo (Mar 7, 2018)

Surefire G2 Nitrolon LED. Still have it. Saw it at home depot or lowes I think of all places.


----------



## Rifter (Mar 8, 2018)

AA incan minimag


----------



## SkooterTrash (Mar 26, 2018)

I joined this forum today, after reading and researching lights for work this week. I've only had 3d incan Mags, and a handful of the cheapo Ozark Trail Wal-Mart specials. I ordered a new Ml300l 3d Mag, and my wife ordered a Fenix tk20r for my birthday. Not really sure what to expect because both of these will be brighter than anything I've ever used before.


----------



## Jist (Mar 27, 2018)

[h=1][/h]Prometheus beta QRV2 copper
LED
1*AAA


----------



## billbebob (Mar 27, 2018)

In my hand was a classic Fenix TK 20 and a couple of lights from Tektite. I still have the Fenix here at home.


----------



## search_and_rescue (Mar 27, 2018)

Just prior to joining CPF I owned Surefire flashlights. The Surefire M3 Combatlight was bright enough for me to notice the continuation uphill of the Garapiito Canyon trail from the halfway point at the dry riverbed. The smaller two-cell lights I used before the M3-CB were not bright enough for me to discover it.


----------



## eh4 (Mar 27, 2018)

I had led micro lights from about when they started out as nothing more than a nicer body than heat shrink or electrical tape over a long leg 5mm diode and a watch battery, also had a Surefire E2E back when paying for two CR123 batteries for an hour + of 60 lumens of light, and for that matter when paying 10-15 cents a minute for wireless phone calls seemed like reasonable sacrifices; 
I also had a red Infinity Ultra -which was just a great light, would run nearly a week on an alkaline AA, and often popped from off gassed pressure from the ruptured AA when I changed batteries. .
Those were my fancy upgrades, before that it was a Maglight 2AA backed up by a Bic lighter and a plumbers candle (two is one), and before that, a plastic imitation military right angle light that took 2 C batteries (2 D batteries?). 
Before that it was the disposable, flat polygonal, typically yellow plastic lights with the slide switch on top; 
they were truly "flash" lights... you'd keep them off and let the batteries recover, then turn them on for a min or a few seconds before they dimmed, look around, and turn them back off to let the batteries recover again.


----------



## Darryl Staw (Apr 2, 2018)

My first flashlights were the old Ever-ready 6 volt lanterns with the sealed beam. I still have it but no battery. Then I went to Maglites from 5D down to 2AA Mini-Maglites. Now I have Fenix and Streamlight.


----------



## Divisi0n8672 (Apr 6, 2018)

I have had a Thrunite TN12 for a good 4 or 5 years and its still in my possession. Great little 18650 light, been through a lot!


----------



## xcel730 (Apr 6, 2018)

I had a few MagLites before CPF. I upgraded the AA MagLite to LED and clicky tailcap and I was hooked. My first "super expensive" flashlight afterwards (still before CPF) was the Inova T2. I think I paid about $50 for it. The rest is history.


----------



## Modernflame (Apr 7, 2018)

eh4 said:


> ...also had a Surefire E2E back when paying for two CR123 batteries for an hour + of 60 lumens of light, and for that matter when paying 10-15 cents a minute for wireless phone calls seemed like reasonable sacrifices;



I budgeted for it like it was my grocery bill. The batteries, of course, having priority over the mobile telephone.


----------



## lilaussie18 (Apr 7, 2018)

Always have to have the Surefire E2E executive elite with LED conversion or typically my surefire TLR 1 HL when im out and about. Cant beat the clarity and reach the two lights have


----------



## Nyctophiliac (Apr 8, 2018)

I can genuinely say that I was addicted to torches way before I found CPF.

I had already been buying from Pocketlights.com (Sadly, now gone) and had quite a collection including Surefire , CMG/Gerber, Maglite, LED LENSER, and UK Divelights. I may have even found Lighthound.com! I think it was the proprietor of Pocketlights who linked me to this place after I bought my ARC +4 - so I hold him solely responsible for the multitude of purchases since! (D. Kochan???)


----------



## eh4 (Apr 20, 2018)

Modernflame, lol. 
It Was reasonable, when there weren't better options!
I used to compare it to if I were paying a Djinn or other supernatural creature an hourly rate for rental of supernatural abilities... instant light in the darkness 12$ an hour, instant communication over ling distances, 9$ an hour or .15 per message, lol.


----------



## mikeymoto (Apr 21, 2018)

I had a couple Maglights before I found CPF. I actually came here looking for laser pointers way back then, and only slowly was drawn in by the flashlights that looked like light sabers!


----------



## MikeSalt (Apr 23, 2018)

What a brilliantly interesting thread, capturing that moment from being unenlightened to enlightenment. For me, it was a Cyba-lite Luxeon I 3x C-cell light. I was looking for something smaller, and came across CPF, which led me to an LED Lenser (Coast) David 15.F From then on, it as a slippery trail to Fenix, Lummi, Surefire, Zebralight, McGizmo and now George Kemenes.


----------



## oldrifleman (Apr 30, 2018)

Before I found this sight I had a half dozen Surefires, some small maglights and a Fenix. I also had more money in the bank. I have been a light fanatic for years, just my definition of what a good light is has changed.


----------



## etc (May 2, 2018)

I didn't know what a surefire was in 2004.

I had Streamlight Luxeon Jr., the 2xAA light. Not even remotely sure how many lumens it had. maybe 100? Or 60? First gen 1W.

I do remember it ran much brighter on Lithiums.

Here is my review from 12 years ago:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Mini-MagLite-3W-vs-StreamLight-Jr-Lux-review


----------



## this_is_nascar (May 3, 2018)

I had an old Pelican coin cell clicky keychain light that started my addiction.


----------



## flashfan (May 9, 2018)

Years before CPF, my best lights were from Underwater Kinetics and the Streamlight Scorpion. Then about one year before CPF I discovered the Bright Guy website, and the slippery slope into SureFire et al began.


----------



## BushcrafterAU (May 10, 2018)

I have a Varta Indestructible 1W, and a Coleman CHT7.
-BushcrafterAU


----------



## Blackout89 (May 11, 2018)

-Ultratac K18 2017 (keychain light)
-Fenix UC35 v1.0 (EDC) - Just ordered the UC35 v2.0 last night
-2AA Mini Maglite LED conversion 
-Anker LC40


----------



## Unicorn (May 13, 2018)

Streamlight Stinger (original)
Surefire 9P
Surefire 9N
AA Mini Maglite
3 C cell Streamlight (this thing was probably 20 or more years old when I got it).
A couple of those 9 volt PAL lights.
Some single and double AA LED lights that were about as bright as a lit match. Just enough to dig through a backpack in the dark with eyes that were adjusted to the night.
A 10,000 candlepower Pelican 2 C cell light. I don't remember the model though.
Maybe a Maglite rechargeable, not sure if that was before or after I found David's awesome site.


----------



## kj2 (May 13, 2018)

Maglite 2D, 3D and 5D. First light after I joined CPF, was a Fenix TK11 R2.


----------



## kalel332 (May 13, 2018)

I have always had a fascination with flashlight since I was cub scout but right before I got here I had a few mini mags, a Rayovac 2 Innovas 1 that used 2 cr123 and 1 that used 2 aa, 2 Brinkmann Maxfire, 1 used 2 cr123 and the other was rechargeable and las but not least an Eagletac p20A2 which was the one that brought me here. of all them the Rayovac died, everything else I still keep with a few ([emoji3]) dozen more.


----------

