# Have you ever caused "Flashlight-Envy"?



## buds224 (Jan 15, 2012)

In October of 2011, there was a widespread power-outage that lasted many hours in the southern california region. I was armed with my TK41, TA21, and LD20. Needless to say, it was amazing how many neighbors didn't have any flashlights and were left in the dark as night set in.

Our house was basically illuminated by the TK41 in a tail stand on Medium while we maneuvered around the house with the other lights. I definitely felt the flashlight-envy that night as the neighbors hung outside of their homes staring at us (the moonlight was actually pretty bright that night; better to be outside than in compete darkness indoors).

*** I always got weird looks from friends that didn't share my interest in flashlights, but I bet they thought of me that night. LOL *** 

What's your story?


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## AnAppleSnail (Jan 15, 2012)

buds224 said:


> What's your story?



On photography outings I sometimes outfit the whole group out of my spares. One of my cheapies was "the best flashlight I've ever held" for more than one person.


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## Echo63 (Jan 15, 2012)

A couple of weeks ago i was using my Maxabeam to light a dark spot in a fire scene, so i could get a decent picture (it was too dark next to the bright fire truck

The cops at the roadblock exclaimed "OMFG thats a bright light, i gotta get me one of those"
I let them have a little play, shine it around and play with the electronic focus/strobe/high switching, light stuff up a kilometre away, and they were both very impressed, till i told them the price.

They were certainly envious, but that stopped when they found out the price


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## Scenic (Jan 15, 2012)

I keep hoping for a situation where I can bust out a cool flashlight to show off. I always hope the power will go out but it never does. When the power flickers, my wife gets worried that the power will cut out, and I secretly hope it will. Funny part is, no one around will think the flashlights are as cool as I think they are, unless there happens to be another flashlight enthusiast around. (rare chance)


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## buds224 (Jan 15, 2012)

AnAppleSnail said:


> On photography outings I sometimes outfit the whole group out of my spares. One of my cheapies was "the best flashlight I've ever held" for more than one person.



Imagine if they tried one of your higher end lights.


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## buds224 (Jan 15, 2012)

Echo63 said:


> A couple of weeks ago i was using my Maxabeam to light a dark spot in a fire scene, so i could get a decent picture (it was too dark next to the bright fire truck
> 
> The cops at the roadblock exclaimed "OMFG thats a bright light, i gotta get me one of those"
> I let them have a little play, shine it around and play with the electronic focus/strobe/high switching, light stuff up a kilometre away, and they were both very impressed, till i told them the price.
> ...



Woah, just looked up Maxabeam, that's dope!


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## yifu (Jan 15, 2012)

buds224 said:


> Woah, just looked up Maxabeam, that's dope!


As all 75W short-arcs are...


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## buds224 (Jan 15, 2012)

yifu said:


> As all 75W short-arcs are...



Just saw the pricing on them....Woah to that too.:huh:


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## Quiksilver (Jan 15, 2012)

Scenic said:


> I keep hoping for a situation where I can bust out a cool flashlight to show off. I always hope the power will go out but it never does. When the power flickers, my wife gets worried that the power will cut out, and I secretly hope it will. Funny part is, no one around will think the flashlights are as cool as I think they are, unless there happens to be another flashlight enthusiast around. (rare chance)



You should sabotage the grid in your area ...


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## Richub (Jan 16, 2012)

I caused flashlight envy on several occasions:

One time I showed my Fenix TK35 to a friend, and ended up having to hand it to him several times in the weeks after that. He finally bought it, and showed it off to all of his family and friends.  
Unfortunately he died 2 months later... Whenever I use my TK35 now, it still makes me think of him, and how happy he was with that TK35.

Yesterday, I saw a couple of security officers shining their little dim flashlights ( LedLenser V2's with halfway depleted batteries, I think) on a small bush, as they thought somebody was hiding there. I used my TK15 to shed some (a lot) more light to that bush, and indeed, a guy was hiding there. After they had a talk with him, they turned to me to ask what that bright light was. Envious eyes... LOL.

Last summer I was with my parents. One evening we drove back home and I discovered that my dad had a really pitiful flashlight in his glove compartment. It made me laugh out loud, and I compared it to my Fenix E05. 
That flashlight was a 2x C cell, putting out around 10-15 lumens of purple light. My E05 busted it with 30 lumens of white light. The next day my dad went to the store, and proudly showed me his own E05.  He spent over an hour on his computer to find a store where they sold Fenix flashlights. 
He never showed it, but boy, he was so envious of my E05. :devil:


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## buds224 (Jan 16, 2012)

Richub said:


> I caused flashlight envy on several occasions:
> 
> One time I showed my Fenix TK35 to a friend, and ended up having to hand it to him several times in the weeks after that. He finally bought it, and showed it off to all of his family and friends.
> Unfortunately he died 2 months later... Whenever I use my TK35 now, it still makes me think of him, and how happy he was with that TK35.
> ...



I enjoyed the read. Since we don't always find ourselves in these types of situations, it's nice to hear about them, and maybe others that we hadn't thought could happen to us. Thanks for sharing.


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## [email protected] (Jan 16, 2012)

While demolishing a gas plant the hydrovac guys were having a tough time on a bright day to see a fire water line we wanted to expose. There was mud and rocks about 10 or 12 feet down and plenty of shadows. They were lowering a LED streamlight on a rope to try and see. I had a C2 with AW123's and a P90 to light up what we wanted to see. They couldn't believe the light from such a small package.


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## HIDC (Jan 16, 2012)

24w HID Flashlight in the trunk. It's now been replaced with a much more compact TK35.

In a recent brush with EMS and Police, we had a great discussion on lights and I gave away a few new L2D I had stashed away just for a time like this. They had 2AA incan Maglites. There is one thing that's true though -- a week used by them is equiv to a few months or a year used by us given the abuse the light goes through.


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## dajab77 (Jan 16, 2012)

We had a summer a few years ago when we would have a power outage about twice a month. I didn't have the collection I do now and now we haven't had a single outage. Which is good but next time we have one I'm ready. So up to this point I am still waiting to show off my collection with a purpose.


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## Echo63 (Jan 16, 2012)

buds224 said:


> Woah, just looked up Maxabeam, that's dope!


It's a big heavy light (not too much bigger than the good old eveready dolphin most Aussies are familiar with though)
but if you want an impressive light, this is it, a big white needle of light reaching out, it will happily reach out and touch the clouds.



buds224 said:


> Just saw the pricing on them....Woah to that too.:huh:


Yes they are a bit pricey to buy new but I paid a lot less than that for mine.
It's still the most expensive light i have though.


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## PhillyRube (Jan 17, 2012)

I was out on a crime scene..the forensics tech and the detectives were carrying their issue SL20X lights, with their stock yellow beams. I broke out my Jetbeam BC40.....all of them were like gaga over it. Price was right, but no one wanted to play with the 18650 batteries. So back to my truck and out comes my SL20X with the Terralux dropin...now I have their attention, and another order to BatteryJunction...heheheh


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## buds224 (Jan 18, 2012)

Very cool. I remember being turned off by rechargeable batteries, but now that I have a FEW lights, it's the only way to go. I have primaries as backups. Once you get started on these lights, it's amazing what you learn and how your thinking evolves.


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## Bigmac_79 (Jan 21, 2012)

I took my P-Rocket XM-L with me on a camping trip with some friends. One of the guys was bragging to everyone else about this outdoorsman type club he had recently joined, and all of high-end gear he had to purchase for it, including a "super bright" flashlight. As it got dark, he pulled out a large rechargeable mag-light, and was showing it off. After letting him have a little fun, I pulled my P-Rocket out of my pocket and turned it on medium, which provoked a lot of "whoa, his is brighter than yours and he just pulled it out of his pocket!", then I turned it on high. He didn't talk to me the rest of the weekend.


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## Samy (Jan 22, 2012)

At an outdoor BBQ last night night I took my SC51 out of my pocket to shine around and light up my friend's backyard to see how far it went. My friend was shocked with its brightness. "what is that?" a Zebralight. "how much?" and then "I want one!"

Cheers


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## Burgess (Jan 22, 2012)

Actually . . . .

i STILL cause considerable envy when folks see my Fenix L2D-CE (2xAA) flashlight.

Keep in mind, this ~4 year old device has the "Lowly" flux-bin P4.



_


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## jh333233 (Jan 22, 2012)

My grandparent live in rural area in China, and he has seen me playing with the light and he was fascinated by that...
After that he has been asking my mum for some high power LED:huh:


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## Gregozedobe (Jan 23, 2012)

I'm looking forward to showing off my MBI "Torpedo" when they are available - that much light (400+ lumens) from so small a package (1 x 10250) is sure to create a bit of "FlashLight -Envy"


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## TEEJ (Jan 23, 2012)

I do investigations, and, expert witness work where I come in to provide an unbiased third party opinion. Many times, the question will involve whether mold is present in a building or not. Many times, a consultant will claim that there is no mold present, and I will then show them where it is with a good LED light. The most satisfying of course are where the consultant will grandly proclaim that as anyone can plainly see, that their ginormous 6D cell mag light is shining on the surface in question, and, obviously - there is no mold. 

I then get to take out a pocket sized LED light, with a nice smooth white beam, shine it along the surface to highlight the texture and color of the surface, and the mold POPS out at them.

Their jaws drop, and they say "What kind of light IS that?!

And I say "Its a Mold Light".


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## speedywheelz123 (Jan 23, 2012)

buds224 said:


> Just saw the pricing on them....Woah to that too.:huh:


HOLY CRAP! I honestly thought $500 was as high as it got.


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## buds224 (Jan 23, 2012)

Right?!


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## davyro (Jan 23, 2012)

Yes today at work,the lights weren't on at the construction site i was working on & the foreman pulled out this cheapo led light that had 6 LED's that put about 20 lumen on max power
it was also 5x bigger than my HDS Rotary 200.There was 7 men who couldn't see a thing & the foreman was bragging about how his light was going to save us.So i had my crocodile 
dundee moment & said "thats not a light,this is a real light" & i illuminated everywhere we needed to see.The foreman wasn't very happy but the rest of us had a good laugh at his
childish remarks.....priceless:devil:


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## Illum (Jan 23, 2012)

never made that kind of impression, only one near it was matching someones laser beam bouncing on a radio tower with an aspheric mag... that dropped a couple jaws.


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## buds224 (Jan 23, 2012)

davyro said:


> So i had my crocodile
> dundee moment & said "thats not a light,this is a real light"



Love it!


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## Stream (Feb 15, 2012)

Well, I've had a few instances, but most recently I had some contractors from the insurance company out to look at some storm damage to the house. I showed the foreman and the one guy he had with him up to the attic. I asked if they needed a light, to which the foreman replied no, we've got it covered - looking almost impressed with the other guy's semi-decent silver LED CREE or Luxeon type light with a tailcap switch. It was no doubt the store kind, because it wasn't super bright. Didn't get a very good look at the light itself but it must have been either 2xAA or 2xCR123. 

Anyway, I let them finish up in the attic and we head down to the basement to take a look at a crawlspace. We enter a room with no lights near an opening into the crawlspace under the other section of the house when I whip out my Fenix PD32 on max and light up the place. I ask the guy with the LED flashlight from the attic if he needs the light as he heads over to the opening into the crawlspace, he doesn't answer but silently walks over to the opening without even looking at me. He takes out his flashlight and makes sure to reach his arm way inside before he even turns it on. I was standing on the far side of the room, shining the PD32 in his direction, and it completely drowned out his little light. He made sure to switch it off before walking back to avoid the obvious comparison, again not even looking at me. Meanwhile the foreman looked very impressed and commented, "that's a great flashlight". Maybe it was just my imagination, but the flashlight envy from the other guy was almost palpable


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## enomosiki (Feb 15, 2012)

When I was illuminating the scene of a vehicle accident with Scorpion V2 Turbo on a summer Friday night in front of several bars, the light turned quite a few heads.

I showed the light to another cop and his partner, who didn't know about the output and made the mistake of shining it into his hands from a distance less than a meter. Needless to say, both were blinded by the reflection from his hand. After turning their heads away, they went, "Whoooa..."

Another cop freaked out about how I could land an airplane with it. "What IS this?! You can land an AIRPLANE with this thing!"

And another cop, who happens to know about CPF, carries his trusty Luxeon Z2, was telling about a friend out in Queens who got a Scorpion V2 from a CPF member that wasn't working properly. I showed him my TN11, and told him it was basically the same light with different UI, which he fired up and said, "Wow." He then went onto take a picture of side-by-side wall shot of the beams from both lights for his friend and, funny enough, the beam from TN11 literally erased Z2's.


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## fyrstormer (Feb 15, 2012)

Stream said:


> Anyway, I let them finish up in the attic and we head down to the basement to take a look at a crawlspace. We enter a room with no lights near an opening into the crawlspace under the other section of the house when I whip out my Fenix PD32 on max and light up the place. I ask the guy with the LED flashlight from the attic if he needs the light as he heads over to the opening into the crawlspace, he doesn't answer but silently walks over to the opening without even looking at me. He takes out his flashlight and makes sure to reach his arm way inside before he even turns it on. I was standing on the far side of the room, shining the PD32 in his direction, and it completely drowned out his little light. He made sure to switch it off before walking back to avoid the obvious comparison, again not even looking at me. Meanwhile the foreman looked very impressed and commented, "that's a great flashlight". Maybe it was just my imagination, but the flashlight envy from the other guy was almost palpable


Maybe it's just me, but I actually feel kinda bad about showing people up like this. It's one thing if I actively dislike them, but otherwise I kinda feel like a jerk for demonstrating that the thing they were proud of is actually a piece of junk. Maybe it's the result of having a brother ten years younger than me, and spending my teenage years being careful not to embarrass him at every opportunity for failing to be as good as I was at almost everything.


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## Stream (Feb 15, 2012)

fyrstormer said:


> Maybe it's just me, but I actually feel kinda bad about showing people up like this. It's one thing if I actively dislike them, but otherwise I kinda feel like a jerk for demonstrating that the thing they were proud of is actually a piece of junk. Maybe it's the result of having a brother ten years younger than me, and spending my teenage years being careful not to embarrass him at every opportunity for failing to be as good as I was at almost everything.



Oh it wasn't like that at all, and I'm not into showing people up. I actually made a conscious effort not to shine it around unnecessarily, that's why I didn't feel the need to shine my light around the attic when I first asked if they needed a light. The basement was natural because I led the way down first. Not my fault if that inspired so-called 'flashlight envy'. I'm kind of curious why you picked my story to comment on, though, as it sort of pales in comparison to some of the other stories here. Like the guy bragging to his friends about the outdoorsman type club he had recently joined and all the high-end gear he had to purchase like a "super-bright" Mag Charger, only to be embarrassed and outshone by the P-Rocket of a light-savvy CPF'er; or the foreman thinking he would "save the day" with his pathetic little 6 LED cheapo light, only to be outshone in a crocodile dundee that's-not-a-light-moment by another one of our CPF'ers. Honestly, I think it's harmless fun. It's not like you're a jerk revving your expensive sports car next to some poor guy proudly showing off his new Hyundai to his friends. Flashlights are such mundane objects that most people would never stop to give a second's thought. Showing them a real quality light can often set them on a path to become a more conscious and informed consumer, and maybe even a fellow CPFer. Perhaps the glee expressed at some points in this thread can make it sound as if it's somewhat mean spirited, or perhaps you just need to lighten up (no pun intended).


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## Sub_Umbra (Feb 15, 2012)

After living through the *six week power outage* in New Orleans following Katrina I had CPFer IsaacHayes build a thrower for me. A CYAN LuxIII, Osink in a 3C M/\G host. By today's standards it's pretty modest, but it's brilliant 1-2 DEG beam really blew away a friend of mine. He offered me far more than I paid for it. He couldn't understand _that I couldn't just make a phone call and get another one._ I told him that I was only able to get the light *for myself* because I knew that IsaacHayes already had the sweet emitter the project needed and without it there could be no more.

The guy never did understand.


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## varmint (Feb 15, 2012)

Last night after practice at our gunclub they were shining their lights at the 200 yd targets and one said wait till Kenny gets his new Maglite out you wont believe it, neither could I, he had just new batteries in a new light, their were several Cosco cheap lights. I could not resist, all I had was my Derrelight XML V2 with smooth reflector, you could not even see their beams in my light, everyone wanted to look at it and 1 person copied the name down and called me later as to where he could get one, the price scared him, I doubt he will get one. It was amusing, this is the 3rd time I have done this. Sunday week we have a night competetion and I will take my TN11 and D/L ASPV3 last time none could compare to them.
100 yd shots are very easy with the D/L asperical lens.. The TN11 does better for room clearing drills.
Larry


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## valueknifelover (Feb 15, 2012)

Stream said:


> Showing them a real quality light can often set them on a path to become a more conscious and informed consumer, and maybe even a fellow CPFer.



This is what happened to me  Can't imagine going back to the world of thinking my 2-D MagLite was about as practical and good as it could possibly get... and then cheapie LED lights were AWESOME! 

I thank my friend's Preon 2 for helping me see the light (yeah... I said that). Now that I have acquired the lights I feel are practical for the time being (we all know there will be more and more as time goes on) the next on my list in a drop in for that ol' MagLite!

Sorry to get off track... Just showing that you guys showing off your lights can lead to more addicts!


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## fyrstormer (Feb 15, 2012)

Stream said:


> Oh it wasn't like that at all, and I'm not into showing people up. I actually made a conscious effort not to shine it around unnecessarily, that's why I didn't feel the need to shine my light around the attic when I first asked if they needed a light. The basement was natural because I led the way down first. Not my fault if that inspired so-called 'flashlight envy'. I'm kind of curious why you picked my story to comment on, though, as it sort of pales in comparison to some of the other stories here. Like the guy bragging to his friends about the outdoorsman type club he had recently joined and all the high-end gear he had to purchase like a "super-bright" Mag Charger, only to be embarrassed and outshone by the P-Rocket of a light-savvy CPF'er; or the foreman thinking he would "save the day" with his pathetic little 6 LED cheapo light, only to be outshone in a crocodile dundee that's-not-a-light-moment by another one of our CPF'ers. Honestly, I think it's harmless fun. It's not like you're a jerk revving your expensive sports car next to some poor guy proudly showing off his new Hyundai to his friends. Flashlights are such mundane objects that most people would never stop to give a second's thought. Showing them a real quality light can often set them on a path to become a more conscious and informed consumer, and maybe even a fellow CPFer. Perhaps the glee expressed at some points in this thread can make it sound as if it's somewhat mean spirited, or perhaps you just need to lighten up (no pun intended).


Ah, I missed the part where you were the first person down the stairs.

I responded to your post and not others because your post is the one I just happened to stop and read while skimming the thread. Nothing personal.


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## fyrstormer (Feb 15, 2012)

Sub_Umbra said:


> After living through the *six week power outage* in New Orleans following Katrina I had CPFer IsaacHayes build a thrower for me. A CYAN LuxIII, Osink in a 3C M/\G host. By today's standards it's pretty modest, but it's brilliant 1-2 DEG beam really blew away a friend of mine. He offered me far more than I paid for it. He couldn't understand _that I couldn't just make a phone call and get another one._ I told him that I was only able to get the light *for myself* because I knew that IsaacHayes already had the sweet emitter the project needed and without it there could be no more.
> 
> The guy never did understand.


Maybe he would've been happy with a comparable light with a white emitter, or something similar.


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## Stream (Feb 16, 2012)

valueknifelover said:


> This is what happened to me  Can't imagine going back to the world of thinking my 2-D MagLite was about as practical and good as it could possibly get... and then cheapie LED lights were AWESOME!



Exactly. If I see someone with a really cool or handy tool it just peaks my interest. I'm hardly gonna go stew over someone having a better or cooler power drill than I do.



valueknifelover said:


> Just showing that you guys showing off your lights can lead to more addicts!



Haha, your last line makes it sound like it can be a bit of a curse. On the one hand you're enlightening someone by showing them what's out there, on the other hand you may have created a monster lol.


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## madecov (Feb 16, 2012)

Today,
Stopped to check by with another Officer. Had an ambulance on the way and we were in a parking lot so it could be difficult to see us. The ambulance pulls up and starts to look for us from the roadway. I take out my Klarus XT-11 and use strobe to get the attention of the driver.

Once he gets out of the box the driver looks at me, shakes his head and says I was an [email protected]* Ho*& and what the heck was that light that blinded him.

Then he says I really need to get one of those.


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## buds224 (Feb 17, 2012)

I have the XT-11, and love the separate switch for strobe. I will get to use it one day. LMAO. Loved your story.


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## madecov (Feb 17, 2012)

Forgot to mention it was still daylight:huh:


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## fyrstormer (Feb 17, 2012)

madecov said:


> Today,
> Stopped to check by with another Officer. Had an ambulance on the way and we were in a parking lot so it could be difficult to see us. The ambulance pulls up and starts to look for us from the roadway. I take out my Klarus XT-11 and use strobe to get the attention of the driver.
> 
> Once he gets out of the box the driver looks at me, shakes his head and says I was an [email protected]* Ho*& and what the heck was that light that blinded him.
> ...


If it was daylight, why didn't you just wave at the ambulance, or turn on your light bar?


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## madecov (Feb 18, 2012)

fyrstormer said:


> If it was daylight, why didn't you just wave at the ambulance, or turn on your light bar?



I'm a plain clothes officer and don't have a light bar in the unmarked vehicle I use

We were in a parking lot 20-30 yds away from the roadway and there was a quite a lot of traffic and moving vehicles in the area. The light did it's job


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## buds224 (Jun 12, 2012)

During Cinco de Mayo, the darn pinata would not bust open, it started getting dark. I used my floody ST Cycler to help the kids see the target. All the kids came up to me, "Wow, what is that?" All the dad's had the look of curiosity (envy?), but since I was new to the group, none of them approached me about it, but I got a lot of thanks from the moms. It was nice to get that wow factor from a light that is in the middle of my collection in terms of lumen performance. It was the perfect choice for the situation.


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## mvyrmnd (Jun 12, 2012)

I met up with a couple of fellow geocachers one night while they were in town, and we headed out to a cache on a rural dirt road. After we stopped, they whipped out their 9x5mm LED torches, and off they went. I waited for a moment before firing up my Mac's 3300L (on high, of course) and lit up the whole road. They were stunned, to say the least. They asked me how much it was, and I declined to tell them as it would frighten them . I also explained that my torch only has 9 LED's as well... at 1.5A each :devil:

It was referred to as the 'portable sun' for the rest of the evening.


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## ikeyballz (Jun 12, 2012)

Lost power for an entire day once. I was out with my friends at night when this happened. I only had my incan lights but they were Underwater Kinetics branded 4AA lights so they were fairly bright. We were hanging out at a local starbucks so I tied the lights to the umbrella thing and our table had light. Everyone else was in complete darkness


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## surgicalshot (Jul 15, 2012)

Scenic said:


> I keep hoping for a situation where I can bust out a cool flashlight to show off. I always hope the power will go out but it never does. When the power flickers, my wife gets worried that the power will cut out, and I secretly hope it will. Funny part is, no one around will think the flashlights are as cool as I think they are, unless there happens to be another flashlight enthusiast around. (rare chance)



I hear you on that one brother. I hope for the same thing at work. We have emergence lights but when i light my torch they will scoff no more...


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## fiberguy (Jul 15, 2012)

I work emergency fiber optic repair. A tractor trailer took down a telephone pole and it was hanging by the power lines. We were on the scene as the local power company arrived. We couldn't work our damage before they secured power. Police blocked the intersection for hours of the night. We were made to stay about 100 yards back from the problem pole as Dominion Power secured it. They didn't have much lighting set up at the time, so from 100 yards back I stood there with my 4 D Mag with Terralux lighting the entire work environment for them. The police (about 100 yards farther back) were standing there pointing and talking, taking an acute notice. I felt awesome. 

That was nowadays I can only dream of a similar scenario. TK70 inbound, I'll be SURE to blast some light on a dark emergency situation.


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## SDM44 (Jul 15, 2012)

We were recently looking to have a new 2 ton A/C unit installed into the ceiling area on our floor at work (in a high rise building in downtown). The building engineer, and 3rd party electrician, and the A/C vendor were all there walking around with me so we could check out the runs needed for the chilled water pipes. The building engineer had a old 2D Maglite, the electrician had a 50-LED cheapo light that was about the size of the 2D Maglite, and the A/C tech had a 9-LED cheapo light.

The building engineer pulled some ceiling tiles out and was looking up there with his light, but asked for more light. The immediately passed over the A/C tech's 9-LED light and went to the 50-ish LED light that the electrician had. As soon as they turned it on, the entire ceiling are was blue.... not cool blue but straight blue, and it wasn't even that bright - maybe 60-80 lumens. I pulled out the LD01 I had in my pocket with a 10440 on it and turned it on to Medium and shined it up there from where I was standing. They all kind of looked in aw and then looked back at me shining it up there to see what I was using. Then they were in more aw (more like a 'wtf' look on their face) when they saw the size of the light in my hand. Needless to say, they used my light for the rest of the time after that.

I kept thinking that I wished I had my TM11 with me


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## shelm (Jul 15, 2012)

SDM44 said:


> they used my light for the rest of the time after that.


my LD01 (R4) on 10440 on Med-mode doesnt run longer than ~33mins. How short did the work last?


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## ScottFree (Jul 15, 2012)

Late last year a old girlfriend called me up to assist in a night-time scavenger hunt that she was organising at the local secondary school for her class that she teaches there and the parents if they wanted to come along, or if not the kids and adults could form groups and one of the teachers would escort the group along. She spent most of the week setting up the hunt. 

Once enough people had turned up and it had got suitably dark the lights in the school would be turned off and the scavenging could begin The parents or kids could bring their own flash lights or the school provided some cheap lights. I also lent out some of my own for the escorts with the kids with some NiteIze. For personal use I had brought two flashlights with me, my HDS 200T and a Fenix TK15.

Anyway after the hunt had finished there was a little party out on the main field, BBQ and drinks and I had gotten into a conversation with a few of the kids there when it turned out one of the dads had headed into the woods that surrounds one half of the school and had called his wife to report this. Hearing this I whacked out the Fenix TK15 and set it on Max (337l) and told the wife to ask him whether he could see the beam and what direction it was shining. Then using his directions he walked back slightly worse for wear. 

It wasn't until he came back that I noticed quite a few of the people there staring at me until I switched off the light though whether it was the Fenix or my ruggedly handsome good looks that had been reflected I don't know. I do know that there was a lot more Fenix lights at the next scavenger hunt she did.


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## Richub (Jul 16, 2012)

Last week a maintenance guy had to check out the electricity system on our workplace for insurance reasons. Halfway through the checkup I heard him swear: His 2 C cell incan flashlight dropped and the bulb blew. 

I gave my trusty Fenix PD31 to him so he could continue the checkup. 
20 minutes later he came to me and asked me what kind of flashlight this PD31 was. What happened: He incidentally turned the head of that PD31 so it went to turbo, and it blinded him badly. 

After a short explanation about these high-end LED flashlights he ordered a Fenix LD25 on the spot. He didn't want to use 'special' batteries but 'normal' ones. I had a LD25 with me, and he almost drooled on it. He spent 20 minutes calling stores to find one that had a LD25 in stock so he could pick it up right away without waiting.


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## yliu (Jul 16, 2012)

Maybe I didn't create a "flashlight envy", but heres the story:

I was on a trip with my friends, and the tour guide was one of my friends as well. At night, he decided to bring us into a dark stairway of a house near a pub. I got out my SWM M10R to light up that place, but he asked me to turn it off. Of course, I turned my light off but had it in my hand. He then started explaining that some guy was killed in that stairway and right on that instant, another person with a mask jumps out screaming from a right door next to us.

I had my light in my hand, and fired it up right into his eyes. After the guide told us that it was a prank, and we chilled down. The person who came jumping at us told me that the light was very bright and hurt his eyes and that he got disoriented for a while by killing his night vision. It was set to medium.:naughty:

So there we go, I just had my first victim who was blinded by me at night. Hopefully I won't have to do it anymore, but at least I know that I've got some advantage by carrying a light at night. It also helped me to convince one my friend to get a Fenix TK12 for a nice discount.


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## firelord777 (Jul 26, 2012)

Bigmac_79 said:


> I took my P-Rocket XM-L with me on a camping trip with some friends. One of the guys was bragging to everyone else about this outdoorsman type club he had recently joined, and all of high-end gear he had to purchase for it, including a "super bright" flashlight. As it got dark, he pulled out a large rechargeable mag-light, and was showing it off. After letting him have a little fun, I pulled my P-Rocket out of my pocket and turned it on medium, which provoked a lot of "whoa, his is brighter than yours and he just pulled it out of his pocket!", then I turned it on high. He didn't talk to me the rest of the weekend.



Bigmac, you almost gave me a heart attack, that was hilarious!


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## Bigmac_79 (Jul 30, 2012)

firelord777 said:


> Bigmac, you almost gave me a heart attack, that was hilarious!





Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse brevity and typos.


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## Roger Sully (Jul 31, 2012)

I met up with one of my LEO friends the other night and we were talking about, of course, lights. Another officer pulled up and joined the conversation and asked if I had anything that would compare to his light. He reached around on his belt and pulled out an incan C2. I said I think I had a few that might match it :naughty:

I reached for my keychain..at which point he started to laugh...until I activated my Revo and went thru the L/M/H cycle. I then proceeded to show him my EagleTac T20 and then I broke out the Maelstrom S12:twothumbs

Needless to say he was quite impressed! He is now the proud owner of a T20C2 and I have a C2. I'm actually planning on getting a new drop in for the C2 and returning it to him at some point. I'm going to let him be happy with the T20 for a while before I bring back the C2 with maybe a 1000 lumen drop in and blow his mind again!:laughing:


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## [email protected] (Jul 31, 2012)

I dunno' about envy but I sure was a little embarrassed the other night, I lent my back up light (SL Scorpion Incandescent) to a client rep' who had neglected to bring their own light (in the middle of the night) whilst I was using my new XT11, well it made the poor Scorpion look so woefully dim that I instantly offered them the Klarus to use instead... I had at that point considered the lights' battery to be partly discharged.


Short story is the light was working absolutely fine, it was just the XT11's output that made it appear so horribly yellow and dull by comparison


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## CYMac (Jul 31, 2012)

davyro said:


> Yes today at work,the lights weren't on at the construction site i was working on & the foreman pulled out this cheapo led light that had 6 LED's that put about 20 lumen on max power
> it was also 5x bigger than my HDS Rotary 200.There was 7 men who couldn't see a thing & the foreman was bragging about how his light was going to save us.So i had my crocodile
> dundee moment & said "thats not a light,this is a real light" & i illuminated everywhere we needed to see.The foreman wasn't very happy but the rest of us had a good laugh at his
> childish remarks.....priceless:devil:



HAHAAHAH! How come fireman are not issued with some qualified lights anyway? They should all gear with an RRT3 or TN30, then fire fighting is another story..


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## AnAppleSnail (Jul 31, 2012)

CYMac said:


> HAHAAHAH! How come fireman are not issued with some qualified lights anyway? They should all gear with an RRT3 or TN30, then fire fighting is another story..



All-metal flashlights have great heat-sinking until the outside is hotter than the LED is rated for. Cost is also a factor; there are about 1 million firefighters in the US, and about 80% of them are volunteers. $100 per light requires good people across the US to shell out (In taxes or out of pocket). 

I think you're going the wrong way with your suggestion anyway; you want excellent throw, not a wall of light; according to our CPF firefighters.


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## ledmitter_nli (Jul 31, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> I dunno' about envy but I sure was a little embarrassed the other night, I lent my back up light (SL Scorpion Incandescent) to a client rep' who had neglected to bring their own light (in the middle of the night) whilst I was using my new XT11, well it made the poor Scorpion look so woefully dim that I instantly offered them the Klarus to use instead... I had at that point considered the lights' battery to be partly discharged.
> 
> 
> Short story is the light was working absolutely fine, it was just the XT11's output that made it appear so horribly yellow and dull by comparison



And my Kenji 5 amp Quad R5 XPG P60 dropin makes the XT11 look kinda "cute" in comparison as well. And it's a slightly smaller form factor - to boot!


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## [email protected] (Aug 1, 2012)

ledmitter_nli said:


> And my Kenji 5 amp Quad R5 XPG P60 dropin makes the XT11 look kinda "cute" in comparison as well. And it's a slightly smaller form factor - to boot!




In much the same way my 50w HID would overpower your Kenji quad 


I need throw more than flood in my work lights, runtime over showtime :thumbsup:


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## ledmitter_nli (Aug 1, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> In much the same way my 50w HID would overpower your Kenji quad
> 
> 
> I need throw more than flood in my work lights, runtime over showtime :thumbsup:




HID is an entirely different class!

No really, the XT11 is nice. But for serious output in true candlepowerforums resolve, we're going to have to settle for multiple core cpu's, errr, I mean multiple emitter configs and pushing batteries near to their breaking points. It's the only way, for now. I love this hobby


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## HotWire (Aug 1, 2012)

There is a sharp dividing line between the flashaholic and the non-flashaholic. The flashaholic (upon seeing your light) goes, "Wow, I need one of those!" The non-flashaholic wants to know what it costs. "You paid how much for that thing?" They don't get it.


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## [email protected] (Aug 2, 2012)

ledmitter_nli said:


> No really, the XT11 is nice. But for serious output in true candlepowerforums resolve, we're going to have to settle for multiple core cpu's, errr, I mean multiple emitter configs and pushing batteries near to their breaking points. It's the only way, for now. I love this hobby




From the reviews I've seen for those quads I'll admit they do output considerable amounts of light but it's pretty much just a flood light, a light with some degree of throw is a necessary requirement as is some reasonable amount of runtime, applicable UI and 18650/multi-cell support... the Kenji Quad's runtime @ 5A off a 2500mAh cell that'd be around 30 minutes wouldn't it? not likely to last a 12 hr shift is it? thus not practical as a work light (at least for me antway) 


Runtime in preference to showtime :devil:


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## ledmitter_nli (Aug 2, 2012)

^^^ I'm using a 3,100 redilast but haven't been able to test. Too hot to handle 

But yeah it's a wall of light pocket rocket. The XT11 admittingly probably has brighter lux (more blinding hotspot even with less lumens), but 1,700+ lumens is still intimidating.

I use it mostly for wow and AHHH!!!RAPE!!!!HELP!!ME!! Short durations.


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## inspirit (Aug 2, 2012)

funny. Your neighbours would purchase more flashlights to compete with yours.


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## T45 (Aug 3, 2012)

The male RN that was taking care of my mother couldn't stop playing with her Icon Rogue II, which was green, my mother's favorite color. She said he would drop by during his night shift just to shine it at the ceiling and even asked to borrow it for his night rounds. She said no, get your own!


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## BLUE LED (Aug 4, 2012)

In 2008 I bought a Wolfeyes 24 watt Boxer a compact HID which takes 3x18650 cells. I took this on a torchlight tour at the Brooklands museum. There is a part of the tour that takes place outside on a disused race track and wooded area's followed by a long tunnel. The brightest lights I came across was a couple of guys waving their 3D incan Maglites around with the biggest grin in the world.

After a quick tour around the garages and aircraft hanger, we went outside up test hill. Everyone turned their lights on while I pointed my 24w Boxer HID in the air while it powered up. The two chaps was feeling extremely smug shinning their 3D Mags around. I can only assume they had installed the Xenon bulb over the standard white star Krypton bulb for more output and throw. Then I started to shine my light and everyone stopped and looked at the beam. It certainly created a wow factor back in 2008. I kept hearing whispers, what is that uber light.


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## John D in CT (Aug 4, 2012)

With my MagLites, no. I do hope to change all that though. I think my first buy will be a Fenix.


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## buds224 (Sep 10, 2012)

My wife told me a story of something that happened recently. Her ship was in port and had a power outage. She was in the mess decks and noticed everyone using cheap incandescent lights. She described them as yellow lights lighting up their food as they ate. She busted out the Fenix LD20 I gave her and, in a tail-stand, lit up the entire mess deck to the point where everyone can navigate around without a flashlight. She knew she had everyones attention when they shut off their lights and went about their business. I told her that if no one commented on her light, it was due to flashlight envy. LOL.


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## Wiggle (Sep 10, 2012)

I was out camping with some friends this weekend and brought some lights. Since it was woody without much wide open area I chose floodier lights. I used a Preon P0 on a lanyard attached to my shorts to keep on me all the time and for use inside the tent and I also had a Shiningbeam Blaze on low for my walking around doing stuff light. Once I showed people the high mode (about 500 OTF) in this very dark area they thought it was the most amazing light they'd ever seen. Less than half the size of all the mags and several times the output. Haha one guy simply said "it lights up.....everything".


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## buds224 (Sep 10, 2012)

Wiggle said:


> I was out camping with some friends this weekend and brought some lights. Since it was woody without much wide open area I chose floodier lights. I used a Preon P0 on a lanyard attached to my shorts to keep on me all the time and for use inside the tent and I also had a Shiningbeam Blaze on low for my walking around doing stuff light. Once I showed people the high mode (about 500 OTF) in this very dark area they thought it was the most amazing light they'd ever seen. Less than half the size of all the mags and several times the output. Haha one guy simply said "it lights up.....everything".


:twothumbs


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## buds224 (Oct 31, 2013)

Just had our Halloween here on base last night. Needless to say, the general population only had, at best, 2-4 D Maglites. I was surprised I didn't see any surefires seeing as we live on a Naval base. And all were surprised to see my PD35. Lots of looky-loos checking out a small (compared to D cell lights) stick putting out so much light.


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## PCC (Nov 2, 2013)

Most of the maintenance personnel at work (and a few security guards!!!) pull out incandescent Mini-Mags and I'll pull out my ThruNite T10 set to medium. They can't believe that my single AA puts out more light and for longer time than their 2AA incandescents and I still have a high mode that I try not to show them. Most of them have upgraded to LED by now.


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## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 9, 2013)

^ I have not yet been the cuase of envey, but I do now have a D40A in NW on its way...MUWHAHAHA!!!

Hopefully I can convert some people (if they dont run off when they find out the price :-[ )


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## Richub (Nov 15, 2013)

Recently I started using a Spanninga Supra (around 50-60 lumens) bike light for the daily bike trips home from work. It's quicker to mount on my bike than using a Fenix mount & LD25 and leaves my better flashlights ready for use in my coat pockets.







Yesterday I was driving through a particularly dark road where the lighting had failed to turn on and grabbed my TK35 on high to add some lighting to avoid unseen dangers on the road. A fellow bicyclist decided to stay near me to travel safe. He had one of those cheapo headlights, and couldn't see squat on that road.
At the end of the road I was accompanied by 3 other bikers, and boy, was that young man next to me ever so envious of my TK35! 
He even tried to get it off my hands ("Let me hold it, please...") to dart off with it, but I saw in his eyes what he was up to.  I didn't get mad at him as nothing really happened, and he went on his way.


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## yifu (Nov 19, 2013)

You guys have way more luck then me, people walking with their 20 lumen iPhone flashlight do not even bat an eyelid when i turn on a 6000 lumen, half a million lux Firefox HID, which still happens to fit in a pocket. I give up trying to impress anyone now, and keep my things to myself. Better that way.


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## AnthonyMcEwen2014 (Nov 21, 2013)

yifu said:


> You guys have way more luck then me, people walking with their 20 lumen iPhone flashlight do not even bat an eyelid when i turn on a 6000 lumen, half a million lux Firefox HID, which still happens to fit in a pocket. I give up trying to impress anyone now, and keep my things to myself. Better that way.



You know what that means right?

You need a brighter light! 

XM18...should do the trick.


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## pompous_ass_captain (Dec 4, 2013)

Night shift training at work. My co-worker pulled out this monstrous multi LED flashlight, my tiny master-craft, 200 lumen flashlight that I bought for $25, the beam totally dwarfed his massive light. quality > quantity. I think his light had 92 LEDs? Mine had 1 cree, and you could stick it in your pocket. His light weighed like 5 lbs.


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## Devildude (Dec 5, 2013)

I have definitely caused flashlight envy back on Labor Day weekend. My cousin was absolutely enthralled with my Deft-x when I was down there. I could not get it out of his hands for the two nights I was there. I sent down a Crelant 7G5CS with the collimator head attached and he like it well enough to go out and buy his own which was his first good flashlight. I feel so bad leading someone else down the path of flashaholicism.


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## cland72 (Dec 5, 2013)

My EDC+ triple XPG2 in a Surefire 6P. Friend of mine has a 47 Quark which is already plenty bright, but when he played with my triple, he just kept pouring over it and commenting how bright it was.


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## DellSuperman (Dec 5, 2013)

1st incident was with my old man. 
During dinner, he signaled me to look under the table at his new 9-LED flashlight, running on 3xAA. 
I took out my Solarforce w/ a 3A XM-L dropin.
He kept his immediately, took mine to play around (which includes looking into the emitter & turning it on) before saying, "Thanks boy, I'll take this"... 
Of course that was my lego-ed host, so i bought him another L2P with a similar dropin. 

2nd incident was a minor blackout at work. 
The facility guys came blasting their bulky torchlights, which was putting out pretty dim light. 
Out came my same Solarforce to help them through their repair work. 
And after that, they all commented on how small the flashlight is but yet so bright. 
They couldn't believe something so small could throw out so much light. 

- JonK


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## texastactical (Dec 6, 2013)

It was in the late 80s I believe when I got a Laser Products 6P. Every time I used it people were amazed. Then they asked how much it was. When I told them I paid $40 for it they looked at me like I was crazy and said "You paid $40 for a flashlight?".


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## Lampbeam (Dec 8, 2013)

One day in the early Eighties I was in the basement of a museum when the lights went out and incredibly there were no emergency lights. I happened to have a four battery Maglite with me because I was and, well, still am really eccentric. I mean who takes a Maglite to the museum right? Needless to say the people around me had flashlight envy because they didn't have flashlights. I remember this one elderly lady asked me if she could accompany me out of the darkness. It wasn't far to the stairs and the lights did not stay off very long as I recall.


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## Monocrom (Dec 8, 2013)

Only once ... Co-worker at my last job, in a security hut. Lights didn't work and his crappy little light he bought for duty-use was pathetic compared to my (back then) stock SureFire L1. He gave me a bit of a dirty look after I fired it up. Oh well, he should have bought a proper light for use on the job.


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## buds224 (Feb 8, 2014)

So living in Japan for 2 years now and the power grid has been 100% reliable through the coldest of cold and the hottest of summers.

Yesterday, we ended up in an all day flurry of snow and it was stacking up to be more than anyone had ever expected or seen. As soon as the evening rolled around the power started going in and out at our Navy Housing Tower. Facebook chats revealed it was the entire CFAY Naval base that was going in and out since we were dependent on TEPCO (Yokosuka's power company). The Entire city was on the brink of losing power.







OK, time to setup up 1 specific room to shack up in, the heat is no longer guaranteed at this point. Me, the Mrs. and 2 kids (7yo girl 3yo boy) setup up our bedtime area in the living room. Power on.....power off.....power back on. x2 LD20s with diffuser cones set on low with eneloops in them. Bring it! TK41 on standby with fresh eneloops in them. Armytek Predator on a low to mid setting pointed at chandelier to simulate normal room lighting to keep the kids calm. x3 ipads on standby for entertainment.....battery powered DVD players keeping the kids busy. Alcohol heaters on standby. Power off.....back on.....back off. Food ready, gas burning stove at the ready....5 cases of bottled water at the ready. We were ready.

I decided to look out my window and saw my poor van out in the cold. Same make/model/color as the Breaking Bad van that does the "witness protection" style pickup.






Power out.....power back on. As I looked out the windows, I could see the entire base going from "well lit" to complete darkness. Are you serious??? No one was prepared? I don't see any light coming from any of the other units, at least from what I could tell. Our immediate neighbor was peeking at us as I had a couple of lights by our windows (TA21 with diffuser cones at 2 windows; both set to lowest modes for best runtimes).

Needless to say, the grid held up pretty well for the rest of the night, still going in and out, but at shorter intervals.

Lots of Facebook chatter, the next morning, about how people were just not prepared since Japan's power grid is normally very stable and reliable. People losing water pressure, losing their heat completely, and not having candles or flashlights. I've informed them that they could use their electric ovens as heaters if they have small children and their place is freezing cold. Other than that, I hope they learned a valuable lesson as we are forecasted for more snow this week.

Beautiful morning for us though. Well prepared for such an event and slept like babies all through the night. The kids were none the wiser.

Good morning from this flashaholic from the land of the rising sun.


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## blah9 (Feb 8, 2014)

Great story and pictures! I'm glad that you and your family were prepared.

I have had many situations where I caused a little bit of flashlight envy, but the ones that stand out most in my mind are at night hikes with other people in public. There are a few nature centers nearby, and once in a while they have night hikes that anyone can attend. Usually I only use the lower modes of my lights though because no one has anything very bright. Also, a big draw of some of these events is to walk in the dark to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature with no extra illumination.

Either way I usually wait until after most people leave to really let my lights free, and it almost always impresses the people running the programs. They do appreciate the fact that I didn't take away from the mystery of walking around with dim lights during the program though.

On one occasion I couldn't help but turn my Fenix TK45 on before a hike. Someone was bragging about how bright his flashlight was, and he was shining it around the parking lot and into the woods. It was probably about 50 or 100 lumens maybe. He was a friendly guy, but I just had to show him how bright some other lights were at the time (this was a couple of years ago or so), so I showed him the TK45 on turbo. His jaw dropped, and he kept talking about how cool that light is. It was then brought up a few times when people wanted to see something better during the hike.

Now I have had the TK75 for over a year, and I actually haven't gone on one of those hikes with it in that time period. I'll have to get out there again. But I definitely won't be using that light on anything except the lowest mode while other people are around for fear of ruining the night vision aspect of the hike. Although maybe if someone else seems interested in bright lights I'll stretch its legs.



I think I also mentioned this somewhere before, but my wife and I went to England and visited a couple different caverns. On both of those trips I used my main EDC (the Fenix PD32UE) on turbo to illuminate the underground formations. The tour guide was impressed with the light's output and joked about his light being "rubbish" for the rest of the trip. He actively encouraged us to light things up for him so that people could see better. I should have brought the TK75 along for those trips as well because we could have better illuminated some of the bigger rooms that way.


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## buds224 (Feb 8, 2014)

It's always nice when that happens. I had a similar experience last halloween. Maglites galore on the base. PD32UE in hand and holstered PD35 on my hip.

I like that the tour guide on your Euro trip acknowledged a great light and encouraged its usage. Pretty cool!!! :thumbsup:


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## Poppy (Feb 9, 2014)

This past summer we took the grandkids on a cub scout camping trip.
They each had a 2AA light, and my daughter and I, each a small 18650 light.
I brought two larger 18650 lights, in case there was a need for SAR during the night. One never knows when traveling with 50 kids.
One of the lights I brought was the Defiant Super Thrower. It's an XML driven at amps with a large head. I use a spacer and an 18650 in it.
I thought that at night, around the campfire, all the kids would be showing off their lights, and I didn't want my grandkids to be out-shown. I brought it to the campfire, just in case. 

The scoutmaster walked 150 feet away, and asked for someone to shine a light in his direction. At that distance, it was like an area light for him. I heard WOW!!! from him, and a few others. Envious? probably not, but impressed? Absolutely 

That was the only time that light was lit during the trip. I didn't want others to think I was over-compensating for other shortages


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## ander (Apr 1, 2014)

I think there's a time and place for putting out huge lumens. When I go camping I find that buddies that just picked up the 6-pack from Costco and can make some big light can't wait to unleash. I'm the opposite where I feel at camp you use as little light as possible.

That being said, I love blowing away guys with lights that run too low or too hot or for too short when it really counts.


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## Stream (Feb 21, 2015)

This would be a fun thread to revive


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## Berneck1 (Feb 21, 2015)

On more than one occasion people have been blown away by the amount of light that comes out of my D25a. They almost always balk at the price, but they always want one after they see it...


Sent from my iPhone using Candlepowerforums


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## Charles L. (Feb 21, 2015)

Went on a camping trip with my Zebralight H600F. 'nuff said.


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## Raven18 (Feb 21, 2015)

Cool Thread :thumbsup:

It seems that anytime I show someone a flashlight they get a smile on their face and comment on how bright it is, then they ask how much was it...
Most people tend to cringe at the thought of paying more than $20 for a light.

I went splurging on budget lights (Sipiks and Defiant) and everyone at my work wanted a defiant tactical or sipik. So I was selling them at cost to everyone and everyone was tossing their POS incan mini mags.


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## cland72 (Feb 21, 2015)

I took an A2 and L1 camping tonight. Nobody was impressed because I didn't show off, plus everyone was using the lights on their phones 


Sent from my iPad using Candlepowerforums


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## ryukin2000 (Feb 22, 2015)

I went caving last October with a small group. A few were very impressed with the HC50 I had. Almost everyone had the cheap headlamps. But no questions about my headlamp beyond the wow's. In fact, my good friend who is not into flashlights gave me an LD10 as a gift. That was my first quality light. So its his fault. His uncle is a major fenix collector so he always gets lights as gifts.


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## blah9 (Feb 22, 2015)

I have impressed people with the Fenix TK75vnkt a few times. On the other hand, my modded PD35vn triple XPL has frequently not impressed people. I think the difference is that they often don't care about floody lights, whereas the TK75vnkt impresses because of its range.


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## Shaifnan (Feb 22, 2015)

Recently I was stucked in a elevator for 5 ours ( in de middle of the night on a weekend). I used the flashlight app on my phone but after a half our the phone become hot. So I had to turn the light off and waited for about 15 min and then I could turn it back on. The biggist problem was that the communication button did not work and I had no signal on the phone because I was stuck between the 4e and 3e level of the basement.

After this experience I bought a little duracel light that runs on 2 AAA voor €6,00. That thing was not bright at all so I didnt use it and left it at home. Than I searched flashlight on YouTube and was overwhelmed by all the video's about edc and flashlights.

So I bought a Fenix LD02 within a week after my elevator drama. And I with the LD02 I noticed I used it alot and was very happy with it. So I the next week I bought a Fenix LD22 and at this to my edc. Here in The Netherlands you can't carry a knife.

Now I have read a lot of information about flashlights here on this forum. It is now almost 3 weeks ago that I was stuck in the alavator.

And what they say if you buy one flashlight you will keep on buying. And now I am looking for a Olight MX 20 warrior to add to my edc.


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## AMD64Blondie (Feb 22, 2015)

On Thursday,the power was partially out at Portland State University where I work.(I'm in the mail room..)


When I got to work,I pulled out my HDS Rotary 250,turned that on,and walked over to my locker,where I got my Black Diamond Storm headlight out of my backpack.

Strapped on my Storm,flicked it on and started sorting mail like nothing had happened. 
(The emergency lights were on,but it was still pretty dark inside-no windows to the outside.)

The looks I got from my co-workers were priceless.

(power came back on around 8:20 AM-so it was only out for about 20 minutes,thankfully.)


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## ven (Feb 22, 2015)

It happens,not daily but certainly every week/2 weeks in work..........The bummer for me is they are not anything special as i wont take a $XXX light in work . Its usually an sr51 or roche f8 type light. Even my battered i3son work keys has had a "wow thats bright".............. Then again it was brighter than a 3xD cell fed Stanley HUGE light!!

Amazed by the throw of the sr51 which is still an impressive light,even by todays standards. I have comments on the finish of the roche(cheap but well made light not that much dissimilar to a convoy in many ways). Of past i have brought in the tm15 and tk75vn along with the mm15vnodd flashlight in work to show the odd flashlight enthusiast. These certainly blew fellow engineers away,more so after i strobed 5 of them together(they asked.........they got) They dont get price/cost though,for them £10 is more than enough yet they will spend £25k on a french car!!! (something i dont get :laughing: ) I often get asked "where did you buy that?" i just say from a far away friend over the pond. In fact i am hoping that my cell supplier maybe a vinh convert as i got a text last night asking about a recommendation on a light,budget of £160. Naturally i text links to here,the world of vinh which he is aware of due to previous pics sent(i buy a good few IMR/INR cells from him,often ecig mods and flashlights get brought up in conversation ). I will be in more communication later to distinguish what type of light,be it throw/flood or both. Then i hope vinh may have a new customer 

I also get envy or at least a big off the in law when he sees some of the vinh beasts. He was even blown away with a key ring 10440 light,amazed at how bright it was and uses it daily still.

Rach(the boss) does like knives and lights like me,she often enjoys having a play around with them and knows vinh well. She always has a few edc's , she has an i3s,tubeVN and convoy s8 on her all the time. She really loves the tints of lights,so no matter how nice,big etc a light can be,if its not got the right K tint,she is not interested(5000k+).Her fav"bigger" light is the triple quad,she was really taken back by the weight/quality of it. 

The other week ,the fire safety officer called at the studio for a check up/recommendation etc(smoke alarms to fire doors ect). She had the tm15 with her and he was taken back how a "girl" would know so much and have a S&R type light :laughing: I am sure her interest may dwindle a tad if...............well its rude to say how much lights cost

Maybe envy is too strong,admire,impressed maybe better suited and it would be far more if i unleashed the beasts :laughing: However ,having a $700 light roll off a robot whilst working really does nothing for me:duh2:


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## Stream (Feb 23, 2015)

ven said:


> Maybe envy is too strong,admire,impressed maybe better suited and it would be far more if i unleashed the beasts :laughing: However ,having a $700 light roll off a robot whilst working really does nothing for me:duh2:



Maybe the thread title should have been "Have you ever wowed anyone with your lights". Either way, I enjoyed reading your story, and all the other stories in this thread


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## Stream (Feb 23, 2015)

Charles L. said:


> Went on a camping trip with my Zebralight H600F. 'nuff said.



Oh, I'm sure. But hearing all the dirty details is what makes it fun to read


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## ven (Feb 23, 2015)

Stream said:


> Maybe the thread title should have been "Have you ever wowed anyone with your lights". Either way, I enjoyed reading your story, and all the other stories in this thread



Cheers..........can i count? :laughing: 

The person who i wow the most is me :laughing: the last 2 wow lights were




Amazing tint and output,and so heavy




Rach was kind of wowed,she was very impressed and loved the tint..................in fact she wanted it:tsk: was the reply

One that took me by surprise was the tm06vn u3,that imo is a wow light,the output,tint and compact size is astonishing


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## Charles L. (Feb 23, 2015)

Pretty sure that the letters "vn" are pronounced "wow!" by every flashaholic


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## Charles L. (Feb 23, 2015)

Stream said:


> Oh, I'm sure. But hearing all the dirty details is what makes it fun to read



No dirty details, unfortunately, just a few offers to buy it. My fellow campers were as impressed by the H600's moonlight modes as they were with its max output. None of them were familiar with lithium-ion batteries, however, so the H600 remains in my possession


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## buds224 (Oct 26, 2016)

Had a great time with the Cub Scout camping weekend. Tent well lit, Solar Generator to keep everything, including cell phones, topped off. The best part was people seeing my beam shots with the Manker e14 on Turbo. Everyone swore up and down that it was a large flashlight until I showed it to them; the looks on their faces was priceless. My little camping area was unmatched in terms of lighting and supplies.


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## blah9 (Oct 26, 2016)

That sounds like a blast! This is the best camping weather where I live right now too.


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## Open Carry Jenkins (Oct 27, 2016)

Most of my friends are flashlight geeks to some degree, so the envy/oneupsmanship game is always fun.

That having been said, my best friend and her husband were recently really impressed by my EDC Olight S1R Baton. I think I know what they're getting for Christmas . . .one each, of course. Why cause fights?


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## seery (Oct 27, 2016)

I purchased a Surefire Beast II when they first came out in ~2006. 

Back then that light was a total butt kicker. Every place we took it people had to come and check it out, ask questions, and shake their head in disbelief. 

Lately the K60 and K70 have been the lights that draw a lot of attention.


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## bykfixer (Oct 27, 2016)

I think I may have one night, but not sure.

A jogger dressed in dark clothes was running down a sidewalk on the opposite side of a highway one night while I was at work. Folks shined their little toys towards the guy saying "is that a person?" No light reached the person. 

I shined my FL2 that way and said "who that guy?" and lit him up pretty good... in fact it caused the jogger to pause as if it were a 'oh snap it's the cops' type momentary action.

One dude says "that's a bad mom-f-word"... I handed it in that guys direction saying "check it out" and he walked away. Don't know if it was envy or embarassment because he had the brightest light on the job up to that point and is the guy everybody else respects the most.
I was just the inspector there.. nobody likes the inspector.


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## aginthelaw (Oct 27, 2016)

I was just at a flashaholic get together and probably should start a new thread titled "what will it take to cause flashlight envy?" I had 2 dozen lights to sell but the other guys blew me away with what was absolute jewelry in their possession. The only reason I got a passing glance from anyone is because I pulled out the deft-x right before sundown.


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## Dale P. (Oct 27, 2016)

I'm a mason and work in a lot of dark buildings. Most of the guys use cheap head AAA head lamps on their hard hats, but I have a Nitecore HC30 strapped to my head. Yesterday I walked into a very dark room with six guys trying to work wearing cheap headlamps with half dead batteries. My Nitecore lamp lit up the room so bright that every one stopped working and asked where they could get one. I didn't even have it on high! Medium is bright enough and it lasts 3.5 hours on that setting. I swap out the battery on my breaks so I never have a dim light. I use to go through three to six AAA batteries every day, but now I just charge up three 18650's and I'm ready to go again.

Dale P.


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## jorn (Oct 28, 2016)

I often use my manker e14 as one of my edc's at work. I build interior in boats. 2-3 weeks ago the manker dropped out of my pocket when climbing onboard a boat i was rebuilding. Did not even notice it fell out, 4 meter drop into concrete floor. The boat owner found it and asked if it was mine. Told him yes, and he said he found it under the boat. But then he took his showerhead 3xaaa cheapo out of his pocket and claimed mine must be too dim to use as a worklight, because it only got 4 leds. His light had 15 leds, and clearly it must be better. His jaw dropped when i turned the e14 on turbo to check if it still worked after the fall. 5 minutes later he came back to me and asked about the cost, brand name, and where i bought it  He had to have one in a hurry before the herring season started. Helped him order one with a 18650 tube, and a convoy c8 (because the long reach might be good for him at sea) + some batteries and a charger. He called me two days ago and thanked for the help. He have been telling other fishermen for years that he hated led lights because they were so useless, blue and dim, and that his d cell maglite was mutch better... But now he was a bit embarrassed... The manker (nichia version) could light up the whole deck, with a beutiful tint. And the c8 almost had the same reach as his old roofmounted searchlight. He wants me to mount a bigger xenon or led searchlight on his boat the next time he drops by, so i think a new flashaholic is born 

Today one of the guys working in the office came down waving around with a ~100 lumen 1xaa light. Asked if i could have a look at it. It was a decent made cheapo with a old xp-g led, but he bragged that the seller had told him it was the world brightest light for it's size. And he paid almost 100$ for it at a industrial tool store. Told him that he was scammed, something he refused. Argued that i have been hoarding lights for about 10 years. It could not be the brightest for it's size because then i would have owned one, or atleast heard about the brand name before. He got annoyed, pointed the light at the wall and asked if i had something brighter than his light?? Asked him "what light?", and drowned it with the output from the manker:devil: Repeated that he had been scammed, and overpaid big time for the light. He got a bit butthurt and went quietly back to his office


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## bykfixer (Oct 29, 2016)

aginthelaw said:


> I was just at a flashaholic get together and probably should start a new thread titled "what will it take to cause flashlight envy?" I had 2 dozen lights to sell but the other guys blew me away with what was absolute jewelry in their possession. The only reason I got a passing glance from anyone is because I pulled out the deft-x right before sundown.



The thing I noticed is that a true flashaholic is like a surfer.... riding 2' or 20' (waves), the smiles are still the same.
So when you are among friends they dig a good old mini mag just as much as a Malkoff.


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