Where did all these come from?


 I always loved flashlights. My first was an old lantern my dad had in the back of a closet. It had a big hoop of a red handle. The body was a rough brushed aluminum tube with plenty of room for one of those huge 6V latern batteries with the 2 springs on the top. the handle half moon was connected to an octagon shaped base with the main tube able to spin 360 degrees at the axis. One end was red with the "mode" switch just like one of those rotary switches on a lamp. Rotating it switched the modes between the flat faced white light on one side and the domed red light on the other. The modes were: White On Solid > Red On Solid > Red On Blinking.


When I put the battery in and turned it on that first time my eyes glowed almost as much as the bright white light. I turned the rotary switch until it clicked. My smile disappeared as the white light went out. I thought it broke, until I saw the red light on the bottom had come on. Then I rotated it around a few times until I accidentally unlatched the white light and it fell out. Hanging there by a spooled up wire . The light suspended by a small hook which had kept it attached to the body. This would allow you to hang it from things, WOW! Over the years it went to that lost place where all our favorite things end up.

One night I was out in the back yard under the full moon light watching the dog wander through the yard. I turned off the motion sensor lights so I could enjoy the stars in the sky. Standing there making a golden ark out into the darkness... all of a sudden the dog ran to the gate going absolutely ape shit. I thought to myself, "Gee, I wish I know what the dog was barking at?" Actually it was more like "Leggo what the fuck are you barking at?" I couldn't see a damn thing. I had no security lights turned on. It was nearly pitch black.

The next day I bought a bat light which ran on c-cells and had a decent spot light. It was good enough to see to the back fence and maybe I would be able to identify something. This started me down the path all Flashaholics start on. Soon Amazon started "suggesting" all those 990,000 lumen flashlights for a mere $39.99. What a deal!  I recognized it for what it was and resisted for a while. I got lucky with my first purchase of a Wuben C3. The 1200 lumens was way better than the bat light and the light actually fit nicely into my pocket with my wallet.






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