First, let me say this—you know you have too many lights when a healthy percentage of the time you spending using lights is to help look for other lights. This is the flashlight equivalent of using new knives to open boxes of even newer knives. That aside, here is the story.

I love my Muyshondt Aeon Mk. III. It is one of my favorite pieces of gear ever. And I still carry it regularly. This past week I enjoyed dropping in my pocket with the Tactile Knife Co Rockwall (review next week). Its small, plenty bright, and plenty tough.

Well, after Thursday night I realized I couldn’t necessary lay my hands on it. I have a lot of gear and two little boys (foreshadowing) and stuff walking around the house is not uncommon at all. Friday I looked at work and in my car—nothing. Friday night I did a really thorough search and it looked like the Aeon was gone. As Covid restrictions loosen, I am traveling and moving around a lot more and so it seemed like I could have just misplaced it.

Second aside—when is something lost? This is an interesting philosophical question, kind of like the question of a hole. Is something lost when it initially departs your awareness or is it lost when you start looking for it? It seems strange to say that the only thing that makes something lost is that you want it to find it. Still, it is hard to pin down exactly when something is lost. Also, is something lost merely because you forget where you put it or is it lost when it is in a place you didn’t put it? Being lost is pretty complicated, both actually and philosophically.

Anyway, as it became clearer and clearer that the light was gone I starting searching around for a replacement. What would I get as a replacement? After a few hours of searching over two or three days the answer was clear—nothing. Nothing replaces the Aeon perfectly. A lot of stuff is close, but nothing is exactly the same. In this search I found Precogvision’s written site (I follow him on IG and watch his videos, but for some reason I hadn’t found the written site). Its excellent.

Sadly, after another thorough search Saturday morning, I concluded that the light was gone. Maybe it would turn up one day, but it was pretty clear the Aeon was not mine anymore. It is sad that the aluminum version, the best version, is no longer available.

Then my called out from a remote corner of our house: “I found it!” It had been used by my youngest son to find his own special item—a Glow Fob. It was under his bed with about four dozen other random items. He uses his under the bed space as a sort of Smaug horde of stuff.

Welcome back Aeon.