Light Modes

[Teofilo]

2 modes

[andrea.from.roma]

Two modes, no more.

One for everyday tasks, say around 15 lumens, easy on the battery.
The other, for unexpected situations, full throttle and who cares if the battery dies after one hour.

Those 8/12/29/46/87/102/190/blabla lumens flashlight modes are cool but they make it too hard for me to estimate how long the battery is going to last, especially if it isn't fully charged.

I've never been in a situation where I needed 30/40 hours of light, really. But sometimes I've been needing a few minutes of almost-as-bright-as-the-sun light. Since EDC means carrying a tool everyday and use it very often, I think a two modes light - one soft and one really blinding - is the best compromise.

A.

[Gareth]

Two or three for me, any more seems a waste.  The two setting I never use on my Fenix L0D are the strobe and the SOS, and it seems that Fenix agreed with me and dropped them on the LD01.

[Benner]

5 modes for me.

[Nutznboltz]

Three modes for me,  I like having a low, med , high sometimes I find the low is just not bright enough so med mode is a handy to have. I tend to use med and high more.  I'll agree SOS and Strobe are seldom used on my Fenix lights.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

High and low suits me best

[cliosguy]

3 for me

[Freudian Frog]

One to three for me. Anything beyond that stops being useful and just becomes annoying.

[prime77]

High and low work good for me. The most important thing about multiple mode lights for me is the the User Interface. I'm getting tired of lights where I have to click, click, click to get the level I want.

[John]

I use ultra low mostly for nightly raiding missions to my wife purse     ,

but really I have a variable brightness system this comes in handy especially when working in distribution boards,it enables me to throw just the right amount of light on the boards components and believe it or not the amount of light you need can change from place to place  


And when out walking the dog late I take a two mode light low and full on 580 lumens  


so mine would be low,high and anything in between 

[angusW]

Three modes are what I prefer. Low mode for reading prints or trying to see something close. Medium for walking around or when you need a bit more light when trying to see something close. High when ya gotta blind the crap out of someone who's in your space.

[ringzero]

High and low work good for me. The most important thing about multiple mode lights for me is the the User Interface. I'm getting tired of lights where I have to click, click, click to get the level I want.

+1000

IMO the User Interface of many of the Fenix lights is nearly unforgiveably bad: rotate bezel then click, click, click a clicky switch, while being forced to cycle through strobe and SOS when you don't want them.

Such complicated User Interfaces may be OK for headlamps, but I don't want them on my handheld lights.

To their credit, Fenix has gone back to making a few lights with a simple User Interface that controls only two levels with no strobe or SOS.

.

[Spoonrobot]

I picked three modes. I loathe the SOS and strobe. Especially on the Fenix lights where they pop on if you so much as look at the tailcap the wrong way. My perfect UI would be this:

Bezel tight? -> Light turns on High mode. Bezel loose? -> Light turns on Low, soft click once for medium. Tighten bezel anytime for High.

And another thing, why in the world are there still lights that exist with forward clickies and no lock-out? How do they expect me to carry the darn thing? I've passed on so many good lights that I would have no way to carry without looking like I was smuggling a ball of lighting in my pants. Forward clickies are a limited use item anyway, you either have to carry in holster or carry it locked out. This causes a delay getting the light into action. I've made due with the Fenix UI for a few years now but it is certainly less than ideal. Reverse clickies are the way to go for real EDC lights. Although I suspect most don't like them because they don't actually carry their lights and don't generally face the issues us EDC guys do.  

[2xTap]

Generally I am for just one mode......Max Output! I have found though that a two mode light with a good UI is really great to have. I have lights with more modes, but aside from High and Low I don't use any others. Strobe and SOS features on flashlights are the most useless functions a light could have. At best they are a novelty.

In my experience, for my uses, even with a multi-mode light I find I use High about 99% of the time.

2xTap

[Benner]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

Apart from blinding friends and family, I've never had a use for it

[Benner]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

Apart from blinding friends and family, I've never had a use for it

Oddly enough that's why I like it.  Just not friends or family (mmmm... maybe the wife  ).

If I wanted to disorientate (sp?) an attacker I think that is exactly what I would use.  That's why I am such a huge fan of the L2D as you can rotate the bezel so strobe and max out are quickly available.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

Apart from blinding friends and family, I've never had a use for it

Oddly enough that's why I like it.  Just not friends or family (mmmm... maybe the wife  ).

If I wanted to disorientate (sp?) an attacker I think that is exactly what I would use.  That's why I am such a huge fan of the L2D as you can rotate the bezel so strobe and max out are quickly available.

See I think I'd be too busy braining the guy to worry about what setting it's on

(Am really wanting an LD20 now )

[John]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

Apart from blinding friends and family, I've never had a use for it

Oddly enough that's why I like it.  Just not friends or family (mmmm... maybe the wife  ).

If I wanted to disorientate (sp?) an attacker I think that is exactly what I would use.  That's why I am such a huge fan of the L2D as you can rotate the bezel so strobe and max out are quickly available.

That's fine until your attacker starts dancing to the strobe   

[2xTap]

Benner,

That's the reason I say Strobe and SOS are useless, and a novelty at best.

I have a few lights that have a strobe feature, most lights that have such functions have the strobe operate at the same output as the high function......my Olight M30 is an example. I have been intentionally blasted in the face by both it's High output mode and Strobe in near pitch dark conditions.......they are both equally as disorientating.

Now given the fact that most lights that have strobe either require a multitude of clicks or other functions to access Strobe, or require a head twist to get to that mode which requires two hands to operate........in a stressful situation where the Strobe mode is intended, either when confronting a attacker or burglar.......the likely hood of one engaging through different modes to get to Strobe in that situation is slim. And more often than not any person looking for what might be a attacker/burglar in the the dark, more often in one's home late at night when a flashlight would be in such use, would also likely have the flashlight in one hand and some form of weapon in the other..........coming across said attacker/burglar with a light that requires a head twist to engage Strobe Mode is self defeating in it's use.

As to SOS, well if you are in a situation where you have to signal to an aircraft or ship, or whatever......due to being lost or injured while out and about somewhere, a flashlight on High output waved frantically should draw the same reaction as a light flashing out S.O.S. in Morse!

2xTap

[Zack]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

I could do without the SOS feature, but I like to have the strobe when I am walking the dog, as we have seen some fox around where we live.  Works great when someone is trying to find you as well.

[John]

Ok to put the strobe to rest I'll post a video of one pointed near my dog, seriously it has no effect, he carries on in the world his way  

Strobe's do nothing to this  

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Am I the only one that likes to have strobe then?   

Apart from blinding friends and family, I've never had a use for it

Oddly enough that's why I like it.  Just not friends or family (mmmm... maybe the wife  ).

If I wanted to disorientate (sp?) an attacker I think that is exactly what I would use.  That's why I am such a huge fan of the L2D as you can rotate the bezel so strobe and max out are quickly available.

That's fine until your attacker starts dancing to the strobe   

Am I the only one who thought of Disco Stu from the Simpsons when reading this post

[John]

I'll post here also TBH strobes are useless IMHO  
[youtube] [/youtube]

At that moment he attacked a stick   

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Wow you dog flashes like KITT from Knightrider

[John]

Wow you dog flashes like KITT from Knightrider

Not really i have to train dogs against BANGERS and flash lights   so far he's trained to ignore lasers,guns, bangers and strobe lights  

[sappyg]

after the novelty wore off i never much cared for strobe or SOS. i have hidden those functions on my programable lights.
for EDC 2 modes are all i use with the high mode getting most of the use.  

[rp252]

I like having strobe on a flashlight - its nice to have, but not essential.  I find it more disorientating than high-beam (I've been flashed by a few), but with 200+ lumens it really makes little difference.  Its awkward to access most strobe functions so switching them on quickly is usually out of the question, so not so good for self defence IMO.  I find them useful for signaling to people - strobe attracts more attention than continuous beam, especially when there are multiple people using torches nearby.  A similar effect can be achieved by using the momentary-on function, but strobe is convenient in these situations BUT it HAS to be intelligently incorporated into the UI of the flashlight.

SOS I think is pretty useless.  It could be useful to leave on overnight signaling for help whilst you sleep etc.  Batteries last longer than leaving it on constant.  I'd still probably want to save my batteries so I could signal when I know there is help nearby though

I used the Fenix TK11 for ages and loved the two modes; signaling was done using the momentary-on function.  I'm now using the Olight M20 and I love the four output modes.  The M20 memorises strobe, so you can turn it on straight into 'strobe mode', but I never do that - usually gets left in low if I'm inside or medium of I'm outside.  Ultimately I like having a really low light for map reading/indoors, a medium level for general use and a high mode for when you need the extra light.  I sometimes use the strobe on the M20, but rarely.

There is no option for '4 modes' on the poll though...    So three modes it is