once a year I email my favorite flashlight manufacturer to ask if they’ve finally made a flashlight that just turns on and off when you push the button, and every year they’re like, “no, but thanks so much for your feedback!”
be honest, have any of you ever used the flashing feature on your flashlight? did it actually come in handy? handy enough that I have to scroll past it every single time I want to turn my flashlight on or off
I have two Fenix lights that both have 2 buttons, one on/off and a second mode selector.
The LD12 is perfect as a daily although the side/mode button is kinda awkward to use, the main button is perfect though.
My PD35R is a bigger one that’s really bright, but also too big for normal carry, so I only use it for work when it’s too dusty to see. It has 2 buttons on the back, one small one for mode selection and a nice big one to turn it on/off.They put them in all the flashlights because of a combination of minimum features required and cost savings.
To keep heat at a minimum and improve power usage, LEDs benefit from being run by a driver circuit.
If you’re going to use a driver circuit you might as well allow for dimming if you’re going to allow for dimming you need to have timed button presses.
There’s only a couple of companies out there that make the circuitry that does the LED driver / lithium ion charging, so everybody just uses the same chipset.
If you want to flashlight that just turns on and off and doesn’t have a lot of features try to find one that doesn’t have lithium ion batteries. If you don’t need the lithium ion charger they’re more likely not to use one of them more extensive chipsets.
You need flashlights with a better UI.
None of my flashlights strobe without making the effort to make it do that or require me to cycle through modes just to turn them on and off. The worst one I have has 9 modes you select with a detented twist ring(Fenix SRT9), but has an on/off button so you always start on the mode you used last unless you twist the ring.
Strobe is useful for firearms lights to disorient a target. For emergency use it prolongs the runtime, like if you were in a flash flood, your house was bombed in the middle of the night, or you got lost on a hike and needed to signal for help. Strobe is unlikely to be needed, but can be a life saver.
You need flashlights with a better UI.
I mean, yea, I think that’s what OP is saying.
But it can be hard to find, with a high output/good battery.
Lights using a 18650 seem to be the rage these days, at crazy cheap prices, but they all use some UI with clicks, holds, etc. I feel like I’m doing a dance to use any of mine, definitely not what you want in a circumstance requiring a flashlight.
Even the simplest of lights require something most people would find unusual (and certainly never guess). Setting an Anduril light to “simple mode” is still more complex than I want in a light. It would be nice to have a simple click control, and be able to disable the strobe nonsense (never once in my life have I thought “ooh, a strobing light would be great right now!”). Nevermind the arguments for it are debatable (to confuse an attacker? Research has shown it affects you too).
Anduril is way overengineered. I like this UI that some of my lights have:
While off:
- One push: Turn on at the last used brightness.
- Two pushes: Turn on at maximum brightness.
- Three pushes: That strobe mode that you don’t need but seems to be obligatory.
- Hold: Turn on at the lowest brightness (or moonlight mode if the light has one).
While on:
- One push to turn off.
- Two pushes to toggle between maximum brightness and the last used “regular” brightness.
- Three: That strobe mode that someone has to have some use for.
- Hold: Alternately increase or decrease the brightness.
That’s pretty easy to learn and gives you all the functions you’d reasonably need (plus that strobe) without a lot of clutter.
That’s basically all I use from my Anduril flashlights. I don’t bother with the candle modes and all that shit. I’ve only ever used Anduril v2 flashlights, so maybe Anduril v1 was less intuitive?
The most logical programming is
- Double tap for brightness level - cycles through low, med, high
- Triple tap for sos - this whole setting is optional
- Quadruple tap to reset to default
- Single tap for on and off and it remembers last setting.
Banging idea, love this.
Only changes I would make is changing out the SOS for a five-second long-press, and changing reset to a ten-tap - to make sure people aren’t just fucking about turning it on and off.
There’s nothing logical about that to me. Double/triple click? No one outside the flashlight community would have a clue how to use these lights (and I own a handful).
Sequential click through low/med/high/off is intuitive.
I have labels on some lights so people can use them. Imagine that, having to read a label to use a flashlight. Oh, that’ll be great in a power outage.
Do you just not read the user manual when you buy something? Thats how i learn how my lights work without being a flashlight nerd scouring forums.
I mean, yes, rtfm always, but at the same time flashlights are solved problem and they should not require a manual for anyone that’s over the age of six.
see, one of mine is supposed to be almost that easy. you press the button normally to turn the light on and off, and it always remembers the last setting. then, you lightly press the power button to cycle through modes. the problem is, there’s no way to press the button hard without also pressing it soft first, so most of the time you’re cycling at the same time that you’re powering.
Buy one that’s made for fire fighters. They must be compliant to norms and from what I see all of them are super easy to handle. On off with a physical button.
Maglite, the last one I bought has twist on and off. No flashing or buttons.
I haven’t looked into maglite since proper LEDs priced them out of the market. I’ll take another look
https://maglite.com/collections/mid-size/products/ml25lt-2c-led-flashlight
This one is similar. 2 c cell batteries and no buttons.
oh man, they’re still offering incandescent models alongside their LEDs. none of them are really inspiring hope though, even the smaller LED lights seem to have pretty pitiful lumen output compared to what I’m seeing out there
Pick a battle. You requested no extra buttons or flashing or modes and now it’s not bright enough?
It works for me. Has light and no extra flashing modes. Hasn’t really failed me either. I drop shit, a lot.
Here’s a feature I want that doesn’t seem to exist in any modern flashlight:
DON’T DRAIN THE BATTERY WHEN TURNED OFF!!!
Seriously, the constant drain on the battery means that you cannot have an emergency flashlight in the drawer. How FUCKING STUPID is that?
This is just a reality of electrical circuitry that includes batteries.
So have a mechanical circuit.
Like we used to have before a tiny chip became marginally cheaper to produce than a tiny metal and plastic switch.
I can’t remember the last time I had a flashlight that did that. I have one in my bedside drawer that’s been using the same battery for at least 6 years. and the other ones around the house, I just double check anytime a hurricane is supposed to be rolling in and they’ve always been fine
Hey if the batteries are that old you should replace them anyway. Every year or two it needs new ones. They will eventually start leaking battery acid and fuck up a good flashlight
Oh, flAshlight!
As you were…
Be careful updating the firmware on those, friend of mine ended up having to finger his named pipe. You don’t know him, he goes to a different school.
no, surprisingly, Fleshlight has actually figured out how to make an on/off button.
I guess I haven’t used a flashlight recently
Same with bike lights, no I don’t want 16 different strobes, it’s not a vibrator.
Thinking about it, vibrators should have a on/off button too.
My bike lights aren’t bad.
Hold to turn on (to the last mode used), hold to turn off, push to switch between three modes: High, Low, and Flashing.
My wife’s favourite has a button that scrolls through the various modes, but when you hold it for a couple of seconds turns it off. Shit’s a game changer. Even starts back up on the last used setting.
the vibrator? what brand
Pretty sure it’s this one. Enjoy!
Right there with you.
Why can’t I get a light with super simple controls (say low/med/high/off) with like a 18650 battery?
Nope, you want a 18650,you get all sorts of goofy UI crap. Uggh.
I do have some Duracell led flashlights that use 4 AAA, with a single button, low/med/strobe (uggh)/off. OK price as a multi-pack from Sam’s or Costco, about $7/ea.
But their runtime is about the same as an old incandescent, just with a lot more light.
Check out the Nitecore T4K. Not an 18650, but usb-c rechargeable, 4 brightness levels (1, 15, 65, and 200 lumens), plus a 4000 lumen turbo mode that it can maintain for about ten seconds before it has to drop back to 200 to cool down. Separate power and mode buttons, and it remembers what mode it was in when you turned it off. Great battery life, and small enough to fit in your pocket. The only downside is the price ($90), but.it’s worth every penny.
I don’t know how it is with four AAA, but I had an Anker that had the three AAA cassette, where it holds them all side by side. the cassette broke, and when I called asking for a replacement part, they told me they weren’t making that anymore so no more parts, but these three cell AAA cassette could be replaced with a single 18650
Wurkkos FC12
18650, tail cap on/off, side button for modes, stays at the last brightness setting when you turn it off and on, built in USB -C charging port. Available on Amazon for about $30 on sale.
I carry one with me everyday at work.
Used to EDC one of those. Switched to an Emisar D4DV2, it’s way better.
Looked it up, lack of a tail cap switch is a bit of a deal breaker for me. Might get one as a backup, but probably won’t replace my EDC.
Tailcap switch could be nice, but I haven’t missed having one.
My SureFire has a tailcap switch and it would keep getting turned on in my pocket.
I hate SureFires… Had a Polytac that I carried for a while but same issue of pocket activation and the batteries wouldn’t last because of it basically running all the time. I was constantly checking to make sure it was off.
Haven’t bought anything from the brand since.
Why does it need to be low/mid/high/off?
What’s the benefit of those modes, and when would you use it?I’m genuinely asking as I’ve never thought of using all the other modes and am just cycling through them every time to get to the bright setting or to off.
I use mine for either hiking, skiing, or biking. Skiing I want as bright as possible and will have extra batteries, hiking I want it to last a long time and be lightweight (lower light setting), biking I don’t want to blind people, and a red light for camp is nice. I don’t like cycling through, a dedicated intensity button with memory and a dedicated on/off locking toggle would be great.
I don’t know, but I hate that, too. Modern flashlights have every advantage over the ones of old, but they ALL seem to have stupid things like that.
Clicking through multiple brightness levels is one thing, but strobe, SOS, and 5 levels is ridiculous. Just give me on/high, low, and off.
I’m a slut for Emisar, they have one button and a stupid amount of functions, but you can put it in Muggle Mode where it’s just PRES BUTAN TO TURN ON, PRES BUTAN TO TURN OFF if you don’t wanna deal with all that.
I like it with all the functions though, the software is mega easy once ya learn a couple basic functions. Also I’m a dweeb.
But man they do not appear professional.
Their about page is just a broken English “We are flashlight company”, their delivery information page just says “Delivery information”, they added every SNS icon under the sun (even ones that were disbanded years ago) to their footer but they all just refer to the front page, and the “FREE CALL” from the settings menu(??) is just a second mail to link.
This website reads like a scam mail, my guy.
It’s one Chinese dude. I’ve ordered a couple flashlights from him years ago and they’re all still in daily use for me now. It may sound weird but my experience has been excellent.
Edit: also you have not linked to intl-outdoor or whatever site I got them from, I linked it in another comment
I linked what seems like their official website, though.
Fair. It’s just some Chinese dude that makes em. Intl outdoor is where I got mine from. They’re wonderful, but I can see why they would seem sus.
Rescued my daughter in the cliched flat tyre in the rain scenario, the flashing light was good to alert other drivers. I think it’s something that could be useful very rarely.
The vast majority of flashlights just go to your last setting with one click, what flashlights are you using that this is an issue?
I picked up some stranded skaters in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night because they flashed SOS with their headlights after I drove past them. They had been there for like 8 hours. I’m sure they would’ve rather had a flashlight to do the work for them.
But I agree that there should be another UI for getting to the emergency flashing. Like hold for 5 seconds or something unlikely to be used during normal operation.
I have a flashlight that has multiple flashy settings, but they are disabled after like 5 or 10 seconds of idle power on time. So the first click turns it on, and if you wait a while, the next click turns it off.
