I assume that the final version will not have lantern-useless modes like “momentary” and “bicycle strobe”, but do we know yet whether it will contain the candle, sleep timer, lightning storm, etc?
Those modes may be useless for a lantern, but it makes me think that it would be useful to have a mode to attract attention in an emergency with long run-time. Whether that’s … - - - … or something else, there are probably others here more qualified.
It’s not the exact LEDs the lantern will have but it should be a ballpark number for when both channels are at “max”. This is a good result and lands very close to BBL.
Yes, there is definitely use for a beacon mode. And I’d like to see more of a true beacon, like many of the Nitecore lights. Beacons in current Anduril releases only implement something I’d call a “blinker”.
Whats the difference of what you’d call a “true beacon”, vs what you’d call a “blinker”. I personally think Aduril is great considering you can adjust the timing and light intensity, which you can’t do on any Nitecore light that I know of.
Sweet sassy molassey. A million opinions will lead to a million years in wait. I think by this point in time DBSAR has earned the position of ultimate authority in the creation of this light. I say we let him ride with his gut and finish it. Sure, smaller size and lesser opacity would be nice but I’m down for even his current prototype if it were available. Who says there has to be only one? This isn’t highlander. Make some options available at time of purchase and it should appease the masses. It works for the other guys.
I’m not funkychateau but this is Nitecore NU20 CRI beacon mode. https://youtu.be/IKdCoB0gIVQ (captured in 720p120, YT transcoded to 720p60, link to original in description)
This required many attempts…but I actually managed to capture the blip in 720p960 (720p30 playback). https://youtu.be/I2jLbf8EWfI (link to original in description)
This is what comes to my mind when someone says beacon.
I’m not good with maths but I calculated the above slow-mo capture should represent ~0.184s of real life and since there’s 177 frames in the file and the blip takes ~21 frames it would mean Nitecore’s beacon duration is ~22ms compared to Anduril’s 500ms which is rather long but that’s just my opinion.
I recall they say a blink of an eye takes ~300-400ms so 500ms certainly is a blink.
However I don’t think this needs to change in the firmware, if someone doesn’t like it they can always modify it themselves and flash it. (assuming the LT1 firmware is available for download after release?)
A true beacon has a very short “on” time, so that you can have a high-intensity beacon yet very low average current. All of the Anduril versions I’ve read about only let you adjust off time, and you’re stuck with the half-second or so of on time. Knock that on-time down, and you could run a beacon at turbo brightness for days, or even weeks.
A real beacon, which provides a high-intensity locator function for long periods of time, is a very useful feature in a wilderness light.
You don’t need to be able to adjust on-time, just hardcore it shorter. About 0.05 seconds is a really good compromise. Easily seen, yet uses 10 times less average battery current that the existing implementation.
All of my Nitecores, even the headlamp (I believe), have good true-beacon implementations.