2*AA side-by-side aluminum flashlight - DCF01 by Sofirn (Formerly: Resurrection of Duracell Durabeam)

There's a few questions that dictate how simple or complicated the UI must be.

How many switches/buttons/whatever will there be? It looks like currently two e-switches.

Will there be fixed modes, ramping, or both? Personally, I have no problem with well-designed fixed modes. These should be based on the lumen output and the human perception of brightness (four times the lumens looks twice as bright). I've seen some bad lights with modes based on linear current values, like 0.5A, 1.5A, 2.5A.

Who is the actual target audience? If it's enthusiasts, you can go hog-wild on the interface. You could have a "simple" front-end with a hidden advanced mode. If it's not, then you need to make sure that if someone picks up the light and starts clicking, they will not only a) figure it out, but b) not end up in some configuration menu somewhere (sorry Anduril, I still love you). This also to some extent dictates what types of interactions you can have. For a muggle, you can probably only really use "click" and "click and hold", because they'll tend to rapid-click and they'll struggle with the interface if their clicks do different things at different times.

I'm currently leaning towards mode-based (not ramping) with two switches that have different purposes. An early idea I had was to use two switches, one per emitter. It's very simple, and basically turns it into a "two-flashlight" problem with the normal one-flashlight-one-button UI problems; those are well-addressed already in many lights and I could return to that and give a finished sample quickly. But I kind of like the other one better.

I'd like some feedback, though, on the bolded questions. For now:

  • Power button: Turns on, turns up, turns off.
    • Click from off to turn on at low (last emitter used)
    • While on:
      • Click to cycle brightness modes L->M->H (IMO 3 is enough, more is too much for muggles)
      • Click and hold to turn off. (Important that the hold is not too long, as this feature can frustrate some users)
  • Emitter button: Changes active emitter
    • What should a click from off do?
    • While on:
      • Click to switch between flood and throw
      • Click and hold to toggle "both emitters" mode on/off
        • So, if you're on flood, this toggles the throw emitter while leaving flood on.
        • If you're on throw, this toggles the flood emitter while leaving throw on.
  • Also remaining unused is possible functions for "both switches at once"

I think this should be a muggle friendly light that even your great grandma can easily use. Muggle friendly flashlights with good performance and features like hi cri is almost non existant. The best one I can think of is the Thrunite Archer. All the flashlights with good performance, tint, cri are all catered to enthusiasts. Even BLF lights with Anduril and Narsil are too complicated for most muggles from my experience.

I’m hoping this light will be successful and allow Sofirn to get some good reviews from non flashlight gadget review sites and gain recognition by the general (non flashaholic) public like Maglite, Duracell, Energizer but with better features and performance.

The Durabeam modern version will have to wait until Sofirn is able to directlty produce high quality plastic flashlights.
At the same time sofirn gave us (I mean BLF members) a free hand to design 2*AA the way we would build it ourself.

Initially this thread was about reviving one (or some) of the iconic primitive flashlights, but after Barry’s post about the plastic light target of this tread has changed.
Now I’m trying to design 2*AA aluminum light.

Sofirn C01 was build to the specification wished/requested by BLF community. Why not to build this 2*AA same way?
Let’s make it BLF version from the beginning. Later sofirn can simplify/change UI the way they want.

This is an option to consider. Probably won’t happen due to cost.
Other things mentioned below UI are subjects for discussion .

There is more simple version of UI, but would it be accepted by BLFers? I mean will it be possible to gather 500 orders with such a simple UI?
The UI contains a functionality that is hated by most BLFers. Long press to turn on/off:

Full size: https://i.imgur.com/0l8EuIw.jpg

That’s a good idea, but what will do single click on button 1 on that case?

Two e-switches.

Not decided. Please see above UI’s.

Anyone who is looking for a nice 2*AA gift flashlight.

Completely agree. I think that this can be slightly more expensive than other Sofirn lights if it will deliver unquestionable reliability, a good performance and features like hi CRI.
This reliability is a key as it will bear durability in its name:
Dependable Compact Flashlight - DCF01 BLF edition.

I prefer a simple light with high quality components and high build quality, and to heck with what everyone else is doing.

rost, thanks for that reply.

As an edit to the UI I posted, since it's for BLF I'd recommend double-press to turn off instead of long-press, and use long-press for ramping.
Click and hold ramps up,
Click -> Click and hold ramps down,
Click -> Click turns off.

Also, my UI design would allow for a press-both-buttons lockout mode.

BLF Edition:

Power: Turns on, turns up, turns off.
Click from off to turn on at low (last emitter used)
Double-click to turn off, or just have single-click turn off (and have it wait a slight moment, as Anduril does, to see if there's a second click.)
Click and hold to ramp up
Click -> Click and hold to ramp down

Emitter button: Changes what emitter is active
What should a click from off do? Mode shortcuts, probably.
While on:
Click Switches between flood and throw
Click and hold Toggles on/off "both emitters".
So, if you're on flood, this toggles the throw emitter while leaving flood on.
If you're on throw, this toggles the flood emitter while leaving throw on.

Press-and-hold both buttons to lock out.
Press both buttons to unlock.

Me too, for this light.

Quite sure the more people involves, the more options we’ll get. But let’s take a wider look.
Assuming the Authors aim in creating an over - time classic, widely accessible and for many applications. Shouldn’t we think of ‘the market’? I don’t think (with all due respect) BLFers are a representative group. We’re all crazy about flashlights. To make it right, the Authors should ask a question, who is the potential customer. Let’s say it’ll be very lucky at BLF and sells in number of 1000. And then what? Mugles who bought are likely to return due to too complicated UI.
Why not to use advanced processor and program it (flash the bios) just before sending? The same way we choose led temp. or ref type, we could choose software. Like at MTN. This way the light could reach more people, be more flexible and satisfy each group. Moreover, modding this light could be extended by multiple software versions.
Anyway, I think the success of this light depends on its sales. BLF won’t bring more than 1000? But if it becames common at gas stations… BOOM,millions….
So… The software could be developed, best if market research could prove which exactly functions are desired most by a regular buyer. Who that buyer is (statistics on many factors) etc…

If people are going to flash it, then design it with “pogo pin” access and sell it bundled with the pogo pin connectors.

Well, let’s make a high CRI light with a simple, but good UI like this:
Moonlight (0,5 lumens) — Low-Low (5 lumens) — Low (40 lumens) — Medium(200 lumens) — High(500 lumens)

Shouldn’t be too hard now, would it?

With a SST-20 95CRI 4000k, a reverse tailswitch, simple coated clear anodization, OP reflector, 2x AA compatibility, it could be a killer.

The only problem would be the cell choice and USB charging.

USB charging could be implemented with 1x AA NiMH LSD cell included in the box, but the cell would’ve to be included at all costs.
2x AA could be doable, but not required.

Multiple cells except for parallel Li cells (eg, the DC7) do not take well to in situ charging without at least some kind of rudimentary BMS, so yeah, stay away.

And alkaleaks will take a crap in the light, so the pricier the light, the more bux someone has to throw away to replace it. And smart people who experienced that before will likely stay away from such a light unless it’s cheap enough to be considered disposable.

As much as I like my TK4As, I rarely use them anymore except with brand-new cells, and at the slightest hint of a weak cell, dump them and burn them down as singles or doubles in cheaper lights. One of the brass nipples in the tailcap is already “browned” from a hateful little alkaleak that started to do its thing.

Suggestion? At the risk of making the light slightly bigger, stick the cells in a separate sleeve to at least try to contain leaks, and insert the sleeve in the light itself. Alas, pennies count, so I doubt that’d happen.

Well, that’s a great idea actually.

Since people will stick Alkaleaks anyway, a sleeve should be included to put in the cells.

What about cycling? off/flood/throw/both/off/…

Of course someone’ll want to be able to fade between flood/throw in a continuous way (like the T1 lantern mixing CW⇄WW), so of course people’ll be demanding that as well. :person_facepalming:

Or have buttons fade between flood/throw, and overall brightness up/down.

Designed for muggles, overcomplicated by demanding “flash[ao]holics”…

Are the cells in series or parallel? I'd ideally like good NiMh support. Parallel would be cool for the "use on 1AA in an emergency" factor, and I believe Sofirn is getting some experience with boost drivers of that type already

Damnit, I was just thinking that. Boaz was going on about having a sort of snap-on diffuser cap for I think a Q8, so yeah, something like that would/should work fine.

Here’s a revolutionary idea…

Everyone’s fixated with pushbuttons to control things, but what do most crappy plastic lights have since the 1930s? A slider. Slide forward to turn on, backward to turn off.

In that vein, and thinking of the magnetic slider in my DV-S9s, a 3-position slider can be used to turn the light off|low|high and that’s it.

Or if pushbuttons are a must, an “up” and “down” button.

Up goes off→low→high→high→high→…

Down goes high→low→off→off→off→…

and that’s it.

Add another brightness mode or so, but that’s it.

No blinkies, no shortcuts, no nothing. No longpress, no click’n’hold, nothing.

So simple a monkey could use it. So who’s smarter, you or a monkey?

This. It’s also an easy way to figure out in the dark.

One “maybe”, press’n’hold both buttons for battery-check or some not-critical function, for those who can handle it.

Do waterproof slider-switch designs exist? I think they are used in diving lights, right? Slide for off-low-high would be cool. (and it will make this light more attractive than my MT22A)

At least I agree on a very basic UI, 3 or 4 brightness modes and nothing else. And it helps if the flashlight is really budget. And if it runs on 2 AA cells, I think that USB charging is overkill, everyone has a NiNh charger and is used to charge these batteries. You can give this to muggles no problem.

Oh, and batt-check could be a plain indicator led somewhere, if it lights: charge soon, if it blinks: almost dead.

I love slider switch. Actually this was my initial idea and reason I tried to resurrect Durabeam.

Here are my initial sketches from April: 1 & 2

and thanks to huge help from i_me_andrew we had first rough drawing



Example:

Yep, I liked the 2D Eveready flashlights that had the old 2-way slide switches with the button in the middle to lock them