How important is moon-mode to BLFers?

I am ok with a “low” mode, it doesn’t have to be moon. In many of my lights “moon” is too low for most use cases, short of being outside at night (which is never the case for me) or being in a pitch black room (again, never a reality).

When you are outside with sunlight “moon” mode won’t do anything. chances are you would need significant amount of light to make it work.

So this is an exception for me, it doesn’t mean the feature doesn’t have any value.

Moon is my most used mode.

I’d rather have it than not. Sometimes it’s easy to forgot how bright C01 (about 6-8lumens) can be in pitch black environment. Firefly and moonlight are lower output and are good for those situations. Outdoors it’s overpowered by light pollution and competes with actual moonlight.

Moon mode is very important to me. When I need to navigate a dark hallway with dark-adjusted eyes, the 8 lumens of my Fenix e12 is far too much.

My older Thrunite T10 with some DC fix on the lens is just right at around 0.1-0.2 lumens and good flood.

captainkirk

The “have to be prepared” side of me requires every light to have moon mode for extended runtime in any emergency situation.

But the practical side of me has never needed moon mode in any real life situation. In fact blasting full turbo mode in full darkness is what I tend to do, it’s fun.

If this is an EDC it must have a ML mode and ML must be accessible from off with total reliability… not even the slighest brighter blink when ML is wanted. I use ML virtually every night.

I would also like the ability to switch up to the low level from ML with ease, but the absence of this is NOT a deal breaker like the absence of ML is.

Throwers, lanterns and other special use lights do not need ML IMO.

i have used MM several times during extended power outages.
flashlight stays in MM as a kind of “night-light”.
it’s more important during camping trips.
however,
i don’t make a buy or no buy decision
based upon MM, so i vote “nice”.

For my edc, I prefer two-mode lights, one at 10-15 lumens; the other 100%, usually at 500-1000 lumens.
I do not like to turn it on, then switch to a higher mode. So a 4-mode light does not get any use from me.
I also require there is no mode memory.
The only exception is for a tent light, which I need moon light mode so I can leave it on through the night.

Moon mode for me is a totally useless level for my 68 year old eyes so I’d have to say it’s not important at all :partying_face:

Voted nice to have. This seems to be a dealbreaker for most flashaholics. I feel visible PWM is more of a dealbreaker for myself.

For an EDC light moon mode is mandatory for my use.

What I’ve learned in over 8 years of buying modern lights is that one man’s moon-mode is another man’s high.

Chris

Once my eyes are dark-adapted, anything over about 1 lumen is too bright.

ML mode makes me high.

Depending on the light, I really like a moon mode I can get to from off.
Then from there to low. Or a memorized setting.
Even the Big SP70 has a lower direct mode, not in the usual range.
It’s brighter than moon, but handy non the less for up close without killing my night vision.
All the Best,
Jeff

Very. I only use my Nichia S2+ in the bedroom before sleep for that reason - 0.1% mode with its 4x7135 is a proper moonlight mode that none of the other torches I like have. The low mode on both my Lumintop Tools (AA 2.0 and AAA CRI) is much too bright, it kills my sleep.

Moon mode really important especially for indoor use (kids).

But so many caveats. Need shortcut from off to moon. Don’t memorize moon mode - either no memory at all or remember modes other than moon. So many otherwise good lights remember moon mode and I don’t understand why - you can already get to moon from off, memory for moon makes it harder to use for everyone.

Moon is nice to have, buy not a dealbreaker for a light. It definitely has a place. In a EDC light it’s invaluable, but in something like a dedicated thrower type, not so much.

Moon mode is necessary for Warm White lights only, which I use at night time before I sleep or for bathroom walks. I don’t care about moon mode for CW lights.

If it don’t have <1 lumen mode, I don’t buy it.

My cataract-filled eyes still don’t need to be blinded inside a dark building.

I set up all my zebralights with a bunch of low-light modes, and only the top two have high lumens.

I even use my GT Micro at 1/3 to illuminate deer 150’ away.