I can see the sink scenario not that I work under a sink that often but maybe about as often as power outages occur. When power outages occur I generally light a few candles.
I guess maybe the desire for tail standing in a light is greater than its actual need.
When camping and there is a bathroom provided there is generally electricity isn't there. When it's an outhouse style I'm generally not in there at night. If it's to take a leak that's usually in the bushes and tail standing wouldn't apply there.
OK, thanks for the responses. I'm always hearing about "tail standing" and didn't really see the big deal. Working under a sink is the only example I can personally identify with I guess.
I use a flashlight to go to bed at night, as the lightswitch is a long distance from my bed. I tail-stand the light on my bedside table while getting into bed, as it lights up the room nicely. I also use tailstanding whenever I need to light up a room, or when working under a car (which happens WAY TOO OFTEN!#@!), or under a house, or under a counter, or... etc.
I guess it is a big deal if you have a powerful enough flashlight plus you appreciate the fact that the quality of light in a room from a tailstanded light is much better than direct light. This "bounced" thingy arises simply because we humans do not walk around with a huge spotlight just beside our heads or body, but rather natural / artificial light sources come from above, plus they are usually multiple sources and diffused for that nice effect.
In photography this is a very very big deal. HIDs are great for this because the front glass gets hot and so if facing upwards it gets a little more convection cooling as the hot air rises and more cool air rushes in from the sides. You will get more electrode burn automotive HID bulbs aren't designed to do this burn position, but bulbs are cheap and I don't think we hobbyists don't even use each of our lights more than a couple of hours every month. HIDs are also powerful enough for this and usually do a good period of time and not heat up into the danger zone, just because the bulb likes heat so we can try concentrating it "to go upwards" so as not to affect the ballasts/batteries (be careful of the electronics and batteries though, some have heatshields). Try that with a even a regular XM-L with a reasonably big body, unless you have a TK70.
2100, I get that tail standing a flashlight in a room gives better illumination than a direct beam but most of us have table lamps and ceiling lights in our rooms :)
If it's for the power outages...how often does that occur :) Candles are nice for that as well :)
Yeah man, that's we flashaholics are quite crazy, but seriously in many hobby obsessions this is always the case. haha.... Car Audio, Hifi, DIY Audio, Aquariums esp marine stuff/Koi, photography, horology, car mods + tracking etc.......
In my in-laws place in Indonesia, power outages are frequent. Generally people there don't use even Ultrafire which is high-end, we "use" all the good stuff. See the difference.
My take on tailstanding is that it is over-rated. It's certainly never a deal-breaker when it comes to deciding which light to buy. Plus even if you need to use it working on plumbing under a sink, I'm sure I can find three or four that will tailstand; they don't all have to.
Prefer just to clip a Z1 to my shirt and use that anyway...
I've seen people preferring the Maratek A3 over the ITP A3 because one tail stands and one doesn't.
Given the reasons for tail standing mentioned in this thread so far I don't really see where a single AAA would need to tail stand. To work under the sink or to light up the room in a power outage?
I don't use the tailstanding feature often, but I don't use my lights on weapons so there's no reason to get lights that don't tailstand. Therefore, I always seek out tailstanding lights. Tailstanding lights are also somewhat less prone to accidental turn-on in pockets, backpacks, etc.
I have electricity in my house, so I don't often need tailstanding at home, but I still do tailstand a light sometimes, e.g. if I go into the office at night, and don't turn on the light because I plan to just sit at the computer, but then I need to see something, so I don't stand up and turn on the light--I turn on the flashlight on my desk and tailstand it.
I've also tailstanded a light at a campground at an alpine lake, in... uh don't know what to call it but a small building meant for campers to eat in. No electricity or running water; just two tables. As you campers know, when it gets dark at a remote campground, it gets really dark, so you can't even see your hands. Even an old Maglite 2xAA tailstanding provided enough light for that little building, to eat by.
I've tailstanded a light at work when we had a power failure. UPSs kept the computers running but I tailstanded my brightest EDC light to illuminate my desk a bit.
If you don't know why people tailstand lights, then you apparently have no need to tailstand a light. Don't worry about it, don't consider it when buying a light, and move on.
I have to say though, that the stock L2P tail drives me crazy. I cant activate that switch with any normal grip.
I do one thing Bushytails posted. I use mine to get into bed. I don't have a lamp on my nightstand (no room with all my crap) so it really nice to not feel my way from the light switch to the bed.
90% of my lights tail stand. The 10% were non-tailstandable because they were the first few torches I bought. Tailstanding is Super important for me. I find myself using the light as a room/ceiling/item bounce light often enough for the non-tailstanding light to annoy me enough to not carry it.
All of my lights also tail stand solidly. The worst is the EX11.2, but thats not too bad at all. The best is probably my Legion (3x 18650) or an EX10.
Well I have to justify buying more flashlight to my wife. I tailstand my light when I am in the bathroom doing my things. I tell her we are saving so much wear and tear of our regular lights and also saving on electricity. Hehe
I can definitely see a tail-standing light as being nice in an outhouse when camping... Most of them out here (MT and WY) have no electricity, or running water!
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