Promise: I’m not trolling and this isn’t meant to be a flippant rhetorical post about, “Hey guyz, does anyone else hate strobe modes?”. I’m honestly really intrigued by this.
I’m really curious when and where this started. Who looked at a flashlight and said, “You know what this light needs? A seizure-inducing strobe that you HAVE to pass trough to change modes or turn the light off!”
And then the entire industry of under-$20 lights agreed and ran with it for the next couple of decades.
The only things I’ve been able to think up so far, that may or may not have all contributed in some portion:
1. Strobe modes are actually popular in Asian cultures where these lights are typically designed. From what I’ve seen on BLF this is not true, but I’ve also only seen the flashoholic demographic on BLF. Can the international contingent of BLF confirm or deny this to any degree?
2. Strobe modes are actually popular with the target market for cheap lights. I could maybe see this from the Point-of-view of someone buying their first ever LED flashlight, after only owning Mag-lights - “Oh, neat, it can flash?!”. But my anecdotal experience with this says that even people who don’t care about flashlights are also annoyed by disco modes. Almost everyone I’ve struck up a conversation with about their (whatever generic LED flashlight) has disliked the strobe when I mentioned it.
3. Flashlight brands wanted to include a strobe mode for legitimate reasons (because it CAN be useful, I specifically want a strobe mode for a light I keep in my car’s emergency kit for example), but lacked sufficiently advanced hardware/software to make mode options or hidden modes. This seems very plausible for the first generation of LED lights, but I don’t think it explains fully why it is still so incredibly common decades later.
4. ??? That’s all I’ve come up with so far.
Has anyone else thought about, or even researched, this in any depth?
Strobe is marketed as something you need as if it will save you in a bad situation. And if you have SOS you will be SAVED. Beacon if you get stranded out in the ocean or something. People watch too much TV. I have seen posts made by New member asking what light over 1000 lumens and Strobe they should carry as a self-defence weapon. Sad that someone convinced them that will make them safe. That mentality would have Strobe mode as the first mode on all lights.
Sure it is nice to have all three but really?
Having them as hidden modes is ok by me, otherwise I do not want them.
If hidden, will the average person remember how to access them in a week let alone 2 years? Yes it’s 12:00 All Day according to their DVD player.
In a baad situation the average person will have a 3X AAA that was forgotten and batteries leaked out inside the light when they need it most. And IF it does work it will only light for 10 minutes.
But maybe I am missing something? Perhaps a Blue craptastic LED makes strobe more effective.
Inescapable Strobe Mode is the most annoying thing about all my otherwise pretty good sub $10 LED flashlights. I've asked this same question.
EVERY flashlight with strobe mode should also have to ability to disable it.
Ok...the ONLY fairly reasonable use I have ever come up with is mounted on a bicycle as a safety light...mostly in urban areas where there's lot's of automobile traffic.
Put two of these 500lumen things on your handlebars flashing out of sync and you're pretty sure to be seen. If drunk driving is a particularly severe problem in your area, mount 3...all flashing out of sync.....even a drunk can't miss that....but it might dazzle blind every other driver.
Pretty simple. It’s an “extra feature” that costs zero to add. Not one penny. It’s a cheap gimmick to “add value” to a light for zero cost.
It’s a few dozen extra bytes in the firmware. A µC costs the same whether you program 1 byte into it or fill it to the brim.
Yet some bozo shopping for flashlights at The Work Bench will see light A that has strobe/beacon/SOS, and otherwise identical light B at the same price that doesn’t, and pick light A… “just in case I need that”. Gaaaah.
So now all of us who hate the damned blinkies are stuck with them, unless we reflash the µC to get rid of them.
And “hidden” blinkies are just as evil, because they still can pop up when you don’t want them. You’ve got “double-click” for strobe, but then try to change modes a little too quickly, and you get blinded with full-bright strobe in your face.
I don’t know which flashlights you’re talking about. None of my flashlights have UNAVOIDABLE strobe modes.
If they have strobe modes, they are either the last in the trigger sequence, or require double clicking to get to. And ALL of them can be turned off without entering strobe modes.
i’m the asian, and honestly we(I) dont love the strobe much
but asian love big number, so people choose 5 mode flashlight more than 3 or 1 mode one
but they rarely use all 5 modes
i like the light with strobe, but must be hard to accest strobe( double click, pressed long, etc), not the click to switch mode like some chinnes light
I can think of situations where strobe and beacon mode can be useful (I still hate them). But has anyone heard a story or has been in a situation where SOS mode saved the day?
in my opinion? mrheosuper and lightbringer are probably right.
for no other reason than it costs nothing, and, a “5” looks better than a “3” or god FORBID a “1”.
i think we have all seen “specs” (and i use the term “specs” very loosely here, lol) but really, a “5 mode” has become a “7 mode” before, by “adding in” both “zoom in” and “zoon out”.
which is even more ridiculous, but… some will try to squeeeeeeze a “7” out of a solid “5”, ha ha.
its not just flashlights, I have to deal with “happy specs” that mean nothing, and TELL me nothing… on all kinds of devices.
me and some guys on a different thread? Were all discussing “budget” USB digital microscopes. One guy bought one. Soon as he turned it on, he found out the “1600” or “1400” pixels? Was only for taking still pictures, they MEANT to say it was only VGA when you need a “live feed” video… you know, like you actuially need to solder in real life, like the product is advertised for?
i cant picture that just “slipped their mind”, its yet another edition of…
“happy specs!”
==
i’m used to it. I’m not making fun or even really complaining… by this point, its just entertainment, really.
It’s a feature that costs very little (someone still has to write the code though and he/she probably wants to get payed for the effort) to add and all features sell. Since it’s so cheap to add; even if it leads to only a handful extra sold, it pays off.
No harm in adding it either (for the seller); it probably hasn’t stopped anyone from buying a light. So as long as we don’t avoid buying lights just because they have blinky modes, the disco modes will stay with us.
I think it was included to give the sense that there actually is some kind of control element of whats going on in the light. It’s not just a simple on/off, but they can actually make the light do something beside just shine. Gives the feel that there is some advanced stuff going on.
Not SOS specifically, but a blinking mode. Two Swedish climbers where caught in an avalanche while making the approach to a climb in darkness. One got injured. The one who didn’t took of his headlight, set it in blinky mode and pointed it to the mountain hut from where they made the approach, and then went back to attending his buddy (out of sight from hut). Someone in the hut heard the avalanche and went out to look. In the mountains, blinking lights generally means distress, so a rescue was immediately initiated.
Possibly if he just put his light in constant on and pointed it to the hut, the same thing would have happened, but then the person who spotted the light might have had to spend a little time to check weather the light was moving or not, and would it would not be clear weather a rescue was really needed. With blinking there was no question.
we can’t deny the usefulness of the Blinking mode, nor the annoying of it
i do like how some driver(BLF A6, Astrolux S2,etc) and some brand flashlight(olight, nitecore) hide thier Blink mode(except “strobe ready” flashlight);
another example for annoying driver is stock convoy s2+ driver, it drives me crazy because of 2 Group Mode, and how easily to switch between 2 group