@ Christopher Mac…
I think the trouble here is, it really depends on the individual light, number of modes and UI.
It’s also worth noting that any multi mode torch (i.e. more than simply on/off) has at least two things to contend with:
-turning on and off
-mode selection
This may be done by a single control, but in many cases it isn’t.
In the world of modern LED torches I think you can rule out some of your options. I don’t really know of any production LED lights that use a slide swtich, sure it was common on old, often cheap plastic incan torches. But just isn’t used these days, certainly not on EDC size.
You have:
-Twisty
Which is for the vast majority of lights, head loose = off and head tight = on. Mode selection is done via turn on/off.
Budget lights such as the Tank007 or premium ones like an EagleTac D25C are like this.
Maglite are pretty much the only exception as they are head tight = off and head loose = on.
-Rear clicky (i.e. a clicky switch on the tail of the light)
Nearly all of these are mechanical switches. Although I see no reason why you couldn’t have an electronic switch here, but it seems rare currently.
Rear mechanical switches come in two main flavours; Forward and Reverse clickies.
Forward - If you half press the switch, before it clicks it will activate the light. This means you can use it momentary, you can also change modes with a half click from off. To fully activate you push the switch all the way until it clicks and it then stays on. From here if you want to change modes you need to turn it off so you can half press it again.
Reverse - You can’t half press from off, you have to click it all the way down, the light turns on after the click (whereas forward clicky turns on before the click). Once on you can half press to change modes, as the half press now breaks the circuit, so it will give you momentary off, where the forward clicky gives you momentary on.
-Side switches
Nearly all side switches are electronic. Although there is again no reason why they can’t be mechanical. Older D cell Maglites are mechanical side switches. But as a rule almost all modern LED torches use an electronic side switch.
An electronic switch is really a circuit board with something you can physically press and that may make a clicking sound. As this isn’t mechanical it means it can be programmed to do different things based on different actions. A mechanical switch only understands on and off.
But an electronic switch can understand a click and hold, quick click and multiple clicks and do something different with each action.
Most modern LED torches use one of these methods for turning on and off and controlling the modes (User Interface).
As lights have gotten more advanced, many have dual controls. And may have multiple buttons or include twist actions.
Fenix, EagleTac, FourSevens and Solarfoce all use rear/side clickies and a head twist action to control all the functions.
Fenix, Klarus, Thrunite and others use dual switches, i.e. one to turn on/off and another to cycle through the modes.
FourSevens use a rear switch (which is only push momentary) and the ability to twist and tighten the the tailcap/switch assembly for constant on.
Thrunite offer a twisty and rear clicky on one light. Both need to activated to turn the light on, although with one in the on position the other will turn it off.
Magnetic ring control is more niche, but used by quite a few. In most cases this does not turn the light on/off, it only controls output/modes. So there is usually some other switch to turn the light on/off. The mag ring is just a form of variable ramping output levels.