How important is moon-mode to BLFers?

You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72886

Edit after the first few postings were made:

I mean especially EDCs, not e.g. throwers.

Very few manufacturers do it right imo. Moon should be moon, i.e. produce about 0.2 lx near you. And I think it is not clever when a flashlight cannot be reliably switched to another low mode after moon.

My goal is to have a thread to prove to manufacturers that it is important. If it can be proven, that is.

Moon mode is underestimated by many new flashaholics.

It’s compareable with the rat race of megapixels in phones which started years ago.
You don’t need 26 Megapixels, all you need is a good lens, but hey, mainstream says ‘more is better you know’ :wink:

I'm sure it's important to many BLF members, but I never use moon mode myself.

It doesn't annoy me like disco modes -- I just don't use it.

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.