ANDURIL used in higher end lights

It sounds like you might like Anduril 2. It was made for exactly this reason. I heard people complaining about the UI being too convoluted and error-prone, and they were right. Also, manufacturers wanted something more “normal” for regular people to use, so … I fixed it.

By default, it uses a mode called “Simple UI”. In that mode, it’s click on/off, press’n’hold for moonlight, 2click for the brightest mode, press’n’hold from on to change brightness. Remember those basics, and nothing else is needed. There’s no way to accidentally change a config setting, because all configuration is blocked in the simple mode.

The worst the user can do is lock it to prevent accidental activation, which is 4 clicks to enter or exit. Even in that mode though, it still functions as a light… just not as bright.

The extra stuff is still available, of course, but it’s virtually impossible to reach by accident. The user must manually go to the “Advanced UI” mode to get to any of it. Even then, though, the things people tended to trip over have been moved to make them much harder to hit by accident.

Hopefully it’ll become more widely used soon.

Older lights can be updated too, but for some, it requires soldering to access the control chip… so it’s not always an easy process.

If I get time, I hope to make a tutorial for Anduril 2, documenting all the features in stages or levels, from simplest to most complex… so people can start at the beginning, and stop whenever they feel they’ve reached the depth they’re comfortable with. So… level 1 would be click for on/off, hold to change brightness. Level 10 would be how to customize and reflash the code. They can stop at any point, because the only required parts are at level 1.

My take on this: A lot of those flashlight brands (AceBeam, Fenix, Nitecore, Olight) are conservative in designs. They evolve them over time. Anduril UI is relatively new. These makers would prefer to wait for the “great shakeout” to see how this UI fares in longevity and acceptance. If it really takes off, I expect they’d make a few models with it. But frankly, Anduril IS evolving. Slowly. Meanwhile, most of their customer base isn’t whining about no Anduril models. So, the impetus to make the shift isn’t great.

You did a wonderful job on this. Your process was thorough and you included a great sampling of testers. This UI feels intuitive to me. I used to be a NovaTac groupie. And even still, I had trouble remembering the UI menu for things I didn’t set often. Anduril 2 is also terrific, because it has that simple UI mode. I don’t know how anyone can go wrong with using that.

Lastly, if someone forgets what’s in the menu, they shouldn’t go tooling around guessing. Because if you saunter into the temperature limits and change things, you could end up notably altering your flashlight behavior and possibly end up overexerting the battery and/or emitter. I really find the menu system sensible and the quick-cheat sheet is immensely helpful for getting on the right track.

FWIW, I’d seen someone do this with a NovaTac. Create a mini cheat-sheet print-out. Cut it to size and roll up, shoving it inside the light around the battery. Later on, if you forget, just take it out and reference. Easy peasy.

Advanced Menu can be used simply, like so:
From OFF

  1. 1-Click+hold — moonlight; keep holding? ramp up.
  2. 1-Click — last mode used
  3. 2-Click — turbo
  4. 3-Click — battery status
  5. 4-Click — lockout
  6. 2-Click+hold — blinkies

From ON

  1. 1-Click+hold — ramp up
  2. 2-Click+hold — ramp down
  3. 4-Click — lockout
  4. (note — can’t get to blinkies while on)

That’s the real basics of Anduril. I don’t know how you can go wrong from that unless you start guessing other menu options. Make yourself a little print-out of the menu and tuck in the battery tube if you ever need to go beyond the basics.

The blinkies are blocked in Simple UI. There are no strobes or mood lights available unless the user switches to the advanced UI. The actions available from off are: low/med/high, battery check, or lockout.

Or factory reset, if the user holds the button for a few seconds while tightening the tailcap.

Yes, I do realize that — I should have annotated from “Advanced Menu” and will now do so. My point being, you can be in the Advanced menu and really use this UI in a simplistic manner. But yes, the Simple UI mode is terrific for someone like Lightbringer who wants to keep things simple, doesn’t want blinkies or to get caught up in an unexpected menu.

I always assumed that was your humorous take on a nickname. :wink:

Users will have their reasons for wanting, or not wanting Andúril, and the same applies for the manufacturers.

Many logical reasons have been cited. In general, the higher end brands cater to “pro” users who want tools, and can afford to employ staff to develop firmware and driver solutions in-house to meet their specific product goals. The budget brands cater to their enthusiast market, with less demanding fundamental needs, but more demands for the bells and whistles that serve to bolster the “value” quotient, modification potential and bragging rights of sorts. A low-cost solution that makes for an easier sales pitch to their most loyal customers, requiring little other than attribution (which some do better than others). Despite the open source nature, there are few attempts to make modifications, and the community can be leaned on to implement those, with some individuals doing it for themselves, which get shared with the community.

Personally, I think there is a still a lot of untapped potential, but for whatever reason, also a lot of reluctance to do so on the part of the manufacturers.

Ultimately, the whys and hows are resolved by the market and sales numbers.

Andy 2 sounds good in simple mode. I wish top of ramp could be set to say 120 and still be able to use turbo. Otherwise you have to set top of ramp to max then ramp down to a sustainable level each time. It’s a constant guessing game.

I just think it’s funny some think that Ace Beam/Fenix/Nitecore are “higher end” lights. :smiley:

I have plenty lights with many different UIs but I keep coming back to the ones with Anduril. Maybe because I’m just used to it or know the UI better than others. Some modes of Anduril I wish were on other lights like the electronic lockout, battery check, moon and low modes on lockout just to name a few. And the ramping, oh lawd the ramping. :heart_eyes:

And the ramping is the best I’ve tried.

Sorry for all the long comments. Here’s the short version:


Why don’t some brands use Anduril?

Mostly because … they don’t want to.

And that’s okay.

I was following that/a thread for a while, and I (very) vaguely recall some discontent between starting out in “simple” vs “muggle” mode. Ie, it would start out, not just dumbed down but also throttled back, to keep The Muggle from hurting himself, with max brightness being limited, etc., “safe enough to hand to the kiddies”.

Simplified, great, but throttled down… nah. No point in buying a 2000lm light if it only goes to 500lm or so.

Someone fairly recently had a video-review of such a light, pretty sure it was in Muggle Mode, that limited max output to a nice “safe” level.

Lost track of recent developments for A2… are those separate and distinct? If so, then sure, Simple Mode might address most of those issues, which’d be great.

And right smack in the middle, ie, 3click, is ramping vs stepped (from on), and blinkies (from off).

So if the light’s on and you want to try strobe (on/turbo/strobe as 1/2/3 clicks for most lights), you don’t get into blinkies, but it will switch to stepped ⇆ ramping mode. Next time you try to ramp up/down… wtf?!?

Most Other Lights with the usual shortcuts will get into blinkies whether from on or off with a 3click. Only now you’re wondering why no blinkies, and why (next time you try bumping the brightness), it switches in steps vs smoothly, or v/v.

You just illustrated my point by the gap (what would be item 2.5 in the “from on” list).

And that’s what drives people crazy, inconsistency vs more orthogonal commands.

Simple can go to max if you set max ramp to that in A2. Can’t set max ramp to a lower value and then double click to turbo though. I miss that.

I may have intentionally “carried on the tradition” on occasion, yes.

It’s funny when someone “defiantly wants to get one”. “Ummm, ya mean ‘definitely’?”

Why AC “corrects” to what’s probably a less-common word vs to a more-common word, I have no idea.

Man I’m just a fat guy in a wheelchair. Lots of different lights of different types and uses. Anduril ruined all of my lights without it. Except for Fenix HL50. I have many different headlamps but keep coming back to HL50. Even have the brightest wheelchair in town. Wish it’d Anduril

I don’t see the benefit of Anduril in a headlamp. I like the ability to change things quickly in a handheld but it is not like I walk around with my hand on a headlamp button.

In the simple mode, 3 clicks while on does nothing.

While off:

  • 1C: On (mem)
  • 1H: On (floor)
  • 2C: On (ceiling)
  • 2H: Momentary ceiling
  • 3C: Battcheck (returns to off after one readout, other blinkies are blocked)
  • 4C: Lockout

While on:

  • 1C: Off
  • 1H: Ramp up (or down, if pressed again)
  • 2H: Ramp down
  • 2C: Ceiling
  • 4C: Lockout

While locked:

  • 1H: Momentary moon
  • 2H: Momentary low
  • 4C: On (mem)
  • 4H: On (floor)
  • 5C: On (ceiling)

… or to go into advanced mode, it’s 10H from off.

The old muggle mode went from about ~5 lm to ~300 lm. It was really kind of a terrible mode which was only added as an afterthought.

The Simple UI is much more robust, and has actual thermal regulation and stuff, and typically has a much higher limit. The settings are chosen on a per-light basis by the manufacturer though. For example, the LT1 and SP10 both go to full power in simple mode. The D4v2 goes from about ~5 lm to ~2000 lm in simple mode.

If the defaults aren’t what the user wants, it can be reconfigured, but that involves a trip to advanced mode and back. Like, they can set it up so simple mode goes all the way from moon to full turbo if they want, or they can make it do smooth or stepped ramp styles, or they can change the aux LED color, or whatever… but once they go back to simple mode, everything is locked in and can’t be changed. That way, people only have to refer to the manual once, and then they don’t have to worry about changing something by accident later.

One of my favorite new features is not enabled by default, but a lot of people seem to like it… there’s a timer for manual memory, also known as “hybrid memory”. That way, it’ll remember the last-ramped brightness during use, but when it’s off for long enough, it resets to whatever default level the user chose.

I usually set it for about 10 minutes, so if it has been more than a few minutes since I used it, it’ll reset to a consistent and predictable brightness. Basically, if I forget what level the light was at, the light forgets too.

That was my next question. :laughing:

Most non-flashlight enthusiasts I know who have owned Anduril based lights have found the user interface too confusing. Yes, Simple UI is an improvement, but really needs 2C turbo to be turned on, or even the top brightness step to be turbo to be acceptable for consumer market lights. Better calibrated temperature sensors, version specific instructions, and ANSI brightness/runtime charts would also be required by consumer flashlight companies.