5 main modes … 2 moons and turbo .
On/off and smooth ramping would be enough. Direct access to moon and turbo would be great.
When the only option is High medium low strobe SOS - Off.
I hate that.
If it could be low med high. Then go to off from any mode. That would be fine for many lights.
Always starting in low is my preference so I won’t blast the world with max lumens.
All The Best,
Jeff
My favourite is still the old mechanical Malkoff twist head for hi/low, tail switch for on/off. When pocketing my FW3A by comparison, it usually turns on, drains the battery, and cooks my leg.
It depends on the light I guess. I like a 3 mode twisty for small (AAA/AA) pocket lights. Starting at low makes these even better! But I have to say I have come to really like carrying my Sofirn SP10 Pro (Andruil 2).
For larger lights something like the Conoy 12 group, Group 2. is serviceable, but not my favorite.
I do not like any UI that forces me to cycle through strobe and SOS to go from high to low.
Mode memory is something I like, especially manual memory so the light always comes on at my preferred brightness.
So my favorite now is Andruil, preferably Andruil 2. It is a bit complex, but normally I set up a light once and pretty much leave it that way. Once that is done, Andruil is really quite easy to use. I really like easy shortcuts to Turbo, low ramp and strobe modes.
Yes, I do still need the manual open if I need to make many of the changes. But the things I do regularly, I have memorized.
5 modes is fine. Must be well spaced though and blinkies well hidden!
I don;t like them, but if i was looking for cheap , i would be able to stand it
i like anduril
or biscotti
something with at least 5 nicely spaced levels, including a moonlight, and either no mode memory or selectable memory
strobe and SOS only annoy, esp if [like hte cheap ones usually are] they are in the rotation between turbo and moonlight
I can't stand disco modes.
It's 2022--way past time to ditch high-medium-low-strobe-SOS. 
They have their place.
I like the Convoy 12 Group setting #10 which is L. M. H, Turbo
Off from any level & memory.
Five modes is fine, as long as their useful… say, Moonlight, Low, Medium, High, and Turbo.
Strobe, and S.O.S. belong on infomercials.
I said “No” mainly because I just don’t agree with the mode spacing on some lights. You can’t please everyone with a set spacing so something else would be ideal. (Ramping is nice but some prefer the option to have set modes with predictable run-times.) The ability to choose is best.
My Catapult V6 has has this mode spacing:
Turbo: 1700
High: 950
Medium: 180
Low: 22
For me, this Medium is not Medium. 400-300 lumens would be Medium. Medium and Low here are just Low and Lower.
My perfect UI would similar to Anduril 1. I’m not sure if it’s currently possible to implement it but here is what I’d like added:
I’d like a PC or Mobile application that would allow me to rearrange modes that appear in the same group, or remove them from the group entirely. The modes would be represented by GUI elements you could drag and drop. I’d also like the GUI to have a way of setting the stepped modes via text box or by dragging sliders. My vision is that the program would edit the firmware/config file and that after flashing these files to your light you would not need to configure it further.
Not a big fan of the blinkies being in the main rotation, especially when there’s not bike strobe. That’s the only useful strobe mode to me.
I like Narsil, Andúril, BLF A6, Biscotti, and Simon’s new biscotti clone.
See, I used to hate them, but damned if they didn’t solve the “cook your pocket” problem!
Solving the “cook your pocket” problem and stupid blinky modes are 2 entirely different things.
The switch o-ring mod is super easy and tunable.
For my mechanical switch lights, I like a simple 5-mode UI, provided the lowest mode is sufficiently low and the mode spacing is good. I don’t care for blinkies.
I still use the OG Convoy 8x7135 Biscotti drivers without thermal protection all the time. Simple, functional and extremely reliable.
sounds good to a newbie i guess
5 modes
party down
whoo hoo
pocket cooking, is not related to the 5 mode issue
I hated them for the inconvenience of the stop-and-use-two-hands-to-twist. My connecting that amounted to a parenthetical thought.
To be clear, I can totally work with a standard five mode—if for no other reason than that they are practical and marketable to non-flashies. I guess they are niftily equipped, some might say. Just ordered some more budget torches with five modes. And it got me thinking.