Are Standard 5-mode Flashlight Drivers Appealing At All Anymore?

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.

Hey, I still got (and use) 1-mode on/off lights. Just 7135s, not even a µC.

My GTmicro is usually on momentary mode (ie, 100%) for what I use it for.

Got other lights that are just low-high, usually twisties.

Not all lights need an operating system.

Never were…

The LT1S has a nice interface.
Press and hold for moon.
Click to go to last used mode. Click to go off.
Press and hold to cycle brightness.
Red and 2 red blinkies slightly hidden.
Slightly hidden - turn off 180 degrees of LEDs - this is stored in memory till you turn it off.
Slightly hidden - cycle color Temp.
All the Best,
Jeff

Have you got a link to that mod??
It sound interesting.
TIA :beer:

If I’m in the drawer at all I must be a spoon. Had to look that up.

“parenthetical” that is

Light painting photographers like lights with memorised (constant frequency) strobe modes. Unfortunately these are becoming a rarity.