This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for. Looking forward to your review

FWIW, I got a copy of the manual a while ago and put it through a translator site.

The short version seems to be:

• There are three configurable mode groups, plus one workspace area.  The user can load a mode group into the workspace to activate it.  All changes are made in the workspace, which can then be saved to a mode group slot for later recall.
• Each mode group has a basic ramping UI on the "1 click" and "hold" button mappings, plus user-configured custom mappings on 2 to 6 clicks.
• Configuring the mode groups is ... complicated.
• There are 9 user-configurable actions per mode group, and up to 14 functions to choose from.  This includes things like turning the button LED on/off and switching to other mode groups.  If you don't care about switching mode groups though, and only want two button light modes, that only leaves 9 functions... so they can all be available in a single mode group without ever having to switch to others.
• Aside from smooth/stepped ramping, the available modes are: battery check, beacon, lockout, momentary, and tactical strobe.
• There's a second brightness memory slot available if desired, called "additional mode".
• The stepped ramp has 5 hard-coded levels.
• Unicorn button event notation is 1 unit for a click, or 0.5 units for a hold.  Here's a translation from Unicorn lingo to Anduril lingo to a longer description:
  • 1.0 clicks - 1C - click
  • 0.5 clicks - 1H - hold
  • 2.0 clicks - 2C - click, click
  • 1.5 clicks - 2H - click, hold
  • 3.0 clicks - 3C - click, click, click
  • 2.5 clicks - 3H - click, click, hold
• It doesn't usually seem to matter what mode the light is in.  If I understand correctly, the button mappings do the same thing whether the light is on or off... but there are some special cases where this isn't true.
• Built-in commands go up to 20H (19.5 clicks, or 20 clicks but hold the last one).

It can't be mapped quite the same as Anduril, but it can get sort of close... ish:

• 2C: Turbo
• 3C: Battcheck
• 3H: Smooth / stepped ramp toggle
• 4C: Lockout
• 4H: Beacon
• 5C: Memory on/off
• 5H: Momentary
• 6C: Button light on/off
• 6H: ... strobe?

Here are the full details:

YLP: UNICORN 1.0


Introduction

What you see here is an unofficial instruction written by the developer.

In any incomprehensible situations - press 12 clicks. When you break 
something, remember that there is some kind of instruction.  Here it is:

User Interface ( UI )

The "Unicorn" interface is conditionally divided into three levels of 
entry:


Level 1
-------

The first level of entry is the main control, allowing the lamp "just to 
shine". It is intuitive and does not require reading instructions.

Click - turns on and off the lamp.
Hold - adjusts the brightness.
Hold out off - turns on the moonlight, and then starts to shake the brightness.

That's all you need to know about him at this stage.

Advanced: click + hold will start to adjust the brightness down, and 
double click - turns on the turbo, from which you can go back by a 
simple click.

Here is a not very visual block diagram of this piece of UI :

[img]

1 click - turns on / off the lamp.

Clamping off. - includes moonlight.

Clamping during operation - the brightness starts to shake up.

1 click + clamping - starts to shake the brightness down.

At the same time, scrolling brightness, pushing against the boundaries, 
changes its direction - automatically.

Now we omit the options for configuring this interface - these are the 
next levels of occurrence. Looking ahead - the adjustment is possible 
both discrete and smooth, and the memory can be turned off, at what is 
at the convenient brightness of the main mode. In addition, the "out of 
the box" pre-tuned some additional options under 2 clicks hides a turbo 
and a 4 th click - the battery indicator flashes (5 flashes at full 
battery) 12 clicks - reset to factory settings, and 14 clicks - jungle , 
in which it is too early for you to climb ...

The current consumption in discrete modes is the following:

  Moon = 14 mA (3.3 Lm, the LED gets 10mA - the rest is eating the driver)
  Low = 0.1 A
  Mid = 0.45 A
  High = 1.33 A
  Turbo = 3 A (800 Lm)


Level 2
-------

The second level of entry - requires reading the instructions, but still 
allows you to do it without the "half liters". Starting with 2 clicks - 
in the interface you can place additional options, which are enough in 
this lamp. From the factory, the user is offered 4 already 
pre-configured options that he can iterate through with simple actions.  
Login to the first option is available under 14th clicks . Here is a 
block diagram of the second option, for general understanding (it's the 
most stuffed):

[img]

These options are called presets (from the English. P reset), and from 
the factory are the following:

Preset 0 (workspace) - available out of the box:

  2 clicks - Turbo .

  4 clicks - pulse indication of the battery .

  Settings of the main UI : discrete , with memory , without button 
  illumination, without a beacon with a button.

  Preset brightness: Mode 3 ( Mid , 0.45 A ).

Preset 1 (Basic Smooth) - load into the workspace by 14 clicks:

  2 clicks - Turbo.

  4 clicks - pulse indication of the battery .

  5.5 clicks - load preset 2 (Advanced Smooth) into the workspace.

  Main UI settings : ramping , with memory , without button 
  illumination, without beacon with button.

  Preset brightness: Mode 3 ( Mid , 0.45 A ).

Preset 2 (Advanced Smooth):

  2 clicks - Turbo .

  2.5 clicks - also Turbo .

  3 clicks - Strobe.

  3.5 clicks - Lighthouse.

  4 clicks - pulse indication of the battery .

  4.5 clicks - Tactical mode (power-off output).

  5 clicks - Backlight button.

  5.5 clicks - load preset 3 (Advanced Discrete) into the workspace.

  6 clicks - Lock button .

  Main UI settings : ramping , with memory , with backlight , without 
  beacon.

  Preset brightness: Mode 3 ( Mid , 0.45 A ).

Preset 3 (Advanced Discrete):

  2 clicks - Turbo .

  3 clicks - Strobe.

  4 clicks - pulse indication of the battery.

  4.5 clicks - Memory modes.

  5 clicks - Backlight button.

  5.5 clicks - load preset 1 (Basic Smooth) into the workspace.

  Main UI settings : discrete , no memory, no backlight, no beacon.

  Preset brightness: Mode 3 ( Mid , 0.45 A ).


Note that the presets are loaded into the workspace, and overwrite it.  
Returning preset 0 can only be reset to the factory settings (12 
clicks), or manually adjusting it (entry level 3). You can cycle through 
these presets in a circle with 5 clicks + hold.

Local terminology: holding is equal to half a click, while clicking is 
two actions: pressing, and then releasing no later than 0.5 seconds.  
Therefore, on the diagrams such a sequence of blocks: Hold -> Click -> 
Hold ... Ie clicked - hold, if you managed to release - only now it is a 
full click ...

In ramping mode, the brightness setting logic changes somewhat:

[img]

Re-clamping the button, while adjusting the brightness - changes 
direction. In this case, after releasing, it is necessary to sustain a 
double timeout (1s) before the interface exits the brightness setting 
mode. This allows you to fine-tune the brightness with short clicks, if 
you missed, but does not allow you to instantly turn off the flashlight, 
if you just adjusted the brightness.


Level 3
-------

Here begins tin ...

Why Unicorn ? Yes, because magic, bl * ... A bottle of beer with him?  
Ok, let's start:

[img]

A preset is a kind of save file, which indicates which clicks to call 
for which functions, and there are also recorded the basic interface 
settings (ramp / discrete, memory, backlight, beacon, button lock, 
brightness). The lantern always uses the 0th preset, it is also the 
worker. But from it, you can copy the information into three other 
files, and then copy them back (recording and loading options). At the 
same time, the working preset itself can be programmed (slot setting 
mode), and all 4 presets can be reset to the factory (12 clicks).

Combinations of clicks under options are called slots, and there are a 
total of 9:

Slots:

  2 clicks - slot 1
  2 clicks + hold - slot 2
  3 clicks - slot 3
  3 clicks + hold - slot 4
  4 clicks - slot 5
  4 clicks + hold - slot 6
  5 clicks - slot 7
  5 clicks + hold - slot 8
  6 clicks - slot 9

In any slot (and even in several at once) you can place one of the 
following options:

Options for slots options:

  1. Unchanged
  2. Empty
  3. Additional mode
  4. Turbo
  5. Strobe (12.5Hz 10ms)
  6. Battery indication
  7. Beacon main LED
  8. On tactical mode (off by disconnecting the battery)
  9. On / Off button lock
  10. On / off memory modes
  11. On / Off discrete brightness control
  12. On / Off button illumination
  13. On / off beacon backlit button
  14. Loading preset 1
  15. Loading preset 2
  16. Loading preset 3

How to use it all? To begin with, we need to remove the lamp from the 
fuse - to tighten the battery cover with the button pressed. Flashlight 
unlocks the "red" options. You can check it with 8 clicks - the button 
should flash red. Now, we can, for example, configure slots in a working 
preset. Let's shove in 6 clicks of preset 2 on / off the beacon 
illuminated button, t. For example, it's more useful to us than a button 
lock:

  1. First, we need to load this 2nd preset into the workspace. This 
     makes 
     16 clicks, and we should observe a green flash indicator.

  2. 7 clicks + hold translate additional options into setup mode. We 
     click, we clamp, and we see the green flash of the indicator.

  3. Now we can click on 6 clicks of interest to select this slot, and 
     again we will see a green flash of the indicator - the lamp waits for 
     the option number (it waits in sleep mode and for as long as you 
     like, so finish the beer - take your time). Red flash? So, tried to 
     choose a non-existing slot - try again ...

  4. We look at the option number under which we have the beacon with the 
     backlit button - option 13. We make 13 clicks and observe the green 
     flash of the indicator. Slot is programmed. Now we can customize the 
     rest. If we need to clear the slot so that there is nothing in it, 
     and the flashlight does not react to it in any way, we write "Empty" 
     to it (2). If we make a mistake when choosing a slot - 1 click (no 
     change) will not change anything, and will allow you to re-type the 
     desired slot. The indicator will flash red. You can also dial a 
     deliberately non-existent option (if you change your mind in the 
     process of typing, or lost count) - the result will be the same.

  5. To exit the slot setting mode and be able to use them - make 8 
     clicks, and the indicator should flash red. You can immediately just 
     unscrew the battery cover, then the flashlight and from the 
     engineering menu will fly out at the same time. Just need to wait 
     until he goes to sleep, because only then does he write everything 
     into non-volatile memory. You can understand this point by 
     highlighting the button. It should either go out completely, or go 
     into the backlight mode off.

  6. You can save this interface to one of the 3 available presets. For 
     example, in the 1st - 13th clicks + hold. Then you can play with the 
     workspace without worrying about losing the configured interface. In 
     addition, the 1st preset is available for direct download and outside 
     the engineering mode (not a direct one can be inserted into the slots 
     themselves, which is done "in the box").

Understood? And that's not all ...


Calibration Thermocontrol:

Everything is simple. We heat the carcass to a comfortable temperature 
(it is possible in the turbo, it is possible to warm up the autogenome - 
to whom it is more convenient), and click 9 clicks + hold. Just make 
sure the flashlight is in engineering mode now.

There is a calibration option for room temperature (25 ° C) - 20 clicks 
+ hold. But there are some peculiarities - this calibration is recorded 
in the factory memory area, and will be valid when reset to the factory 
settings. At the same time, the temperature threshold itself will be 50 
° C.

Indicator:
With him, too, everything is simple:
  Green - the battery is almost full (voltage above 3.8 V ).
  Green + red - the average charge level (voltage above 3.5 V ).
  Red - it's time to change (voltage below 3.5 V ).

The pulse indication of the battery has the following thresholds:

  5 flashes - more than 4.06 V (80%)
  4 flashes - more than 3.86 V (60%)
  3 flashes - more than 3.7 V (40%)
  2 flashes - more than 3.62 V (20%)
  1 flash - Well, everything has come ...


Features, all different
-----------------------

Features brightness settings:

Are common:

  1. Adjustment works in turbo, strobe, main and additional modes.

  2. Turbo and strobe always start with maximum brightness. Tactical 
     mode and Beacon use the brightness of the mode from which they were 
     turned on, or the default value from off. (0.5A). Main mode and 
     add. mode have their own memory.

  3. Saving occurs automatically if memory is enabled.

  4. When detecting DD (Direct-Drive) during the set of brightness - the 
     interface believes that it has rested against the ceiling.

  5. If at the start of the setting the brightness is close to the 
     border - the direction changes immediately.



Smooth adjustment:

  1. It changes by holding, the direction is switched by releasing and 
     re-holding. You can release the button up to 1s before the lamp 
     goes into "off" mode. This makes it easier to adjust the brightness 
     of the "microclicks".

  2. If the brightness rests up or down for longer than 1s - after 
     releasing, nothing is saved and comes back (conveniently to turn on 
     the "turbo" by holding it without using the turbo function).



Discrete adjustment:

  1. Increase by retention, decrease or autoreverse (see below), or 
     click + hold.

  2. Brightness has only 5 levels (Moon-Low-Mid-Max-Turbo), switching at 
     intervals of 0.7 s.

  3. When focusing on the boundaries - the flitter changes its direction 
     automatically (auto reverse).



Features turbo mode:

  1. A click in the turbo mode returns to the previous mode.

  2. Hold in turbo mode starts adjusting the brightness of the previous 
     mode from maximum (down), with automatic transition to it.

  3. If the turbo is turned on from the off state of the flashlight - 
     the hold starts adjustment with the transition to the main mode (a 
     click turns off the flashlight).

  4. From the turbo, you can immediately go to any slot, while click + 
     hold turns off the flashlight (because it is not a command to 
     return, adjust, and does not fall into one slot).

  5. If you enter the turbo with a clamped button (even slots) and 
     continue to hold it - step 3 is automatically executed.

Slots features:

  1. The first two slots do not turn off the lamp automatically when 
     they are clicked. The others extinguish the flashlight before the 
     option is completed. This is necessary for a seamless transition in 
     all sorts of turbo and add. Modes usually located nearby.

Epilogue

Little animal, and what a shrew, yes? If you tame - better than striped 
rocks should be ...

[img]

bmengineer wrote:

Quote:

The short version seems to be:

Yeah I'm gonna have to tap that switch a few times and see what happens.

Oh right, I forgot about this one. I’ll be very curious to see a few quality reviews for this one. It was trying to be a Zebralight but better and cheaper, iirc. I had a rough time on that Russian website with google translater a while back…
Edits: $38 is not bad. bmengineer and others, I’ll be extremely interested in an evaluation of the side-switch for pocket activation. As in, that alone will likely 100% determine if I end up ever buying this light. Looks to be ~6mm longer than my SC62, which is probably about the difference between having a separate driver from the MCPCB, and not.
Hopefully it gets sold in some more convenient places.

Ooo interesting. Begs the question then, can I just flash Anduril on it?

There is a pdf manual with english instruction.

hodor wrote:

Ooo interesting. Begs the question then, can I just flash Anduril on it?

Tally-ho wrote:

There is a pdf manual with english instruction .

Thanks. That explains a couple things which weren’t clear in the auto-translated version.

It looks like the English manual doesn’t even mention how to calibrate the temperature sensor though. I recall the Meteor had the same issue, so its thermal settings were basically random with ~25 C difference between individual lights. That part of the UI should probably be documented in a more visible place.

hodor wrote:

This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for. Looking forward to your review

Me too. Especially how it compares to a D4. I gotta say, tho, those aux LEDs in the V2 are pretty tempting for a light that’s $3 less expensive, and 8mm shorter.

I’m interested in what advantages the Unicorn has. It’s kinda purty.

bmengineer wrote:

Without having one I can already predict it will have more throw, less heat, and a narrower profile.

+1 Although I understand LH351D is very floody so maybe the throw will be similar to a D4 with 219C?

From their respective websites (lenght must be Chinese and Russian for length):

Quote:

D4 Dimensions: 94mm(length) * 28mm(head) * 24mm(body), 80mm(lenght 18500), 63.5mm(lenght 1835)

Quote:

Unicorn: Lenght: 102mm, hight: 28mm, diam.: 25mm

I’m interested so see if the 1mm difference in diameter is real and significant.

And, yeah, the less aggressively driven Unicorn does make it more muggle-friendly and appealing to me. Maybe it won’t need to be physically locked for pocket carry.

hodor wrote:

bmengineer wrote:

Without having one I can already predict it will have more throw, less heat, and a narrower profile.

+1 Although I understand LH351D is very floody so maybe the throw will be similar to a D4 with 219C?

The total throw on turbo might be similar to a D4, but only because the D4 uses a lot more power. The candelas per lumen should be much higher on the Unicorn, allowing it to throw farther when the lumen levels are the same. In other words, it’ll probably have a much narrower hotspot.

Not sure what the exact cd/lm value will be, but usually I find that the ideal range for EDC purposes is about 5 to 10 cd/lm. The D4 generally gets about 3 to 5 cd/lm, so it’s slightly more floody than I’d like.

I hear the FW1A is moving along too, which has a similar purpose… but it uses a reflector instead of a TIR optic. And with XP-L HI, it’ll probably be even more throwy, like perhaps 10 to 15 cd/lm.

ToyKeeper wrote:

FW1A

What kind of driver is YLP using?

Is it a linear FET driver or a buck driver?

BlueSwordM wrote:

What kind of driver is YLP using?

Is it a linear FET driver or a buck driver?

Very very interested with this one. so far three YLPs already in the cart. I hope it uses an efficient buck driver and has flat runtime unlike Folomov 18650.
+1 YLP for sensible max output with thermal regulation.
And pleaseeeeee, NO FET driver for this one.

[Clemence]

@clemence, a linear FET driver is a linear driver that uses a FET linearly by varying its resistance.

Basically, it’s a constant current linear driver with no PWM needed and higher LED efficiency.

This sounds very interesting. I love the LH351D’s in my BLF SP36.

FW1A?! Nice.

BlueSwordM wrote:

@clemence, a linear FET driver is a linear driver that uses a FET linearly by varying its resistance.

Basically, it’s a constant current linear driver with no PWM needed and higher LED efficiency.

Yup I know. I meant no linear, linear + FET, or linear + FET + PWM (worse). Simple buck drivers already cheap these days.

[Clemence]

BlueSwordM wrote:

@clemence, a linear FET driver is a linear driver that uses a FET linearly by varying its resistance.

Basically, it’s a constant current linear driver with no PWM needed and higher LED efficiency.

Is this what LED4Power is using?

I like the looks of this one! Looking forward to your review!

Anybody ordered one yet? Looks interesting even though I’m not a fan of single tir lights.

BlueSwordM wrote:

What kind of driver is YLP using?

Is it a linear FET driver or a buck driver?

If I understand correctly, it’s a linear FET. As INFERION said in the Unicorn thread, “Initially, there was an impulse (boost). YAL will have a linear (without PWM).” So it was originally going to use a boost driver, but was changed to a linear FET. The firmware’s UI diagram is named Indigo_Linear_UI.png, and he was talking about using an opamp. It’s all there in the thread for anyone who wants the details.

It looks like it’s using an attiny85v in a QFN package, plus a small FET running in linear mode. The FET seems to be a Vishay SiA448DJ. That info is from December though, and may be out of date.

ToyKeeper wrote:

BlueSwordM wrote:

What kind of driver is YLP using?

Is it a linear FET driver or a buck driver?

If I understand correctly, it’s a linear FET. As INFERION said in the Unicorn thread, “Initially, there was an impulse (boost). YAL will have a linear (without PWM).” So it was originally going to use a boost driver, but was changed to a linear FET. The firmware’s UI diagram is named Indigo_Linear_UI.png, and he was talking about using an opamp. It’s all there in the thread for anyone who wants the details.

It looks like it’s using an attiny85v in a QFN package, plus a small FET running in linear mode. The FET seems to be a Vishay SiA448DJ. That info is from December though, and may be out of date.

There is Attiny25 in Unicorn.
There are several versions of user manuals: short , full and from Inferion himself last two only in Russian

Small review
And several graphs
Termal regulation test 1
2

Thanks for the extra details, AEDe. I’ve been getting information from blurry photos and automated translation sites, and the information isn’t always clear.

I wonder why he used t25 instead of t85 like the Meteor. It seems like a strange step backward.