Another suggestion
How about a mechanical lockout with tactile feedback.
Seems complicated but could be achieved with something resembling a bolt action.
It could be a “bolt action” activated flashlight.
I was thinking of pressing the tail with the thumb and a slight twist perhaps using the pocket clip fixed in the tailcap as lever for a twist of 1/6 turn or even less to activate the light using the index and/or middle finger.
I talked with engineer. After you disable the auto-lock, it will come back if you take the head off and screw back.
But engineer doesn’t think it a must to change it.
Well, maybe on SC29 the new model, you will be able to disable the auot-lock completely.
IF30 can be unlocked by turn the button. But it may NOT be used on SC29, the new compact 21700 flashlight with side switch.
With so many people unhappy about auto-lock, it would probably be a good idea to make it possible to turn the feature off permanently. Ideally, it would be off by default, and people could enable the feature if they want it.
Auto lock is unnecessary for handheld flashlight, and no one will buy a light just because of this feature.
Breaking the circuit through loosening (60° anti-clockwise) a tailcap action is the most logical and reliable way to transport a light safely. It basically cost nothing and it will save your battery from parasitic drain.
If loosening tailcap is not sophisticated enough, a mechanical rotational switch could be considered? Similar idea as this?
Yeh, at least make it “sticky” across disconnecting/reconnecting power.
If I had one do something I didn’t want, every time I’d TCLO a light, well, that’d be a dealbreaker for me.
Ugh, more of those God-awful “thumb-guards”, though??
I’d love to find whoever came up with that, and repeatedly beat him about the head and neck with a large stick.
Wait… so that switch is lock-unlock-lock, if I’m reading the hieroglyphics correctly?
I think there are already options for lights that do not have obscene amounts of lumens, which are safe for those who are technologically challenged, and which don’t require necessity of autolock. Maybe Sofirn could even focus on marketing them as such - “grandma lights” or whatever.
Let us, who know how to responsibly handle hotrod lights - have the option of disabling it. I don’t get why this is so hard to understand.
The OG SC31 was exactly that, a perfect gramma light. The hotrod versions kinda knocked it out of that niche.
This reminds me of my programming days when programmers would implement features that nobody wanted but that they (the programmer) thought were cool. When confronted with this by the users they would defend the “feature” to the death because…well, just because 
Of course I myself never fell into this trap 
that is a very bad idea
imagine how many customers will request a refund for a defective light, after they change the battery
Perhaps instead looking at a proximity sensor would be the way to go. Most people would agree auto-lock is a real bummer. The pinnacle of frustration is reaching for a light, hitting the button, and nothing happens. This can be a real problem in a time sensitive task or under duress. Mechanical lockout with a twist on anodized threads is my choice and give the lay-user a proximity sensor to keep the stupid in check.
I repeat myself, but still:
(1) No long press for unlock, that lets the user unnecessarily wait and is unsafe.
(2) No time dependent functions. A light is auto locked or not. No timers please.
I am a big fan of auto lock and implemented it in all of my custom FW for my own use.
My personal preference is:
You can have a look in my Git for the locking code
CavingHeadlampsFW/ClickPress at main · YuvalSob/CavingHeadlampsFW · GitHub
Interesting! Seems there are more to flashlight firmware than the usual suspects (Anduril, Narsil, Biscotti, etc).
Had a look at your repo but could not identify what lights would it run on – was able to find a reference to Driver type: Nanjg 105c but not about any specific flashlights using that driver. Or is the flashlight something you build yourself, using that driver?
In my opinion Anduril UI have it quite good. Do not reinvent the wheel. Just do a Anduril UI 2.0 Flashlight…
If not, just copy it, or some od it.
Lockout removal should be more then 2C or 2H, as those can be accidental. Any 1H are out of the question, as it defeats the purpose of it…
For me, the Auto-Lock should be memorize, and not affected by battery removal. I would be furious if I had to set it up everytime I charge it, or manually lock-out it. And It does not function as double safety in transit (where I would want it to be in lockout, and on top of that, I would want it to be manually lockout).
Just please, no driver bugs, like on the TS22
Ps. By manually lockout I mean unscrewing the tailcup 1/4 turn to break the electrical connection.
Why users should care about if flashlight is locked or not? Is it so hard to make proper host design with deeper button?
105C used to be very common driver few years ago.
Basically, it can be flashed to any attiny13 driver with two channels and a momentary switch.
Since it is not really relevant to this topic, you can ask more questions on one of these more relevant threads:
fwiw, Anduril 2 has an Auto Lock timer feature:
“To enable this, go to Lockout mode and use 10H to activate the auto-lock config menu. Release the button after the first blink. Then at the prompt, click N times to set the auto-lock timeout to N minutes.”
however, Anduril Unlocks itself if the head or tail is opened, such as when changing a battery… then again, it will relock itself after the timer interval (for example, 1 minute)
Thank you for all the replies.
How about this UI？
Auto-lock after 30 second without any press from off.
You can do 4 clicks to disable the auto-lock completely.
Standard UI is
Press and hold for 0.5s to turn on / off
While on, click to cycle through Low-Medium-high, double lick to Turbo, another double click to Strobe.
While off(locked), double click to unlock and go to remembered brightness. If you do other press, such as 1 click, hold, 3 click, it fashes twice to indicate locked status. 4 clicks to disable the auto-lock and go to remembered brightness.
While off (unlocked), 1 click, the indicator shows battery status for 5 seconds.
How about that?
Wait a minute, where should I put moonlight? 
