Agreed. They need something dead simple to use.
And give the flashlight body a bright colour. Do not make a random black flashlight… they won’t find it !!!
Absolutely! Brightness is very important. lol
What’s the best brightness do you think on low mode set?
If I was getting this for my wife or friends I’d want the low to be around 100 lumens and more on the floody side. I’d also want the light to not get too hot on high so maybe 600 to 800 lumens. To keep things simple just the 2 modes along with a switch that doesn’t need to be half-pressed to switch modes. I don’t like switches that are low/high/off but I think it would work well for non-flashlight addicts like most of us on BLF. Simple but easily learned and remembered.
I still got eyes like a cat (big pupils, lots of collection), always keep minimal lights on in the house, can use firefly mode on my old old SP10 (f/l/m+h, vs l/m/h+stb) to get around with no lights on in the house, and even I recognise that I need more light to, say, read microprinted labels or “manuals” and so on.
I can only imagine it gets worse with each passing year.
Like, nobody’s thinking what The Grandma actually needs/wants, vs what Someone Else thinks The Grandma would need/want.
No, she doesn’t need candle-mode in case the power goes out.
No, she doesn’t need nor want sub-lumen firefly mode.
No, she doesn’t need tacticool strobe in case she walks down dark alleys.
No, she doesn’t need the light to blink out the exact battery voltage. The Grandma doesn’t know Morse code, nor does she care about Li-ion voltage levels.
No, she probably doesn’t even need “battery status” either in a color-changing light on the switch, nor 4 LED “steps”. Trust me on this. She will ignore those lights.
No, she doesn’t need even 3 levels of l/m/h, and even 2 levels of l/h might be overkill. But they need to be instantly accessible, like a slide-switch that goes off/low/high.
No, she doesn’t need sufficient throw to see what’s out in the treeline at night. (A thrower means she just ends up “looking through a keyhole” at things close-in, blinded by what’s washed-out in the hotspot, and blind to what’s outside it.)
GRANDMA DOESN’T WANT ¼” DRILLS. SHE NEEDS ¼” HOLES.
My mother is 88. She needed a light to “check the thermostat” during her dozen or so trips to the can every night. I gave her a Sofirn C01S twisty, powered with an E-gizer Ultimate. She loves it. Bad arthritis, bent fingertips, the whole nine for an aged woman. She can operate it without hassle, two modes, and it’s become second nature to her from a UI standpoint.
That was 3 years ago. I replaced the cell once. Still going.
Type A and no tail switch
I’ll toss out this curveball — why does it have to be a tube light at all?
Unless Grandma is snipe hunting in the back yard, the ¼” hole is more likely to be something to help them not fumble around in the dark during a power outage.
So, something like a mini-lantern, or some sort of lantern/short-range floody hybrid with some real engineering behind it. Done right. Doesn’t need to be held to be useful; can be set down, or magnetically attached to a surface.
I have a $10 Zanflare T1. It was cheap, and works well for what it is, but the execution is clearly hampered by the cost constraints.
Also have a Streamlight Siege AA, picked up during a sale for $15. Nicer, and good overall quality, but not something I’d pay the typical $28 asking price for. 200lm of cold white light.
In the higher segment, also have an LT1. Not so cheap, and works well, but not everyone needs, or wants to spend $65+ on a tank quality lantern. Or ~$45+ for an LT1S.
To keep the cost down, strip the tint ramping, and red modes. One, or hi/low at most. Magnetic base. Stick to the fundamentals. Regulated driver, so it won;t peter out, would be a bonus.
A broader question is — why hasn’t Wurkkos tackled the lantern segment in general? I’d be curious to see what their take on an LT1S-style lantern looks like.
Got it! Rubberized body coating has always been what I want to do. That’s pretty cool and comfortable. But it is so hard to find the right supplier too.
It has not reached the lantern time for Wurkkos now. But I promise that we will never be absent. Stay tuned please my man 
Lookit the old Thorfire KL02.
Stick a disc-magnet in the hollow of the tail, and it’d be a “magnetic-suction” lantern of sorts.
Or something like this:
This $8 light is probably closer to what Grandma will buy than anything else. Heck, an AA version is something I’d buy and toss in the car with some lithium primaries.
A “budget” version of these would be interesting, if not necessarily for Grandma:
There’s gotta be something more than rehashing the same themes over and over again, but with frills like RGB.
Actually I like rotatry control, but if we are making a ‘grandma’ light, I think it should only have on, or off, not too bright (maybe 200 lumen) and a single big easy to use switch. Maybe even a sliding switch instead of a button, because grandma may have shaky hands. It is also a good ‘kid’ light, because they may do silly things like put the flashlight to the face. It may be good to have automatic slowly ramping for this reason maybe over 1 second. But no other features. It should be durable and have no standby drain so it can last a long time in the drawer.
Obviously not what you guys are looking for (and you’ll probably laugh) , but I followed the link from ‘TheIntruder’ which took me to Walmart, there I found probably the best grandma light (just not this model as it’s a bit cheaply made).
Plugs into the mains to charge (so no charging leads to lose or fiddle round with) so will be easy to find if using the same outlet each time, has 2 brightness levels, a nice and chunky grip for older hands and a nice big regular slide switch. The shape also makes sure it’s held the right way up and is easy to locate the button, no fiddling round trying to find the switch. The drawback is this particular one is very cheaply made.
Looking on the Amazon reviews I found this lol!
Perfect for my grandma
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2016
Verified Purchase
Perfect for my grandma, easy to use and charge, now she has a light ready to go at all times.
fwiw, there is already a big thread about the feature list for a Grandma Light
here is the info from the first post of that thread, for people who have not seen it:
so when the present thread started with
the question was just which end of the light the control ring should be on…
I would choose the design with the control ring on the head, and No Tailswitch.
fwiw, Jetbeam has previously built lights with rotary rings on the head, both with or without tailswitch:
Jetbeam RRT-01 with No tailswitch:
.
Jetbeam RRT-01 2020 model with tailswitch:
.
another example of a light with a control ring on the head, plus a tailswitch, is the venerable Sunwayman V11r:
.
those happen to be stepless infinitely variable magnetic rotaries, but since djozz does not want that, it could simply be built to have the discrete modes he listed above
the second option Wurkkos Terry posted, with the control ring and switch on the back, is also a feature of the HDS 24 step Rotary, designed for Ice Pick grip:
In the HDS the control ring is not magnetic, it has 24 discrete steps… I think the 4 mode dial that djozz suggested, would be sufficient, regardless which end it is on.
here is a past example of a light with a 4 mode dial, Sunwayman M11r
.
it has no tailswitch, just the front control ring w 4 modes, like djozz suggested.
I’m reminded that my mom (who is now a grandma) has kept a light hanging from a hook for emergencies as long as I can remember…
I’d also add that I’ve come to prefer 21700 lights with a thick wall battery tube for thermals and for the size of the light in your hand.
It tick most
of the boxes, doesn’t it?
I’m just a bit concerned about the battery when the thing is plugged into the mains all the time.
This will kill Li-ion batteries (like it does in laptops).
Lead acid batteries can withstand being topped up all the time, most NiMH cells are okay with it too, i think, as long as they’re not overcharged (like in cordless land line phones).
I offered my mom (72) some of my flashlights, she decided to take the FC11
because it has a side switch and it’s easy to grab.
She also preferred the ramping mode over the steps.
So I think ramping isn’t a no go if it’s implemented well.
First low shouldn’t be firefly low, this won’t be used and
high shouldn’t be ultra turbo high, because she or someone else
could be blinded and getting shocked, which may lead to an accident.
Off should be a click with some haptic feedback at best using the same ring,
like the old potentiometers with integrated switch, I think.
Like others said, strobe, blinkies or “double click” turbo are no goes.
My parents and lots of friends accidentally activate turbo on Anduril,
because the double click time is so freaking long…
A lot of those direct-plug-in lights have a big-ass 2V Pb-acid cell that’s kept constantly “charged” via a single series capacitor.
Zero voltage regulation, just a constant trickle current and you hope you don’t slowly fry the cell, but of course, that almost always happens.
Same system as those ’kitchen vacs” and “dustbuster” type things. 1yr, 2 tops, and the cell’s got like zero capacity.
A modern version of the classic Sanyo Cadnica pilot’s light would be pretty cool.
https://jp.mercari.com/item/m82314794296
A cross between a RovyVon and the Wuben X1. Two position slide switch for white and red modes, and doesn’t need a cheat sheet to use.
I have a non-functional one with dead cells, so that is the main downside.
I prefer the first design option. If anything, I just assume majority of grandmas would feel less comfortable with tactical grip.