Why do all (most ?) lights cycle from Hi to Med to Lo , vs ramping up from Lo to Med to Hi?
This also means they jump from Lo to Hi, which I don’t like.
Every one of mine go low, medium, high. I’ve never had or seen a high, medium, low.
Same here. All of mine are L-M-H.
I have plenty of both, the reason is because the chinese programmers think it's cool. Almost as cool as strobe. ;)
Now we know you never bought the ever popular MF 3-mode. Traitor. :cowboy_hat_face:
l-m-h makes more sense if it is to be a daily use light or to be used for things in low light (Darkness) or in conditions where you don’t want to attract a lot of attention. However H-m-l makes more sense for tactical use and signaling since all your available light is upfront or if you rarely need lower outputs in order to see (Spotting things across fields, checking on things in darkness, etc).
I’ve used a M-L-H on my Xeno and it makes sense as I’d primarily use medium when I need light but not in access however it makes it a less useable pocket light for overall use at night; I do however usually have a 1xaaa light on me when I just need low output.
I like lights that can do both so If I’m really going to be out for a while I’ll have both on me so I can choose which light I want/need at the moment. Starting in Low can offer better run-time if your cells are depleted or running low so you don’t have to jump out of high or medium.
Generally the most useful light mode is low so a lot of lights start on that barring that the most useful mode is high since you need light output; medium becomes less useful generally since it is neither low nor high and can seem almost as a way of an intermediary to high or an extended run-time. However it is useful since high is often too blinding and low too little output (Since 1000lm off of a wall can really be disorienting) so medium is the best case of lighting up an close up area.
Ultimately it is just preference or chosen for a specific application.
The mce version of the ubiquitous KD 5.5-15V driver goes L-H-M which is not bad for a bike light. I definitely prefer low first but plenty prefer high first. It’s a matter of usage and preference. I would think the drivers that provide both options would sell the best.
SkyRay STL-V2 / FandyFire STL-V6 are Hi-Low-Strobe / Hi-Med-Low-Strobe-SOS.
SkyRay King / FandyFire UV-S5 are Hi-Low.
Many cheap XM-L headlamps/bike lights (MagicShine clones) are Hi-Low-Strobe.
ThruNite TN30/31 also have highest mode first.
Thanks. I definitely like low first and s I was looking for my recent zoomie purchase, none I saw were. I’m glad to know they are out there.
My light is is a 5 mode, Hi / Med / Lo / Strobe / SOS , which is quite annoying. Aside from going in the opposite order I would prefer, I don’t need, want or like the Strobe and SOS. I am planning to have it modded (with help ) to replace the driver with a 3 mode and would definitely prefer Lo / Med / Hi with it always coming on in Lo (or with memory to return to the last mode when turned off).
Like what most said here, it is a matter of preference. There are situations when H-M-L is better, such as during emergencies when you want to attract the attention of someone. Just keep two different ones with you and put tags or markers on them (like coloured stickers) so you’ll know which is which.
Hard to see colored stickers in the dark… perhaps some kind of touchy feelie marker would be better.
How about colored stickers like yellow it’ll glow in the dark. 
Until the glow stuff runs down…
I prefer h-m-l because I want enought light, if I turn it on.
Today I received my BLF Trustfire A8 and I love it (it has 4 mode: high, med, low, ultra low). Ultra low is great, because often the low is to bright for me (the A8 has only 2,8*m*A on ultralow).
I prefer: Fast Strobe > SOS > Slow Strobe > Beacon > Turbo Strobe
The problem lights that start on high is that if you want low you are blinded before you get there and have to play catch up with your low light vision. I agree that there are needs for both though as when you want high NOW!
H-M-L for 502b sized lights and bigger.
L-M-H for anything smaller.
I hate any arrangement that is out of order like H-L-M, L-H-M, etc.
Love this guy .
A light for signaling would need to lock in high so that half presses would not change modes.
I absolutely love my UF-T70 for this exact reason. It can be "locked" into 1-mode, which for me is High.