one vote for strobe options

I have read a lot of negative comments here about strobe modes. Here is my one vote in favor of having at least one light with an easily accessed strobe mode. I live in an adult community, OK everyone here is old and a lot of them should not be driving. The other problem is the lack of sidewalks here. I like to exercise by walking and sometimes I get a late start and I do have 2 small dogs that need to relieve themselves. I always carry at least 2 lights on my evening and night walks and feel that a rapidly blinking light could save my life, as well as my dogs lives. About a year ago I was walking by myself at just past sunset and walking facing traffic, with a reflective safety vest on. I was almost run over by a driver, headlights were on and the driver was not paying attention. The only light I had with me that time was my Pelican 7060, which does not have a strobe mode. I had the light on and aimed the light at the driver, moving the light rapidly back and forth. The light did get the drivers attention and he or she promptly turned away from me. Sure, I could have just moved to a safe area on the lawn I was three feet away from and avoided the driver, but that would not have been any fun. After that incident I bought two lights with a strobe mode. A 4 Sevens Maelstrom G5 and a Trustfre X8.

If you take at least 2 lights that have strobe modes with you when you are in your car, truck, SUV, whatever you drive at night. They could serve as an emergency light in the event of a flat tire, breakdown, crash, etc. One pointing rear and one pointing forward on the roof, at a minimum, would be good replacements for flares, reflectors or cones that you may or may not have with you. A reflective safety vest in the vehicle, one for each person, is another idea.

There is a huge difference between a slow flash mode and a strobe mode. A slow flash as an alert mechanism / bike mode I could, on occasion, make use of. The strobe flash just makes me want to vomit and is more likely to cause a crash than prevent one. Best working answer is the group mode drivers with 3+5 modes. It’s reasonably accessible if you really need it and covers all bases, if they had slow flash not strobe then even better.

Howdy!

I can’t tell you how much I despise blinking flashlights, but I made up my username to insult the very concept.

However, I’m a big fan of “Full Disclosure”…

Last year, SWMBO and I were preparing for a camping trip. After everything was packed and ready, we had just laid our heads on the pillows when a loud boom was heard and all the lights went out! We live on the outside of a fast curve. Some guy had lost control at “normal” speed & made a flip-flop-&-fly (at least 2 flips from the marks on the ground) and landed in our yard. Great fun.

The outcome was perfect for all, as the driver wasn’t even scratched (!!!) and the only “damage” was his rear bumper hitting the power pole (15+feet up!!) and knocking the breaker loose, which the power company fixed as soon as SCHP cleared the scene.

The only problem was, even the police lights didn’t seem to slow anyone down. The traffic at 01:00 was light enough we’d tend to focus on the incident and stop looking over our shoulders — from first-sight to impact at this point of the road would take less than a couple of seconds…

We had just received the “UniqueFire” UF-D3 documented elsewhere here and SWMBO was using it. After a few cars had come screeching to a “slow” as they blew past, it dawned on me to hit them with the strobe… Yeah, it was like a tangible butt-stroke to their empty little heads. Wonderful success! So I configured my 501B to “remember” strobe and let SWMBO make the steady light. Even the cops seemed to breathe a little easier after that, with their miserable, dim “M@g” issue lights…

I have “evolved” to “Momentary-ON” switches, so when I need flashing, I can do it “old school” just like the old Ray-O-Vacs. Lacking that, the strobe mode does have a use. Yes, you saw it here first.

I still don’t “like” it, and every single time I show one of my “ooooo…” lights, when the topic of “Modes” comes up, “mode memory” invariably lets the blinking show, getting back to “Wow”. The very next thing my friends and potential customers say is “NO”. In their own words, of course; most of which would get me banned if I shared them with you. But that’s the end of the “flashlight business”!!

But I digress…

If you need to ward off mutants in their 2-ton guided weapons of mass-distraction, the fast strobe option is, in fact, a lifesaver! Personally, I prefer “complete situational awareness plus a Momentary-ON switch, which turns on HIGH first, every time”, but I’m nervous that way. For casual walks, here’s a thought:

Get two TrustFire F20’s. (Akoray, Ultrafire, etc. all seem to make a copy) Set both to flash and hang one on your front somewhere and one on your back somewhere. If you can stand the blinking, I’d wager (no, that’s illegal here) you will never feel the cold breath of a wayward Chevy again. You could hang them on lanyards so they’d bounce around as well as flashing… Listening to the screams of your neighbors as you walk undamaged back into your home should be music to your ears… (Especially since they’re the reason you have to do this!)

But your scenario is far too common for me to just “dike out” the strobe options. I just need to get better at selling the idea. The “new way” of having “groups” — some of which have blinking, some of which do not — may be the best answer yet.

Sorry, I know this is a long-winded way to say “DITTO”, but I had to give you some props. There is more to “Budget Lights” than just Seeing.

Dim

I like the two + group drivers, but if its solder to change groups then blinkies are a distant memory.

On edc lights though, the two groups is for me, , the way forward. I use sos (oso) to get peoples attention rather than strobe though. :slight_smile:

I had the KD v2 driver and there you had to go two times through H M L and then you got strobe and SOS…that was a nice user interface.