Max temp is user configurable, so you can program it to something that will not burn you.
My first Li-ion light was an Astrolux S1 which still proves to be a great light.
I then bought two Zebralights after doing a bunch of research and talking with one of their reps at length. They are both fantastic lights that are made very well and have a sense of quality about them in the machining, performance and feel of the switch that is pretty easy to recognize.
I then decided to look back into less expensive lights from the $20-$60 range and feel that this is the range for some excellent quality at reasonable prices. My MF01 (modded) and Q8 lights were not cheap but they really put out a lot of light and have worked well. I’m not looking for a super high powered light and find that most of them are out of my price range anyway. It would be fun but not something I’d really need.
I wholeheartedly agree for my own part, but I can see it from both sides. Most of the time I need to use a flashlight in my everyday life, I only need light for a short period of time anyway—not always, which is why I agree with you, but I’m playing the devil’s advocate here… If you’re only using a flashlight for a 20 seconds at a time anyway, why not make those 20 seconds count? The difference between a light that’s “just sufficient” and “dazzling” is significant, depending on the user. The LED on your smartphone is just sufficient for most tasks, but there is no satisfaction to using it. It’s the same as how some guys buy an economy-box car, do basic maintenance, drive it until it breaks, and that’s it; whereas other guys take great car picking out their car, customizing the interior and the engine, meticulously maintaining it, keeping it spotless and so forth. Both guys are driving on the same roads, going to the same destinations, but one does it with more style than the other.
UI is the reason I don’t own a Zebra.
I’d love to get a light that’s as compact efficient and durable as a Zebra and I would be willing to pay a Zebra price for it.
Zebras are overrated, they don’t hold their specs but nevertheless they are very good hardware.
But for the price a premim UI is my hard requirement. And I’m yet to use a non-BLF UI that I would consider premium.
PLUS 1
Yes, the BLF-series UI is the best. That’s the one thing I want on a Zebra and it’s significant. No amount of button pushing can improve upon ramping for my use.
I will pay a premium for something I like.
For example I would pay a $20 premium for a light that’s an inch shorter. (with the same cell format)
I would pay extra for wide hotspotless beam etc.
I would pay extra for a light with a better lumen/watt.
I would pay extra for a light that can be really programmed.
The thing is that not everybody is looking for the same thing.
I don’t care about super-lumens for example. But I do about color and runtime.
What’s burning your stuff is the light coming out of it getting absorbed in some dark material. Not the flashlight itself heating up. This can’t be configured.
I agree with you!
Correct me if I’ve got this wrong because I am a little new to modern flashlight hobbyism. I feel like I’ve lived under a rock for at least 5 years with regard to this technology and back when I was last paying attention, all the flashlights I owned used some combination of long presses and short presses to turn on/off and change modes (it was a simpler time, simpler people, simpler flashlights…). Maybe my tastes are just plebeian and undeveloped, but isn’t ZL vs. BLF UI kind of like Mac vs. Linux, mostly a matter of preference? The relevant questions for the present conversation seem to be things like whether you prefer double click from off to get you to turbo or to medium, whether you prefer light levels to be discrete or continuous, what the role of mode memory should be, whether the UI being open source is important to you, stuff like that. For my part, not being familiar with anything from the past 5 years more advanced than Streamlight or Fenix, I must learn what short press, long press and double click do for any new flashlight. I do like UIs that have some commonality across brands because there’s less guessing, but I also like how Zebralights are small, durable and they “just work,” so I feel willing to learn the peculiarities of ZL UI for the sake of using those particular flashlights, if that’s what I use most.
It’s a personal thing, never a declaration that works for everyone. Why? Because it all comes down to needs. Remember that lights have different actors using them.
- Workers in low light conditions — night shift, underground, etc.
- Rescue specialists — physically challenging environment
- Tactical staff — physically and mentally challenging environment
- Technical work — microscopic or complex applications
- Average person — outdoor recreation, miscellaneous needs, emergency use, etc.
- Flashaholic — will use lights at every opportunity possible
- Super flashaholic — will buy high end custom lights, no budget limit
Yes, these sophisticated programmable UI’s are cool for the flashaholic, but they’re useless for pretty much anyone else — because they won’t even remember how to use it, or make mistakes and end up trapped in unwanted modes.
The other thing to consider is capability versus reliability. Yes, there are some super powerful emitters and intriguing UI’s being assembled into all kinds of form factors. But how long will such early lights actually last? Just look at the issues threads that pop up (I almost bought the FF E07, but I’m going to wait until it matures). Compare that to other brands where they’re tried and true, high reliability and good customer service. Yes, you pay for that… but then, those lights tend to have a longer usability lifespan.
Nitecore, Fenix, and Olight (the ones OP mentioned) have been around for quite some years and have evolved. They’ve all made some terrific lights, and of course some lemons, usually by testing the bleeding edge a bit too soon. I own lights from all 3 of these brands. The only ones I don’t care for were some earlier models that are now quite obsolete. But I won’t shoot down a brand for a mistake. I saw one guy talk about being a long time Olight owner, about 10 lights, then bought the R50 Pro Seeker and was sorely let down. He said “never again” on Olight. Yeah, he had an uncommon customer service problem and it’s unfortunate Olight made a design mistake with the R50 Seeker (hopefully they’ll correct it). But it’s premature to declare the brand something to avoid.
The point I’m trying to make is that all of these brands have their place and trying to compare or displace some brands over others isn’t a useful thing to do, until there’s a notable trend. In one case, I’ve seen more people complain about Nitecore QC… yet I’d give them some space to correct themselves. These brands do seem to watch the forums and learn from them.
Yes, it’s a matter of preference. Zebralight has their own distinct UI. You either love it or you hate it. It has actually improved recently. I’m still using an older model with the L-M-H 2 stage setup (stage 1 fixed, stage 2 programmable), but I’m looking to get a newer model.
Ounce-for-ounce, or $1/lumens, Zebralight costs more than many of the mid-tier brands like Nitecore, Fenix, Olight, Thrunite, etc. But, there’s a good reason for it. Zebralight makes a very solid flashlight and is rather conservative in design. They don’t need to keep experimenting on so many different styles and form factors, because they settled on something that simply works well. I had thought they’d settled on one particular shade of olive drab, but that seems to have shifted a bit, sometimes by production batch. I do think they should offer a black option at some point… but of course, that would add costs that end up getting passed to the consumer.
In general it is a matter of preference though you exceedingly rarely see people who prefer anything over our UIs.
That’s obvious bias, this software was written to cater to needs of flashoholics and such people talk the most here.
I can’t help but notice that f.e. Vinh completely redesigned his UI recently with feedback from his customers and the result is nothing like BLF. To me not good at all. 
I don’t agree that BLF UIs are complicated. They are feature-rich. Frankly I don’t use most of the features. The well done core of ramping (visually linear!!!, not too fast, not too slow), turbo and batt check is all I actually need and I want not much more than that.
And yes, once it happened to me to land in unwanted momentary mode that I didn’t know how to leave. I twisted the tailcap to remove power, twisted back and was rolling again the way I wanted. Was that hard?…
Ramping is nice for a fun light, but it has its drawbacks, like not knowing the runtime
For more serious use I prefer fully regulated fixed modes
tomato tomahto
I’m not sure why you are asking me this question. Obviously each style of UI has its strengths and weaknesses. Starting up at an undesired, memorized brightness instead of being able to use a series of clicks to get from off to a desired medium level is one of the drawbacks of a ramping UI. I’m sure that these Linux-like BLF UIs can be customized to work around that, but I do not have a degree in computer science, so I will end up using these flashlights exclusively with the default configuration.
Well if you have to speak in general terms you would have to agree that generally most people who buy flashlights have no clue BLF is here, nor do they really care. They just want to click a button and have available light. So what may be a generalization of BLF members, doesn’t represent the other 90% of flashlight buyers. Hence the reason there are nice simple 3 mode flashlights that just plain work and you don’t have to visit a web page or specialty forum to get help on how to make a flashlight shine. I have a few ramping UI flashlights. They aren’t my first choice for an EDC light but, my needs may be different than everyone else’s. I don’t have a andruil light. I guess I will when and if I ever get a FW3A but I highly doubt it will find a daily spot in my pocket. I have no use for aux led’s, lightning modes, party modes, candle modes, or any other mode that aims at entertaining rather than lighting something up. That is just me. I have a phone that does what I want it to do and many other things I could care less about. I have a car that does many other things besides actually drive like a car. I just don’t use them. When we talk about consumer electronics or cars, companies try to cram as much stuff as they can into a product to make it work for may different types of people. There are a percentage of people who will buy the fanciest phone or car because they think they need it but, they are the minority. Most of us get by with what works for us. Be it flashlights, cars, phones, or whatever.
OUR UI’s, whatever that means isn’t my first choice for my EDC light. It shouldn’t be made out to be the only correct choice for others. As high as others think about themselves when it comes to tint, cri, beam type, or UI. None of them are correct. Just correct for them. How many times I have seen this is what you need (insert preference here). Nope it isn’t what he needs, it’s what he likes and is too close minded to recommend something else that will work just fine for the task at hand.
Variety is the spice of life. If you can’t have it the way you want it you can surely make it the way you want it.
After I discovered Fenix in 2012, they got lots of business from me. I bought their lights for myself and gave them to family members too. Unfortunately, Fenix got expensive and fell behind on nice colour temperatures and high CRI.
Nowadays, I can get 90% of what I want from Convoy, spend a lot less money and get plenty of spare parts to experiment with. I occasionally buy BLF specials (and random other lights just because I feel like it), but Convoy are my core supplier.
If I’m awake, I have a BLF-348 on me. If I’m wearing a leather belt, I’ll have a BLF-348 and a Convoy S2+ on it. If I have my backpack, I’ll have a Convoy L4, spare cells and some backup stuff, all in addition to the belt lights.
My family members still swear by their 2012 Fenix lights, to the extent that they refuse all offers of an upgrade 
Wellp, for what it’s worth, while I know my TK18s have ramping, I keep ’em on stepped modes. Same with the SP32v2, which I think have ramping, but I haven’t used any in ramping mode except maybe after just taking it out of the box.
Q8? Yeah, default is ramping, but if I need a Q8 to begin with, it’s for the 5k lemons so it’s doubleclick to daylight anyway. Else, yeah, click’n’hold to ramp up to something less than full-tilt.
To me, ramping is a nice curiosity, but I stick with fixed modes anyway. It’s nice to be able to select which type you want.
Also, most flashlight brands aren’t willing to sacrifice lumen for color quality.
I understand why they don’t, but I would easily buy an SST-20 Zebralight, or a Nichia 144AM Armytek(still waiting for this…).
Why? Because…