A nice and thorough review!
Sofirn’s response to feedback about the auto-lockout was very welcome.
It was the only thing stopping me from buying the light, and upon confirmation that the current stock should all have the new UI, I immediately ordered one.
Great light! But certainly a bit bulky if you try to EDC it.
“Unnamed Quad”… I liked what I saw.
Since you can’t name it yet - how about WHEN we might see your review?
Monday
Auto-lockout is a nice feature to have as an option… but it seems like it should definitely be disabled by default because it’s not what people usually want. It’s more of an advanced thing for people with specific needs.
It is a flawed concept in its current state, because there is guesswork involved which leads to human error.
You either have lockout all the time or none.
Relying on a timer for auto lockout is not viable in real world usage. When you tuck away your light (ie pants pocket), you do so right after usage. If it then accidentally activates in the timer window, all benefits of a lockout are lost and your pants are on fire. Especially with these TS10 style e-switches or TS22 side switches.
If you are pressing twice 75% of the time to unlock , make it a certain 100% of the time so there is no guesswork (when in auto lockout program). Just like Another brand.
I’m pretty vocal about this, since I have had this happen in the past with “first batch” lights which do not have the feature to remove the auto-lockout.
I still prefer mechanical tailcap lockout above all other options.
It was flawed since its operation is time dependent. That’s a terrible thing for a UI. Acebeam did it right on the E70 models. I wish the E75 had inherited it.
If I understand correctly, the main issue with it is that auto-lock is on by default and it re-enables itself each time power is disconnected… so the user must disable auto-lockout after each battery change or physical disconnect.
Other issues with it:
- It doesn’t let the user adjust the auto-lock timer.
- It doesn’t seem to indicate whether it’s locked, so it’s hard for the user to know if the light will turn on when clicked.
- Inputs are not symmetrical or consistent, so the user needs to remember more button mappings. Like, instead of 4C to lock and 4C to unlock, it’s 4C to lock and 2C to unlock. But 2C is either unlock or turbo, depending on the current lock state, so attempting to unlock it could result in some very bright surprises. Turbo then has additional asymmetry, so it’s 2C for turbo and 1C to return. There doesn’t seem to be any way to turn it off directly from turbo… instead it’s 1C, pause, 1C. So “1C to turn off” isn’t consistent.
About time-dependent features, I find those can be fine if they’re done well. Like, I use a memory timer on almost all my lights. It remembers the last-ramped brightness while I’m using the light, but after being off for 10 minutes it resets to the manually saved default brightness. That way, I don’t have to remember what level it was at last time I used it; it’ll come on at a nice default level instead.
I’ve also used a time-based auto-lock on some lights, if they are prone to turning on by accident. It’s really handy sometimes… but only on specific lights.
A sunset feature is also nice to have, to turn a light off automatically after a configurable amount of time.
However, a hard-coded 1-minute auto-lock which re-enables itself on each power cycle… is generally going to make a bad user experience.
Yeap especially since the manual doesn’t mention the enabling “feature”. For people who charge the battery in the light it isn’t that big a deal I suppose. But I always charge batteries outside my lights and I’ve gotten into the habit of always disabling auto-lock whenever I put the battery back in.
Auto-lock strikes me as something someone decided to put in without talking to anyone who actually uses flashlights.
I wonder how people use their lights. I want mine in lockout when not in use since they travel with me or are in my pockets. So, Acebeams auto lock feature was really welcome to me, especially since it takes only a double click to avtivate the light.
The time dependency is nonsense. Am I supposed to look at the watch to decide if it is safe to put the light back into the jacket?
Ideally, it should have an easily visible indicator showing whether it’s locked… and you should be able to set the time until it locks itself. If you want a long delay, use a long delay. If you want it to lock quickly, it should lock quickly.
Another good option is to use SammysHP’s pocket UI, which simply adds 1 click to each of Anduril’s “from off” functions. It provides the benefits of being locked, without the need for a separate lockout mode. Everything is accessible as usual… it just takes 1 more click.
At some point, I got enough things together that I wanted to change that maintaining my own fork or even config would become a hobby in itself.
E.g., the time dependant reversal of ramping direction drove me mad, but I was not able to successfully place my proposal to get rid of it into the Anduril 2 requests, and so I started to use other lights up to a point where there are no longer any Anduril lights left that I use. It’s great software for very enthusiastic people.
Each person has their own path to madness. 
For this particular thing though, I know we’ve gone over it before, but it’s one line in a config file:
#define AUTO_REVERSE_TIME 999999999
I seem to recall that’s the setting you liked.
Back to the topic though, auto-lock is a lot easier and more practical when the lock state is clearly visible at a glance, and when it has persistent settings the user can control. I don’t think it’s a bad feature… it’s just a feature which was done badly on some recent lights like the SC33.
Why does the efficiency be not that good? Sofirn SP35 does 350lm for 450min in Zeroairs review, Sofirn SC33 about 380min, although is a bulkier light with a lot less throw. Is it the inefficient boostdriver at 20th of max current? Thats a pitty as 350lm is about my standard mode, all above is turbo. The worst thing is, that it cant even sustain the 350lm until empty, but steps down to 150lm