【Sofirn】Design a headlamp together & Giveaway

[G0OSE]

My suggestions were for Sofirn who asked for input on a light to be used by the public, your
interpretation of that clearly differs from mine.

[dmenezes]

Sure, and thanks for explaining your point of view.

[raccoon]

Thanks for the giveaway, Sofirn.
I don’t know enough about the HS42 so I’m not in this one.

[Mandrake50]

@Sofirn

• What do you use your headlamp for?
• What functions do you want your headlamp to have?
• What kind of headlamp experience annoys you?

I use them for several things. Smaller ones (16340/14500) in the house and garage. Working on soldering projects, navigating the house at night, grilling food, looking in closets for things, work inside and behind tower type PCs and server racks

Larger ones (18650/21700) more out side for walking or hiking.

Wants

A simple UI. Preferably 4 to 5 levels including a 5 to 10 lumen “moonlight” mode and turbo with shortcuts to get to them. (Edit, I am just fine with Andruil as I can configure it to do what I need. Actually, I prefer it.)
A switch on either the tail or head end so it is easy to find.
A beam patter designed to provide good lighting for close work and walking. In this case “throw” is not as important as wide even lighting.
Yes a buck driver for better regulation.
USB charging would be nice and a requirement for some.
A Replaceable non-proprietary cell.
AUX lights are not needed for me with a headlamp. But again some will say they need them
A choice of LEDs including CCT and CRI selections. But I don’t think that many potential customers find this as important as it is to BLF folks.
Blinky modes not required. But if they are included they must not be in the default level selection rotation.

A good headband that is comfortable and allows easy adjustment of angle.

Aggravations

Too heavy
Uncomfortable headband with difficult adjustments
Difficult to find power/level button. Multiple buttons for activation and levels.

[Tone]

@ThePX

Also please look at Sofirn SP10 Pro - it still is considered as great light despite outdated LED and driver. Dual fuel 14500/AA Anduril light made it unique. But now we have Emisar D3AA

So even you will update SP10 Pro with better driver/LED/AUX or made it headlamp equivalent it would be great!

Agree, a 519a 5000k SP10 Pro would be a great upgrade!

[Lightweightled]

Great that you engage with the community this way. I hope us nerds are somewhat of a representative group to give useful input (lol we all know we aren’t).
Thanks for the giveaway!

Usage

1. Working on car, pc’s and outdoors. Basically anything that requires hands free operation and moving around.

Wishes
2. A headlamp especially is a tool, not a toy. It should function as such - simple, reliable and well regulated. It should have good mode spacing with long runtimes on usable light levels (1lm, 100lm, 300lm, 1000lm). No weird modes that get in the way (can be hidden modes).
If there is no tailcap switch it should have a magnet (optional tailcap separately sold is fine imo). Weight difference is minimal and that means it is more versatile.

Annoyances
3. Bad UI: hold for on/off, auto lockout, blinking modes in normal rotation. Best UI in my opinion is on skilhunt lights.

[Tone]

SP10 Pro next

[dmenezes]

@Sofirn

Yes, the headlamp is not like a tactical flashlight, so strobe mode should be ruled out in the future.

This. I have no use for strobe and always disable it in all my lights.

[dmenezes]

@Sofirn

Anduril can be switched between simple UI and advanced UI, and people can choose the UI according to their own situation.

Exactly. And as Anduril is opensource, it would not be hard to code any UI in place of Simple UI – so if you @Sofirn decides that Anduril Simple is not the best for your non-enthusiast user base, you can code whatever UI you think is best for them so they will receive their light with it activated by default – and at the same time full Anduril Advanced will be available for the enthusiasts that prefer it, sitting just 10H away.

That’s what I’d call a win-win-win situation

[dmenezes]

@YBF650

That is why I think using a shared driver that is compatible with Anduril might be the best compromise so that everyone is happy.

[dmenezes]

@Sofirn

So in daily work, are turbo mode and strobe mode not very suitable?
It seems moonlight mode more useful?

Strobe is an abomination and should be disabled or at least be configurable as disabled by the user.

Turbo is fine but as it uses a lot of juice and produces a lot of heat, it’s not that useful, except to “wow!” lay people when we’re showing off our flashlights to them. And in Anduril, Turbo can be disabled and its 2C combination be set to ceiling instead (I always configure my flashlights that way, a good sustainable ceiling beats turbo any day of the week – err, night I mean ).

Moonlight is tremendously useful and is easily the most used mode in all my lights.

[dmenezes]

@Sofirn

Secondly, I think Anduril 2 is too complicated and not suitable for daily use. It should also use simple UI operations like HS42. The HS42 has a lock mode, you may interested.

I beg your pardon, but I sincerely never understood that " Anduril is too complicated" trope. I mean, one click turns the light on and another turns the light off, 2 clicks for turbo and press-and-hold to adjust brightness…what could possibly be simpler?

And the light comes from factory in Simple mode so the unsophisticated user is ‘protected’ by a ten-timed-clicks+hold-on-the-last barrier from the more ‘complicated’ Advanced Mode (where all the above still works the same, but where the user could conceivably put the light in some strange mode and actually – the horror! – go and read the manual to figure how to reset the light).

And as I stated previously, Anduril is opensource so if you find its Simple mode is too complicated, you can cut out any features you want or even code an entirely different UI in its place – that’s a lot of flexibility both for the manufacturer and the users.

[Mandrake50]

@dmenezes

but I sincerely never understood that " Anduril is too complicated"

Amen !!

Andruil can be as simple as any of the UIs that are popular. It only becomes complicated if a user decides they want to explore all of the advanced features. At that point they have to make a conscious decision to activate the advanced mode and perform a set of button presses that are very unlikely to be done without intention.

I tend to think the idea that it is too complicated comes from people that have never really learned in depth about it, or used it much.

[dmenezes]

@Lightweightled

If there is no tailcap switch it should have a magnet (optional tailcap separately sold is fine imo)

I second the “optional tailcap sold separately” with a magnet – that’s what Wurkkos did (does?) with the FC13, and when I bought mine, I made a point of buying the tailcap with the magnet too, so now I have both – and can easily adapt to any situation. And we are talking about just a couple of bucks, so no one is going to get poorer because of that

[Amerigo387 (Amer)]

1. What do you use your headlamp for?

Currently use a headlamp as my main and only light,
usually for hiking, photography and for basically all my EDC needs,
around the house, walking at night, etc.
One of the things I use it most often for is walking at nighttime around a lake .
Just last week we realized half of the streetlights were off, leaving my favorite place to walk halfway through
in complete darkness, until I come along that is

2. What functions do you want your headlamp to have?

Stabilised output
Decent throw
Real moonlight mode
18650
Red light would be an extra +

3. What kind of headlamp experience annoys you?

Low output
Quick stepdown from turbo
Bad heat regulation
No real moonlight mode
Heavy batteries

[raccoon]

Thanks for joining the party, Amerigo387!

[Amerigo387 (Amer)]

Have been looking down the rabbit hole for long enough to realize I’m already inside .
Thank you raccoon and natalie

[smurcod]

@Sofirn

We have a few key questions for all of you.

1. What do you use your headlamp for?
2. What functions do you want your headlamp to have?
3. What kind of headlamp experience annoys you?

1. Any task that requires the use of my hands. Camping, working on the car, working around the house (in the roof, painting walls etc.)
2. At least 4 brightness settings. Something simple to operate. Fairly wide beam spread with decent CRI. Decent onboard charging would be handy.
3. Heavy headlamps. Headlamp elastic straps that quickly stretch and fail. Uncomfortable fitting headlamps.

(My current favourite is the Sofirn D25L- it was a great buy for the money.)

[samgalax]

1. I use headlamps to repair the car mainly… Sometimes also when cleaning some parts inside the car or the House. Also when walking at night.

2. I LOVE to have USB charging. Also I LOVE being powered with AA nimh batteries.

3. I hate when they use are or not so common battery types/sizes. Also I hate the weight

Thanks for the chance…

[Brighteyes]

1.Like a lot of people I mainly use a headlamp for working on the car or things around the house.

2.A floody high CRI work light with good regulation and run times would be good.

Simple UI, on/off, hold to increase/decrease brightness and maybe a double click for turbo/full brightness.

A tactile on/off button would be useful for when wearing gloves.A raised metal button like whats on the Sofirn IF23 would work well if you could incorporate it into the design.

3.An over complicated UI along with unnecessary things like strobe is what annoys me.