It is not a stupid idea at all. Some people realize that a single button may not be the best way to control a flashlight with many different modes.
“Imagine the folly of an automobile with one pedal replacing the brake and accelerator (press once to accelerate, press three times and hold to brake)!” (Source)
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Using more buttons, control rings or sliders is one way to go. Sensors that make the light ‘smarter’ is another.
- Nitecore uses a remarkable ‘Active Dimming Technology’ in their SENS series (review). I do not like rotating the head to switch the light on/off and for me the light is too small to be useful. But once you got it running the brightness adjustment works amazingly well. I would love to see that on a 17 mm driver for larger lights.
- Maglite’s ‘Motion Control’ system on the XL100 lets you rotate the light around its axis. Strange. Here is a view at the internal components.
- Surefire uses a light sensor for its ‘Intellibeam’ technology. The output power immediately adapts to the amount of light reflected.
- Toykeeper has used the main LED to sense light.
- Petzl uses a distance sensor on their NAO headlight.