Perhaps someone can explain to me, because I don’t see the point of a strobe mode, or a mode of only one lumen or less.
I’m a hiker. I know that strobes are good for discos, and for triggering epileptic fits, but why would I want one on a headlamp? Same goes for ultra-low “moon light”, “firefly” or what ever you want to call a mode of one lumen or less. What’s the point?
I have seen a lot of people posting, here and on other forums, saying how important they think it is to have an ultra-low mode. But I have never seen an explanation as to why they think such a mode important, and why anyone would want a strobe mode is also completely beyond my understanding.
10 or 15 lumen’s is a useful amount of light. I have a Fenix HL21, on which the low mode is 3 lumen’s, I have always felt that this is too low, but at least it is of some use. You can get some view of three or four steps ahead with three lumen’s, but one lumen is not enough to walk safely, so, again I ask, what is the point?
I feel like this same question gets asked every few months and it just starts arguments.
Simple answer: some people like them, other people don’t. We don’t always have to justify our preferences to each other.
Longer answer: it depends on what you use the light for. Strobes can be used to startle/disorient someone, or to make yourself more visible. Ultra low modes are used to preserve night vision or to avoid obstacles without disturbing someone, usually indoors.
Perhaps neither are as practical in a headlamp as they may be in a standard flashlight.
Personally, I don’t use strobe much. I do have a special visibility strobe in my car light, just in case I break down at night, but that’s it.
Moon mode however, I have in any light small enough that I might grab in the night for a bathroom trip. My bedside light always starts on moon so I can navigate the room or locate clothes/objects without waking my wife.
I’ve never found use for strobe on a headlight but, suppose it could have some value in signaling for help or something alone those lines.
Ultra low modes are very useful to me on a flashlight although I could see some use for them on a headlight as well. I’m always having to get out of bed at night to pee or take some pill I’ve forgotten. I don’t want any more light that what it takes to see if the dog is sleeping in the hall way. Too much light and I wake up enough that I can’t get back to sleep.
I’m new here, just signed up today. It is not my intent to start an argument. On the other hand, I do feel that this is a valid topic for discussion. I genuinely don’t know why people like these modes, and I genuinely would like to know why they think them useful. That said, I don’t expect I’ll change anyone’s opinion, or that my opinion is likely to change. But I think it is still worth while to understand the reasons why people want what they want. I think debate is a good thing, so long as it motivated my a spirit of enquiry, and only attacks ideas, not people.
You and Martini have made some good points. I can see why a moonlight mode might be useful indoors. I guess I was thinking only of high end, long throw headlamps, lamps that are useful for cross-country hiking at night, which is my main area of interest for headlamps. For hiking headlamps, I personally have no use for a strobe or moonlight mode. On the other hand I have a great need of a mode of about 10 or 15 lumen. It is this 10 to 15 lumen mode, so useful to me, that seems missing from most of the current crop of high power headlamps. I certainly do want that burst mode that lets me see 150 meters or more, but I may only need it for 2 or 3 minutes out of every 6 hours. Most of the time 50 lumen’s will be enough, and often as little as 10 or 15 will suffice.
I guess my point is, that you can only reasonably stuff so many modes into a headlamp before it gets too complicated and too expensive. Personally I would gladly forego strobe and moonlight modes, in exchange for a mode of 10 or 15 lumen’s. But I can see a good argument for an SOS mode.
Just use the search box — upper left corner of every page, or http://budgetlightforum.com/search
and you’ll find our answers to your (frequently answered) questions.
This will save much recreational typing on everyone’s part.
I personally like moonlight mode quite a lot. If your eyes are adjusted for the dark 1 lumen is plenty of light to be able to see. As a bonus lights run forever in that mode. If you’re using moonlight mode after you’ve been looking at the light output of a decent flashlight or simply just walked into a dark room without giving your eyes enough time to adjust to the darkness, moonlight mode can be pretty underwhelming. However, it’s hard to live without once you’ve had sufficient time to test one out.
ML mode is invaluable to me indoors where it is often pitch black and I don’t want to flash burn my retinas if/when I wake in the middle of the night.
Strobe is not something I have used, but if it readily available from a hidden menu… 2 quick clicks or a long squeeze or something, why not have it there? But not all my lights have strobe. My main hiking / walking light does, “just in case”.
If you build custom light, or have a light custom built for you, you can have whatever modes you want and select how bright they are with the selection of the correct programmable driver. That is relatively easy on a tube handheld light. I imagine there must be some headlamps that can be modded and fitted with a custom driver. I haven’t looked but that is something I want after I work through my other “wants”.
I’m thinking of a driver like the Qlite with the optional STAR firmware, as an example. No strobes there though, but 6 very customizable levels, plus ML.
Unless one was in an emergency situation I see no need for a strobe. It is a pain going through it to get to a useful mode.
I use the moon mode when getting up in the night so as not to disturb my wife. If I were going on a long hike or camping trip the low level is adequate when you have your “night eyes.”
I guess my favorites modes are three, 100+/-, 30, and 3-5.
Jerry
Welcome to the forum lesbentley. Like you, I use to feel ultra low modes and strobe were not needed. Now they are my most used modes. I live in the woods and Strobe is quite effective at running off most unwanted critters. Also can be very useful in getting attention in a road side emergency. Moonlight in my ultra dark house as night is great. It doesn't ruin my night vision or disturb my wife. I could move about the house and someone outside my house would not know what room I am moving around in unless I pointed the light at the windows.
I use the strobe daily at my work for signaling without using the radio which is busy a lot of the time. It is real effective for getting coworkers attention. I only use it on my work light though. Disable it on most of the others. The ultra low is a great night light when camping or finding things in the house without disturbing the wife. Use it as much or more the the other modes.
I find them both quite handy.
Steve
I am a fan of the low modes now as well…. I was not before getting a couple of lights that had a moon mode. Now on a headlamp, it can be useful as a locator/leave on light, but that is almost a firefly (sub lumen) as a moon of 1 lumen seems pretty bright in the middle of the night. I would not walk on less than ten lumen or so, the risk outdoors of missing a rock and twisting an ankle or whatever has implications beyond just the immediate injury.
I am not a fan of strobes, especially on headlamps, but they do have their use IF you would need one. Signaling of course, a strobe will stand out, even against other lights. The more useful version of a strobe for a headlamp would be a “beacon” mode, where the light blinks every 2-4 seconds for location.
Cyclists here use strobe a lot, which is very annoying. But I suspect most people do not like circus modes, I don’t. Moonlight can be useful at night outdoors if you don’t want to kill your night vision e.g. while skywatching. It is also useful as said indoors when wishing not to disturb others.
An untra bright mode that lasts only 3 minutes annoys me, it means yet one more mode to switch through, and as it lasts only 3 minutes it is of little practical use to me. Many like it though.
I came on this site as a result of a welcome by 8steve88 - mainly to discuss knives.
However, I recently bit the bullet with a fat Amazon voucher I had kicking around and bought a few Thrunite flashlights. I got a couple of single AAA keyring lights including a Ti3 which has a moonlight mode - I find it useful when getting out or into the car late at night (shift worker) as it offers enough light to find the car lock and front door lock.
I also bought a TN4A which is a lumens monster, running on 4 x AA (I’m using latest Eneloops, they’re great) - this has several really useful modes for me. Long press from off is moonlight, 0.3 lumens - perfect for waking in the middle of the night and checking on the baby, or wandering down the stairs without tripping over the dogs.
A double tap from off brings up the crazy 1050 lumens. This is massive light, plus it is quite floody too so it doesn’t just throw the light (although it reaches out around 300m) but gives a really useful spread.
A double tap from there gives strobe - insane brightness and easily enough to disorientate a nutter should you happen to stumble across one.
So, from off, four very quick taps gets you to strobe. I happen to think that is really useful - it’s not like you can accidentally activate the strobe.
In all, I’m really impressed with the flashlight for around £37.
I wouldn’t be without any of the modes, whether it is for midnight wanderings round the house or walking the dogs after dark or even just shining into the garden if I hear something.