I wanna know from the “flashaholics” here What are the best modes for a flashlight to have in practical day to day use, is 3 modes Hi-Med-Low good enough or 6 modes is useful, what do you guys thing abt gradual ramping Brightness or step-less brightness modes you think thats the right way to go.
Instant access to >20 levels, ranging from firefly to high.
http://www.xtarlight.com/en/05-chanpin/p-001-1.asp?styleid=214
edit: and no (or hidden) disco modes
I love the infinitely variable control on the V11R. Either that much control or on something BIG and very bright the TN31 has it right. Firefly mode is very useful on a really bright flashlight.
firefly, low, mid and high are ideal in my mind but fully variable wins hands down for me
Hands down my ultimate is an infinitely variable magnetic control ring from firefly to 100%.
In a more traditional light I prefer what Zebralite uses. It is arguably the best UI ever put into effect in a flashlight. All modes accessible with just a single push. If you've never used one you owe it to yourself to purchase at least one Zebralight. I have two and they are simply the easiest and best.
Mode ring would work best for me. Unfortunately, there are no reliable budget ones.
Hidden strobe. Its nessesary in my line of work but I don’t want to have to cycle through modes to get to what I need. Currently, I’m using a single mod driver with a forward tactical switch which I like because it don’t have to cycle through modes constantly.
If the regular Quark had mode memory, I would have at least two or three. I love the programmability of my Quark tactical and also the selector on my L3 K40. The rugged, simple interface on my G5 Maelstrom also works well, but with an 18650, I just keep it on turbo most of the time. For a good general use light, that G5 is a dandy. The simple two mode interface on the Icon Rogue 2 has been great for my Mom, Girlfriend, and Aunt. The Rouge catches a lot of flack by enthusiast’s, but for a general use light they are great. If Woot ever sells any more at $13, I’ll buy as many as I can.
Bruce
Personally I can’t really see the point (apart from marketing) for ramping or stepless brightness modes.
My Crelant has ramping and it’s a pita as you have to wait an age to get it to dim rather than just selecting or quickly clicking through a mode option.
As for the best set of modes I think it depends on the light in question and it’s intended use. I see no point in moon light or even lows on large high powered lights. All I want is max (with auto stepdown to stop it over heating) and then a mid mode should I need to shine it at something closer/indoors so that I don’t blind myself.
I do think moonlight/firefly modes have a place though, only I’d like the ability to preset this mode before I turn the light on and know if it’ll be in this mode or not. Maybe something physical like loosening the head to activate moonlight mode.
I also don’t really have an issue with strobe, but it should be completely hidden, yet instantly accessible. If it fails on these counts leave it out.
I also prefer forward clickies for momentary, but I don’t want this same switch to then change the modes. Because if you use momentary a couple of time quickly you end up changing modes. Also when you turn the light on, if you want a different mode you have to then turn it off again.
Best UI I’ve used so far is the Klarus NT20. The Crelant V9CS would be good if it had some preset output modes rather than ramping. And believe it or not the UI on the Small Sun ZY-T13 actually works very well too.
The new EagleTac GX series look to have a sensible UI.
Turbo-high-med-low - with memory
I think if I had to pick one, probably the Quark tactical UI.
why do people like moonlight/firefly mode ? its too low for anything… anyway. TN31 for example is a large flashlight, why have a moonlight mode ? Ramping maybe a good use able feature if implemented correctly like the V11R an infinitely variable control like chrisc mentioned.
Maybe have a Button in the center for Low-Med-High-Turbo (With Memory) with a infinitely variable control ring in front of the button and a On/OFF toggle switch at the back with hidden Strobe and SOS modes. ?Perfect ?
Instantly variable (or at least lots of selection points) would be ok with a control ring, so that you can easily and quickly select and more importantly pre-select the output you want with the light on or off (assuming there’s an on/off switch rather than the control ring doing this). However in terms of usability it’s not really any more friendly than a twisty when used one handed and sometimes too much choice is really too much choice. I seriously can’t think of a single situation were a 100 different outputs would actually be more useful than 2 or 3.
Moonlight I agree is a specialist use and want on a flashlight, I personally have little real use for it, but I can see the benefits and why some would want it. What I object to is having such a mode in the way as it’s just as annoying as the disco modes.

Hands down my ultimate is an infinitely variable magnetic control ring from firefly to 100%.
In a more traditional light I prefer what Zebralite uses. It is arguably the best UI ever put into effect in a flashlight. All modes accessible with just a single push. If you’ve never used one you owe it to yourself to purchase at least one Zebralight. I have two and they are simply the easiest and best.
Nice!! just saw a video review of the Zebralight SC600.
I was always fond of my old HDS UI - one click for max bright, quick double for med, quick triple for moonlight, with instant access to strobe if needed. For an EDC I also like the UI on my Thrunite Neutron 1C, which I believe is the same or similar to some Fenix lights out there (I wouldn’t know, I swore off of Fenix years ago after multiple failures). To me, moonlight mode in an EDC is essential, as I’ve been stuck in plenty of situations where I’ve had to use it (one time trapped in a broken, pitch-black apartment complex elevator for over 24 hours after a power outage). I’ve actually used the disco mode on my lights as well - great for when you’re changing a tire on the side of a dark freeway and don’t have any road flares handy.
Instantly variable (or at least lots of selection points) would be ok with a control ring, so that you can easily and quickly select and more importantly pre-select the output you want with the light on or off (assuming there’s an on/off switch rather than the control ring doing this). However in terms of usability it’s not really any more friendly than a twisty when used one handed and sometimes too much choice is really too much choice. I seriously can’t think of a single situation were a 100 different outputs would actually be more useful than 2 or 3.
Moonlight I agree is a specialist use and want on a flashlight, I personally have little real use for it, but I can see the benefits and why some would want it. What I object to is having such a mode in the way as it’s just as annoying as the disco modes.
i get your point abt using both hands to adjust the output via control ring, and i guess your right 4 or modes should be enough for normal usage.
still dont get whats the whole point or uses of a moonlight mode .
Sit in complete darkness.
Do you know how long it takes for your eyes to become dark-adapted?
20-30 minutes: dark adaptation function
Turn on a ‘firefly’ light — it’s astonishingly bright.
If you’ve never been in complete darkness for 20 minutes unexpectedly — no power, no starlight, dark night in bad weather — consider yourself fortunate.
If you’ve never let your eyes adapt completely to darkness and used your vision — say by hiking by starlight in the wilderness on a moonless clear night — then you’re missing a lot.
Use your instrument to its fullest.
That’s why the ability to — know — that your light will come on at its lowest firefly setting is useful — for the times you have no power, no light, and no idea when it’ll be available again, and want to conserve your vision and your power.
Turn on a bright light and you lose your dark adaptation completely and lose significant battery power in the time it takes to turn it down to a lower level, then 20-30 minutes before your eyes get their sensitivity back and you can actually get the benefit of the low brightness light.
When you need your best night vision and the longest-lasting light — it’s easy to screw up, if you don’t have a light you can be sure will come on at the level you want it to right away.
Same principle applies at the high end, I assume, if you’re spotlighting deer or whatever it is that people need super-bright-lights for.
Predictable, presettable, known in advance is the key.

still dont get whats the whole point or uses of a moonlight mode .
I think there are 2 likely uses for it:
1. If it’s very dark and you don’t want intrusive light, but you do need some light to see where to walk or check something, moonlight can work. e.g. if you get up in the night and don’t want to wake your partner with light (I find this doesn’t work though as the bed moving wakes them anyhow…) I also prefer a little more light so as to not strain to see what I’m looking at. But I can see why some people would like this even if I don’t.
2. Extended runtimes. If you are in a situation were it’s very dark, then something that hardly uses any battery power could give you light for a long time to allow you to navigate an area. If you go caving/pot holing I can see a moonlight mode being a superb idea if it gives you the security of several days continuous light. Personally I have no actual real world use for this though, hence why I consider moonlight a specialist mode.
If it ain’t got 15,000 lumens, it ain’t gotta high mode. 8)