It seems that holding for On/Off is not very popular. I would like to discuss a few issues with you,
Disadvantages of hold to On/Off
Advantages of click to On/Off
Is it because people are more accustomed to click to On/Off, or is it for other reasons?
BTW, The GAW we posted still needs 40 users to participate. We hope everyone can participate and make this GAW happen.
I EDC a Fenix E28R with hold for on/off and click for mode advance. I got used to it fairly quickly and the advantage of it is the ability to quickly change modes.
I was teethed on, well, on physical tailclickies, but when eswitches started, hold for on/off was the norm, and I prefer that. In a pocket, bag, knapsack, etc., it’s much less likely to accidentally turn on with a prolonged press vs a quick bump. Plus, you can rapidfire go through all the modes quickly, vs pressing and holding for 20min to cycle through.
Chrissakes, pressing to turn on/off is the norm for laptops, cellphones, etc., so why should flashlights be any different to demand instant on/off? Just imagine a quick bap of the red button on a phone turning it off vs hanging up, or having to always press’n’hold to hang up. Break out the torches’n’pitchforks, 'cause we’re storming the castle!
Anyhoo, at one point people got instant on/off and hold-for-modes, and started demanding it. Kfine, I can adapt. But man, there’s such downright hostility towards holding for on/off nowadays that I don’t even engage. But I still get a bit nostalgic coming across one of my moldy-oldies that’s press’n’hold to turn on.
Click for on and off is much better. Even normal people can use them, since it is what they are used to. Almost all electronics in the world that has a button is just 1C to turn off and on. Why make it difficult? Why waste people’s time.
The better question I must ask you @szfeic - as a flashlight company and manufacture is - what is your reason for wanting to put hold for off or hold for on? Why do you want to make it different and maybe more difficult for normal people? Maybe if you can give some idea of what your design idea is for your UI, then people can give some feedback.
Hold to on/off is inconvenient.
When I want light, I want it NOW… I don’t want to wait a few seconds. Same for when I’m done with my light.
Holding for on/off has the disadvantages of taking more time and being less intuitive to use. It also offers zero benefit. There is literally no upside to holding for on/off.
My amutorch dm90 has a dual UI. If I hand over the light to someone else, they either keep cycling modes or ramping up and down. I also find it odd to hold for off. A better version for me is click for on/off, hold for switching modes, and a shortcut to low/turbo.
There are advantages to hold for on and off. That is click to advance modes. When I want to switch mode, I want it to switch NOW, not waiting several seconds for it to go through low-mid-high-eco. So here is that. It not better or worse, it’s just different.
This.
In my opinion, the most used functions for any flashlight are the following, in order:
The ideal interface should have shortcuts to all of the above. Since On/Off get used the most, it should have the easiest shortcut… a simple click. Maximum can be “double-click”, and minimum can be “click and hold from off”. Olight’s interface and Anduril are good examples of this kind of UI. Those interfaces also allow you to get to any intermediate mode by holding the button for less than 2 seconds while the light is on.
For nearly 100 years, the only way to turn on a flashlight was to click the switch on or off. Why mess with what works for something a lot less convenient and intuitive?
Yep, that’s what I’ve always said, that it’s a matter of preference, but all I see is how people hate hold-for-on/off so badly that there’s no “preference” allowed, just Click-On/Off Is The Only Way Period.
You’d think hold-for-on/off just kicked their puppy or something.
Unno, it takes me like 5sec to adjust to my ancient SP10B and use it just fine, no confusion at all. I just don’t get all the hostility towards holding vs clicking.
I don’t like hold for on because it’s habit to just click once, and irritating to click a couple times before remembering “oh that’s right, this stupid light is hold for on”.
On the other hand i don’t mind hold for off… 
Why overcomplicate things by making it ‘different’? Just make it simple click on or off. Unless they can provide a reason why holding for off or on is superior (other than it’ll be ‘different’), why bother? Just to be unique? That’s not a good enough reason.
We have listed all the superior points of hold for on/off but you just don’t listen. Here it is again:
There are better ways to implement both of those. I don’t accept that hold for on/off is an acceptable option just on those ‘merits’ alone.
What do you think of Holding to On/Off UI?
Distance. (That one works better in German, “Abstand halten” literally translates to “keep my distance”, and halten can also mean think of).
I have an old sofirn with said behavior and I can’t stand it. On E-switch lights I really want hold = momentary moonlight. Having hold to turn on robs me of my direct moonlight access.
Why wheels are not rectangular?
I really like the UI for the Acebeam E70-AL.
It has an e-switch on the tail that could accidentally turn on in your pocket, except for the fact that you have to do a quick double click to turn the light on.
Then you hold down the button to change modes, and the modes change at a good pace.
If you double click when the light is on, it toggles between turbo and the previous (regular) mode.
If you click the button when the light is on, it turns off.
The UI is pretty much perfect for me. 
I have one light with HFO, and it’s the last one I’ll ever own. Too many years of click on/off muscle memory make it impossible to operate that abomination without cycling through modes 8 times before remembering it’s HFO.
Hold to turn off is just annoying and inconvenient.
Hold to turn on can be outright dangerous. How many times have you been in a situation where you needed the light immediately. Imagine if someone was attacking you and you needed it on immediately. This can cost you your life.
Yes there are some positive aspects of Hold on/off but Hold to turn on can be dangerous.
In contrast, a safety switch on a gun can be operated almost immediately with some practice.
Dont forgot the real world use case of a flashlight is to be able to see in the dark, its not to bounce the beam off a wall to measure the diameter of a hot spot.
For a handheld flashlight or headlamp, I much prefer single click on/off. Same reason as others have stated, I want light NOW.
Hold for on/off and single click for modes works well on a bike light because generally you turn on the light before you ride and single click makes it easier to change modes. If it was single click for on/off then you might accidentally turn off the light while trying to change brightness (e.g. hit a bump while trying to change modes).
You can largely avoid accidental activation with a recessed switch and not keeping other stuff in the same pocket as your light. I pocket-carried my SC64 for two years straight and it never turned on accidentally, my D4K is still new but so far that’s not done it either.
Typically I don’t need to switch modes all that quickly, I do however want light when I click the switch, not after holding it for a couple of seconds. One of the reasons I love Anduril is that I can have my light set up so that click and hold gives me moonlight, click gives me medium, double-click gives me high. It also means that I can pass the light onto someone else without needing to explain how to use it first - click on, click off and it’ll come on at a reasonable level.