I decided to try the Photon Proton for my Mom, thinking that well, if it doesn't work well for her, I'll just keep it for myself and move on to one of the other excellent suggestions, like an Icon, or Zebralight, Jetbeam, Terralux, etc. I would buy all of these lights if I could afford it and try each one, but I had to start somewhere
At first I was worried that it wasn't the right choice. I gave it to her and said "see if you can figure out how to turn it on". At first, she fumbled around for a while, and couldn't figure it out. She thought it was another twistie, and was trying to twist the head. She also tried to press the tailcap (remembering her tailcap clickie light).
Finally I told her, this light has a button on the side. She said OH! and quickly found the button and clicked the light on. I guess the button is low-profile enough that she didn't find it on her own, but once she knew it was there, she had no trouble locating it.
Then, I started to tell her about the light. Meanwhile she clicked it on and off a few times, and when I told her the light could be dimmed to any brightness she wanted, before I had a chance to tell her how to dim it, within seconds she figured it out on her own
oo:
Then I told her there were other modes, and she figured out how to get to them just by experimenting with clicking and holding down the button! I was really surprised at how quickly she figured out how to use the light. This is the same person who had a terrible time trying to figure out mode-switching on a twisty light!
Anyway, this was very encouraging, and she seemed really happy with the light, and said she was excited to play with her "new toy". She likes the keychain loop on the tailcap, and we talked about how she wants to put some kind of a charm, or tassel, or something dangly on there for decoration. She also said the pocket clip will be perfect to clip it in the pocket of her purse (this was the idea of the light, for her to keep it with her in her purse).
Anyway, she really liked it, and said it was far easier to operate with one hand than the other small lights I have shown or given her. There must be something intuitive about the pushbutton UI of the Photon Proton, because she figured it out quickly, and she didn't easily figure out the UI of the multi-mode twisties, nor did she have an easy time with multi-mode forward-clickie or reverse-clickie lights I showed her from my collection. Figure that one out...
Another interesting thing: This light has the additional red LED, which I thought was going to be useless to her. Well, she figured out how to use it, and was excited about it, for a reason I didn't even think of. I forgot that she has a telescope that she has been learning how to use to look at the moon at night. Occasionally when family visits, she likes to take the kids outside at night and look through the telescope with them, which the kids love. When we do this, it's always a hassle trying to cover the flashlight with your hand or something so you don't blind everyone's night-adapted eyes. Well, she had read about how stargazers sometimes use red lights to preserve night vision, and she was excited to use this light for that purpose.
Anyway, I think she's really happy with the light, so the search just might be over already... In fact my only complaint about this light is that it doesn't come with a lanyard. She wants a tassel, or charm, or something hanging from the end of the light, and a lanyard would have been something at least. Any ideas for a good fun thing to hang from the end of the light? Preferably something "pretty", says Mom...
