Has anyone here at CPF ever actually used STROBE MODE?

[shao.fu.tzer]

I used the strobe on my Neutron 1C when we had a flat on the freeway the other day to warn oncoming traffic that we were on the shoulder. When Baytown police showed up, he tried the same with his Strion but it so dim, it was pretty useless. I told him I sell and modify lights and he asked for some business cards!

 

[Potato42]

In reading the responses here, it seems to me that a momentary activation via tail clicky would be about as effective for many of the practical scenarios mentioned. I have noticed that if I want attention all I need do is quickly activate the momentary on my light to simulate a strobe and within seconds it's annoying someone. Of course in some of the situations mentioned it may be a hassle to keep up manually activating the light. I'm still not a fan of the "feature" but I can tolerate it if it's buried in the UI somewhere, like my 47's quark.

 

[intel440]

.........never..........

 

[VidPro]

In reading the responses here, it seems to me that a momentary activation via tail clicky.

Or , a side button BOOST button. my favorite is to click light on normal , and to have little momentary button that boost into hard drive any time i want, or even if i just want to press a button out of boordom. with the same button i can get a "hey You" flashing going for a few seconds manually.

but no way without some actual curcuit flashing somewhere, to do the "traffic hazzard" , which i agree doesnt have to be obnoxious, but it needs to change to be seen better, or to be seen among a wash of headlights or other illumination. The freeway dont kill me hazzard blinker. which might be best as red flashes or flares, or reflectors, but if there is nothing else like you are not in your own car even, only have your EDC, but are still roadkill freeway meat with no shoulder, or some emergency.

say your the one person who instead of filming others driving off the end of a bridge during an apocolyptic eathquake , you shoot off a warning to that person about to drive off to thier doom. , would it be usefull if you could just set it and forget it . rare situations, but possible.

"honey what is that light flashing there ???? , OHHHHhhhh AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhnnnn. .. ."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0_Z-9839c

and who would want to stick around, with the structure comming undone under you. just leave a hazzrd beacon? and get yourself to a safer location?

 

[DaveTheDude]

I occasionally participate in search & rescue activities. I recall one instance where a solo hiker suffered a badly twisted knee and couldn't self-rescue without risking permanent injury. He was able to place a wireless 911 call that by some miracle connected to the county Sheriff's office. The hiker was able to convey his location with reasonable accuracy, within about a half-mile square, which helped concentrate the search. That noted, the search area was also pretty rugged, and deeply forested. A small plane was dispatched to overfly the search area. The hiker had a light with a strobe feature, and was able to get the pilot's attention, even though the tree canopy blocked most of the view of the ground from the air. The strobe feature was noticible enough to be unmistakable. Knowing the hiker's exact location helped us get him out to medical treatment the next morning.

This isn't the only "strobe" story I'm aware of; several other rescues have been successful because somebody in the wilderness had the sense to bring a signaling device that demands attention.

In developed areas, there is little need for a stobe in daily life. If you get into trouble in the wilderness however, you'll be awfully glad you can select strobe mode, to signal your location and emergency status to the world.

Finally, for those who are tempted to argue that you can always wave your light around to emulate strobe mode, I note that strobe modes typically last longer than continuous battery use; that stobe modes can continue strobing even when you're asleep, or fading in and out of consciousness; and that strobe modes work even if your hands or arms are injured and won't allow you to wave a flashlight like a banshee.

In the wilderness, a strobe mode is a useful emergency tool that weighs nothing, It's good insurance. And it's just might get you rescued, instead of recovered.

Flash on.

 

[HooNz]

Finally, for those who are tempted to argue that you can always wave your light around to emulate strobe mode, I note that strobe modes typically last longer than continuous battery use; that stobe modes can continue strobing even when you're asleep, or fading in and out of consciousness; and that strobe modes work even if your hands or arms are injured and won't allow you to wave a flashlight like a banshee.
Flash on.

One does not tempt me one bit , if you have a look again at the specs on Lights , most strobe on high/full and say a runtime of 2 hours on high/full normally , one might get 2.5 hours on strobe , so Big Deal! .

 

[HooNz]

Or , a side button BOOST button. my favorite is to click light on normal , and to have little momentary button that boost into hard drive any time i want, or even if i just want to press a button out of boordom. with the same button i can get a "hey You" flashing going for a few seconds manually.

but no way without some actual curcuit flashing somewhere, to do the "traffic hazzard" , which i agree doesnt have to be obnoxious, but it needs to change to be seen better, or to be seen among a wash of headlights or other illumination. The freeway dont kill me hazzard blinker. which might be best as red flashes or flares, or reflectors, but if there is nothing else like you are not in your own car even, only have your EDC, but are still roadkill freeway meat with no shoulder, or some emergency.

say your the one person who instead of filming others driving off the end of a bridge during an apocolyptic eathquake , you shoot off a warning to that person about to drive off to thier doom. , would it be usefull if you could just set it and forget it . rare situations, but possible.

"honey what is that light flashing there ???? , OHHHHhhhh AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhnnnn. .. ."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0_Z-9839c

and who would want to stick around, with the structure comming undone under you. just leave a hazzrd beacon? and get yourself to a safer location?

Lost In Space , i must admit that i do enjoy all these theoretical "what ifs" that one reads around all over the place , even in pollytics to justify 'anything' , so my what if is , also if you have turned on the Highway beacon/stobe so that they can see not to hit you etcetera , Someone does evade ones situation and slows down , stops , pulls out a handgun , and blasts you anyway! then pinches the torch because they like the Strobe , and of course in America

Ques-What did the moth at night say when it saw a light and headed for it , Ans-@#%^$&*!@# its a car! - SPLAT

 

[HooNz]

Tip-
Walking on the side of the road that has on-coming vehicles is slightly safer as you can see them / they can see you , if possible.

 

[greenLED]

Once, against a charging dog. It worked.
Gladius (stock when this hapenned).

...but my PD-S has worked similarly well for the same purpose.

 

[don.gwapo]

I use it when crossing the street at night. Good thing its well hidden feature of the minis and preons coz I hate it when its part of the regular UI.

 

[VidPro]

Lost In Space , i must admit that i do enjoy all these theoretical "what ifs" that one reads around all over the place , even in pollytics to justify 'anything' , so my what if is ,

I ran out of gas with my motorcycle once on the I5 freeway at 3am, only 1 mile from the gas station. so i just started pushing it down the side of the freeway to the gas station.
my only light happend to be a cyan Microlight, no strobe. I put it on my luggage under a bungee , and aimed it directally idown the road, hoping that somehow it might be seen, so a (theoretical) 45foot long 15 ton truck didnt kill me when they go to pull off the side of the freeway (theroetically).
I got about 1/4th the way there, and a cop pulled up slowly and safely behind me.
(and do i have to tell the rest ?)
somehow he had spotted my tiny little colored 5mm led , and gave me a ride to get some gas.

now who would have thought that on the I5 they would close enough gas stations that it would be 75 miles to the next one. i guess i should have assumed that theroretically could have occured.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

I tried it to see if my ex wife would have a seizure.

Cute. Keep it up and you can spend some time away from CPF.

 

[OfficerSheepDog]

Cute. Keep it up and you can spend some time away from CPF.

I don't mean to undermine you, But I had found his post quite funny. We can tell easily that its a joke.

 

[Illum]

Is there any merit in keeping one on the car as a breakdown light?
say if its hung on something and pointed down, would it be more effective than the blinkers? Vehicle hazard lights puts quite a bit of drain on the battery, which I usually connect to a 13W compact florscent at night allowing me to work without having to mouth a flashlight. However, some drivers may have epileptic seizures that may be triggered by strobes...which makes me hesitant to "try it out" under a simulated breakdown.

 

[EZO]

Is there any merit in keeping one on the car as a breakdown light?
say if its hung on something and pointed down, would it be more effective than the blinkers? Vehicle hazard lights puts quite a bit of drain on the battery, which I usually connect to a 13W compact florscent at night allowing me to work without having to mouth a flashlight. However, some drivers may have epileptic seizures that may be triggered by strobes...which makes me hesitant to "try it out" under a simulated breakdown.

That's not a bad idea. Maybe with a red lens on it. One of my budget lights has a very slow strobe that would be handy for this purpose.
I wonder if the color of the light makes any difference in triggering epileptic episodes?

 

[KiwiMark]

I once used a strobe amidst a very crowded sidewalk at night, to signal some other people - somewhere - in a very crowded field, that we were going to there to meet, to watch fireworks together. We called them on our cell phone and told them to come towards the strobe. It worked fine. I would also think that it would be good for signaling emergency responders when you didn't know the exact address (on a rural lane, for example) that you were calling in. I almost never use it, but I actually like having a couple of strobe functions on my edc Fenix P2D.

I use it when crossing the street at night. Good thing its well hidden feature of the minis and preons coz I hate it when its part of the regular UI.

I agree that for attention getting & signalling the strobe is a valid option. I haven't actually needed to do so myself, but I can appreciate how in some situations it could be very valuable.

I like the fact that 4Sevens have made an effort on the preons & some other lights to move the strobe & SOS modes 'out of the way' so that you don't normally get them - that is a good bit of thinking on their part!
I also like the Jetbeam programmable modes where I can set the 3 modes to absolute minimum/a useful medium output/maximum, but others could set up low/max/strobe or med/max/beacon or whatever. Having the choice is definitely a good thing!

The only real annoyance is on the UIs that make it hard to never see the strobe unless you actually want it - such lights often end up in a drawer unused while something with a much less annoying UI is in the pocket and regularly used.

 

[monkeyboy]

Never used or needed the strobe.

I can understand why SOS might be useful but not strobe.

 

[HooNz]

LOL , the Gas station is against theory and should have been "miles" away , yet i got one of those too that is really not in line with the Time Space Continuum:huh: , outback a bit i went to reserve , then after awhile (50k's)started stuttering , expecting to have a long walk soon , then came around a corner and on the left a service station and the bike coughed and died as i rolled up to the Pump , at the pump! :wave:
Another time a plod(cop) said to me "You have a bit of a walk then!" and took off grinning.

I ran out of gas with my motorcycle once on the I5 freeway at 3am, only 1 mile from the gas station. so i just started pushing it down the side of the freeway to the gas station.
my only light happend to be a cyan Microlight, no strobe. I put it on my luggage under a bungee , and aimed it directally idown the road, hoping that somehow it might be seen, so a (theoretical) 45foot long 15 ton truck didnt kill me when they go to pull off the side of the freeway (theroetically).
I got about 1/4th the way there, and a cop pulled up slowly and safely behind me.
(and do i have to tell the rest ?)
somehow he had spotted my tiny little colored 5mm led , and gave me a ride to get some gas.
now who would have thought that on the I5 they would close enough gas stations that it would be 75 miles to the next one. i guess i should have assumed that theroretically could have occured.

 

[Mike 208]

I have used the strobe feature at work to announce my presence to co-workers at alarm calls.

 

[Dude Dudeson]

I've had a couple of "I'm over here" uses for it. I've also occasionally used it while rollerblading around dusk, when it's not yet dark enough to utilize the light itself but I'm feeling the need to be seen.

A strobe mode is certainly not a requirement in a flashlight for me though.