Out with SOS, In with Strobe Feature!

I was reading through some posts today about different lights and their various modes, i.e dim, bright, SOS, etc. I thought to myself, "How many times have I EVER used the SOS function of a light"? Answer, never. Since the last broadcast Morse message was back in the 80's, I think, is is still relevant, and would anyone recongnize it as a distress message? I think a blink mode might still have its applications, but I'd rather see new lights with a strobe function. Most people are more likely to need to momentarily stun an attacker or angry dog than to signal for a rescue helicopter or plane. If a light can be programmed to blink SOS, can't it also be programmed to blink 10-20 times a second? A nice bright HDS, Surefire, or other highend light ought to be able to handle it. I for one would like to have the strobe feature like on the Gladius in a smaller package.

Any thoughts on this?

Interesting post. Certainly there are more qualified CPFers out here that may state why that may or may not be possible.

Here's one take: the very real possibility of inducing a seizure. Many people with medicial conditions do not react well to strobes. I sure wouldn't want to be the one holding the light if someone starts experiencing a seizure. Too much liability. I know that may sound far-fetched (the liability issue) but with the litigious society we live in, I'm not willing to take any chances.

Having said that, I'd probably buy one anyway. What the hell.

I don't think morse code is dead, I mean, don't you still have to know it pretty much backwards and forwards to get your general class amateur radio operations license??

But yeah, I don't use my SOS functions very often. Not that I use the strobe thing either..

Flupic for the Jil or the Jil Intelli has user selectable strobe and SOS.

There was a thread on this exact topic about a year or so ago. Do a search.

Upshot of the whole thing was that a strobe gets someone to look but not do much. In the rare instance when an SOS is needed, that feature on a light created a distinct impression of not just being something accidental or inadvertant. However, it was also stated that while an SOS from a light was better than nothing in an emergency, it wasn't all that much better than nothing. Also, there would be probably one instance in a thousand (ten thousand?) where someone actually used this feature.

The other point that was brought up was that in a true emergency, counting solely on a cell phone wasn't a good idea. Murphy's Law tends to override the daily equipment most normal people carry pretty fast. So, relying on a cell phone was thought to be as much of a last gasp attempt to get help as an SOS function. Remember, this was in the scope of a major emergency and not just a flat tire.

In the end, the concensus was that if you had a light with this feature, it certainly didn't weigh any more than one without it, it didn't take up anymore room, and, like the chicken soup taken for a cold, it may or may not be useful, but what the heck, it couldn't hurt.

My Eternalight has the SOS feature, I find that a very important thing to have. I wouldn't use it to change a flat tire, but I spend a lot of time on my boat, far out of cell phone range.
SOS is VERY well known on the water still.

To be honest, I can't stand either one of these features and can't stand that I have to scroll through them or over them in user menus. These features are the dumbest addition to lights yet.

After using a flupic, I find it to be a nice little board that can add functionality to a mod but it is so easy to inadvertantly scroll to sos and strobe that those ui's with them are worthless to me. Just think of how many times strobe or sos are activated with others around and it's just a disturbance. Having to "start over" in the clicks because you have to wait or the next click brings on strobe is annoying. The only time a strobe is REALLY going to be a useful defense is when you know in advance that you will be in a situation where defense is needed and then you'd better be carrying something more than a little flashy light. In otherwords that light better be mounted to a gun because a blinking light might slow someone down for a couple of seconds but 'stun' is about a thousand times to strong of a word.

These two features should be taken out of lights except LEO targeted lights like the gladius, or they should be buried so deeply in the UI as to be practically invisible.

The only 'flash' feature I've ever found to be of use is the locator beacon like on the HDS and the implementation on the EDC's would be better if the user had control of the brightness and frequency of the beacon. The lionhearts always on very low feature was a nice locator as well.

I'm open to adding/taking out features that people want. An always on, very low mode will draw like 8-10ma from the battery with the flupic. I can add a slow beacon, etc. Please start a thread and collect what people want. Thanks!

I bump into the features inadvertently sometimes but taking them out completely would be just wrong!!!

I agree that an SOS feature is seldom needed, but on rare occasions it could be very useful. While few are conversant with Morse code in its entirety these days, and the need to learn it for a ham license has (I recall) been recently discontinued, I believe there are very few individuals in the US who would not recognize Morse SOS as a call for help.

Two instances come to mind where it could make a difference: on the water, or climbing. As to the latter, in Utah where I frequently visit there are a lot of cases where climbers get caught by avalanches or rockfalls or in some cases a member of a party falls and is injured. A lot of them are "casual" climbers who haven't planned adequately or notified others. Sometimes a cell phone connection can be made, often not. I recall that rescues are typically mounted after someone spots them or hears them shouting something unintelligable. There's where an SOS feature on a light could make a difference, especially near dark - out there, you see lights for a very long way.

As to the strobe function, I've found this surprisingly useful (on my Eternalights) for troubleshooting rotating equipment, including motors and fans. Helps you spot a bad bearing or determine which overhead fan blade is out of balance (yes, that is different in a static and dynamic loading situation!) Has to be widely adjustable for frequency though.

- Bill

stogiez said:

Here's one take: the very real possibility of inducing a seizure. Many people with medicial conditions do not react well to strobes.

Click to expand...

Is this response triggered only at certain strobing frequencies? It may be a matter of avoiding those.

Yes it is. Not by once every 1-2 seconds, but several (can't remember the frequency) strobes per second.

greenLED said:

Is this response triggered only at certain strobing frequencies? It may be a matter of avoiding those.

Click to expand...

I don't think there's a set of frequencies, I belive it's more that different people reacts to different things. i've been told by a lady at work that she used to work with a kid that used to selfinflict seizures by looking at a light through his moving/wawing fingers.

As stogiez says, faster blinking lights is worse than slower blinking lights.

I like having a "locator beacon" type strobe (very slow, one pulse every 2 seconds or so) that will run for hundreds of hours. But the truth is that in hundreds of hours of outdoors/backcountry travel I've never really had a need for any sort of signal strobe.

S.O.S. - Coming from someone who lives in Alaska and knowing what dangers are like "right in my backyard"...there's absolutely NO MISTAKE about what an individual needs (as in HELP!) if the S.O.S. signal is seen.

It's not just some campers/hikers/aviators/hunters/fisherman/skiers/snomachiners/etc. flashing a light around - if just ONE LIFE is saved, ok - I'm for it!

any one who has ever been a boyscout, firefighter, cop, member of armed forces, any SAR personell, avid boater, i think thats about it, would know SOS when he or she saw it. so lets see firefighters, search and rescue, the coastguard, military serch and rescue, other people that might be at sea with you. gosh seems like just the kind of people that might be able to save your butt if SHTF. i dont know all that much about survival but i know that if i am in need of saving and i see a helicopter / boat / whatever, im going to whip out whatever light i have and start in with the old. dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot. do i need a light to do that automatically? not really but considering that i might be in a frantic state when trying to signal my code might appear more like a strobe light lol. on an emergency light this is probably a worthwile feature, wouldnt mind putting one on my boat or small aircraft or jeep, however i have none of those so =P

Even the military strobe lights don't blink the SOS code. I'd like to have the strobe function for temporarily blinding someone. The frequency for seizure is usually around 12~16 Hz, but if an epileptic is coming at me with a knife or gun, screw him! I'd rather have him thrashing around on the ground than me bleeding out from a knife or gunshot wound.

RadarGreg said:

Even the military strobe lights don't blink the SOS code. I'd like to have the strobe function for temporarily blinding someone. The frequency for seizure is usually around 12~16 Hz, but if an epileptic is coming at me with a knife or gun, screw him! I'd rather have him thrashing around on the ground than me bleeding out from a knife or gunshot wound.

Click to expand...

Greg, I'm the kind of guy who, if a hotel employee advises me not to wander the streets in that neighborhood, deliberately does so. And walks in many questionable places. Care to guess how many times I've been assaulted? After 57 years of this, how about...never? So can you guess what the chances are of my being assaulted by an armed bad guy, who just happened to be an epiletic, and me happening to have a strobe function available, and getting him to wait while I scrolled through the flashlight's menu to get to that function programmed to the relevant frequency?

I'm sorry, no intention of making fun of anyone, but this just ain't a reasonable scenario. A flashlight might confuse and disorient someone for a little while but it would not be a very reliable deterrrent.

- Bill

If the UI is well thought out I don't see a problem with including an SOS mode.

Including an SOS mode is much cheaper and less uncomfortable than a bullet proof vest but most will find that they are both worthwhile even if they are only used once.

I think it depens on the light. I really don't want or need SOS on my keychain light, or my larger EDC. However, I would want it on the kind of light I'd keep in the trunk, like a Inova 24/7.