Gdup question

I'm thinking of getting a Gdup LE for my Aleph I and have a couple of questions. I've been reading different threads for an hour and am still confused.

When switching brightness levels, do you have to actually "click" the light off and on or can you "tap" the momentary on and off to change levels?
Having to actually click would seem like a very cumbersome process.

In reading the Gdup progress thread, at the beginning Wayne talks about some sort of counter that counts the number of times the light has been turned on and off and when the counter reaches a certain number then the light needs to be recalibrated. Is this true? That would seem completely ridiculous to me if it is true so I must be missing something.
I just want to "set it and forget it". Once it's set, I don't want to have to ever think about it again if I don't want to.

Lastly, does the Gdup LE come with a set of instructions? I don't want to have to wade through hundreds of posts to figure out the intricacies of the UI.

Thanks for any help.

I think you will find the GDuP has a very simple UI, as it doesn't require you to remember button click combinations to access features, like UIs on other microcontrolled lights. You don't need to click the light to change levels, just a quick off-on-off tap using a momentary switch does the job.

If you continously tap the light so that it makes a certain number of momentary flashes, the LE enters recalibration mode (the LE recalibrates itself - it doesn't require any user input). I bought my GDuP LE's quite a while ago (before the price drop) and they enter recalibration mode after ten flashes. I think the firmware may have been changed in later versions to require more flashes before entering this mode.

In recalibration mode, the light runs through a sequence of pulses and flashes that lasts about 30-seconds. I think the purpose of this mode is to optimise the LE for the Vin of the LED if a LED swap has been made.

I don't remember my GDuPs coming with instructions. This may have changed since I bought them but they are really so simple that you don't need instructions to use them, only about half a minute of playing with them. Just make sure you don't exceed the maximum input voltage of the driver (works on a single CR123 or lithium ion cell) and you'll be fine :thumbsup:.

I have purchased 3 of these LE's recently on B/S/T. IMO they are very nice units and are a great addition to the Aleph line. The only complaint I have is with a Seoul unit with the Natural emitter. It says GDuP SNat on the side. The center of the beam is very yellow and very noticeable. Call it the lottery if you will, the other two are fine. Someday I'll replace the emitter. I think they are great.

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad that it's a "tap" and not a "click" to change levels. Still not sure of the purpose of the "auto-recalibration" feature but as long as I don't have to do anything then I can probably live with it.

Marnav, I think that the natural white version is supposed to be a little yellowish to kind of mimic an incandescent light and show more "natural" colors.

Scottiver said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad that it's a "tap" and not a "click" to change levels.

Click to expand...

Actually this is really dependent on the type of swith you're using rather than with the GDuP itself. With a forward clicky, with the light off, tapping will change the levels & when you get to the level you want you would fully press to latch on at that level (assuming your switch does not momentarily disengage like Krolls & MagC switches can). With a reverse clicky to change levels (without clicking) you would have to turn the light on first then tap to change levels.

I personally don't like reverse clickies because of the lack of momentary on but with multi stage drivers they aren't so bad when it comes to changing levels.

Scottiver said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad that it's a "tap" and not a "click" to change levels. Still not sure of the purpose of the "auto-recalibration" feature but as long as I don't have to do anything then I can probably live with it.

Marnav, I think that the natural white version is supposed to be a little yellowish to kind of mimic an incandescent light and show more "natural" colors.

Click to expand...

Well thats what I thought too, but this is a very pronounced yellow dot in the middle of the beam. It doesn't affect operation at all, just looks a bit funny. I really like the GDuP idea and I'm glad Wayne made them availible.