2 level twisties

paulr

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
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10,832
What lights are out there with 2 level twisties? That means you turn it partway for low level, turn it further for high level.

I know of the original Li14330 which had an ingenious and slightly complicated spring contact on the PCB to get the first level; also the leaf-spring resistor gizmo that was retrofitted to some Dspeck Firefly lights, plus the CR2 Ion, some Arc LS* mods, and I guess the McGizmo PD lights can be operated in a 2 level twisty mode. My 2-level Firefly never worked very reliably but Cy had some posts about how to adjust/reconfigure them for better performance, that I never tried.

Anyway I think the 2-level twisty notion is pretty intuitive so I'm wondering why it never caught on. Did none of them really work that well?
 
Surefire L1 and L2 are both 2 stage twisties. I'm not sure about any others.

So far they have been flawless in operation.:)
 
The SF L1/L2/A2 are all pushbutton lights with a secondary twisty function, though I guess by that standard I shouldn't have counted the McLux PD either. So OK, I take that back about the PD.

I'm after the really simple twisty design, no extraneous stuff, like an Arc AAA but with 2 levels. I think Orb may have made a few of those.
 
Look at Liteflux series with P1 and P2 levels as well as a User adjustable level. I think this has got to be a must have light for all it offers and the unbelievable low price. I recently recieved the CR123 version LF-3 and it is a great light and built very well. It is also programmable! You can set whatever brightness you would like P1 and P2 to be. Runs on rechargables as well and has battery protection as well as voltage reporting.

Look in the Reviews section. So far all the reviews have been positive and people seem to be very impressed. I think the quality will suprise you and you will be amazed at all this light can do.
 
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Two stage twisties can be simplicity itself. My first two stage ARC LS twisty was simply a resistor and piece of foam tape. I posted the details of that and other variations starting in December of 2003.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39298


The problem with the twisty retrofit was twofold; 1) There was not always enough clearance in the bottom of the battery compartment and 2) the twisting always put some amount of torque on the mechanism. This deformed the tape so occasionally you had to reshape it. The firefly suffered the same problem.

Other versions have had their problems too.
The Surefire version uses little contact fingers that bend. They come with multiple contacts, and the "low beam" finger makes contact first. They are not foolproof. The L1 had at least one series where the contacts were too brittle. Surefire replaced the tailcaps free of charge.

I like the version that McGizmo produces. They are simple and robust.

Daniel
 
Orbs and CR2 Ions. I can't seem to think of any more right now....I need a nap....lol
 
combine Li14430's two stage head with a two stage board in tail = three stage light. Li14430/CR2 and ti PD are my EDC for some time.

both twistie multi stage... my fav!
 
combine Li14430's two stage head with a two stage board in tail = three stage light. Li14430/CR2 and ti PD are my EDC for some time.

both twistie multi stage... my fav!

just keep rubbing it in... with you're "three stage" Li14430 keep rubbing it in..

doug
 
Yeah I tried a McE2S a while back and it's great. I just got a Mule PD and I love the beam but I find the piston mechanism somewhat hard to operate, and it occurs to me that maybe I'd really be happiest with a simple twisty (whether 2-stage or 1-stage). I just don't care that much about momentary operation. I'm even thinking of trying to commission a custom light, but maybe that's excessive.
 
Look at Liteflux series with P1 and P2 levels as well as a User adjustable level. I think this has got to be a must have light for all it offers and the unbelievable low price. I recently recieved the CR123 version LF-3 and it is a great light and built very well. It is also programmable! You can set whatever brightness you would like P1 and P2 to be. Runs on rechargables as well and has battery protection as well as voltage reporting.

Look in the Reviews section. So far all the reviews have been positive and people seem to be very impressed. I think the quality will suprise you and you will be amazed at all this light can do.

+1

I also have a LF-3. Two position twisty and you can program the intensity of both the positions (P1 and P2). You also have a built in "user mode" that allows you to quickly set a third intensity, 2 programmable Strobe modes, and two programmable SOS modes. It took me about 1/2 an hour of playing with the interface to get it down and then I customized the SOS P1 to act as a marker (long interval between short dim blinks)

The light also comes with a diffuser attachment and 3 color lens filters, silicon grease, spare O-rings packed into a very nice padded wood box.

Best of all it is only $52 shipped.
 
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