The Gatlight V3 arrived and can give a few initial impressions:
1. The brightness adjustment knob seems quite nice in terms of smoothness and motion.
2. The light can be operated one-handed using the underhand grip and using the thumb and forefinger to turn the brightness knob. It takes me about three turns of the thumb/forefinger to go from minimum brightness to full brightness.
3. The glare from the light spilling out the sides of the optic was not as bad as I feared. However, it can still be distracting, especially if the Gatlight is used at lower brightness levels. It all depends on how one holds the light -overhand or underhand? I prefer to use overhand grip most of the time. This makes me prone to the Gatlight's stray light. It can be solved by putting your thumb over the head to block the glare. As a slightly more lasting alternative, I've tied a single layer of closely-packed thin white string around the head of the Gatlight. It allows some 'glow' to get through for side-illumination of close objects, while almost completely eliminating the glare issue.
4. The Gatlight doesn't seem to get too hot in my hand. It's surprising given the small size of this light. However, I'll need to experiment with this more as I've yet to run it at close to higher levels of brightness for extended periods of time.
5. The sensitivity of the adjustment knob to downward pressure (resulting in 'momentary' dimming) is not an issue to me. It's not sensitive enough to affect output during tailstanding for example and it alone is not affecting my ability to find the ideal brightness level.
6. However, the largest and most difficult-to-understand issue of the Gatlight is the operation of its driver circuitry. From what I understand, it's driver will dim output to match the ability of the battery to supply power. This results in a 'lag' where the user selects the brightness level quickly and then almost immediately after the knob is left alone, the Gatlight will start dimming as the battery voltage or its ability to supply current starts to sag. The Gatlight's driver will then respond to this sag by dimming its output.
I have not timed the dimming and I do not have a light-meter but it seems that this dimming takes anywhere from a half-minute to one or two minutes to 'stabilise'. It depends on how the light was adjusted.
For example: Supposed the Gatlight is operating at a lower brightness level and I want a higher level of brightness to use out in the garden. Let's just say that this level I want is about 80 lumens. I quickly turn the Gatlight's adjustment knob until I get the desired output of around 80 lumens then let go of the knob.
The Gatlight seems to sustain this 80 lumens for around 1 second then almost immediately but gently, the Gatlight slowly starts to dim down as the driver 'stabilises' to the battery's strain. After 30 seconds or a minute, it may be as dim as 20 to 30 lumens depending on how fast I turned the knob initially. Keep in mind that the perceived-brightness-to-lumens relationship is not linear so dropping from 80 lumens to 15 or 30 is not as extreme a change in brightness as the numbers may sound.
So I quickly turn the Gatlight back to what I think is 80 lumens. Again, I let go of the knob and slowly, the Gatlight starts to dim again and after around 30 seconds, it has stabilised to about say 40 or so lumens.
Again, I quickly adjust the Gatlight to what I think is 80 lumens. Again, I let go of the knob and slowly, the Gatlight starts to dim until it stabilises at around 60 or so lumens 30 seconds or a minute later. At this point in practical use, the difference between 60 and 80 lumens is so slight that I probably don't notice it and I continue my task using 60 lumens. No further adjustment necessary. My eyes may also have dark-adapted a very very slight bit.
It seems that the faster one turns the brightness adjustment knob and the bigger the difference in brightness between the lower initial brightness and the new brightness level, the more follow-up adjustments will be required. In an extreme example, up to 4 follow-up adjustments may be needed before stabilisation.
On the other hand, if the adjustment knob is not turned that quickly and if the user is simply going from one low level to another, say from 10 lumens to 20 or 30 lumens, no follow-up adjustments may be needed. The Gatlight may still dim down a little but not enough to notice it unless one is really paying attention.
Again, keep in mind that I don't have a light meter and these impressions are just after about an hour of usage. Despite all the above, I still quite like the Gatlight V3. It is at least more useful to me than just a two-stage switch. Usefulness of this kind of light comes down to philosophy or state-of-mind.
If you're a person who likes more precise control of the brightness of a light, then the Gatlight is not for you. In fact, one might find it very irritating as I did at first! If you want to know whether what you're using is high, low or medium (to judge remaining battery life or simply to 'know'), then the Gatlight is not for you. Then who is the Gatlight good for? Well I'm not 100% sure yet but I have some idea.
It may be for people who just use their light and don't bother how much more runtime they have at the brightness level they're at. They'll simply replace the battery when required. It may be for people who don't mind adjusting the brightness level a bit every now and then to suit the changing light situation (dimming of the circuit, slightly offset with increasingly dark-adapted eyes). The Gatlight can be quite 'natural' to use because one does not have to consciously think about what brightness level it is at. Instead, one may just make adjustments every now and then (perhaps even do this subconsciously) without using any conscious thought or brain-space from the task at hand. Perhaps.
I'll try using the Gatlight in more 'everynight' situations to see how I like it and if it's suitable for me. Will follow-up again when I can. Sorry for the long read if you're not already asleep or have left the thread altogether.
