yes flashlights should change from wide to spot.
because
$2 flashlights never did, but people who really used flashlights bought the mag things all the time, which did zoom. even the mini mini mag would zoom, so anybody paying more than $20 for a light should expect that it would do what a $20 flashlight has done for 20 years or more.
anybody paying $400 for a light , should have levels, zoom, runtime, rechargability, and power too.
my own opinion, is that a total spot light is completly useless 5 minutes after i walk out the door, when lighting a path in the dark, nothing but spot is totally useless. then having a bright spot in your eye view, closes up your iris, so you cant see as well. wooded paths, sidewalks, spookey dark paths, lighting up a dark room for finding something, all of that a optic works better than a reflector.
best Path lights for me are actually optics, because they were about 10* or more, and the transision was very smooth.
then when your trying to see something across the creek, or across the lot or down the street, or under the bush, only a spotty beam would get the distance needed. then you need the light to jump out run 100 feet away, and all land there.
and if there is spill on this spotty beam, your eye iris would close up and you still cant see what is way far away. shoot through the bushes or trees and a big spill pattern just blinds you, and you still cant see what is making weird noises back behind there.
shoot down a dark street, and the rest of the street lights up if there is a spill. the spot must be very clean to be usefull to adjusting human eyes.
you cant read with a spot beam, and it makes an auful work light.
when working on cars, the spill beam does the same thing, lights up everything your trying to see PAST to where you have the main spot sent. i find optics are much better for aiming into car engines , because of that.
with Bikes, if you have some tight spot out there it wavers all around as you ride, lighting up about 1/10th of what you need to see, and the spill is about useless, again because the bright spot in your vision. so optics for bikes seem to work best.
with headlamps, a spot might be usefull for spotting stuff, but a spot doesnt work at all down a dark path, nor does it work for close up work. nothing drives a person wearing a headlamp up the wall better than a spot, that is to small for the distance used. you be craning your neck around to see something, when all it needed was to be more diffuse. many headlamps solve this by having a optic, medium spot, and a slide on difussor for different tasks.
so even if the light has both, because of a reflector, the bright spot, or the spill, messes with the iris, and it isnt both.
so the only total multipupose light, is one that can quickly change from a close up , or path, or area light, to a Tight spot that will go a block away Without blowing light back in your face, so you can see what is a block away.
the spot should be shooting out like a laser, only lighting the thing your trying to see, the wide should light the whole area your trying to see without having nasty artifacts, spots, and doughnut holes. mostly because your not just lighting up a light meter. but trying to see with eyes that adjust for the conditions that exist.
