archer6817j
Enlightened
Hi Fousevens Fam,
I've heard your feedback on the Quark UI. Our first production run on QK16L lights sold out on Kickstarter and we are about to begin the next batch, so I may have an opportunity to revise the UI to make it more nerd friendly. A term of endearment of course!
First, let's acknowledge that no one ever agrees on UI and the ONLY solution to make everyone happy is fully programmable. That's not an option at this time. So, the new Fourseven's UI (in general) is intended to be as simple as possible while capturing the preference of a majority of flashlight users...not just enthusiasts I would also point out that those two goals are in conflict, and the final solution must strike a middle ground. Given all that:
Should the next Quark UI stay the same but lower the medium output to 40 lumens, or should a 4 mode UI be implemented? My main hesitation with adding a 4 mode is the need to add two additional configurations, bringing the total from 6-8. 6 is easy enough to memorize long term. 8 configs and you better not lose your user manual. I'm also not sure there is enough memory left on the chip to add two more configurations.
Notes on the current UI spacing:
My personal inclination (proposed UI #1) is to keep the UI the same, but drop medium mode to 40 lumens. This equates to a 10x change in output between medium and high instead of 4x. This is basically the same as the current Mini/Turbo MKIII settings and no one has taken issue with that yet
Existing UI
Proposed UI #1 (just change medium to lower output - my personal preference)
Proposed UI #2 (add a 4 mode option where the difference between low and medium is also 4x - may not be possible due to memory constraints - seems overly complicated - I get dizzy just looking at the options)
I've heard your feedback on the Quark UI. Our first production run on QK16L lights sold out on Kickstarter and we are about to begin the next batch, so I may have an opportunity to revise the UI to make it more nerd friendly. A term of endearment of course!
First, let's acknowledge that no one ever agrees on UI and the ONLY solution to make everyone happy is fully programmable. That's not an option at this time. So, the new Fourseven's UI (in general) is intended to be as simple as possible while capturing the preference of a majority of flashlight users...not just enthusiasts I would also point out that those two goals are in conflict, and the final solution must strike a middle ground. Given all that:
Should the next Quark UI stay the same but lower the medium output to 40 lumens, or should a 4 mode UI be implemented? My main hesitation with adding a 4 mode is the need to add two additional configurations, bringing the total from 6-8. 6 is easy enough to memorize long term. 8 configs and you better not lose your user manual. I'm also not sure there is enough memory left on the chip to add two more configurations.
Notes on the current UI spacing:
- High mode is set to 60% of Max/Burst (100%) output because this is roughly "one step" in brightness. Burst is a battery conservation measure because the change in perceived brightness is not very drastic, but the extension of battery life is.
- Medium mode is set to 1/4 the output of High mode because a 4x change in output is equivalent to doubling the perceived brightness. This is a nice spacing (seemed good on paper) but I agree, a resulting 100 lumens is a little bright...especially for us flashlight nerds. I don't think civilians will care.
My personal inclination (proposed UI #1) is to keep the UI the same, but drop medium mode to 40 lumens. This equates to a 10x change in output between medium and high instead of 4x. This is basically the same as the current Mini/Turbo MKIII settings and no one has taken issue with that yet
Existing UI
- Config. 1: High - (Burst)
- Config. 2: Max - Strobe
- Config. 3: Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 4: Low - Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 5: High - Medium - Low - (Burst)
- Config. 6: Low - Med - High - Strobe - SOS - Beacon - (Burst)
- Output Max/Burst: 700 lumens (100%)
- Output High: 400 lumens (60%)
- Output Medium: 100 lumens (15%)
- Output Low: 1 lumen
Proposed UI #1 (just change medium to lower output - my personal preference)
- Config. 1: High - (Burst)
- Config. 2: Max - Strobe
- Config. 3: Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 4: Low - Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 5: High - Medium - Low - (Burst)
- Config. 6: Low - Med - High - Strobe - SOS - Beacon - (Burst)
- Output Max/Burst: 700 lumens (100%)
- Output High: 400 lumens (60%)
- Output Medium: 40 lumens (6%)
- Output Low: 1 lumen
Proposed UI #2 (add a 4 mode option where the difference between low and medium is also 4x - may not be possible due to memory constraints - seems overly complicated - I get dizzy just looking at the options)
- Config. 1: High - (Burst)
- Config. 2: Max - Strobe
- Config. 3: Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 4: Low - Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 5: High - Medium - Low - (Burst)
- Config. 6: Moon - Low - Medium - High - (Burst)
- Config. 7: High - Medium - Low - Moon (Burst)
- Config. 8: Low - Med - High - Strobe - SOS - Beacon - (Burst)
- Output Max/Burst: 700 lumens (100%)
- Output High: 400 lumens (60%)
- Output Medium: 100 lumens (15%)
- Output Low: 25 lumens (4%)
- Output Moonlight: 1 lumen