gunga
Flashaholic
My Haiku is set around 3 - 30 - 240 or so... Was pondering this for a while...
>>> The Ideal 3-Mode Levels
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agreed,
Searchlights and Uber-throwers = Max or near Max at startup.
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..so you wouldn't change a thing with those levels, even if you could?
gunga
Flashaholic
Not sure. I think 2-25-220? Not sure, the difference is very slight.
Oztorchfreak
Flashlight Enthusiast
From memory there was a German light company doing something like that but I am not sure if they are still in business.
Their lights sold for about 900 Euros or something high like that.
For a pocket light I like -
0.5 lumen on Moonlight mode.
40 lumens on LOW.
200 lumens on HIGH.
Preferably starting on LOW with a UI that lets you pick the level you want straight away if needed.
I like my Sunwayman V10R Ti because of the ON/OFF switch and the full variable stepless magnetic ring controller at the front and it puts out 1 to 500 lumens on 1 x RCR123.
I can tell by the position of the magnetic ring what level I will be at roughly before I press the rear on/off button, and no DISCO modes to be seen at all.
For a bigger flashlight I like -
20 lumens.
200 lumens.
800 lumens.
Starting on HIGH first of course.
Preferably I like a seperate magnetic ring control and ON/OFF switch like my Thrunite TN31 that lets me pick the light level before I turn it on by feeling the detents in the magnetic contol ring that let me know the light level and the rear ON/OFF switch.
The combination of a magnetic control ring and an ON/OFF switch solves the problem of which mode comes on first.
Cheers
HighlanderNorth
Flashlight Enthusiast
You mean you dont think a light like a Thrunite TN-30 with 2700 lumens should be designed to always start on its 1 lumen setting? But why? Isn't that that why we buy big, bulky, multiple battery lights, for their really low modes? LOL
1. If I had to choose between 3 settings in an EDC light, I'd choose 2L- 30L- 270L
2. In a mid sized 18650 light, it would be 30L - 120L - 650L
3. In a larger light with multiple batteries 70L - 250L - 1000L
4. In a big lumen light 100L - 700L - 2700L
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Oztorchfreak
Flashlight Enthusiast
Where did you come up with those strange uneven lumen numbers?
10 - 150 - 470 I would think would be normal approximations, so is this the specs on one of your lights that you own or are going to buy?
Cheers
fyrstormer
Banned
I use(d) GDuP drivers from The Sandwich Shoppe, so I *can* custom-configure them. When I've configured them for McGizmo Lunasols, I've used a multiple of 3.3333x to define the current values. For example, on the LS27, the three settings were 90mA, 300mA, 1000mA. That seems to produce a good spacing. Although, most lights don't have a built-in floodlight that needs to be overridden when the spotlight is turned-on, so a different multiplier would be better. Perhaps 5x instead of 3.3333x: 40mA, 200mA, 1000mA.
BillSWPA
Enlightened
Basic assumptions:
1) If there is a reason why I need high, then I probably need high very quickly and very badly.
2) If there is a reason why I need low or medium, I can probably take my time getting to low.
3) Most of my flashlight use will not require high.
4) If I have drained my batteries by throwing more light than I need, then my light is useless until I can change them.
Based on this:
High - up first - 200 lumens
Medium - up second - 60-80 lumens.\
Low - up last - 5-15 lumens
My concern about a 3 mode light is that if I find myself in the wrong mode when I need high, then it takes too much time to get back to high. Two modes are better for that reason.
1) If there is a reason why I need high, then I probably need high very quickly and very badly.
2) If there is a reason why I need low or medium, I can probably take my time getting to low.
3) Most of my flashlight use will not require high.
4) If I have drained my batteries by throwing more light than I need, then my light is useless until I can change them.
Based on this:
High - up first - 200 lumens
Medium - up second - 60-80 lumens.\
Low - up last - 5-15 lumens
My concern about a 3 mode light is that if I find myself in the wrong mode when I need high, then it takes too much time to get back to high. Two modes are better for that reason.
Everybody mentioned even numbers, so.... :D But i know, i couldn't even notice the difference between 463 or 480. Oh and i meant that for a middle size flashlight. (1x18650)
bushmattster
Newly Enlightened
For a general purpose light, my favorite type: Low 3-5, Med. 60-75, High 250-300
jk037
Newly Enlightened
For a 1xAA (my favourite form factor for EDC):
2lm - 25lm - 125lm
This is the light I'll use 99% of the time, and I don't want to be dazzled by having it come on at a high power level when working in a dark and confined space (e.g. inside electrical panels). 2lm is plenty for close-up tasks and conserves battery life. 25lm medium is sufficient to allow me to walk safely across uneven ground or through the bowels of a power station in darkness whilst still giving plenty of runtime from a single battery. 125lm high is for those "WTF was that?" moments, or to have a look at something like a HV circuit breaker head which is several metres high.
For my "big" light - the one kept in the car for use on late-night callouts - running from perhaps 2 or 3x18650, or maybe a handful of "D" cells:
1500lm - 900lm - 200lm
This is the light that I'll use for security calls to sites in the hours of darkness. Mostly I'll still be using my little EDC light for general walking around site, but the instant-1500lm setting allows me to light the place up like a Dutch brothel should I hear something suspect in the distance and will give any intruders a hard time seeing anything else in the darkness once they've had a dose to the retinas. 900lm allows me to illuminate distant objects, but should run for around twice as long compared to the 1500lm setting (as the law of diminishing returns sets in when considering LED drive currents). 200lm is for tasks that need a reasonably bright light at short range but for a relatively long time, such as walking a substation perimeter fence to check for damage or forced entry.
As things stand I EDC a programmable Akoray K-106, which is programmed lo-med-hi (at a guess I'd say 10lm - 40lm - 150lm on an NiMH), and in the car is an LED Lenser X21 which starts on about 1000lm and can be dropped down to a low setting of maybe 300lm. Previously I used a Quark Mini AA Neutral R5 for EDC which had a nice low low and a useful 25lm medium setting, but the 90lm high wasn't quite enough and the contact area on the PCB board used for switching eventually wore to the point where it became highly unreliable.
2lm - 25lm - 125lm
This is the light I'll use 99% of the time, and I don't want to be dazzled by having it come on at a high power level when working in a dark and confined space (e.g. inside electrical panels). 2lm is plenty for close-up tasks and conserves battery life. 25lm medium is sufficient to allow me to walk safely across uneven ground or through the bowels of a power station in darkness whilst still giving plenty of runtime from a single battery. 125lm high is for those "WTF was that?" moments, or to have a look at something like a HV circuit breaker head which is several metres high.
For my "big" light - the one kept in the car for use on late-night callouts - running from perhaps 2 or 3x18650, or maybe a handful of "D" cells:
1500lm - 900lm - 200lm
This is the light that I'll use for security calls to sites in the hours of darkness. Mostly I'll still be using my little EDC light for general walking around site, but the instant-1500lm setting allows me to light the place up like a Dutch brothel should I hear something suspect in the distance and will give any intruders a hard time seeing anything else in the darkness once they've had a dose to the retinas. 900lm allows me to illuminate distant objects, but should run for around twice as long compared to the 1500lm setting (as the law of diminishing returns sets in when considering LED drive currents). 200lm is for tasks that need a reasonably bright light at short range but for a relatively long time, such as walking a substation perimeter fence to check for damage or forced entry.
As things stand I EDC a programmable Akoray K-106, which is programmed lo-med-hi (at a guess I'd say 10lm - 40lm - 150lm on an NiMH), and in the car is an LED Lenser X21 which starts on about 1000lm and can be dropped down to a low setting of maybe 300lm. Previously I used a Quark Mini AA Neutral R5 for EDC which had a nice low low and a useful 25lm medium setting, but the 90lm high wasn't quite enough and the contact area on the PCB board used for switching eventually wore to the point where it became highly unreliable.
think2x
Flashlight Enthusiast
0.2/20/100 lumens for me.
I recently had the opportunity to do just this when I had someone program a new driver in my Tri EDC. I actually chose 4 modes. Moonlight <1 lm, 10 lm, 80 lm, 300 lm. This is pretty darn good for me.
gunga
Flashaholic
I agree nbp. I may choose moonlight-10-60-360 or so, but have not decided. Like you, I think the best 3 levels, are 4!
More or less three will do the job for me most of the time, but since I could choose how many and where I wanted them, I thought: Hey a low low sure would be nice for camping and such - plug one of those in too! :grin2:
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Hiya nbp,, how's the hiking been & what light are you carrying out there? :)
with 4-mode jobberoos, I'v had a couple & one thing I'v found is the middle modes sometimes get lost in the shuffle.
You gotta have the moonlight mode to make a 4-mode work.
..an AA light w/ .2~10~60 would interest me, since I have high driven 1-mode xm-l setups locked & loaded
