which Ra Twisty or Clicky ??

[dcbeane]

I bought an Ra twisty on the sales forum here and its a very nice light.
I usually have atleast 2 of everything I depend on and I'm in the market for another Ra.
The light I bought before the twisty was a Novatac 85T for that cheapo price at Lighthound. I carried it in my pocket for a few days and found it on in my pocket atleast once. The raised tactical buton is just not for pocket carry in my opinion.:shakehead
I see zero chance of a twisty coming in my pocket.
The Novatac lives in one of my pistol boxes and in my opinion its great for that use.No regrets...I needed one there. The other box has an E1B in it, probably the perfect light for that use in my opinion.
The twisty is getting harder to find and I read that parts are not going to be available in the future. The clicky is all over the place. A new switch is available if needed.

How likely is the clicky to come on in my pocket?
In an emergency being able to quickly pull out the light and click it, all with one hand is an advantage over the twisty. Having never held a Ra clicky I'd like to know how you folks compare its switch to the Novatac 85T.
If you were going to buy a 140 lumen Ra which would it be the soon even harder to find twisty....or a clicky?
I read on the forum a while ago that there will be a new twisty out this Fall ...and later I read there will be no new twisty. Which is it?

Thanks

 

[John_Galt]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

I have an older HDS light, and EDC B42XR. It's basically the Novatac, before HDS sold their tooling to Novatac.

Mine has a flush tail switch. I've carried it daily since I got it in Early January. Not once have I had it turn on in my pocket. I usually carry it by itself, or next to my phone, so I haven't seen if a pocket full of change might turn it on, though.

The Twisty's are going out of production. HDS said that there wasn't enough demand to do a second production run. I think in the near future, the price of this newer generation Twisty will peak above what they sold for from HDS Systems, and will hold their value for several years, if what can be seen from the market for older HDS lights holds true.

Their has been some unconfirmed rumors on the grape-vine that HDS Systems is coming out with a smaller, more EDC oriented pocket light, but again, that's just what has been circulating on the grapevine.

 

[Mark Mck]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

I EDC both Ra HDS Twistys and Ra HDS and Novatac Clickys. I find the Novatac holster with the velcro cover strap to work well with the Clickys. The Twisty can be carried with the holster from HDS or the Novatac holster without concern. These EDC lights are big enough to require a holster IMHO. The HDS holster is well worth the $50 asking price.

 

[rider]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

How likely is the clicky to come on in my pocket?

I simply program my HDS EDC or Ra Clicky with the auto-off timer enabled so if it does turn on in my pocket (which has been known to happen), it's not going to drain the battery. Seems to be a good compromise for having the clicky interface and one-handed operation.

 

[sigsour]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

And you can always turn on button lock by which it takes a triple-click to unlock it and turn the light on.

 

[J33psr0ck]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

I carry an Ra 170 and use the flush "executive" tail cap. I am so conditioned to a click style light for my primary light that there is really no other option for me. The Ra 170 with flush tail cap is perfect for my EDC uses.

 

[HDS_Systems]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

Dcbeane,

For pocket carry, the flush button is the way to go. Assuming you get the Executive interface - truly the best for general use, you should consider enabling the Automatic Turn Off feature. This feature will turn the light off after 10 minutes of button inactivity - with plenty of warning. If the light should accidentally come on in your pocket - not likely but possible if carried with other items, the light will automatically turn back off without any major impact on available runtime.

If you are hiking at night or doing some other activity that requires a long period of use, 10 minutes is long enough to not be annoying and can actually be put to good use as a timed interval to help you keep track of time and distance. When the light starts stepping down, simply click the button once to reset the timer and return to the original brightness.

Henry.

 

[kaichu dento]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

Dcbeane,

For pocket carry, the flush button is the way to go. Assuming you get the Executive interface - truly the best for general use, you should consider enabling the Automatic Turn Off feature. This feature will turn the light off after 10 minutes of button inactivity - with plenty of warning. If the light should accidentally come on in your pocket - not likely but possible if carried with other items, the light will automatically turn back off without any major impact on available runtime.

If you are hiking at night or doing some other activity that requires a long period of use, 10 minutes is long enough to not be annoying and can actually be put to good use as a timed interval to help you keep track of time and distance. When the light starts stepping down, simply click the button once to reset the timer and return to the original brightness.

Henry.

The auto turn-off is one of the coolest programming features Henry thought up. It would have been easy to have just left it as a turn-off feature, but would have been very aggravating to just suddenly be in the dark. Having it start slowly ramping down, a gentle and non-obtrusive warning, lets you know your 10 minutes have passed and the lights will soon be out... unless you wish otherwise!

I actually need to check mine now to make sure it's activated...

 

[dcbeane]

Thanks everybody! Very useful information.

 

[Mark Mck]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

Great post and info.:thumbsup:

 

[kaichu dento]

Re: which Ra Twisty of Clicky ??

By the way, if you go to edit your first post, then choose Advanced, you'll be able to change 'Twisty of Clicky' to 'Twisty or Clicky'.

In my dream Ra thread I asked for a Twisty of Clicky!

 

[dcbeane]

By the way, if you go to edit your first post, then choose Advanced, you'll be able to change 'Twisty of Clicky' to 'Twisty or Clicky'.

 

[kaichu dento]

Back to the subject at hand, did you ever decide, or are you getting both?

I'm really hoping that a new updated Twisty, with 4 levels and a lower low comes out.