UI Brightness Sequence, What's your preference

I have worked out following possible sequences with 3 light levels

1) Low/Med/High
2) Low/High/Med
3) Med/Low/High
4) Med/High/Low
5) High/Low/Med
6) High/Med/Low

Whats Your preference? (please take part in poll)

for Poll Option whether to strobe or not please visit this thread

Edit: before this gets out of hand, please let me clarify ... I am not offering any thing, just asking a simple / stupid question about your preference, similar to what has been asked for Strobe... this would probably help manufacturers to make a decision and offer alternatives based on results.

I'll take a No 1 special please!

#6: I need light... NOW!

Edited #1 to reflect: before this gets out of hand, please let me clarify ... I am not offering any thing, just asking a simple / stupid question about your preference, similar to what has been asked for Strobe... this would probably help manufacturers to make a decision and offer alternatives based on results.

I voted #1.
But I would like ALSO a light that remembers the last brightness used to start with.

Definitely low/med/high. It makes sense for the brightnesses to be sequential. I also think that low should come on first, as if you're out in the dark and only need low light, you don't want your light to start up on high brightness and kill your night vision adaptation.

Actually, I quite like the way that my Photon Freedom keychain light works -- clicking it will start up on "high" immediately, once it is on, holding the button will dim the light. Alternatively, if the light is off, holding the button down will start the light on the dimmest setting and increase the brightness. It would be nice to have that sort of control on my high-powered LED lights.

2xTrinity said:

Definitely low/med/high. It makes sense for the brightnesses to be sequential. I also think that low should come on first, as if you're out in the dark and only need low light, you don't want your light to start up on high brightness and kill your night vision adaptation.

Actually, I quite like the way that my Photon Freedom keychain light works -- clicking it will start up on "high" immediately, once it is on, holding the button will dim the light. Alternatively, if the light is off, holding the button down will start the light on the dimmest setting and increase the brightness. It would be nice to have that sort of control on my high-powered LED lights.

Click to expand...

That is how my Stryker VG works
You would like it or the Gladius light...

glire said:

I voted #1.
But I would like ALSO a light that remembers the last brightness used to start with.

Click to expand...

The Gladius will do this...

I voted L/M/H, kinda like my Nuwai lights.

I like the Gladius best, you can set it to "remember" where to come on at, if it is too high or to low, just push the tail cap button and it will change, turn the dial for strobe (it is nice that you never have to use that option if you do not want to, but it is nice to have..., just to annoy folks when you feel the desire to

I personally never need any med or low level on any flashlight. When I want a light, I want it bright and sharp, NOW. If the up coming trend is low/med/high, I won't get any of those light, twist it 3 times to get to Hi? too complicated to use a bright light, seriously. I think manufacturers should produce lights with only on/off like what most regular folks really need in the first place.

It depends (doesn't it always?). Flashlights with both, tactical pretensions and variable output versatility, should, I think, start HI and decrease in brightness with subsequent clicks. In other words, in tactical situations, I want light now! A more general purpose flashlight, on the other hand, should start LOW and work its way up as needed for navigation, task work, spotting, etc. Why go through night blinding levels if all that may be needed for, say, navigation, is 10 lumens?

73
dim

It depends on how bright the levels are. For the Fenix 1D CE, I like Med., High, Low. For my HDS EDC U60, I like High, Med., low.

Guess I'm in the minority again.

My thinking is, in an emergency situation (not necessarily "tactical", emergencies come in many forms), if I NEED the light IN A HURRY, almost certainly the more light the better.

By definition, if it's not an emergency, I have time to scale it down to an appropriate level.

IMHO, the worst possible setup is the one on my Streamlight 2L TT.
With it's "off-low-off-high-off-low" rotation on a reverse clicky, it always defaults to the setting you did NOT find useful the last time. That's why it lives in a glove compartment.

I voted Med/High/Low, but being able to easily select each level is also a good feature in my list (hint check my signature links :devil: )


Pablo

For me, low - medium - high is the only choice. Ever had your eyes dark adapted and then turned on a really bright light? No more dark adjusted sight.

Of course, what's best for me is not best for everyone and thus, the reason for Ultimate HDS (NovaTac) lights!

My preference is none of the above.

My strong preference is for: first mode is whatever mode was active when the light was last turned off. That is the only UI that keeps things very simple but allows you to get to your fave mode without clicking or twisting through most of the time.

On a light like the L0Pse the medium as primary seems well chosen. For one of the new Crees low as primary makes more sense to me as it would likely be all the light I'll need in most cases.

Geoff

#3Medium Low High. I'd like medium first because that would be my most used light level. Low would be for when I don't feel to use as much battery power and High is for the rare occasion where I need a hugh amount of light.

It depends on the situation... that's why I like the U2's selector ring so much - I can set the light level before I turn the light on, and the Gladius tailcap switch as well - I have it set on lowest by default, but a flick of the switch and it's on high.

I voted #1, but it really depends on the function of the light.

For example, my bedside table light is the CPF multi-level (i.e. VB-16), set to come on at the lowest setting - that way I can ramp through all the low settings as needed, without destroying my night vision. If I need max brightness, it's there within secs.

My EDC is a L0PSE, which is ok as Med-Low-High, as I find I use the modes roughly in that order of frequency. But I'd still prefer Low-Med-High here - it's really a toss-up.

On very bright lights, I think it makes sense to come on at the highest regulated setting, since that's probably why someone is carrying that light. Note that could mean Med-Hi-Low, if Hi is really only a temporary boost mode.