To tailstand or not to tailstand.....

Flashlight companies listen to consumer demands and I often see in posts people saying how they want their lights to tailstand.
Is this really necessary?
Are we put in a situation where we need to balance our light on its tail?
Or, does it just look cool?

Some lights that tailstand:
1. Lots...more and more every day.

Some lights that do not tailstand:
1. Many SureFire lights
2. Ultrafire C3
3. AmiLite T5

I'd like to hear opinions on the advantages/disadvantages, switch ease of use and functionality on both styles.

.

Really it depends on what you use your lights for. The lights I use to light up the night that only burn for an hour or so would get no benefit for tailstand. HOWEVER, the lights I use to keep the house lit during a blackout that have runtimes that will go all night (maybe several nights) NEED to tailstand in order to use them like candles.

The lumapoer m1 with the SSC module is the perfect example of a "candle" light. On low and with an 18650 I can keep it on for days and it provides plenty of light for a room standing on its tail, the light reflecting off the white ceiling. On the other hand, a Surefire M6 would get no benefits from such a feature.

generally in favor of the tailstand.

but then you can always use chewing gum, putty, wax, mashed potatoes, a cup full of sand, llama dung, or playdoh, so its not essential, just a major convenience.

orionlion82 said:

generally in favor of the tailstand.

but then you can always use ..... llama dung, .... so its not essential, just a major convenience.

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My favorite choice!:twothumbs

An older thread but some good arguments:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/142514&highlight

Best regards

____
Tom

It is useful to be able to tailstand a light to illuminate a room. You can get Delrin tailcap bezels from oregonshooter to fit SF lights such as the A2.

I tail stand my P1D-CE all the time. I have two small children so I am often going into their room at night to change a diaper, put them back to sleep, or whatever. I don't want to turn a light on as it may wake up one of the kids that is sleeping, hurt their eyes, etc. So I just put my P1D-CE on low and tail stand it on the dresser. This gives me plenty of light to see what I'm doing.

So I'm all for the ability to tail stand a light.

I found myself working under a sink or countertop, up at a ceiling fixture, under a dashboard or wheel well, enough that I favor tailstanding. It does make "tactical" operation more difficult - I like something like the last HDSs.

I use the tailstanding abilities of my L0D CE everyday!

Personally, I prefer to have a protruding tail switch button, as noted earlier.

Lite_me said:

I use the tailstanding abilities of my L0D CE everyday!

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same. i like the feature. even like the strobe some hate

orionlion82 said:

generally in favor of the tailstand.

but then you can always use chewing gum, putty, wax, mashed potatoes, a cup full of sand, llama dung, or playdoh, so its not essential, just a major convenience.

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LOL :twothumbs. I am fresh out of llama dung, so I find I use the tailstand feature all the time. When doing home projects, I need both hands free, and while a headlamp might be useful, I prefer to put the McClux on its tail and let it flood the enclosed area I am working on. When I come home from the graveyard, the tailstanding lights provide enough light for me to do what I need to do, without turning on the lights and waking everyone up. I am at the point, where I probably won't buy any future lights, unless it can tailstand. (Exception being the huge throwing/output lights where tailstanding has less usefulness).

I only use my smaller, dimmer lights in candle mode, so those are the ones I want to tailstand. Lights such as the L0P-SE, Liteflux LF1, and RR 1xAA I use at night to illuminate the kitchen when I go for a snack. Bigger, brighter lights don't need to have that feature IMO.

Tailstand is a must for me, there will almost always be a time where two hands are needed and sticking a light in the mouth isn't the best alternative.

creampuff said:

I probably won't buy any future lights

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LOL you want to be careful saying things like that - you'll get thrown off this forum in disgrace!

I've had lights with and without it. It comes in handy sometimes. It's not the be-all or end-all. If your light doesn't stand by itself and you need it to, there is generally a way to improvise, i.e. plop the light into a coffee cup, lean it against something, whatever. If you think you need a handsfree light regularly, get a headlamp.

Depends on the light, multi modes like my L1Dce can make use of tail standing. I have used it in a tent camping, on the table at home during a power outage while I got the LP lantern fired up. My wife once said to me "your in love with that light" . I said no, but it can be a romantic torch. She gave me "the look" . So I jumped out of bed, stood it on the dresser on low, turned out the night stand lamp and said "now, isnt that just the right amount of light to be romantic ?" . My wife laughed and said "yeah, but how long can that last?". I replied, "longer than I can !" LMAO .

:twothumbs :bow: :lolsign:

BGater said:

Depends on the light, multi modes like my L1Dce can make use of tail standing. I have used it in a tent camping, on the table at home during a power outage while I got the LP lantern fired up. My wife once said to me "your in love with that light" . I said no, but it can be a romantic torch. She gave me "the look" . So I jumped out of bed, stood it on the dresser on low, turned out the night stand lamp and said "now, isnt that just the right amount of light to be romantic ?" . My wife laughed and said "yeah, but how long can that last?". I replied, "longer than I can !" LMAO .

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Just to follow up on this thread:

This gives new meaning to doing the Bounce Test!!!

If it's possible to make a light with a slightly recessed reverse-clicky, whynot. Lights with a tucked-away clicky look cooler, anyways :thumbsup: