Ideal EDC flashlight UI?

When I buy a flashlight I look for three things - build quality, output and efficiency, and the UI. While the first two aim at an obvious goal, the UI can only be improved through innovation and careful thought. And every UI will draw different reactions from different people. In this thread I hope to get a step closer to figuring out what the flashlight enthusiasts and experts think would be ideal.

Please choose the UI you think is best suited for an EDC flashlight. This is not for a tactical flashlight, although you may want some aspects of a tactical UI, like instant on, in an EDC. The choices are fairly broad - please choose the option that you think either is, includes, or can lead to your ideal EDC UI.

Examples are in parentheses, but they are meant to illustrate only the previous text of that option, and no other aspect of the flashlight. For example, if I give the LF5XT as an example of a signal switch with a complex UI, I do not mean that there is a delay before it turns on, and complex does not mean as complicated as the Liteflux UI, but rather that a single type of electrical input allows access to multiple modes.

I have thought about the UI question a lot, and so the options reflect not only what I have seen considered the top UIs in production, but also ideas of my own, some original and some variants of existing UIs.

Mods, I posted this in the LED forum because I do not think that this sort of output manipulation is possible with other types of flashlights. If I am wrong, please move this thread.

Easy IMO.....


Goldserve`s Flupic UI....!


Hands down....:thumbsup:

lumafist said:

Easy IMO.....


Goldserve`s Flupic UI....!


Hands down....:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

I don't own any lights with the Flupic UI, but the D2DIM is very simple for just about anyone.

My fave interface on a mass-produced light is by a large margin JetBeam's IBS system. Having three modes that you can set to anything you want means the flashlight adjusts itself to you, not the other way around.

lol, I took so long editing the poll I got two replies before I even finished posting

Thanks for the early input

StarHalo said:

My fave interface on a mass-produced light is by a large margin JetBeam's IBS system. Having three modes that you can set to anything you want means the flashlight adjusts itself to you, not the other way around.

Click to expand...

I had this as an option at first, but lumped it together will all lights the use a forward clicky only button to adjust brightness to meet the 10 option limit. I agree that there's a big difference between a single and multiple adjustable modes.

There are so many things to ask for in a UI but to be realistic I'll suggest what I'd like to see to make the UI on my three main EDC's "perfect".

EX10:
This one is easy, in addition to the smart ramping on the D20 I just want quicker access to high. As myself and others have said before, when you want high you want it NOW. Either a triple tap for high or switch the commands for the high and low shortcuts would be fine IMO.

Extreme:
If the light was on high and loosen the bezel it come on in user mode. But if I was in user mode and I tighten the bezel, when I turn on the light I have to wait .5 sec for high. I usually set my user mode pretty low for indoors, which means if I'm outside an I want high I get a half second of nothing, not ideal.

Dereelight C2H:
I just got this light and I really like the ramping down idea. This lets me keep the lowest mode in memory so if I turn in on at night indoors I'm not blinded, but turbo mode if just a tap away. The only thing I'd like to see is double taps in less then 1/3 second to change modes. This prevent changing modes unintentionally if you turn the light off and on in to short a time span, which happens to me a lot using momentary mode. This could go for all the multilevel DBS pills IMO.

Basically I want it to be hard to accidental change modes, I want to be able to start at low and I want fast access to high.

Axion said:

There are so many things to ask for in a UI but to be realistic I'll suggest what I'd like to see to make the UI on my three main EDC's "perfect".

EX10:
This one is easy, in addition to the smart ramping on the D20 I just want quicker access to high. As myself and others have said before, when you want high you want it NOW. Either a triple tap for high or switch the commands for the high and low shortcuts would be fine IMO.

Extreme:
If the light was on high and loosen the bezel it come on in user mode. But if I was in user mode and I tighten the bezel, when I turn on the light I have to wait .5 sec for high. I usually set my user mode pretty low for indoors, which means if I'm outside an I want high I get a half second of nothing, not ideal.

Dereelight C2H:
I just got this light and I really like the ramping down idea. This lets me keep the lowest mode in memory so if I turn in on at night indoors I'm not blinded, but turbo mode if just a tap away. The only thing I'd like to see is double taps in less then 1/3 second to change modes. This prevent changing modes unintentionally if you turn the light off and on in to short a time span, which happens to me a lot using momentary mode. This could go for all the multilevel DBS pills IMO.

Basically I want it to be hard to accidental change modes, I want to be able to start at low and I want fast access to high.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the details. I would agree that that is the ultimate goal of an EDC UI. But do you prefer the Nitecore's signal switch, the Dereelight's forward clicky, or the extreme's combination of head and switch use?

I'd like to restate for everybody - I would have loved to list the 50 or so UIs that could make an elite list, but there wasn't room. So these options are very broad. Meaning that the UIs already mentioned all fit into a broader category in the poll. Sorry for the confusion, but I couldn't see a way around it.

lumafist said:

Easy IMO.....


Goldserve`s Flupic UI....!


Hands down....:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

I've seen this mentioned, but haven't owned a flashlight using it. Is this designed for twisty or clicky lights? Thanks.

Also, it appears that again this is detail that I would love to explore, but cannot. This poll is only asking about the base interface - basically, what type of switch you would want to operate that UI with. But thanks for your vote

Not sure what to vote for, but I want some sort of "3-stage" switch.

1. The first click turns the light on to the last mode if within a few minutes. After 10 minutes, the light turns on low.

2. A light press and hold of the switch slowly increases or decreases the amount of light.

3. A hard press puts the light in maximum light. This mode is also momentary.

And still, the light must support candle/tailstand.

snakyjake said:

Not sure what to vote for, but I want some sort of "3-stage" switch.

1. The first click turns the light on to the last mode if within a few minutes. After 10 minutes, the light turns on low.

2. A light press and hold of the switch slowly increases or decreases the amount of light.

3. A hard press puts the light in maximum light. This mode is also momentary.

And still, the light must support candle/tailstand.

Click to expand...

And when you turn it off you will always get a quick flash of max?

If I could spare the room, the hi/lo button arrangement of the VB-16 would be my preference, except I'd make the brightness levels geometric (i.e. like doubling with each button click).

If I wanted real compact, I'd prefer the twisty on/off switching like the Fenix L0D, preferably with no memory so I wouldn't have to remember how I left it. Personally, I'd prefer lo-med-hi but the Fenix med-lo-hi (and strobe-SOS) sequence is OK too.

In between size, having intermittent off level changing with a tail button switch (notice I didn't say clicky) would be a sort of compromise. A clicky, either reverse or forward would be fine IF it had the reliability of a spring loaded twisty (which I suspect it doesn't...). We all value different things and I value reliability highly. In the absence of any decent testing, I can only judge reliability by my (unavoidably imperfect) understanding of why something's reliable, and so prefer the spring loaded twisties.

In the fantasy side, I'd prefer a head twist with click detents for on/off and level setting (again, geometric levels), but only if I got full spring-loaded-twisty type reliability out of it and it didn't add more than about 20% to the cost of the conventional light or someone else paid. Like I said, fantasy...

If I needed something tactical, I'd go with head twist for level setting and a momentary button (protruding, not tail standing) at the tail. One detent in the head can be full off to provide a lock out for the light.

I prefer a Surefire A2 style switch. Simple and quick access to both low and high levels by just pressing harder on the switch without having to click through levels. If I could set the intensity of both levels, that would be perfect.

Other Vote- description of ideal UI:

Three-mode twisty with no strobe or SOS
Modes changed by twisting rear switch or battery compartment

Where's A2-type or PD-type switch? I guess that's twisty.. but you get momentary depending on pressure too.

I want an EDC that is controlled by voice commands. Like Judge Dredd's gun.

I have a confession to make: from the very first post, before he got the poll made (it was odd, reading it w/ no poll), I've been wondering how long it would take for Carrot to come in and mention McGizmo's PD.

StarHalo said:

My fave interface on a mass-produced light is by a large margin JetBeam's IBS system. Having three modes that you can set to anything you want means the flashlight adjusts itself to you, not the other way around.

Click to expand...

what he said, 2nd choice would be 2 mode forward clicky with further changing of outputs via headtwisting

On/off

Either forward clicky or twisty.