Do you ever use the SOS mode on flashlights?

Apart from maybe using it a bike light i can't really see any uses for it..

Wondering if any of you find it handy?

I find it to be an annoyance.Hi-Med-Low would suite me fine.

Hell no. Even if I wasin danger I wouldnt just set my light to SOS. Most lights that have sos seem to have s-o-s-o-s-o-s-o-s-o-s-o-s It's retarded. It's like broadcasting your apathy. So what? - so what? - so what?
Low (<1 lumen) medium (<10 lumens) then High (>one billion lumens) would be the perfect setup; though upon further reflection one billion lumens might be a tad annoying, but not as much as SOSOS modes or even the obligitory strobe.

SOS made a lot of buying decisions very easy in the last years. I won't buy the lights.
"Modes" and blinking are a deal-breaker on almost any light for me.
bernie

I wouldn't use SOS on a bike light. I think the low-med-high settings are all most people need/want. I am not too sure about strobe, what do most people use it for and how often do they use that?

I don't use SOS at all, and hardly use strobe enough for it to be worth the hastle.

:laughing: Wow, tough crowd.

Au contraire, my kids love it, and the strobe mode too!

Both my better-half and I have a Leef+P1D, and our kids love the strobe and SOS modes. Otherwise, the only other light that has an SOS mode is an L2D that I put in the bottom of my drawer at office, somewhere.

With Aloha,

Clarence

The SOS mode is incredibly useless on a flashlight in my opinion. Even if you are in a situation where you need to use it, how many people are going to "read" it? Even amateur radio has moved away from requiring code proficiency as a licensing requirement, and it is fast becoming a lost language. It can be used for getting attention, but the strobe feature accomplishes that at least as well.

... furthermore with a good forward momentary switch you can manually blink it for a few seconds and easily get anyones attention.... unless they're drunk or completely comatose.

kramer5150 said:

... unless they're drunk or completely comatose.

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In which case who needs their help anyway? I vote no for strobe and sos. :thumbsdow

I vote for some way of changing between 3 different groups of settings.

Group 1 - General mode: off - lo - med - high

Group 2 - full mode: off - full

Group 3 - useless mode: off - strobe - SOS - other waste of time modes

I could then use group 1 or 2 and ignore 3, I wouldn't have to muck around with changing past strobe to get back to the setting I want.

KiwiMark said:

I vote for some way of changing between 3 different groups of settings.

Group 1 - General mode: off - lo - med - high

Group 2 - full mode: off - full

Group 3 - useless mode: off - strobe - SOS - other waste of time modes

I could then use group 1 or 2 and ignore 3, I wouldn't have to muck around with changing past strobe to get back to the setting I want.

Click to expand...

Sorry to say so ... but this sounds like a terrible idea. Even more complicated than an annoying strobe being in the way. Quite the opposite of a KISS and thus usable flashlight UI.
IMHO of course and YMMV.

bernie

Kiessling said:

Sorry to say so ... but this sounds like a terrible idea. Even more complicated than an annoying strobe being in the way. Quite the opposite of a KISS and thus usable flashlight UI.
IMHO of course and YMMV.

bernie

Click to expand...

It should not be that hard to implement in a simple to use manner surely? My Fenix has a little 1/8 turn of the head to switch between general mode and turbo mode and I find that system really great. Maybe some other little trick to put it into annoying mode, which wouldn't matter because I don't need that mode.

Or maybe charge an extra 1c for the 3rd mode, then I could just get the mode 1 & 2 and save a cent.

The JetBeam IBS lights are nice as one can set a mode to a SOS if one really needed it or just set all three modes to what ever more useful settings you like.

I only 'use' the SOS mode when cycling through the medium - low - high modes - medium modes etc, since it's in between the cycles, i cannot avoid it.

Personally i don't mind having the mode, but would prefer it 'hidden', so i don't have to see it. If i was lost somewhere in the dark, i think it might come in handy, so i don't have to constantly create the SOS by constant presses on the switch.

KiwiMark said:

I should not be that hard to implement in a simple to use manner surely?

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Here is a P60 dropin that has fives groups of different mode setups. http://www.light-reviews.com/dx_sku_11074/

Seems simple enough to change Group based on instructions in review and at DX, well it turns out in order to get out of Group 3, you need to manually set it at the low level then turn it on until it blinks and then turn off/on to move to Group 4. This shows that leaving out a simple part of the step can lead to frustration.

KiwiMark said:

I should not be that hard to implement in a simple to use manner surely? My Fenix has a little 1/8 turn of the head to switch between general mode and turbo mode and I find that system really great. Maybe some other little trick to put it into annoying mode, which wouldn't matter because I don't need that mode.

Or maybe charge an extra 1c for the 3rd mode, then I could just get the mode 1 & 2 and save a cent.

Click to expand...

Of course it is quite easy to build and implement in a light. But is it desirable? I don't think so.
The more complicated a set-up gets, the more you have to *know* where you are in the menu structure and hwo often you must click or press the button to go from "B" to "F" ... the more useless it gets.
Remember ... it is about a small object that should illuminate other objects and not consume brain power that is needed elsewhere. For us flashaholics this might be a bit different, but in general, you want light. Not thinking about how to get light.

My ultimate test for a UI is easy: I give the light to my wife, no instructions, and see if she can figure it out quickly. If yes, it passes the test. If she messes up a menu or a program of a light .... it will be relegated to the junk drawer.

It's not that I don't try those multi-click UIs ... I have plenty lying around. They just don't cut it. Give a SF U2 to anyone ... they will know how to operate it. Give them a Wolf Eyes Sniper P7 (my newest nightmare), and they will despair.

bernie


P.S.:KiwiMark ... please don't feel like I am attacking you ... I am not. I just feel strongly about those UIs that ruin the flashaholic fun of a lot of lights for me.

All I wish for on a light is high, Med, Low, Strobe. no other modes..

Hi,
I think the SOS modes on the few lights I have are pretty useless. The SOS flashes too slow for anyone who actually can read it to probably even realize it is flashing morse code. I think that a strobe is more useful for an "attention getter", this is only my opinion though. I don't mind the strobe for a "car light"... I always though it could be used as a makeshift flare in a roadside emergency. Especially if your car lights were inoperable. SOS, however, just gets in the way. I think it is more of a selling gimmick, becasue I can see many people thinking it is unique. Which to many people it probably is a unique feature.

Flashfirstask?later said:

The JetBeam IBS lights are nice as one can set a mode to a SOS if one really needed it or just set all three modes to what ever more useful settings you like.

Click to expand...

+1 for how well JetBeam's IBS allocates its SOS modes, they're only there in the selection menu if you need them, completely out of the way not just in normal use, but even in brightness ramping/mode reprogramming.

I wouldn't remove the airbags from my vehicle, but as they should be, they're completely out of the way and don't complicate operation of the car. They'll just be there when I need them :thumbsup: