Favorite User Interface

What is your favorite UI? Why?

What is your least favorite UI? Why?

Extra credit - if you designed an UI, how would it work?

My favorite is ramping style (more than 3 levels + no blink, strobe, sos beacons)

- D2DIM - smooth quick ramping, simple memory, has lockout and momentary on. best interface ever. anyone got a spare board theyd like to sell?
- EX10 is similar to D2DIM..but has some isssues. shortcuts are a plus
- Spy 007, 6 level knob perfectly spaced. u dont need 100 levels on hand when u have the spy.
- I'm going to love the Peak First Repsonder FR1000A..forward tail clicky,
with adjustable brightness knob near head..cant wait for it to get here!!!

i do like twisties as well, cant beat the simplicity of a single mode twisty.

Thanks MWClint for the reply! Could you brake down how the UIs work? As in how you mechanically access the different settings.



This thread is about the UI, not what comes out when you find the setting you like. Only mention a setting when describing how to get to it.

i.e. no flaming about strobe or rants about multi-clicking.

Thank you.

The oh so simple tighten the head for turbo, loosen for low/general, like the Eagletac P100A2 and Fenix L2t.

Flashlight Aficionado said:

What is your favorite UI? Why?

Click to expand...

D10/EX10. KISS.

Flashlight Aficionado said:

What is your least favorite UI? Why?

Click to expand...

Hi > Med > Lo > Strobe > Beacon > SOS > Pizza > UFO greetings

Flashlight Aficionado said:

Extra credit - if you designed an UI, how would it work?

Click to expand...

Like D10/EX10, double click for instant low, P+H for instant hi.
Bezel twist for brightness control like Surefire Titan.
And 3 clicks for battery indicator.

Barrel-mounted slide switch, with separate momentary pushbutton.

The further you get from this ideal, the worse the compromise.

GDuP

HDS/Ra (Clicky)

Sgt. LED said:

GDuP

Click to expand...

+1

Mayo

My favorite would have to be that of the LF3XT. It offers the best of both simple and fully programmable. You can have any level from very low to full power, variable strobe or beacon, or SOS come on at first click. From any setting high is only a press away. In the simple user interface the light is rampable, has last level memory, and low or high are just a click-press or double click away. And then there's the other features like battery voltage report, overdischarge protection, momentary, etc. Also, the electronic switch functions smoothly and silently. Very difficult for me to find fault.

My least favorite is probably the multilevel twistie setup like the L0D, though it works fine and I very much like the light.

I suppose if I was to design my own it would work like the LF3XT, except through a side clickie, similar to the Proton Pro.

Geoff

+1 The UI of the LiteFlux LF3XT. It's gonna be hard to beat.

Least fave, anything with a strobe or SOS.

Fave, simple mode flipping from low-med-high. Last mode memory.

Reverse or forward clicky, doesn't matter I can get used to either.

Low=5L
Med=65L
High=200L

No PWM, and the light must have good thermal cooling.

1. SureFire L1,L2,A2
2. Surefire U2
3. NDI
4. Jetbeam M-Series

Everything where the switch only activates the light and the mode change is done in another way.

I like the UI of the First Light Usa Tomahawk MC, because is easy to operate one handed, have the levels I need, max are always ready...:twothumbs

First choice is the L1. Press a little for low and press more for hi.
A close second is the Ra UI. I always know were I'm at and were I'm going. I don't like anything with a strobe stuck in the way.

wrencher:nana:

For me its the McGizmo piston drive. I love the simple two stage. Push piston for momentary low, push harder for momentary high or twist the head for constant low and twist further for constant high. Pretty simple and intuitive.
I dislike any UI in which you have to cycle through SOS or strobe. I don't mind if they are accessed through a menu.

defloyd77 said:

The oh so simple tighten the head for turbo, loosen for low/general, like the Eagletac P100A2 and Fenix L2t.

Click to expand...

+1

Perfect for everything I do.

rolling said:

1. SureFire L1,L2,A2
2. Surefire U2

Click to expand...

I'd only add the Gladius to that list and call it quits.

"What is your favorite UI? Why?"

For the UIs available now:
High quality clicky (which IMHO is very important for a good UI) for momentary and on,
twisting the head to switch through the levels, Memory on the last set level.
Like the Olight M20 which IMHO has the best UI to date.


"What is your least favorite UI? Why?"

Any light without momentary.
Complicated UI with programming ability, fancy stuff and the like.


"if you designed an UI, how would it work?"

Provided that this UI should just fit my needs perfect:

"Bigger" lights:

A high quality tail clicky with momentary and on,
and a kind of a ring near the head to switch levels.
Like the Jetbeam Raptor, well at least I hope it will work this way.

As for the levels, full, mid, low and strobe is all I need,
where low should be really low, let say less than 10 lm
and strobe should have a low frequency.


Tiny EDC lights (1x AAA):

Tail clicky with momentary-low-high.

Regards
Thomas

For me, it's a toss-up between the D10 and the Gladius.

The Gladius ramps more smoothly, but doesn't have the shortcuts to high and low. To be fair, it doesn't really need them, because a twist of the tailcap puts you into momentary high mode. [And for those of you who dislike strobes this isn't the light for you - mind you, it has the best in the business . . . and the best way of keeping it out of the way until you need it].

I'd give both of these lights a 9/10. The only improvement I would like is some kind of momentary high function - so that you could ramp to an intermediate level, then mash the button down for full blast.

The momentary setting on the Gladius almost reaches this flashlight nirvana - but when you let go the light goes off completely, rather than back to the ramped middle or low level. There are sound tactical reasons for this (may need to extinguish the light completely in a hurry, I guess), but for civilian use I would prefer to go back to the previous level.

So - my all time favourite, ten-out-of-ten best-of-all-worlds patented UI would be:

1. Smooth ramping from the Gladius but with shortcuts from the D10.

2. Instant momentary high by holding button down with return to previous level.

I would settle for a tailcap twist to get to mode #2, which would allow us to keep the strobe from the Gladius too.

Anyone know if you can reprogram a Gladius ??