Anybody makes twisties with 2 modes?

L/M/H twisty lights are nice but to go from L to H you have to go through M first. I hate the extra step. What I need is a twisty light with a ring/head with OFF in the middle and L and H on the sides. To access the level you want you just twist the light one time in that direction. People like first responders would appreciate a light like this. A cop looking into a dark alley would only need to twist his light one time to get to high. When he is in his patrol car looking at some papers and only needs low light he just twists it one time the other way to get to low.

This would be a great light. Anybody makes such a light?

Maybe get a 4Sevens Quark Tactical, program it to the two modes you like, and contact DaFabricata about making another twisty tail cap like he did for Blindasabat.

You'll need to purchase a battery tube for the Quark, though.


But I don't know of any off the shelf two stage twisties...


**EDIT** Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. The Nitecore EZ line has two mode twisty in AA, 123, and CR2 sizes.

Would an EZAA fit the bill?

sol-leks said:

Would an EZAA fit the bill?

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I am not familiar with that light. Does it have OFF in the middle and two levels -- one on each side of OFF?

davidt1 said:

I am not familiar with that light. Does it have OFF in the middle and two levels -- one on each side of OFF?

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The twisty on the EZ series functions in a linear fashion, twist (down) slightly and it turns on in low mode and a full twist (all the way down or more than a little) and you have high mode. Repeat the process in reverse to turn off.

ElZetta 2 mode.

the twisty on it works like that, but its got a button too.

davidt1 said:

A cop looking into a dark alley would only need to twist his light one time to get to high.

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I am not in law enforcement but I would imagine that a twisty light would be a bad idea for law enforcement officers to use as a duty light. Most twisty lights are difficult to operate (some might even say impossible) with one hand and in the event that a law enforcement officer needed to quickly deploy a light in one hand and a weapon in another then I would imagine a twisty light would be near impossible to turn on and off in an effective fashion. :shrug:

manoloco said:

ElZetta 2 mode.

the twisty on it works like that, but its got a button too.

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I am even less familiar with this light. Is this the one?

http://light-reviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4763

Surefire, sort of. You do not have to twist very far to get the L1, L2, LX1, LX2, A2, A2L, K2 Kroma to go from off to high. Stop somewhere in the middle and you get low. It works well, and possibly better than the UI you describe. It is my favorite UI and I think if you give it a chance you will agree with me that it is elegant and very usable.

Nevermind....Brain fart...:duh2:

davidt1 said:

I am even less familiar with this light. Is this the one?

http://light-reviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4763

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Yes, more info:

http://www.elzetta.com/

CCW (counterclockwise) for low
CW (clockwise) high

plus the button for momentary or click

i think this one does exactly what you want plus it has the button.

The quality and reliability seems to be top tier, the drop-in is a malkoff (highly regarded and tested), and the ElZetta hosts seems to be very well made, in fact i havent seen a single complaint in the forums.


Carrot: i do like the L1 UI, in fact its my favorite, (my edc is an L1) but the elzetta UI seems to fit the bill perfectly for what the OP asked, what he wants is to get to the desired level (and he only wants 2 levels) without going through the other at all, it should be noted that in practice the L1 works like this, just not in specs as the elzetta 2 mode does.

deranged_coder said:

I am not in law enforcement but I would imagine that a twisty light would be a bad idea for law enforcement officers to use as a duty light. Most twisty lights are difficult to operate (some might even say impossible) with one hand and in the event that a law enforcement officer needed to quickly deploy a light in one hand and a weapon in another then I would imagine a twisty light would be near impossible to turn on and off in an effective fashion. :shrug:

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It's on par with a clicky. I've got a DX dropin in my 6P and with some Nano Oil It's very easy to twist. Even with Nyogel (what SF uses) it was easy. I can use my thumb and twist on and off very well. I'm not sure what dropin I want to use when I buy a bored 6P but it's all I want.

When under stress you don't always want it on, and with a clicky you can press it as hard as you want without having to make sure you don't click on. It's not a big deal, but saving every little motor skill you can might save your life. That's just me however, I just prefer them.

carrot said:

Surefire, sort of. You do not have to twist very far to get the L1, L2, LX1, LX2, A2, A2L, K2 Kroma to go from off to high. Stop somewhere in the middle and you get low. It works well, and possibly better than the UI you describe. It is my favorite UI and I think if you give it a chance you will agree with me that it is elegant and very usable.

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+1. If I could afford the new AZ2 it would be an awsome light.

Eagletac T100C2 Mark II

davidt1 said:

L/M/H twisty lights are nice but to go from L to H you have to go through M first. I hate the extra step. What I need is a twisty light with a ring/head with OFF in the middle and L and H on the sides. To access the level you want you just twist the light one time in that direction. People like first responders would appreciate a light like this. A cop looking into a dark alley would only need to twist his light one time to get to high. When he is in his patrol car looking at some papers and only needs low light he just twists it one time the other way to get to low.

This would be a great light. Anybody makes such a light?

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I too hate Medium. It is extremely annoying and a waste of a mode for my uses. Slap on a strobe in the end rather than a medium mode for me and I'll be a happy camper!

CaNo said:

I too hate Medium. It is extremely annoying and a waste of a mode for my uses. Slap on a strobe in the end rather than a medium mode for me and I'll be a happy camper!

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I don't hate medium. I think it is very useful. I just hate the middle step you have to go through when you want to go from one end to the other. The two mode, one step UI I proposed is a good compromise I think. It wasn't too long ago lights only came with one mode.

To the person who thinks twisty lights are difficult to use. If that's the case, then no one would buy them and there would be no twisty lights made. The market says otherwise.

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I forgot to mention that I need the light to be real small. Something like the new 4Sevens mini AA with my proposed twisty UI would be fantastic.

As for clickie lights, I like Zebralight UI very much, so I will wait for their new lights. For those unfamiliar with the Zebralight UI, from OFF you can access any mode without going through the other modes. A quick click will go to high. Press and hold will go to low. Double click will go to medium. Once the light is on you still have to go through the middle mode in order to go the opposite mode though. I think this is the nature of all clicky designs.

Search said:

+1. If I could afford the new AZ2 it would be an awsome light.

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Even if you can't afford it... it's still an awesome light.

the closest I can think of are...
fenix L1T-V2
ET P100C2 / T100C2

All 3 of these lights allow instant access to either hi or low via tailcap forward clicky. You just rotate the bezel to whatever output you want and click away. I believe the TK-12 is the same UI.

The EZAA uses the bezel twist to quickly access either hi or low from the off position. So low is instant access from off. Yes you have to keep twisting thru lo to get to hi, but its so quick its a moot pint.

Search said:

It's on par with a clicky. I've got a DX dropin in my 6P and with some Nano Oil It's very easy to twist. Even with Nyogel (what SF uses) it was easy. I can use my thumb and twist on and off very well.

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But how do you deploy the light and weapon in conjunction with one another using a twisty switch? Again, I am not in law enforcement but don't most (if not all) of the techniques for deploying a light with a weapon rely on a push button (tailcap or side mounted) switch of some sort?