How many use SOS and Strobe functions?

I will likely never use the SOS function and the strobe is a close second to never, although i could at least see the utility of it. So I argue that these settings should be accessible but hidden on the UI of most lights like 4Sevens has done with their Preons. So I'm just curious how many people actually use these 2 functions?

I think they are like seatbelts for most people, you don't need them until you really need them.

Just to present another point of view, in my view this debate over whether SOS and strobe should be hidden, is an artifact of the horrendous "our engineers aren't even trying" click-through UI where you have to click the same button that controls on/off multiple times to serially go through each mode. Switch to a light with a decent UI, and SOS/strobe usually isn't an issue.

Obviously enough, lots of people disagree, since such UIs are popular, though I wonder to what extent that's a bit self-fulfilling. I'm fine with SOS and strobe, given a well-engineered UI, I just don't think click-click-click-adnauseum UIs meet the definition of "well-engineered", at least for me personally.

I think they are silly, no offense to those that use them. I read where people use them to get others attention or whatnot, but that can be done without these modes. I have also read where people could use them to temporarily incapacitate an attacker. Really?

I wouldn't be so anti-disco if they didn't take up a slot that would be infinitely more usable. For example, if I could program whether or not disco takes up a slot, and if I don't, I can use that slot for another brightness mode, that would be much better. I don't understand the seatbelt analogy. Seatbelts are useful, disco modes are not. Period. If you want to signal, you can use momentary-on, or you can twist your wrist with the flashlight on to get the same annoying effect.

Another reason I hate disco is that I have a light that has the disco, and I sometimes turn it on accidentally, and it just irritates me. It both annoys and at the same time reminds me I have lost a usable slot in the flashlight because somebody likes the bee gees too much.

Strobe YES.
Each Hallowe'en I use the strobe mode for two lantern we hang out front, and also to Strobe Backlight a window with silhouettes upstairs. Better than just a constant light.
SOS, thankfully, NO, and hopefully never will need that mode.
I can see it's purpose though. For me, I think the only chance I would use that, is if I am quadding, and i get injured. I would put on the SOS and stay put . If I were not injured, I would probably leave it off until I heard the helicoptors looking for me.

Launch Mini said:

Strobe YES.
Each Hallowe'en I use the strobe mode for two lantern we hang out front, and also to Strobe Backlight a window with silhouettes upstairs. Better than just a constant light.
SOS, thankfully, NO, and hopefully never will need that mode.
I can see it's purpose though. For me, I think the only chance I would use that, is if I am quadding, and i get injured. I would put on the SOS and stay put . If I were not injured, I would probably leave it off until I heard the helicoptors looking for me.

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And its worth the annoyance the other 364 days just to have it for that one day? I thought strobe and SOS were a cool feature when I first got into these lights, but now I just find the modes downright annoying and useless.

Launch Mini said:

Strobe YES.
Each Hallowe'en I use the strobe mode for two lantern we hang out front, and also to Strobe Backlight a window with silhouettes upstairs. Better than just a constant light.
SOS, thankfully, NO, and hopefully never will need that mode.
I can see it's purpose though. For me, I think the only chance I would use that, is if I am quadding, and i get injured. I would put on the SOS and stay put . If I were not injured, I would probably leave it off until I heard the helicoptors looking for me.

Click to expand...

+1. If I was in a bad way up on the mountain it would be useful to point the light down to the valley and leave it on SOS so rescue could find me. Although it would hopefully be a pretty extreme situation. On the hill I carry a whistle, GPS and a mobile but if there isn't a signal and you are too injured to blow a whistle...

I personally feel it's all about how you use your light. For me it's a tool (I'm not a collector) that one day might be called on to help save a life. Since I tend to find myself in places 'normal' :nana: folks tend to avoid, I find having a strobe feature (a beacon is better) to be almost mandatory. If you breakdown far out in a marsh or mangrove forest, having a blinky light that draws attention to you is a very useful thing. Do I need a strobe/SOS/beacon to chase the raccoons out of the backyard? Probably not, but I'd be using a different light for that anyway. Now there's a practical application for those 1000L+ monster throwers I keep reading about here!

Two of my Stobes are on SPY007s, so I have to get to them via backdoor settings, so I don't even know they are there the other 364, and my other is a Mini123, this is pretty much my Hallowe'en light, and it takes a lot of twisting to get the Strobe feature.
So, in my case, no problems.

I haven't yet had use for SOS or strobe.
The whole SOS sequence should go through in about 3 seconds to be noticed as a SOS, usually it's just a buch of blinks taking up to sweet 15 secs.
A beacon blinking once every couple of seconds would be much more effective, than the SOS most lights now have.
And I don't mind SOS if it's hidden behind some shortcut.
And I can see some benefits for strobe with some carefully thought UI.

This is why I like the Armytek Predator so much. Its highly customizable and you can remove/add all the levels and strobes you want. I keep strobe slightly hidden, but can easily get to it if I wanted to.

The strobe mode was mainly developed for military and law enforcement applications. Though strobe will not incapacitate a person, it does effect a person's perripheral vision and depth perception in low light. This is something that can be exploited when working with a partner or unit and it does require a certain amount of training. It was not meant for regular civilian use. As usual, manufactures of such lights market these features with unrealistic expectations. Just put tactical in the name or mention it is used by the military or police and they fly off the shelves. That being said, you are only limited by your imagination on how to use it as illustrated by various cpf members. There are so many manufacturers out there offering a wide variety of UI's that you shouldn't have to buy a light with features you don't want.

I could not find a friend in a crowd that I had on a cell phone, the strobe feature let him locate me very quickly. That was the only time.

Handy for alerting traffic if your on the side of the road changing a tire or making a repair so they move over.

I set one of the user-defined levels on my JetBeam Jet-1 v3 to a slow strobe which I mount on my helmet and it works great as a directional strobe to ensure automobile drivers are aware of me. I have also installed a GloToob on my bike and set to strobe for the same reason. For outdoor events in the evening, it's also a good marker for friends to quickly locate me.

That said, I don't use any of the high frequency strobes on my other lights but, as stated by others, I would say that they can be handy if I am ever stranded somewhere and have to get someone's attention. But, I would prefer that the strobe be hidden. I don't have any use for the SOS functions.

I use strobe everytime an intruder walks into my house or if I'm stranded on a desert island or something then I use SOS to notify passing passenger planes in the night. It's good to use SOS in your house to practice the SOS in case you need to make smoke signals too during the day. Makes me feel safe to have these functions.

davecroft said:

+1. If I was in a bad way up on the mountain it would be useful to point the light down to the valley and leave it on SOS so rescue could find me. Although it would hopefully be a pretty extreme situation. On the hill I carry a whistle, GPS and a mobile but if there isn't a signal and you are too injured to blow a whistle...

Click to expand...

But if you were way up in a mountain you don't need to activate the strobe or SOS in 0.5 seconds. The functions could be there but just hidden. On the 4Seven's Preon they are there, but you have to cycle through low med high twice in rapid succession and then you get into the hidden strobe and SOS. I think that's a great UI.

aimxplode said:

This is why I like the Armytek Predator so much. Its highly customizable and you can remove/add all the levels and strobes you want. I keep strobe slightly hidden, but can easily get to it if I wanted to.

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Right. But ideally (and I suppose I didn't mention this) I'm looking for an EDC tactical light. I can't stand cycling through all of those modes in a light that can fit in my pocket.

I guess my point with all of this is that you can leave the strobe and SOS functions there, because there are situations where they could be useful. But they are used so infrequently by 95% of the buyers that you should get them out of the way and hide them. But still have them accessible for when we need them.

Snareman said:

I guess my point with all of this is that you can leave the strobe and SOS functions there, because there are situations where they could be useful. But they are used so infrequently by 95% of the buyers that you should get them out of the way and hide them. But still have them accessible for when we need them.

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I can't add a single word to this statement to better explain my position, so: +1