Which do you prefer - forward clickie or reverse clickie?

Just curious what percentage of folks actually like reverse clickies. Personally, I don't understand why anyone would prefer a reverse clickie, but please do NOT let my opinion influence your vote! :devil:

I put a forward clickie on my regular Quark, I half press to get to desired mode.

Forward

Chevy-SS said:

Just curious what percentage of folks actually like reverse clickies. Personally, I don't understand why anyone would prefer a reverse clickie, but please do NOT let my opinion influence your vote! :devil:

Click to expand...

I prefer foward clickies but can see the use for reverse clickies. They are less likely to turn on in your pocket and are more reliable due to less electrode arcing. Of course, both are less reliable than twisty switches. I quote from Selfbuilt, "From the comments I've seen from manufacturers in various threads, the long-term reliability of standard clickies tends to be worse that reverse clickies, for some reason. Hence the prevalence of reverse clickies despite the off-quoted complaints I've seen posted here." from here
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?145368-Why-reverse-clicky-is-standard

This is my experience in real life use as well. If you read technical white papers, it says that the mechanical components for switches are usually in the vicinity of 100 000 actuations, electrode arcing reduces this to about 10 000.

Forward clicky for me too, I like momentary on.

Generally I prefer forward (if the modechanges are not done by the clicky). Hate to use the momentary if it starts in lo, and changes modes on me every time i momentary.
So if it change modes via the clicky, i prefer reverse.

A electronic switch can kind of act like both, depending on the ui. Love my lf2xt.

I'm tired of tail switches but for the lights that use them I prefer a forward switch. If the lights are multi-mode they need to have memory however so using the momentary feature doesn't change modes as pointed out above. They work best in single mode lights but I have them on a multi-mode P60 and it works just fine as well.

I prefer electronic side switches. The big appeal of a forward switch to me is the momentary feature.

Like gcbryan said, "I prefer electronic side switches." Only a few lights offer them. The flashlights that do have side switches are stellar lights! I don't need the tactical feature of a rear switch, but have used them so long my thumb reaches for it anyway!

The momentary on/off feature of the forward clicky is what I prefer and use most often...:thumbsup:

Ok, fess up - who is the ONE vote for a reverse clicky??? GET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shane45_1911 said:

Ok, fess up - who is the ONE vote for a reverse clicky??? GET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

2 now! But seriously, there are reasons why reverse clickies might be preferred, in terms of reliability and accidental activation.

Me? Forward clicky all the time. One reason reverse clickies may be more reliable in the long run is because they don't get used that much

shane45_1911 said:

Ok, fess up - who is the ONE vote for a reverse clicky??? GET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Haha... I knew this was coming, once I saw I was the first vote for reverse.

I've had a momentary UIs before and I hated it - lights flickering on and off bug the crap out my night vision. As it is I like to turn my lights on pointing down and then move it up to my subject so my eyes take in reflected/spill/hotspot gradually.

I'm most used to the Quark line and while I have a tactical, I much prefer the regular interface - I like to start on the lowest level possible and half click to go up if necessary. Tailstanding is also hugely important to me. I put a regular tail cap on my tactical to get rid of momentary, prevent accidental activation, and to tail stand.

Wonder what you folks consider the Zebralight interface... it's forward and reverse at the same time, I like that interface too.

jorn said:

Generally I prefer forward (if the mode changes are not done by the clicky). Hate to use the momentary if it starts in lo, and changes modes on me every time i momentary.
So if it change modes via the clicky, i prefer reverse.

Click to expand...

Exactly. For a single-mode light, forward clicky is nice because it gives you momentary. For multi-mode, if you only have one button, reverse clicky is a better UI because it doesn't force you through a stroboscopic full-on/full-off for every mode change.

But.

Conflating mode with on/off in single button is a bug. There is no good way to do it. It's like having your car's steering wheel also control the stereo volume, depending on how tightly you grip the wheel as you're turning it. It is guaranteed to lead to operator error.

ZebraLight's UI is the best one-button interface I've used, but it still sucks compared to having two buttons. I can't tell you how many times I've hosed my night vision because I didn't hold the SC600 button quite long enough -- but of course you can't hold it too long, because then it will advance from low to medium.

flashflood said:

Exactly. For a single-mode light, forward clicky is nice because it gives you momentary. For multi-mode, if you only have one button, reverse clicky is a better UI because it doesn't force you through a stroboscopic full-on/full-off for every mode change.

But.

Conflating mode with on/off in single button is a bug. There is no good way to do it. It's like having your car's steering wheel also control the stereo volume, depending on how tightly you grip the wheel as you're turning it. It is guaranteed to lead to operator error.

Click to expand...

I prefer forward-clickies as well and have blinded myself on more than one occasion when using a forward-clickie to switch modes on a multimode light. Also, any sort of signallng is now useless with multimode / forward-clickie. Luckily, there are some lights (Sunwayman, JetBeam) that use a secondary ring to change output which helps.