Little tweak to make Zebra UI infinitely better!

Hey Zebralight i hope you're reading this. Your UI is still one of the best but has a minor annoyance:

double-clicking from off gets you directly to MED but flashes at HIGH for a split second. not so much a problem with the weaker models but with the Mk2 the 900-lumen blast is quite intense...

THE FIX:
upon button press make the flashlight start at MED then wait a few milliseconds. if 2nd click (i.e. double click) is detected then stay at MED. but if no 2nd click then quickly move up to HIGH.

also serves as a semi soft start for HIGH, more gentle on the eyes

while you're at it make TRIPLE tap jump directly to strobe. and of course retain QUAD tap for the battery gauge

Overclocker said:

while you're at it make TRIPLE tap jump directly to strobe. and of course retain QUAD tap for the battery gauge

Click to expand...

I really like your triple-tap-for-strobe idea. With the current ZL interface, one has to program the strobe as the sub-level of high to have it available quickly, and I would rather not do that.

AT

Good ideur! :thumbsup:

Overclocker said:

Hey Zebralight i hope you're reading this. Your UI is still one of the best but has a minor annoyance:

double-clicking from off gets you directly to MED but flashes at HIGH for a split second. not so much a problem with the weaker models but with the Mk2 the 900-lumen blast is quite intense...

Click to expand...

If you program H2 to one of the lowest options, then turn it off in H2 (since it has memory at each mode) you can reduce the "pre-flash" while going to medium as well as saving some battery by using H1 more as a "turbo" only when needed and using H2 as normal high.

Instead of waiting a millisecond or some such, why not just reverse the Med and High triggers? Quick press for Medium, double tap for High. Simple change and few would care about the split second of medium before the blast of full power, where it's potentially problematic the other way around when you get a blast of full power before getting Medium.

Triple tap for strobe is also a good idea, especially if they can implement it so a quick triple tap ALWAYS triggers strobe whether the light is on or off.

Come to think of it, it'd also be great if they could implement something like a double tap and hold to go straight to Maximum when the light is On in any mode. The UI is clunky for getting to Maximum if the light is in Medium. You either have a choice of holding the button which then goes to low, then medium and finally high. Or you can turn the light off for a split second then on with a quick press (but not too quick, or it reads it as a double tap and switches to M2). Neither option is good if the light is in Medium and you suddenly need Maximum to light things up.


Max

I quite like the current UI. Each click delay is logical.

One click is " Oh crap, LIGHT!"
Double click changes modes " up" by one
Press-hold cycles through modes, LMHLMH(strobe?)

The changes y'all are suggesting get away from this almost-intuitive version. I do like the med-high ramp on a short click though.

Interesting ideas.

However, there is an issue with the double-click to medium suggestion:

The most used modes on flashlights are minimum and max power. If the suggestion were implemented a single click would give about 1 second on medium power before ramping up to max power. This could be jarring for someone who just wants max power instantly. And isn't what they expect when they press the button for max power.

Fireclaw18 said:

Interesting ideas.

However, there is an issue with the double-click to medium suggestion:

The most used modes on flashlights are minimum and max power. If the suggestion were implemented a single click would give about 1 second on medium power before ramping up to max power. This could be jarring for someone who just wants max power instantly. And isn't what they expect when they press the button for max power.

Click to expand...

nope! half second tops! the "standard" double-click interval

If I want to get to med from off, I never use the double-tap, but just hold the button from off untill it cycles to med. it takes about 1,5 sec. ...no flash

wings400 said:

If I want to get to med from off, I never use the double-tap, but just hold the button from off untill it cycles to med. it takes about 1,5 sec. ...no flash

Click to expand...

this is exactly what makes it frustrating to use! 1.5s is like an eternity when you want MED immediately!

Frankly I can do without strobe on the Zebralights, I have other lights with strobe if the situation arises. But the triple click idea is okay with me.

I really like the UI on Zebralights but I would like to see a little tweak. Just reverse the way you get to high and low.

Quick press=low
Double tab=medium with just a quick flash a low
Long press=high

Just my 2 cents.

I would simply prefer that the time delay for turning it on was reversed, so that a quick click turned on low and a prolonged click went to high, to avoid the instaflash in the middle of the night. Othrwise, great. The Strobe, although I don't use it, needs to be faster. Right now it's really more of a beacon. Pretty useless for signalling if you ever had the need.

wedlpine said:

Frankly I can do without strobe on the Zebralights, I have other lights with strobe if the situation arises. But the triple click idea is okay with me.

I really like the UI on Zebralights but I would like to see a little tweak. Just reverse the way you get to high and low.

Quick press=low
Double tab=medium with just a quick flash a low
Long press=high

Just my 2 cents.

Click to expand...

Yep, either this or my option of making it
- quick press for Med
- double press High

Either option makes the most sense as both can get to High pretty quick AND it alleviates the 'trying for moonlight, got blasted with High' errors.

With my suggestion, if you don't hold the long press long enough, you get Medium (quick press for Med). If you hold the long press for Moonlight too long, it will cycle from Moonlight to... yep, Medium.

With wedlpine's suggestion, it's really difficult to miss Moonlight when it's just a quick press. No concerns about holding it just long enough, but not too long.

Personally though, I'd prefer a definitive double tap for High. It's fast and easy. No concerns about holding it long enough or too long (the way the long press is for Moonlight now). The problem with one long press for Moonlight and one quick press for High (or vice versa) is that messing it up gets you the exact opposite of what you wanted (wayyy too bright if you wanted Moonlight but got High, or with wedlpine's suggestion, wayyy too dim if you wanted High and screwed up and got moonlight). With my suggestion, at least if you screw up, you get Medium.


Max

AnAppleSnail said:

I quite like the current UI. Each click delay is logical.

Click to expand...

I agree. I definitely prefer the current UI over this suggested new one.

I also like the UI as it is. I'm using high mode most of the time anyway. I think a programable momentary option would be nice. The 4 clicks for the battery level is the best idea i have seen. All my coworker were shocked. Every flashlight should have a battery indicator! :shakehead

Yeah, how it is now is hard to beat in my opinion.

Having said that, there are some interesting ideas here.
Of all of those listed, I find the "triple-click for strobe" to be the best.
I feel like strobe is somewhat of a waste as a sub level of "High."
Additionally, this idea also doesn't interfere with the existing interface, rather it adds a level of functionality.

And while we're at it, make it a real strobe. (Does anybody here prefer the existing strobe to a faster one?)

LOL what i'm suggesting doesn't change the UI at all! it only eliminates the FLASH on double click

let's be real, the UI has been around for a long time. zebra just ain't gonna mess with it now

Overclocker said:

LOL what i'm suggesting doesn't change the UI at all! it only eliminates the FLASH on double click

Click to expand...

I guess it comes down to whether or not you'd rather have a short bright flash on medium, or a short medium flash on high...

jak said:

I guess it comes down to whether or not you'd rather have a short bright flash on medium, or a short medium flash on high...

Click to expand...

This.

Personally, I prefer the default UI because I use high much more than medium. If I really want medium without preflash I'll just hold it down from off and cycle from low to medium.

Agree with the others. It's not just this suggested improvement, but none of the suggested improvements I've seen strike me as being as good as the original. The only one that is maybe a better UI is the HDS clicky, and I'm not even sure about that one. Maybe you could add a programming menu to the SC600 where each individual user could select which level quick-click starts with - only if they want to - the default if it's not reprogrammed would just be the current behavior.

I'm far from poking fun at the effort, though. Keep trying with the ideas, guys.