Output step direction: up or down. Why?

moldyoldy

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I am puzzled: Why do some manufacturers seem to strongly prefer a step control from higher to lower lumens whereas other manufacturers chose to step from lower to higher lumens? These manufacturers must have some study or series of studies that justified one or the either direction. What is the logic?

I am skipping the few lights (commonly 1xAAA) that start out on medium then go up or down, or any light using a magnetic ring control.

I understand that flashaholics seem to prefer a low to high stepping sequence probably because they prefer starting from a moonlight mode. yet manufacturers persist in offering lights that step from high to low. I personally do not care which direction the lumen output level changes. However it is distracting when I switch lights in my EDC/usage rotation and the light step direction changes.

Sooo, Why the opposite step direction? A quick search on CPF turned up very little info.
 

yellow

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for the tactical crowd the high is the preferred starting level because illuminating a "suspect" seems to be the main obvious 1st flash usage.
And here the brightest level only makes sense

For me the other way round is a must, I would never mix UIs and You type why. When not having both "directions", no distraction can happen
;)
 

RetroTechie

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One -possible- explanation: :thinking:

As so often, it might be to cater to non-flashaholics. When the average Joe turns on a flashlight, what's expected? Light please, the more the better. Different (lower) modes are lower priority then, but there for us folks who care about runtimes or preserving their night vision.

Personally I prefer moon -> low -> med -> high -> moon etc. But I can understand that med -> high -> low, or high -> med -> low works for many people.
 

thenikjones

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Yellow is correct, depends on target market. The Surefire E1B is for the tactical market so is High the Low. Their E1L is for general use so Low then High. They are essentially the same flashlight other than this.
 

Disciple

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Ultimately it is preference and application. I prefer a flashlight that gives you an option of starting in Max, but otherwise steps low to high. For example the old Fenix P3D; with the head tight you get Turbo and Strobe, but with it loose you get low-mid-high-SOS.
 

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond

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Totally depends on the use. Tactical wants one level and it must be bright - thus no confusion of oops my light wasn't bright enough to see the guy pointing a gun at me.

For me personally. Around the house I want something that starts on moonlight low or even lower and then ramps up. That way I don't blind myself or wake myself up too much in the middle of the night. But, outdoors I tend to prefer something with more of a Med > High > Low UI.

This is where light with certain UI designs are better than others. ZL will let you choose L, M or H just based on how you hit the button when you start up. Spys, LF lights and a few other P60 custom drivers will let you program in you levels so you can set them in the order you choose. Some of them will also support 2 or more "groups" of settings with easy switching between the groups. This is the ultimate in my opinion because it saves you from buying multiple lights just for the UI.
 

jimboutilier

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I think everyone has it right regarding purpose - high first for tactical use and low first for general use.

But I prefer manufactures that that give you the best of both worlds. Like the EagleTac D25 clicky or Foursevens Quark Pros or any Zebralight. That way I get a nice EDC light for the vast majority of my use with the option of tactical use in one light.
 

reppans

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I too like the loose/tight bezel choice for general purpose/tactical UIs. The SWM D40A has a pretty interesting mix of cycling upward in the lower lumen modes and downward in the upper lumen modes which I like too. The ZL UIs are nice in that you can access many different modes via single button, but having to wait to cycle brighter is kind of annoying - when I need brighter, it's usually NOW while waiting to cycle lower is rarely a problem. My favorite UI feature of all though, is the momentary maximum pseudo-feature on Quark Pros - from any lower mode you can momentarily activate max and the light will always return back previously set low; works just like car high-beam flashers.
 

jimboutilier

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I too like the loose/tight bezel choice for general purpose/tactical UIs. The SWM D40A has a pretty interesting mix of cycling upward in the lower lumen modes and downward in the upper lumen modes which I like too. The ZL UIs are nice in that you can access many different modes via single button, but having to wait to cycle brighter is kind of annoying - when I need brighter, it's usually NOW while waiting to cycle lower is rarely a problem. My favorite UI feature of all though, is the momentary maximum pseudo-feature on Quark Pros - from any lower mode you can momentarily activate max and the light will always return back previously set low; works just like car high-beam flashers.

On a ZL you have instant access to high via a short press, instant access to low via a long press and almost instant access to medium via a double press (first press turns on high second goes to med but it so fast it's almost like a pre flash common on a lot of models). You have the option of turning on high and cycling down or turning on low and cycling up but you don't have to cycle that way you can go direct to any of the three main settings. To get to med (my most used setting) I usually turn on low and cycle up at night to avoid the high preflash but in the daytime I can go direct and it doesn't bother me.

Only thing I don't like about the ZL UI is it doesn't seem as intuitive as some others. It seems to take a bit more explaining and practice for folks to get it right and under stress it's easier to get wrong.
 
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reppans

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On a ZL you have instant access to high via a short press, instant access to low via a long press and almost instant access to medium via a double press (first press turns on high second goes to med but it so fast it's almost like a pre flash common on a lot of models). You have the option of turning on high and cycling down or turning on low and cycling up but you don't have to cycle that way you can go direct to any of the three main settings. To get to med (my most used setting) I usually turn on low and cycle up at night to avoid the high preflash but in the daytime I can go direct and it doesn't bother me.

Yeah, I have a couple and know how they work... what I'm referring to is while you are in low (my most often used modes), and then quickly need med or high, most reverse clicky lights just need a millisecond half press or two and you're there - the ZL you either press/hold/wait to cycle up or off/wait/on to get there - not huge deal, takes ~1.5 second vs millisecond. Same holds true for forward clicky multi-modes (like my MDC AA).... takes a while to get to brighter modes (from lower modes), usually what I need instantly (but that's just me).
 

Etsu

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Only thing I don't like about the ZL UI is it doesn't seem as intuitive as some others. It seems to take a bit more explaining and practice for folks to get it right and under stress it's easier to get wrong.

Yeah, while I like the ZL interface, forget about giving it to anyone else. Or, if you do, just tell them it's a single-mode light.
 

jimboutilier

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Yeah, I have a couple and know how they work... what I'm referring to is while you are in low (my most often used modes), and then quickly need med or high, most reverse clicky lights just need a millisecond half press or two and you're there - the ZL you either press/hold/wait to cycle up or off/wait/on to get there - not huge deal, takes ~1.5 second vs millisecond. Same holds true for forward clicky multi-modes (like my MDC AA).... takes a while to get to brighter modes (from lower modes), usually what I need instantly (but that's just me).

Ahh, I see. Reverse clicky is usually faster there for sure. If I have to go from low to high on a ZL I usually do a slow double click. (First turns light off and second turns it on max). That's faster than sequencing to high but sequencing to med is still the fastest this UI offers from low.
 

jimboutilier

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Yeah, while I like the ZL interface, forget about giving it to anyone else. Or, if you do, just tell them it's a single-mode light.

That usually doesn't work out well for me (or rather the person I hand the light to). As sometimes when they turn it on its bright and other times it's dim and sometimes when they try and turn it off it changes brightness, and the more it doesn't do what they want the more they click and the more strange things happen. While the WTF look on their faces is sometimes priceless, I usually follow your first suggestion or give a whole lesson before I hand it over. Often at sometime during the lesson you usually get the WTF expression again and realize you should hand them a simpler light - lol.
 

reppans

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Ahh, I see. Reverse clicky is usually faster there for sure. If I have to go from low to high on a ZL I usually do a slow double click. (First turns light off and second turns it on max). That's faster than sequencing to high but sequencing to med is still the fastest this UI offers from low.

Yup, same as I was trying to describe here...

....or off/wait/on....

But as I said, my favorite by far, is the momentary max function from any preset lower mode :)
 

Cataract

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Ultimately it is preference and application.[...]

Exactly what I had in mind. Interface also depends on these criteria.

I normally prefer low to high, mostly to keep my eyesight whether it be because it is night or I have to look between shiny stainless steel racks, but I always hike with a high to low light in case I have to come back late (bears and all being a possible issue...)
 
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