EDC mode spacing poll

Please pick here


  • Total voters
    96

TweakMDS

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Whenever a new flashlight comes out, mode spacing is one of the first things I check, even before UI, clip, beam profile etc.
Many manufacturers are capable of building fantastic lights, but somehow mess up on mode spacing.

I was just wondering if I have very specific requirements for a light, or if they do keep getting it wrong?

Considering an EDC light (AA or single CR123a) with 3 or 4 modes and a max mode of roughly 200 lumens, which spacing would you want?

A few notes on this:

  • Assume the lumens vs runtime is linear and low modes are 100% efficient: if the 200 lumens mode has a 1 hour runtime, then 1 lumen has a 200 hour runtime, and everything in between.

  • Please disregard the UI or coming on in moonlight/low/high/mode memory for this.
  • In the poll options, 0.1 is moonlight, and I picked some arbitrary values for moonlight, low and medium modes. Available modes are 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 with this, there are still 80 useful options to pick, and the poll only supports 10. The visual difference between 30 or 50, or 75 and 100 is not very big so please pick what's closest or comment on other options.

I'd love to hear what drives your options. For an EDC, I personally like to have two low modes (0.1 and 1 lumens), a useful medium for in full dark (20-30-ish) and of course a max mode. I guess closest is option 2 in the poll.
My reasoning for this is that a moonlight is best for indoor, full dark and maintaining night vision (or sleepiness). A 1 lumen mode is mode is just when you need a bit more light and distinguish colors. A 25 lumen mode is great for walking the dog on a leash, lighting a path and making sure you don't step on/in anything or working on a computer for example and the max mode is to get some distance or light up dark areas when it's not fully dark otherwise.
 

kj2

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May 22, 2010
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Voted option 2. Although I the step from 25 to 200 is quite a lot. But I rather have a 1 lumen mode instead of 5 lumens.
 

TweakMDS

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Makes sense. The jump from 25-200 is indeed quite steep, but it's a result of having only 10 poll options and wanting to include a "none of the above". If I had more options, I'd probably included 0.1, 1, 50, 200.
 

kj2

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... but it's a result of having only 10 poll options and wanting to include a "none of the above". ...
;)
yeah, if I could choose it would be 0.1, 1.5, 25, 75,200. But we hardly see lights with 5 modes. Mostly 3 and 4. I wonder how much more it would cost, to and another mode-level :thinking:
 

whiteoakjoe

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middle of nowhere
I have become a fan of really simple 2 mode light for edc. I really like having the ability to feel the light (loose or tight head) and know what mode it will come on in, and not having to toggle through several modes to get to the one I want. I am a bit older so the moonlights don't work for me as well as they do for some of you younger guys. So for me I will take a simple 20-200 and be perfectly happy with the modes. If we are talking about an electronic switch that has the ability to hide modes and give instant access to others or programmable modes that I can hide, I like more options than just 2 modes.
 

reppans

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Mar 25, 2007
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0.2
2
20
200


10x increase per step is my preference :)

This is closest to what I like... I actually pretty much just use 0.3, 3 (not ZL lumens) and max momentarily. For me, anything less than a 4x mode spacing difference is a waste unless it can be programmed away.
 

Overclocker

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Aug 13, 2005
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Whenever a new flashlight comes out, mode spacing is one of the first things I check, even before UI, clip, beam profile etc.
Many manufacturers are capable of building fantastic lights, but somehow mess up on mode spacing.

I was just wondering if I have very specific requirements for a light, or if they do keep getting it wrong?

Considering an EDC light (AA or single CR123a) with 3 or 4 modes and a max mode of roughly 200 lumens, which spacing would you want?

A few notes on this:

  • Assume the lumens vs runtime is linear and low modes are 100% efficient: if the 200 lumens mode has a 1 hour runtime, then 1 lumen has a 200 hour runtime, and everything in between.

  • Please disregard the UI or coming on in moonlight/low/high/mode memory for this.
  • In the poll options, 0.1 is moonlight, and I picked some arbitrary values for moonlight, low and medium modes. Available modes are 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 with this, there are still 80 useful options to pick, and the poll only supports 10. The visual difference between 30 or 50, or 75 and 100 is not very big so please pick what's closest or comment on other options.

I'd love to hear what drives your options. For an EDC, I personally like to have two low modes (0.1 and 1 lumens), a useful medium for in full dark (20-30-ish) and of course a max mode. I guess closest is option 2 in the poll.
My reasoning for this is that a moonlight is best for indoor, full dark and maintaining night vision (or sleepiness). A 1 lumen mode is mode is just when you need a bit more light and distinguish colors. A 25 lumen mode is great for walking the dog on a leash, lighting a path and making sure you don't step on/in anything or working on a computer for example and the max mode is to get some distance or light up dark areas when it's not fully dark otherwise.



just copy a a Quark QPA's spacing. the moonlight isn't ridiculously low, and the 5 levels are very evenly spaced to the eye
 

RobertMM

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Jan 21, 2014
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I think 1, 5, 50 and 200 is a well balanced set.
1 and 5 lumen settings are great( 0.3 is the lowest I'd accept, lower and I hate what I'm doing) for extended outages, 50 for general mode and 200 for emergencies when you need it bright as possible.
 

jabe1

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I voted option 3 , although I think the 3rd and 4th levels could be a little lower to increase runtime. Lately, my L10 Nichia 219 twisty is getting a lot of pocket time. Primarily for it's mode spacing.
 

Esko

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Nov 17, 2008
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I picked up the third option (0.1, 5, 50, 200) because it had the right idea. I would prefer to adjust it a bit, though (0.2, 3, 50, 200).

To make my idea clearer, I would also like to call it low-med-high-turbo. Why did I choose it? I like the idea of ~tenfold increases. However, with something like 200 lumens from a single AA, runtime can quickly become an issue. This is why the difference between the 2 most powerful modes can be a bit smaller. I want the second most powerful mode be the standard choice for situations where high is needed for longer use. The actual high (200 lumens) would be used only when the I need short bursts, or when the extra kick is really needed.
 

SoldMyHat

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Aug 8, 2013
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I have been trying to find an alternate option to the foursevens quark qp2l-x just to compare and contrast. It is really hard to find lights with sublumen modes and a tailcap UI. Sometimes I just need a little bit of light!
 

thedoc007

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I prefer a single-digit low, ideally three lumens or less, but definitely would not want more than one low mode. Two just means that if you need more light, you have to go through more modes that aren't useful.

One light that gives you lots of options (in this class) is a Zebralight SC52. Has both a lower low, and a higher high than suggested by the OP. Has OPTION for multiple lows, and mediums, and highs, but they don't get in the way if you want something simpler, or are just trying to get to a different level. I think it could work well for just about everyone who has responded so far.

I always carry an 18650-based light, so maybe I'm not the one to ask...I find they aren't THAT much larger, but the runtime is several times an AA-based light. LOTS of five-mode choices for 18650 lights.

2, 20, 80, 200 would probably be my pick, with the criteria given by the OP. But I'm glad I'm not limited to those options!
 

Wiggle

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I have become a fan of really simple 2 mode light for edc. I really like having the ability to feel the light (loose or tight head) and know what mode it will come on in, and not having to toggle through several modes to get to the one I want. I am a bit older so the moonlights don't work for me as well as they do for some of you younger guys. So for me I will take a simple 20-200 and be perfectly happy with the modes. If we are talking about an electronic switch that has the ability to hide modes and give instant access to others or programmable modes that I can hide, I like more options than just 2 modes.


I agree. For the longest time I ran a Quark AA Tactical programmed to about 200 lumens and 20 lumens. Sure the 20 lumens is a bit more than you need for low stuff but never found it a problem. Really appreciated the simple UI and the predictability. My current is SC52 and I like it alot too, but if I were to go back to a traditional clicky I could easily see myself back in the 2-mode only camp.

I find the only time I really need single digit lumen lows or moonlight are when creeping around my apt. Which I have a dedicated light for. For actual general flashlight use while out of the house I've never felt disadvantaged with the 20 lumen low.
 

NutSAK

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I chose 1, 5, 50, 200

However, I find three levels to be perfect for my uses. These are the ranges that I typically use:

low: 1-3 lumens (nighttime around the house)
med: 20-50 lumens (general tasks)
high: whatever the light (cell/emitter/driver combo) can achieve for at least 30 minutes

I find 30-50 lumens to be perfect for the vast majority of my uses. I very rarely get up in the middle of the night, so I don't typically need moonlight lower than 1 lumen. High would be used for burst purposes only, but shouldn't be such that it can't be used for at least 5 minutes without overheating. IMO, lumen increases between modes should be at least 4x, or the modes are too closely spaced and somewhat redundant.
 
Last edited:

scs

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Feb 9, 2015
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Some lights have a 800-1000 OTF lumen high mode followed by a 200 OTF or even lower medium mode, with nothing in between. I understand that we don't perceive brightness linearly, but I'm still curious to know the logic behind this design. Surely a mode in between: perhaps 500 lumens OTF would be useful. I mean a difference of 300 lumens both ways should be pretty noticeable, assuming the light is not at the thrower or flooder extremes right?
 

D6859

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Oct 29, 2013
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Finland
This is a good poll, I like it! But how to scale the result, say, to a light that is max 1000 lm? Using 10^n, we have = 0.1, (1,) 10, 100, 1000, but I'd prefer something similar to 0.1, 20, 300, 600 and 1000.
 

reppans

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Mar 25, 2007
Messages
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The SWM D40A specs a 220-550-980 for the M-H-T sequence and the mode steps seem pretty immaterial to me. 550 feels like a wasted mode slot that I would prefer to use on the lower end. I'm a big believer in the square/square root law of light perception (4x lumens appears 2x brighter) so 2x lumens appears to be ~41% brighter (2^0.5=1.41). That's noticeable, but not really significant, and not worthy of an additional "click" (IMHO).

Course the other side of the argument is that half the lumens is barely noticeable, yet you'll double the runtime. I big believer in that too..... right down to the 0.3 and 3 lumen modes I use 90+% of the time ;).
 
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