The Armytek Predator Pro 2.5 Programming Thread!

No... not another "how do I program this thing?" thread - but rather a thread to share your personal programming settings, and reasons you set up your Predator the way you did!

I got my Predator Pro 2.5 in the mail today, and I've happily wasted the last 2 hours figuring out light operation, programming, and the huge number of options with this light! First off, I need to say that I'm seriously impressed - Armytek thought of just about everything when they designed the software for this thing! My only complaints are that you only have up to 5 modes in Line 2, and you can't put any "blinky" modes in Line 1. Both are VERY minor quibbles though, all in all this is a very well thought out and super flexible system! Too bad Armytek got rid of it for Version 3 lights - VERY big mistake if you ask me!

Anyway, here is what I settled on for my programming:

Line 1
-------
No memory (I always want it to turn on in "Supernova" mode)
"Full" regulation (I want bright to stay bright, even at the expense of runtime)
3 Modes (Keep it stupid, simple! )

From On: Brightest --> Low --> Medium --> (repeat)


Line 2
-------
No Memory (I always want moonlight 2 at power-up)
"Semi" Regulation (for long, step-free runtime)
5 Modes (Complexity for the low/blinky options!)

From On: Moonlight2 --> Moonlight3 --> Med-Low --> Beacon --> Moonlight1 --> (Repeat)

My idea on Line 2 is to have 3 moonlight modes, a medium-low mode, and locator beacon, which is typically the only "blinky" mode that I ever use for anything. I put the lowest level moonlight mode last in the sequence, since I think it will probably be rarely used - in fact I might just end up doing away with it and going to a 4-mode sequence in the future.

Anyway, I'm really loving this light so far, can't wait for it to get dark so I can do a detailed comparison with my beloved EagleTac S200C2... we'll see which light ends up being my "baby throw utensil" in a future shootout thread!

Thanks for reading! For those "2%" who have programmed your V2.5 Predator Pro or Viking Pro, how do you have yours set up?

Head tight : moon, low, med, high with memory
Head loose : high, strobe, beacon no memory

Step regulation.

I like to have high ready to access from the head tight line 1 mode quickly by loosening the head. I usually walk around using about a 5 lumen low and just loosen the head to access high to look far away.

I've been doing more thinking, programming, and experimenting with the Predator Pro 2.5. I've come up with a new program, better than my original for my needs:

Line 1
-------
No Memory
"Full" Regulation
1 Mode - Full Supernova Ultra Bright Mega Lumens Maximum (TM)

The essence of simplicity - if I want full brightness at any time, I just tighten the head!


Line 2
-------
No Memory
"Semi" Regulation
5 Modes

From On: Moonlight2 --> Low --> Medium --> High --> Beacon

The "High" mode in this line is not full brightness, but about 80% of full (visually).
This is the Line of modes I'll use the flashlight the most in, and contains every mode other than full brightness. Because I've turned memory off, it will always turn on in "moonlight" mode.

I think this setup is probably about as perfect as I'm going to get for my needs, I don't think I'll be changing the programming of this light again in the future.

OK then...
Just one more update to this thread, and I'll let it die if there's no interest.

Received my 2nd Predator Pro 2.5 yesterday, a "Warm" emitter version. I started programming it to match my Cool White version, then started thinking again about my needs and whether or not I had really settled on the perfect programming for the way I use my lights. My answer was "No... it could be better". For a moment, I once again found myself wishing that Armytek let you put "Blinky" modes in Line 1 (tight head) modes. Then I could recover one mode for use with low moonlight mode, which I've been missing. Thinking more about this, I remembered post 2 of this thread, where Lou Minescence had decided on ultra-bright with a loosened head, and buried his strobe modes under that. All I would need to do was remember to loosen, instead of tighten, for max. output. I decided to try it, and to bury the blinky modes even deeper under 3 layers of "Max Bright" output, to pretty much guarantee that I never entered strobe or beacon accidentally.

My new program looks like this:

Line 1 (Tight Head)
---------------------
No Memory
Semi Regulation
5 Modes

Moonlight1 --> Moonlight2 --> Low --> Med --> Medium High --> (Repeat)


Line 2 (Head Loose)
---------------------
No Memory
Full Regulation
5 Modes

Max High --> Max High --> Max High --> Strobe --> Beacon --> (Repeat)


I've been using this since late yesterday, and it seems perfect. Time will tell, but for now I think I've finally found the programming for these lights that gives me all the modes I want, fast access to moonlight and max brightness (even from off) and blinky modes buried so deep that they will probably NEVER be activated by accident. Sweet!

My preferred setup:
* Mode memory disabled on both lines.
* Full / flat regulation
* Head loose: lowest firefly -> lowest non-firefly -> evil attention-getting strobe
* Head tight: 70% -> 100% -> 50% -> 20%

I returned from the festival and Predator v2.5 was waiting to give me a warm welcome (pun unintented). Programming took a little time since I wasn't able to put strobe into first line so I had to start over again.

I use the 1st line for daily tasks.

Line 1 (Head Tight)
---------------------
Memory
Semi Regulation
4 Modes: Firefly2 --> Low --> Med --> High (100%)

The 2nd line is meant for self-defense. I want a quick acces to strobe so no memory. All that I have to do is choose line 2 and turn on the flashlight when needed.


Line 2 (Head Loose)
---------------------
No Memory
Full Regulation
2 Modes: Strobe -> Full

Head tight: MAX, for blasting
Head loose: firefly-lowlow-low-medium, for FNAV and vamping.

Throw a removable or flip-up diffuser boot on it and call it done.

Hey guys... thanks for reviving this thread!

I've used my Predators quite a bit since my last post in this thread, and... surprise... I've once AGAIN changed my programming (the never ending quest for perfection! )

Anyway, I realized after extensive use that on many occasion, I want to just use the light in a "medium" walking around mode... and be able to turn it off, then get to the medium mode immediately when I turn it back on again without having to cycle through modes. I also wanted to retain my ability to instantly get to moonlight from off, and to get to "Turbo" by tightening the head too. All 3 of these requirements seem mutually exclusive considering there are only 2 lines of programmability... until I thought of combining "memory" mode into the equation. My programming now looks like this:

Line 1 (Head Tight)
----------------------
Memory
Full Regulation
4 Modes
Turbo --> Turbo --> Turbo --> Medium-Low ("Walking Around Brightness")

Line 2 (Head Loose)
-----------------------
No Memory
Semi-Regulation
5 Modes
Moonlight1 --> Medium-Low ("Walking Around Brightness") --> Moonlight3 --> Turbo --> Beacon

I finally have everything I want with this light, and I think this will finally be the programming I stay with. Yeah, I've said that before, but I've continued to use and refine the light to the point that I can now say comfortably that it does everything I want, and I'm finally happy with how it performs for real-world uses.

Amelia said:

Line 1 (Head Tight)
----------------------
Memory
Full Regulation
4 Modes
Turbo --> Turbo --> Turbo --> Medium-Low ("Walking Around Brightness")

Click to expand...

What's the idea of having turbo 3 times in a line when the line has mode memory? Why would you want to hide the medium mode that you use so much?

D6859 said:

What's the idea of having turbo 3 times in a line when the line has mode memory? Why would you want to hide the medium mode that you use so much?

Click to expand...

The idea is that most of the time, I want "twist tight for full blast"... and only want "memoried" walk around level occasionally. The reason there's 3 Turbo outputs is to make sure that once I "leave" memoried walk around mode, I can be reasonably CERTAIN that the light will be in "Twist Tight for Turbo" mode, and I need to really work at it to get back to "walkaround" mode. Sort of an "accident-proof" lockout... if that makes sense.

Amelia said:

The idea is that most of the time, I want "twist tight for full blast"... and only want "memoried" walk around level occasionally. The reason there's 3 Turbo outputs is to make sure that once I "leave" memoried walk around mode, I can be reasonably CERTAIN that the light will be in "Twist Tight for Turbo" mode, and I need to really work at it to get back to "walkaround" mode. Sort of an "accident-proof" lockout... if that makes sense.

Click to expand...

Why not:
No memory
Full
Turbo -> Walk-around middle ?

Twist for max and only one loosen-tighten for middle would seem more clearer to me. Ofc, if you have to go from middle to other line often, having no memory is a problem. On the other hand, if you use memory, you have to memorize yourself which turbo mode you were on to quickly change to middle. 3rd line (or 4th) would be awesome but I think I'm getting too greedy

I just changed my Line 1 to

Memory
Semi
Firefly2 -> 25% -> 50%

and Line 2 to

Memory
Full
100% -> Strobe

I think I'll need the turbo more often than strobe. If I feel like I might need it I can let the flashlight memorize it and have a quick acces to it. If I need to disorientate someone, I change to Line 2 and blast with it. I think it doesn't make great difference if it's 100% or strobe. Playing a little with the light, I can see the idea of hiding the strobe behind a couple of turbos.

I'm proud of myself, I didn't need the manual to change the setting!

D6859 said:

Why not:
No memory
Full
Turbo -> Walk-around middle ?

Twist for max and only one loosen-tighten for middle would seem more clearer to me. Ofc, if you have to go from middle to other line often, having no memory is a problem. On the other hand, if you use memory, you have to memorize yourself which turbo mode you were on to quickly change to middle. 3rd line (or 4th) would be awesome but I think I'm getting too greedy

Click to expand...

The problem there is that it's just as easy for me to start in Line 2 and do the "quick twist" to get to "Walkaround" brightness, might as well just dedicate Line 1 to Turbo in that case. My intent was to have:

(a) Instant on to Moonlight1 (Line 2)
(b) Instant on (or Head-Tighten) to Turbo (Line 1)
(c) Difficult to get to, but persistent (between turning on-off-on) Walk Around Brightness

It is option (c) that prompted me to set up the "buried" memory-mode medium under the 3 Turbo settings in line 1... kind of difficult to get to, but once there I can just turn the light on and off and have a nice medium walking around general use light. A quick head twist will put the light back into "Line 1 Turbo" mode... and the 3 levels will insure that it STAYS there until I need the "Persistent walk around" mode again and go through the INTENTIONAL work to get there.

The great thing about these Armytek lights is that you can do things like that... no other light I'm aware of is so flexible and customizeable!

Are strobe, firefly and moonlight modes only available on Line 2?