*** Software Development want's Your Smart Light's Input

Got Lumens?

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 12, 2011
Messages
2,458
Location
Champlain Valley
Hi Everyone,

This thread will serve to keep track of any past and/or future problems with Smart Light programming.

Does anyone have a problem related to the existing programming that needs to be corrected?

Is there a particular feature that needs tweaking?

Is there a new feature You want out of the existing Smart Lights?

Let's stick to the features. We will update this thread as developing continues.

Thanks for Your problem reports and suggestions.
 

Agpp

Enlightened
Joined
May 12, 2017
Messages
411
Hi Everyone,

This thread will serve to keep track of any past and/or future problems with Smart Light programming.

Does anyone have a problem related to the existing programming that needs to be corrected?

Is there a particular feature that needs tweaking?

Is there a new feature You want out of the existing Smart Lights?

Let's stick to the features. We will update this thread as developing continues.

Thanks for Your problem reports and suggestions.

My primary concern is that of control.
When I buy an item, it is meant to serve me. And only me. It shall not spy on me, sending every piece of information it has on me to its real master. It shall not betray me when the real master says so.
Many products in the IoT space fail here. For this reason I avoid them like a plague, to the point of not buying new items when the dumb ones are not available anymore.
To convince me I'd need the software to be open source, so I can find independent verification that it does what it's supposed to do and nothing more.
So I request this feature: open the source.
 

nbp

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
10,970
Location
Wisconsin
The tailcap needs to work with CR123s and 16340s of a variety of brands so I don't have to try 10 batteries to get one that works.
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
I and a few others did some extensive field testing in the Smart thread. I have a long list of stuff found in my testing and will comment later. I am on the fly right now. One easy fit is DO NOT MAKE STROBE DEFAULT. God knows why that was done. Wish I was there to stop that. LOL!
 

ronniepudding

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 19, 2013
Messages
672
Location
NY Capital District
The previous version of the Smart series should have been managed as a beta release... there were a number of bugs, both with the physical design of the light — primarily its small tolerance for battery length variations, exacerbated by build variations in the tailcap plunger mechanism — and firmware. If I were the manufacturer, I would read the dedicated Smart thread carefully. As Woods Walker pointed out, the CPF community invested a lot of time troubleshooting and documenting the deficiencies in that long thread.

Having said that, the overall concept is I think great. It just needs another development/QA cycle or two.

For purposes of this thread, the biggest software bugs are:

1) factory defaults resetting after a few minutes of no battery; this sometimes happens unexpectedly and is especially annoying because of the default strobe mode; find another (well hidden) process for resetting defaults, and make sure that the user selected settings never get dropped unless that reset process is initiated and confirmed;
2) 'bricking' during battery changes, and perhaps due to other software problems; I believe the bug is in the Bluetooth code, or at least triggered by it; beyond all other features, the device must produce light reliably and consistently... being unavailable for even a few minutes while software resets is completely unacceptable.
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
Beyond the issues of bricking which breaks the cardinal rule of a flashlight.... load batteries then get light. The Bluetooth features involving connectivity are mostly useless. The problem being the light is too fast to declare divorce aka break the Bluetooth connection. It then does not want to auto reconnect. Think of it like this. My ear buds will start to break up the sound a bit if the connection gets weak. Even a simple obstruction like a body part can do that. But it reconnects instantly. If my ear buds worked like my Smart flashlight I would need to manually reconnect them constantly. That would make them useless but the earbud manufacture found away around that so it's possible. Overall as it stands right now the blue tooth (smart applications) really just gets in the way of what otherwise would of been a good flashlight. That and the odd (and inexplicable from a design aspect IMHO) finicky tail cap. It was worth the sale price to play around with but never actually pack the light.
 

ronniepudding

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 19, 2013
Messages
672
Location
NY Capital District
I think the main Bluetooth feature that's worthwhile, and worth developing further, is the ability to configure all the settings via a GUI app on your phone. Some of the settings can be adjusted via *a lot* of clicking of the side switch... but the app has the potential to be so much friendlier.

While I like the initial app versions, there are a number of UI options that could be customizable, but weren't made so in those releases. For instance:
1) In Pro mode, the user should be able to choose the brightness of the [momentary tail press from on] — currently it's Max brightness only.
2) In Tactical mode, the user should be able to set the brightness of the [momentary tail press from off] via the app — currently that can only be done using the side switch.
3) Low, Medium, and High should be customizable brightness ... give users 2 or three choices for each.

In my experience with the Smart, the Bluetooth connection only works reliably under ideal conditions — when the light and phone are both on the table in front of you. As a consequence, the other Bluetooth features are nearly useless.
 

pomah

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
45
I would love to see a few things:

1) Android/windows/Linux support, so you don't need to have an Iphone to own one...

2) Remove the side switch and place the bluetooth in the rear tail- cap, only one button, if you could incorporate mode selection by twisting parts of the body, lets say 3 different positions, you could then have 3 different modes programmed into the light. All accessible with just 1 button and position of the flashlight body.
 

Got Lumens?

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 12, 2011
Messages
2,458
Location
Champlain Valley
I would love to see a few things:

1) Android/windows/Linux support, so you don't need to have an Iphone to own one...

2) Remove the side switch and place the bluetooth in the rear tail- cap, only one button, if you could incorporate mode selection by twisting parts of the body, lets say 3 different positions, you could then have 3 different modes programmed into the light. All accessible with just 1 button and position of the flashlight body.
The problems with bluetooth drivers and Android devices are being looked into. The low powered hardware of Bluetooth v.4 did not have available working Android drivers for it when it was originally designed. I'm hopeful for a new design that would allow BT compatibility with Andriod, Windows, and Apple products, across the board.

It would be really neat to have an online application. You would be able to use the online app by visiting the website from any BT powered device to connect to and program the light without the need for an installed application, or Virtual Flashlight programming.

Unfortunately Surefire suing Foursevens a few years ago prevents this from coming back, along with the Quark feature where you rotate the head to access different configurations.
 

ScaryFatKidGT

Enlightened
Joined
May 19, 2011
Messages
918
I honestly hate this idea... I will give some positive tho

If there was a lets say Quark tactical, that I could pick every mode and adjust every mode at will .1,.2,.3,.5,.8,1,2,3,4,5,8,10,15,20 lumens like crazy adjustability and strobe patterns... I think that would be cool

Other than that tho phone controlled stuff is so over rated, I have philips hue lights and I really like them but pulling out my phone finding the app waiting for it to launch and connect (only like 1-5 seconds) and then change them feels like an eternity to flipping the light switch.

Now I know these are non electronic where a flashlight is but I feel like it's like having a "smart" hammer or something where you can change how it "hits" or rebounds... its a tool, a flashlight is a tool and I just want it to work, I don't need another thing that's "smart" and runs off an app... sure using an app WOULD be easier to a lot of people rather than setting a Quark tactical but nothing else is needed to set that besides the light it's self and it's built into everyone.
 
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