2mo ago

why does every single flashlight have multiple settings that you have to scroll through?

once a year I email my favorite flashlight manufacturer to ask if they've finally made a flashlight that just turns on and off when you push the button, and every year they're like, "no, but thanks so much for your feedback!"

be honest, have any of you ever used the flashing feature on your flashlight? did it actually come in handy? handy enough that I have to scroll past it every single time I want to turn my flashlight on or off

165 comments

it should just be, big button for power on and off, and another button for mode/cycle.
- My Emisar flashlights have a single button that does a hundred different things that you need a fucking map to navigate
  But if you click it right, it goes into Muggle Mode… where it acts as a normal flashlight. Click to third on, click to turn off.
  
  "Muggle Mode" is for Anduril 1, Anduril 2 usually comes in "Simple UI" by default, and requires unlocking which is probably better for most users. Anyone familiar will be able to detect it and unlock, other people are less likely to burn themselves.
- Honestly, they should just have an on and off button.
  Who even uses all the other modes?
  
  When your flashlight has enough power to burn holes in your pockets, you may want to dim it sometimes.
- Mine does that. It has a big button on the back that just turns on the brightest setting and then turns it off. The button on the handle will let you cycle through 3 brightness settings and then the strobe effect.
  It’s just some off brand, probably from Amazon, that my uncle bought for my dad and I took when my dad passed away.
- I don't mind a long-click to turn off/on, and a short click to move between SOLID modes (high/low). But for the love of Christ and all the saints, any strobe mode should be a special key combination (i.e. double click).
  Flashlights that have you moving through multiple strobe modes before you can get to a different brightness level, or before you reach "off" are infuriating.

Just wait till your flashlight needs to connect to wifi via an app that you download and log in via Facebook or Google and only works if gps is enabled and it also has to have access to your contacts and it gets your first born child.
- Watch this short video on your phone so that you can turn on the flashlight

Surprised not to see any posts referencing the Arbitrary List of Popular Lights or !flashlight@lemmy.world.
One of the requirements to make it on the list is:
A user interface where a single click turns the light on in a reasonable mode, and another single click turns it off.
- you know I was expecting mostly what I got, people commiserating, people giving explanations for why they exist, people talking about how their flashlights don't do that, but something genuinely useful, that I did not expect.l

Just
on off switch/button
rotate the head for bright-dim-wtf
That's it. That's what I want.
- yeah but rotating the head is usually focus
  
  all these super bright LED flashlights you buy on amazon, or at the checkout counter of the hardware store, I just now realized they don't have adjustable focus and I've never needed it with them.
- You should look into Anduril UI flashlights. They are enthusiast grade flashlights but you have so many setting for it. It one click on one click off double click for max brightness and when the lights is on you hold the button to make it brighter and a double click and hold makes it dimmer. Also when it is on and you double click it goes into a turbo brightness which is the brightest setting.
  
  My daily driver uses the Anduril UI, but that can be mind blowing if you get lost in the settings.
  
  Where can you buy them. Google search seems odd
- The old FourSevens Quarks used to rotate the tailcap the switch between modes. I've got one of the older QT2L-Xs that's probably my favorite light ever for that reason. That and it's the perfect size for pocket carry while still being decently bright. The newer models since they got bought out ditched it which sucks because it was such a simple interface.
  I got a couple of Fenix lights recently that I don't hate. They still do the "cycle through modes with a button" thing, but it's at least a dedicated button separate from the tailcap switch.
- Thank you for copying the top comment and contributing nothing. /s

They put them in all the flashlights because of a combination of minimum features required and cost savings.
To keep heat at a minimum and improve power usage, LEDs benefit from being run by a driver circuit.
If you're going to use a driver circuit you might as well allow for dimming if you're going to allow for dimming you need to have timed button presses.
There's only a couple of companies out there that make the circuitry that does the LED driver / lithium ion charging, so everybody just uses the same chipset.
If you want to flashlight that just turns on and off and doesn't have a lot of features try to find one that doesn't have lithium ion batteries. If you don't need the lithium ion charger they're more likely not to use one of them more extensive chipsets.

You're describing a UI that I've only seen in cheap hardware store flashlights. Yes it's infuriating when you can't just turn a light on or off, and choose the mode you want. I use strobe when crossing streets at night but my lights make it easy to access that feature when I want it.
Who is this "favorite flashlight manufacturer"? I find it odd that you both have a favorite, and buy lights that act like this. There are thousands that don't.
- So like the way they blind enemies with a tactical flashlight?

Buy one that’s made for fire fighters. They must be compliant to norms and from what I see all of them are super easy to handle. On off with a physical button.

Same with bike lights, no I don't want 16 different strobes, it's not a vibrator.
Thinking about it, vibrators should have a on/off button too.
- My wife’s favourite has a button that scrolls through the various modes, but when you hold it for a couple of seconds turns it off. Shit’s a game changer. Even starts back up on the last used setting.
  
  the vibrator? what brand
- My bike lights aren't bad.
  Hold to turn on (to the last mode used), hold to turn off, push to switch between three modes: High, Low, and Flashing.

Right there with you.
Why can't I get a light with super simple controls (say low/med/high/off) with like a 18650 battery?
Nope, you want a 18650,you get all sorts of goofy UI crap. Uggh.
I do have some Duracell led flashlights that use 4 AAA, with a single button, low/med/strobe (uggh)/off. OK price as a multi-pack from Sam's or Costco, about $7/ea.
But their runtime is about the same as an old incandescent, just with a lot more light.
- I don't know how it is with four AAA, but I had an Anker that had the three AAA cassette, where it holds them all side by side. the cassette broke, and when I called asking for a replacement part, they told me they weren't making that anymore so no more parts, but these three cell AAA cassette could be replaced with a single 18650
- Check out the Nitecore T4K. Not an 18650, but usb-c rechargeable, 4 brightness levels (1, 15, 65, and 200 lumens), plus a 4000 lumen turbo mode that it can maintain for about ten seconds before it has to drop back to 200 to cool down. Separate power and mode buttons, and it remembers what mode it was in when you turned it off. Great battery life, and small enough to fit in your pocket. The only downside is the price ($90), but.it's worth every penny.
- Wurkkos FC12
  18650, tail cap on/off, side button for modes, stays at the last brightness setting when you turn it off and on, built in USB -C charging port. Available on Amazon for about $30 on sale.
  I carry one with me everyday at work.
  
  Used to EDC one of those. Switched to an Emisar D4DV2, it's way better.
  
  I have a few of these. Honestly don't understand why more companies don't make flashlights like this.
- Why does it need to be low/mid/high/off?
  What's the benefit of those modes, and when would you use it?
  I'm genuinely asking as I've never thought of using all the other modes and am just cycling through them every time to get to the bright setting or to off.
  
  I use mine for either hiking, skiing, or biking. Skiing I want as bright as possible and will have extra batteries, hiking I want it to last a long time and be lightweight (lower light setting), biking I don't want to blind people, and a red light for camp is nice. I don't like cycling through, a dedicated intensity button with memory and a dedicated on/off locking toggle would be great.
- Most have modes that you can click or hold to change, but a simple click will turn it on or off. I've only noticed the forced mode cycling on cheap hardware store lights.
- The convoy has this, 2 modes, one with flashy and one hi med low

I don't know, but I hate that, too. Modern flashlights have every advantage over the ones of old, but they ALL seem to have stupid things like that.
Clicking through multiple brightness levels is one thing, but strobe, SOS, and 5 levels is ridiculous. Just give me on/high, low, and off.
- I’m a slut for Emisar, they have one button and a stupid amount of functions, but you can put it in Muggle Mode where it’s just PRES BUTAN TO TURN ON, PRES BUTAN TO TURN OFF if you don’t wanna deal with all that.
  I like it with all the functions though, the software is mega easy once ya learn a couple basic functions. Also I’m a dweeb.
  
  But man they do not appear professional.
  Their about page is just a broken English “We are flashlight company”, their delivery information page just says “Delivery information”, they added every SNS icon under the sun (even ones that were disbanded years ago) to their footer but they all just refer to the front page, and the “FREE CALL” from the settings menu(??) is just a second mail to link.
  This website reads like a scam mail, my guy.

Because it’s cheap for them to jam functionality into the circuitry and more expensive to actually add physical buttons. They want to advertise lots of features but deliver them in the cheapest way possible.

You need flashlights with a better UI.
None of my flashlights strobe without making the effort to make it do that or require me to cycle through modes just to turn them on and off. The worst one I have has 9 modes you select with a detented twist ring(Fenix SRT9), but has an on/off button so you always start on the mode you used last unless you twist the ring.
Strobe is useful for firearms lights to disorient a target. For emergency use it prolongs the runtime, like if you were in a flash flood, your house was bombed in the middle of the night, or you got lost on a hike and needed to signal for help. Strobe is unlikely to be needed, but can be a life saver.
- You need flashlights with a better UI.
  I mean, yea, I think that's what OP is saying.
  But it can be hard to find, with a high output/good battery.
  Lights using a 18650 seem to be the rage these days, at crazy cheap prices, but they all use some UI with clicks, holds, etc. I feel like I'm doing a dance to use any of mine, definitely not what you want in a circumstance requiring a flashlight.
  Even the simplest of lights require something most people would find unusual (and certainly never guess). Setting an Anduril light to "simple mode" is still more complex than I want in a light. It would be nice to have a simple click control, and be able to disable the strobe nonsense (never once in my life have I thought "ooh, a strobing light would be great right now!"). Nevermind the arguments for it are debatable (to confuse an attacker? Research has shown it affects you too).
  
  Anduril is way overengineered. I like this UI that some of my lights have:
  While off:
  One push: Turn on at the last used brightness.
  Two pushes: Turn on at maximum brightness.
  Three pushes: That strobe mode that you don't need but seems to be obligatory.
  Hold: Turn on at the lowest brightness (or moonlight mode if the light has one).
  While on:
  One push to turn off.
  Two pushes to toggle between maximum brightness and the last used "regular" brightness.
  Three: That strobe mode that someone has to have some use for.
  Hold: Alternately increase or decrease the brightness.
  That's pretty easy to learn and gives you all the functions you'd reasonably need (plus that strobe) without a lot of clutter.
  
  Lights using a 18650 seem to be the rage these days, at crazy cheap prices, but they all use some UI with clicks, holds, etc.
  I have an Olight Seeker Pro 4 and it’s pretty simple to use. The on/off button rotates and controls the intensity. You do have to either hold it for a few seconds to turn it on or rotate the button 90º and then click but that’s unavoidable with these kinds of flashlights.
  These lights are very small and yet very powerful. That means you can easily pocket them, but because they are so powerful they also get very hot. You don’t want a flashlight like this to accidentally turn on while in your pocket. If you look at these lights, the head is almost always ribbed, it’s basically a heatsink. Even then when you run them at full strength they usually throttle themselves down after a few minutes to prevent overheating.
  
  I really like the fenix flashlight I have. Main button on back turns light on and remembers your last setting (except strobe). There is one other button along the side. Pressing once cycles up the brightness until max, holding turns on the strobe. Very easy to use. I often use it on the lowest brightness and just turn it up if needed. The side button also doubles as the charging indicator, glowing red while charging and green when fully charged.
  As for strobing lights i use them to signal or mark things at night. Some peope use them while cycling or walking at night to increase how visible they are. I sometimes use a strobe to mark tents or ice huts in the dark but i usually try to use strobing red light as its less distracting and uses less power

I guess I haven't used a flashlight recently

Couldn't find one of the two bottles of doe piss and doe estrus piss I bought today. Went to my grandfather's car to look for it and sure as shit he hands me a flashlight with one button that turned it on and off as well as having a rotating head that was kind of threaded so as you turn it, it will move closer and further from then bulb making the light adjustable the same way a garden hose nozzle that only rotates works. All the way out = wide flood light style beam. All the way in and it produces a bright pin point wide beam of light. It looked brand new too. If I remember I'll ask him tomorrow what brand it is.
- Sounds like you're describing a maglite
  Maglites are perfectly fine flashlights for most people, maybe a little heavy but sometimes that's kind of the point (a lot of cops and security guards and such took to carrying them when their agencies started prohibiting nightsticks and batons, especially the bigger 4 or 6 cell models) for a long time they were basically the default flashlight, you had maglites, you had the big spotlight looking things that took a 6v battery, you had cheap plastic flashlights, and you had various small penlights and such (which were often mini maglites) and that was like 90% of what you'd ever encounter.
  There's a good chance if you go rooting around in your dad or grandfather's car trunk, garage, basement, workshop, toolbox, etc. you'll find a maglite or 3 kicking around somewhere. I know I keep one in my car for emergencies and I'll probably inherit a half dozen more from my parents someday.
  They still make them, pretty sure they switched over to LEDs (one of their selling points used to be they had a spare bulb stored in the tail cap) and I'm sure they're still perfectly reliable and rugged, you can probably still find them at most of the places you'd think to go buy a flashlight, and a standard 2 D cell maglite still costs in the neighborhood of $20-$30.
  But there are a bunch of flashlight nerds out there these days, who want really specific form factors, battery types, features, led color temperatures, etc. and they'd probably pooh-pooh the humble maglite.
  I get it to an extent, I have flashlights I like better, but I'm not about to nerd out about them, and if you someone sent me out with instructions to buy them a flashlight with no other requirements listed, I'd probably buy a maglite and feel pretty confident that it's going to be an acceptable flashlight.
  
  I have two D cell maglites, I give them to the kids when they need a flashlight so they dont start a fire with my light, or lose an expensive one.

Rescued my daughter in the cliched flat tyre in the rain scenario, the flashing light was good to alert other drivers. I think it’s something that could be useful very rarely.

Flashlights that use the open source Anduril v2 interface are... tolerable, I'd say. It's not good, it's not intuitive, but it does at least make it easy to just turn the damn flashlight on and off.
Click once to turn it on, once to turn it off
While it's on, hold the button down to change the brightness

Click twice quickly to put it in turbo mode, click twice quickly to take it out of turbo mode. One click turns the light off
Click twice and hold your second click to turn the light on in turbo mode. Once you let go of the button, the light turns off. I actually really like this mode
Strobe is three clicks, but it's not the discotheque-ass crazy strobe, it's usually an SOS pattern. One click turns it off
Click four times to lock the flashlight. This stops it from turning on in your pocket. This is a big deal for some flashlights because they're bright/hot enough to burn you if left on in an enclosed space. Four clicks takes it out of lock mode
The interface gets way more complicated after that, but I don't bother with any of that shit. Luckily, it's hard to accidentally activate the crazy bullshit.
There are also lights that mimic this pattern, but differ in a few key ways. The Wurkkos FC11 is a great option that's relatively cheap. The 4000 K version is $35 and is bright with a nice neutral color temperature (I find it much easier on the eyes.) It follows the interface rules I outlined above except that it's missing number 3 and the strobe is of the flashy hold-a-rave variety. Still, you have to specifically press the button 3 times in a row pretty quickly to trigger it. I never have accidental raves with mine.
- so the solution is installing Linux on the flashlight?
  
  lmao, kinda. There are a fair number of flashlights that are sold with Anduril though. I've personally never installed it/flashed it.
  EDIT: if what I've described sounds like an acceptable solution, you should check out the Wurkkos I mentioned. I absolutely hate lights that put a strobe between me and the the mode I want, and I've been very happy with mine.
  
  I've thought of configuring an Anduril light for just on/off. It is somewhat doable without reflashing.
  
  Emisar lights come with it already installed. I’ve never flashed mine. Just pop an 18650 in and you’re good to go.
- Can confirm point 5, melted through a pocket with my Emisar D4, i just twist the cap off slightly when not in use rather than shutdown mode.
  
  I like the shutdown mode because the moonlight mode thing it does is great at night. Like, I use it if I need to find something in my nightstand and want to avoid waking up my partner.
  EDIT: also, hello fellow flashlight nerd. I'm writing this with an Emisar D4K in my pocket.
- That model of wurkkos is my main light. It really is dead simple to use once you spend five minutes with it.
  Great light
- It's not intuitive in that someone with zero knowledge can pick it up and understand all of the features, but it is simple enough that someone can at least turn it on and off. If you know how to use it you can immediately access the lowest level or the highest level, without having to scroll through a bunch of modes you don't want. You have to ramp the output up or down, but you can always turn it off with one click.

If you've ever tried to read something off a label in the dark and outshined what you were looking at because the light was too bright, you know why.

Oh, flAshlight!
As you were…
- no, surprisingly, Fleshlight has actually figured out how to make an on/off button.
- Be careful updating the firmware on those, friend of mine ended up having to finger his named pipe. You don't know him, he goes to a different school.

......am I living in a different world? Every flashlight I've ever known takes D batteries, has a slider, and only has 2 settings. On or off. Like......literally NO flashlight I've ever seen has settings. Why would you need settings, besides MAYBE an S.O.S flash in morse code. Even that seems like a niche use thing.
- Same man, where do these people get their flashlights
  Edit: Thank you for the countless tips on where you guys buy flashlights. But neither am I in the USA nor do I actually ever need a flashlight. I have two at home and I don't think I ever actually used them for other than fun. I guess the follow up question is what do you do with all those flashlights?
  
  I got mine at costco. It comes with a huge lithium-ion battery, can double as a power source for usb, charges with USB C and is bright enough to flashblind a bull elk in mating season.
  Turns on full power on the first click but then you have to click it three more times to turn it off.
  
  this guy, always and forever.
  I’m not paid but I love his lights and will shill any time for them. I have a couple and they’ve saved me through so many blackouts. Also if you TURBO MODE at the ceiling, you can use the bounce light for AMAZING cat pix.
  
  Anker.
  
  Oh boy: https://intl-outdoor.com/, https://www.killzoneflashlights.com/, https://flashlightgo.com/, https://jlhawaii808.com/, https://www.fenixlighting.com/, https://www.acebeam.com/, are some commercial manufacturers and retailers. Some of us that are further gone also trade used ones.
- You might be in another world, or the 90s perhaps?
  Different settings are useful because modern flashlights use LEDs and get absurdly bright. Dimming them lets the user select an amount of light appropriate to a task, and preserve battery life. If you're in the dark you'd want to start dim to avoid blinding yourself or annoying others (in a campground for instance). Strobes are good for getting attention.
  Many of my lights use a common firmware called Anduril, which has some other nice features like a simulated candle flicker, or lightning storm (I use this for Halloween). It also allows me to turn it on directly to the lowest or highest settings, otherwise it defaults to the last level I used. There's even an auto-shutoff feature which is nice for a night light.
  
  Man I WISH I was in the 90s. Our biggest political scandal was that the president was getting laid.

I have 2 Hexbright flashlights. They're programmable so you can make it work however you want. Really wish the company went beyond the kickstarter because I'd love some different models with the same customization.
I have mine programmed where from off hold=as low as possible. Then standardish 3 brightness, starts at low first click. Hold button while on for turbo. But my favorite part is if you don't click the button for 5 seconds, the next click is off instead of the next brightness. Saves your night vision not having to cycle through high to turn off.
- That's far more than I want from a flashlight.
  On/off. That's literally all it needs to do. I'd like to be able to plug it in and charge it but quite frankly if I can't get that without it just going on/off with the single press of a button I'll replace batteries until the day I fucking die.
  I use a pocket flashlight daily. It is an integral part of my job. I use flashlight in a wide variety of light conditions and different levels of reflectivity.
  I have never wanted my flashlight to flash on and off, change brightness, or any of the other random crap they force in to what should be the simplest tool in my toolbox.
  Press button. Change state of light. That is literally the only thing it needs to do.
  
  I mean for that, my phone works fine. I set the bixby button to turn on\off the flashlight. Single button on off always on me. Of course being programmable, you could program a simple on off as well on the hex.
  I used the hexbright camping and stargazing. The hold setting is so dim its useless unless you're in pitch black and just need to see the star chart. And you don't want bright as it takes at least 30 minutes to recover your night vision after a bright flash so that's what my use case was.
- I wish there were more things like this (and not just flashlights) - made with some thought put in. And to anyone who'd whine about the price, the fact that you have them 10+ years later says enough.

I picked up some stranded skaters in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night because they flashed SOS with their headlights after I drove past them. They had been there for like 8 hours. I'm sure they would've rather had a flashlight to do the work for them.
But I agree that there should be another UI for getting to the emergency flashing. Like hold for 5 seconds or something unlikely to be used during normal operation.
I have a flashlight that has multiple flashy settings, but they are disabled after like 5 or 10 seconds of idle power on time. So the first click turns it on, and if you wait a while, the next click turns it off.

The maglights I have in my emergency kit only have 2 settings: On and off. It's a switch not a button. If they ever put goofy ass strobe lights or whatever in maglights, I will stop buying them. I just need light; not an epileptic seizure.

You want a light that’s a light? Ridiculous.

The mighty Kingdom of Anduril takes grievance against this sentiment.
- i like him better when he was still Narsil.

Streamlight makes some simple on/off models. Like the Streamlight Microstream 66323. Very bright for its small size.

My perfect flashlight:
On button on side to be placed where the thumb rests
4 D batteries.
Twist-ey head to change focus
Dedicated switch(NO MORE CYCLE BUTTONS) to change mode from bright, to med, dim, and strobe
Sturdy metal for emergency use as a hammer
Textured rubber to feel good in the hand
- 4D batteries just doesn't make sense in 2024. That was for incandescent lights, modern LEDs are brighter and use a small fraction of that power. You could still have the form factor if you really wanted a giant flashlight for self defense or something, but a pair of AA's if you really don't want rechargeables would be more than enough for a long life flashlight.
  But any LiIon battery is going to far outperform alkaline batteries.
  
  Yep, give me 18650s or 21650s
- Can I sell you on buying a second hammer? I assume the emergency in this situation is that you have lost your first hammer.

I have a two button flashlight. One button to change settings and one to turn on and off. It has memory so it uses the last setting used that's not strobe or the highest setting

Oh man This post just awoke a REAL old memory for me. Growing up my dad had these two old beat up flashlights. I looked them up and found this https://www.etsy.com/listing/1027765511/eveready-no1359-safety-flashlight.
I always thought they had a cool design.

I got an Acebeam EC35 Gen II a couple years back and while there are many settings you can use there's a big button onto he back that turns it on full blast and you click it again to turn it off. Done.

I have a really good bright quality flashlight, USB rechargeable that turns on and off with no bullshit in between. It lasts a long time between recharges too. O'Reilly Auto parts. Found it among all the fun stuff they sell at the front counter.
- Had me in the first half.
  
  What bothered you about the second half?
- does it have a brand name on it aside from O'Reilly? maybe a part number somewhere in it
  
  Firepoint

Here's a feature I want that doesn't seem to exist in any modern flashlight:
DON'T DRAIN THE BATTERY WHEN TURNED OFF!!!
Seriously, the constant drain on the battery means that you cannot have an emergency flashlight in the drawer. How FUCKING STUPID is that?
- This is just a reality of electrical circuitry that includes batteries.
  
  So have a mechanical circuit.
  Like we used to have before a tiny chip became marginally cheaper to produce than a tiny metal and plastic switch.
- I can't remember the last time I had a flashlight that did that. I have one in my bedside drawer that's been using the same battery for at least 6 years. and the other ones around the house, I just double check anytime a hurricane is supposed to be rolling in and they've always been fine
  
  I always had shit lights growing up, so I have many lights all around. and a box of charged AA and AAA batteries if they aren't USB chargeable
  
  Hey if the batteries are that old you should replace them anyway. Every year or two it needs new ones. They will eventually start leaking battery acid and fuck up a good flashlight

Maglite, the last one I bought has twist on and off. No flashing or buttons.
- I haven't looked into maglite since proper LEDs priced them out of the market. I'll take another look
  
  https://maglite.com/collections/mid-size/products/ml25lt-2c-led-flashlight
  This one is similar. 2 c cell batteries and no buttons.
- oh man, they're still offering incandescent models alongside their LEDs. none of them are really inspiring hope though, even the smaller LED lights seem to have pretty pitiful lumen output compared to what I'm seeing out there
  
  Pick a battle. You requested no extra buttons or flashing or modes and now it's not bright enough?
  It works for me. Has light and no extra flashing modes. Hasn't really failed me either. I drop shit, a lot.

Fenix makes a few that are like what you're looking for, I have two, one has one big button on the back and one on the side, the back button is a simple on off and the side button cycles the power settings, if you hold down on the smaller side button it goes to strobe instantly. The other is basically the same but both buttons are on the back and the smaller button toggles strobe by pressing it when the flashlight is off vs cycles power settings when the flashlight is on. I only buy flashlights that are set up like this or similar. I need to be able to access strobe instantly and I need to be able to turn it on and off at a low power setting without turning on the fire of a thousand suns to get there.

The problem is that the old multiple-choice physical switches (like the ones from 90s) got replaced by a single electronic flip-flop button (plus lots of "modernities"). These old flashlights could last for decades (especially if the user has the knowledge to repair it through simple soldering for replacement of a defective battery contact, for example).

I have two Fenix lights that both have 2 buttons, one on/off and a second mode selector.
The LD12 is perfect as a daily although the side/mode button is kinda awkward to use, the main button is perfect though.
My PD35R is a bigger one that's really bright, but also too big for normal carry, so I only use it for work when it's too dusty to see. It has 2 buttons on the back, one small one for mode selection and a nice big one to turn it on/off.

Peak power can only be maintained for a minute (if you are lucky) before it overheats. Peak power is the main advertised spec, so it has to be high and default mode so you don't feel cheated when you turn it on for the first time. The other modes you toggle through are settings that can be sustained for extended periods of time.

I know the feeling. Most of those features are only useful in low probability events.
If you’re looking for simple flashlights, Maglight has always made decent flashlights, though I’ve been buying Ryobi flashlights for the last 15 years as they are relatively affordable and I’ve already a bunch of their 18v batteries. Not sure how weather proof they are but I’ve never had an issue with the “new” (I think it’s a 10 year old design) led flashlights.
- After writing this, I thought I could use another flashlight, but seems that Ryobi has discontinued the P705 and seems to have replaced it with the PCL660 which has a different form factor.

The vast majority of flashlights just go to your last setting with one click, what flashlights are you using that this is an issue?

I have never had strong opinions about my flashlights. My favourite is a blue one I found that had leds and lasts forever on AA batteries. Never had one with settings all the ones I've used are on/off

The most logical programming is
Double tap for brightness level - cycles through low, med, high
Triple tap for sos - this whole setting is optional
Quadruple tap to reset to default
Single tap for on and off and it remembers last setting.
- There's nothing logical about that to me. Double/triple click? No one outside the flashlight community would have a clue how to use these lights (and I own a handful).
  Sequential click through low/med/high/off is intuitive.
  I have labels on some lights so people can use them. Imagine that, having to read a label to use a flashlight. Oh, that'll be great in a power outage.
  
  I’ve been commenting in this thread a lot, but I’m an Emisar slut.
  Click to turn on. Click to turn off.
  Double click to INSANE BRIGHT. do it again to MAXIMUM BRIGHT.
  Flashlight off? Hold button to slowly ramp up brightness. Let go and hold again to ramp down. Click any time to turn off.
  Then there’s a pirate’s map to all the other functions. But I’m pretty much just use “three clicks -battery level check” and the aforementioned things.
  
  Do you just not read the user manual when you buy something? Thats how i learn how my lights work without being a flashlight nerd scouring forums.
- see, one of mine is supposed to be almost that easy. you press the button normally to turn the light on and off, and it always remembers the last setting. then, you lightly press the power button to cycle through modes. the problem is, there's no way to press the button hard without also pressing it soft first, so most of the time you're cycling at the same time that you're powering.
- Banging idea, love this.
  Only changes I would make is changing out the SOS for a five-second long-press, and changing reset to a ten-tap - to make sure people aren't just fucking about turning it on and off.

Some are absurdly bad in this regard!
"Oh, you want to reduce the brightness? Scroll through 7 modes, including 4 epileptic seizure-inducing strobe modes, before you can get to low brightness mode."

My go to light for work is a Streamlight Protac 2L-X. It has a few modes to set it up how you prefer. Plain bright. Low, bright. Bright, strobe. Rechargable 18650 but you have to take the battery out to plug a usb into it but it lasts a loong time between charges so I don't mind
Strobe is great for raves, self defense and epilepsy tests! (jk)
- how do you change the mode?
  
  It's called 10 tap. So quickly half press (not clicking) the button 10 times, then press and hold. It goes to the next mode preset.
  For normal use clicking the button is the first mode (low) and half press then click for the second (high)
  like this (skip about halfway)

I like using a lot of my flashlights diffrent functions at diffrent times. Although mine also has the option to turn off from whichever if you hold the power button so I don't have to cycle through, which is nice.
- Yeah, all the complicated flashlights with multiple settings I have used support turning on and off into the last used settings. I don't think I've ever used a flashlight that forced you to cycle through everything. I had a bike light that did, but I got rid of it and replaced it with a flashlight mounted instead.

It is basically I/O limitations, and the majority of lights in this area likely have an origin in cycling lights as far as the silicon is concerned. I think that is the original high profit niche that drove a custom asic for the application of a PWM LED controller with integrated charging. Pretty much all other lights are built to a price. The chip likely has additional functionality but the actual designs are all built to a bare minimum price (or max profit margin). From this perspective, you'll see a lot of the feature set differently. On a bike, one button is convenient as well. They usually fash too bright because of the default clock speed of the chip and a design that does not deviate from the chip's example implementation.

So i carry a sure fire. They don’t. The one I carry takes a rechargeable 18650, and has 2 settings “intellibeam” that adjusts brightness based on near-and-far and intensity, and full-on-burn-your-eyes-out.
They have other lower cost models. Alternatively , if you’re not looking for something that’s incredibly bright, stream light offers a very inexpensive penlight that’s pretty handy. (Only complaint with that is they take AAAA’s)
- I've generally steered away from them because of price, but I do have their Maximus headlamp. I don't remember spending almost $500 on it at the time, but it was pretty steep especially for not having a removable battery
  
  Yes, they’re expensive.
  But also extremely reliable, I’ve had ever had one go bad on me.
  But, again, if it’s out of your budget, streamlight offers less expensive options (though they’re the ones that started the feature-craze with stinger strobe.)
  (Keep in mind, if you’re using the strobe as intended…it’s either going to piss people off or cause an epileptic seizure. So those “features” are basically useless.)

Yeah, I've used strobe a few times.
The anduril settings make it easy imo.
But, we use it they're at the house plenty, the strobe. If I'm out in the yard at night, doing some kind of crap in the rain (hello helene, the most recent event that I used it), flipping to the strobe is a quick and easy signal I need help. It lets everyone else stay dry (er, until I need them to come out lol), and means I don't have to fumble with my phone in the wet and dark.
It's not an every day thing, and it isn't meant to be afaik.
It's handy enough that my best friend and his husband now use the lights I bought them after they saw how well it worked and wanted the same thing.
We've also got a sort of awareness of it in the neighborhood now. My using it drew attention, and I explained why I was doing so. Everyone close enough to see the flash now knows that if it's only on for a minute or so, it's no big deal, and I know that after word spread, if I leave it going longer, they'll know I need help, or at least check.
One of the neighbors bought his own wurkkos as word spread. It's such a good signal at night that it's likely going to be a thing in the entire neighborhood rather than just our block.
There's even diffusers you can get for most lights that come in colors, so you could expand the signalling to have different meanings per color, if it became useful to do so.
Seriously, you have no idea how nice it is to not be fucking around in a storm either running back and forth for things, or having someone else just standing around miserable while you work just in case you need help.
It's kinda niche, but at this point, I've got those kind of lights for everyone in the house just in case we need to be coordinated when sound is difficult (like in a freak hurricane lol).

My Pretzel headlamp turns on and off in steady full beam. Can choose to cycle through low beam and flashing if I want to with quick depressions of button. Switch to red light and back by depressing and holding button. Sometimes use low beam to save battery, red light to keep from loosing night vision, flashing to be seen, not see with.

Agree. I hate having to click through 4 modes just to turn it off. On, dim, on and off slow, strobe…off. No!

Yeah, my grandpa's has like 3 of them for camping. They're rechargeable and made really solid. You control the brightness by pulling on the front which slides the glass thing making it wider and darker or blinding bright but narrow.
- That’s the focus your adjusting.

you can build your own

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