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."

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.

I guess I haven't used a flashlight recently

The mighty Kingdom of Anduril takes grievance against this sentiment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

it should just be, big button for power on and off, and another button for mode/cycle.

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.

Oh, flAshlight!

As you were…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

1. Click once to turn it on, once to turn it off
   • While it's on, hold the button down to change the brightness
2. 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
3. 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
4. Strobe is three clicks, but it's not the discotheque-ass crazy strobe, it's usually an SOS pattern. One click turns it off
5. 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.

......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.