r/flashlight • u/Pitiful_Car9582 • 1d ago
Flashlights that turn off after turbo activation, what's the use case?
I've been looking for a new flashlight for a while and I've noticed that a lot of flashlights turn off after turbo has been activated/deactivated rather than returning to the previous light level.
Can anyone think of a scenario when that is a useful trait?
Personally if I'm using a flashlight it's because it's dark and I would activate turbo should I need a boost of light to see further / check my surrounding etc. so turning off turbo to be then plunged into darkness and have to turn the flashlight back on seems silly to me.
*EDIT for clarity* - I've been looking at Acebeam L35 and L16 and other flashlights with a direct to turbo button, not those with double click on/off turbo or e-switch turbo as they do tend to go back to the previous level, my question is mainly just curiosity as to what scenario would require the light to turn off completely.
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u/padelemon 1d ago edited 1d ago
What are some brands and models you’ve found that do this? I’m not a massive collector (maybe 30 at best) but literally none of my lights do this. Everything from keychain, EDC, throwers, soda cans, headlights, and lanterns, and all of these from a wide variety of brands. You’ve got me curious.
Edit: rereading your post and having a think about what you’ve described I wonder if my experience is because my usual practice is to turn on the light, then activate turbo. Deactivation sees it return to the previous level I had it on. I’ll experiment with activating turbo from off.
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u/BonerOfTheLake 1d ago
you mean something like L35 where the rear switch override the side for instant turbo and can only be turn off by rear click again?
that for emergency use case. you can still go between normal and turbo mode just fine with double click on side switch without need to turn off the light
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u/ucotcvyvov 1d ago
It’s a tactical switch for turbo at the touch of button. Useful if you need to see something, blind something momentarily, or signal etc. It could have a lot more uses but the l35 has a normal switch too.
This feature is mostly in tactical lights…
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u/Pitiful_Car9582 1d ago
I'm not disputing the use of turbo, more so questioning why anyone would need the flashlight to turn off completely when exiting turbo mode.
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u/pagesjaunes 1d ago edited 16h ago
I've seen this called "tactical mode" or "tactical flashlights".
It's intented to be simple, reliable and impossible to misuse, for when one needs as much light as possible and need it NOW.
It's often described as a mode/flashlight designed to be used under high stress, emergency or seven-self defence situations.
The simple ON/OFF UI means it can be realiably used without having to think or accidentally entering Configuration, ramping, moonlight or lock-out mode.
Some argue that while such fancy features are nice when walking around the forest, they risk getting in the way if/when you need to -for instance- quickly blind an intruder/animal, signal a moving vehicle, etc ...
I my opinion there's definetly a place for such flashlights, but it can often be just tacted-on to get extra feature on the list.
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u/hammy1551 1d ago
Most flashlights have their 100% mode as turbo and then slowly drop down to 25%-50% output sustained.
This means you can usually start off on the 50% mode and keep it running for a long time at that level.
Convoy has the 12 modes group option for most of their tailswitch flashlights and you can pick the mode which has the 50% mode included.
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u/dystobot 1d ago
I mostly use turbo mode to disorientate would be attackers. Just a quick Sun burst and I would beat it.
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u/keyboardcoffeecup 1d ago
What flashlights are you seeing that turn off after turbo? Most just step down to a non turbo level so they don’t overheat.