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

  • @Lost_My_Mind
    7•15 hours ago

    …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.

    • electromage
      4•9 hours ago

      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.

      • @Lost_My_Mind
        2•7 hours ago

        Man I WISH I was in the 90s. Our biggest political scandal was that the president was getting laid.

    • volvoxvsmarla
      6•8 hours ago

      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?