Turning flashlight on/off during a workout
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@Egika I see. IMHO it would be better if we could have custom shortcuts during the activity. Fiddling with menus, especially the weird flashlight menu to select brightness, is not something I can manage while running…
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@Gideon-Kaempfer Whats weird about the brightness setting?
it is also just upper button: brighter, lower button: less bright. middle button: off
Imo this is not very weird, but easy to operate even if not looking at the screen.
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@Egika the weird part is that when you press the “off” (middle button) you still stay in the flashlight menu, and need yet another longer press on the middle button to exit it. If you don’t want long press, you need to go up (top button) and select “back” (middle button). I think it can easily be made simpler: enter the menu with a shortcut. Exit on off.
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@Gideon-Kaempfer i always swipe to the right to exit the menus.
plus I was referring to you mentioning the menu to select brightness.
It is a little difficult to discuss, if you keep moving the target… -
@Egika I get it. I was trying to avoid swipes due to sweaty fingers
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It’s being improved and known to all of us.
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On the Vertical 2, a swipe wouldn’t even do anything in activity mode, would it?
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@zhangschmidt if you are in the screen for flashlight it is two presses. Off button then swipe and you are back in the activity screen.
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@zhangschmidt yes, in the activity options touch does work.
just try it. -
The tone of @Egika replies isn’t exactly the best way to have a constructive discussion about improving device usability.
The flashlight management on the Vertical 2 is inefficient. When you’re running at night during races like the TOR330 at 3000 m, the UTMB, or a 100 km alpine ultra — with gloves on, fatigue, and limited focus — needing the flashlight can be an urgent matter, and digging through menus is neither practical nor easy.
A double-click shortcut to turn it on and off could be a useful addition, and it should require minimal software effort to implement. -
@Manuel-Extreme I am sorry, if my tone does not seem suitable for you.
I tried to get the facts right. (like there’s no need to pause the activity to enable the flashlight, etc.)
To get a constructive outcome, you need to start from a common base. If this base is full of misunderstandings, I think it makes sense to get it right as a start.I see that introducing double click shortcuts could enable some features, including flashlight. Personally I would not use the watch’s flashlight for the night races you mention. I would have to hold my hand in a certain position to get light where I need it.
For these kind of activities I always use a headlamp. But this is just my personal preference.I would love the flashlight to switch on in the last state I have left it. Like when using red light one time, the next start should be with red light again.
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with garmin, i double press a button and the flashlight is on, i double click it again and it’s off. it doesn’t matter if i’m in an activity, in sleep mode, whatever - the combo always works. that’s how button shortcuts should always work. you should be able to do them blind, without looking at menus etc.
i also really like the cadence mode - when i’m running at night with garmin i can set the flashlight to my cadence, so it blinks white and red depending on my stride pattern. the light is bright so it’s almost like a bike light, so cars/etc can notice you in the darkness, and it’s less distracting/battery draining than just keeping the light on the whole time. idk if the vertical 2 allows this, but if not - it should!
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@dankcushions said in Turning flashlight on/off during a workout:
with garmin, i double press a button and the flashlight is on, i double click it again and it’s off. it doesn’t matter if i’m in an activity, in sleep mode, whatever - the combo always works.
TBF, Garmin has a dedicated light button for this…
But coming from the Epix Pro I can second that the light itself and the light button is very useful… -
@Egika Hi! When long pressing the down button and control panel opens, how do you get it to be second on the top? On my watch it is only the seventh option so quite many presses before flashlight is turned on.
or can you change the controlpanel menu order somewhere? -
@Manuel-Extreme
Definitely
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@SuuntoR said in Turning flashlight on/off during a workout:
@Egika Hi! When long pressing the down button and control panel opens, how do you get it to be second on the top? On my watch it is only the seventh option so quite many presses before flashlight is turned on.
or can you change the controlpanel menu order somewhere?you are right. I am on a newer testing FW version, where this already is moved to the top.
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Thanks! Thats great news if it might be coming in the future
it would be near perfect! overall I think the flashlight app is very good. I dont personally mind that it doesn’t (yet) remember which brightness you had last time it was used (when not in activity), much more important is that the menu for adjusting brightness stays on. E.g. on Garmin once you set the right brightness menu goes away. And if you want to adjust it, you have to switch flashlight off and back on… -
@SuuntoR remembering brightness or color will come as well
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@Egika I don’t mean that the watch should be the main light source during night sessions
But in real emergency situations — which can happen for countless reasons — a shortcut can be very handy.
Same for everyday training: when an evening workout runs longer than expected and you end up in the dark without a headlamp, or when passing through forest underpasses (where I live they aren’t lit).
Restoring the last used mode is also useful.
However, my top priority would be a simple “on/off” shortcut.One more point for the other messages in the thread: it makes no sense to keep comparing Garmin and Suunto.
Suunto is a top-tier device that costs half of the Garmin models it’s often compared to. It has its own identity and features. At the price of the Vertical 2 Titanium, you’d get a plasticky Garmin that’s worth half of what it costs.
