"You want to make sure you leave it in the mode you will want to use it in an emergency." - what mode is that?

I keep mine in "morse" mode: push-on, release off. This is to mimimise the chances of the light getting switched on accidentally and then staying on until the batter runs down, which is what happened with my previous (other brand) LED. The other mode I find useful is the normal push-on, push-off. The Freedom reverts to that automatically so there's nothing to learn.

Those are the modes I'd want available first in an emergency. The "auto-SOS" I see as a worthless gimmick, and the strobe modes possibly useful for maximising battery life but not important when the emergency starts.