All you have to do is have the detonator equipped and press 'R' and it will detonate them.

Oh, I haven't tried that.
But let's be honest, holding the F key would be the better and more intuitive solution to detonate the charges.

If you use bandages and the morphine injector on yourself or others you have to hold the F key too and pressing the R key for the detonator is by far not the first thing that comes in my mind.

I suspect R was chosen deliberately, since F is used for many different actions, and if it was also used to detonate explosives, there's a high chance players might do so accidentally while trying to interact with something else, not realizing that the clacker was equipped.

however, what I DO think isn't intuitive, is the difference between the US and USSR clackers. the US clacker can be equipped and immediately used with R. the USSR clacker by contrast is less straightforward. I think it supposed to be deployed (on the ground) before it can be used (like an old-school TNT plunger), which isn't immediately obvious.

USSR one can be equipped and detonated with R as well.

In T181377#2612126, @AkiDaWolf wrote:

USSR one can be equipped and detonated with R as well.

ah right, cheers. i'll have another look at it

In T181377#2612106, @speedwaystar wrote:

I suspect R was chosen deliberately, since F is used for many different actions, and if it was also used to detonate explosives, there's a high chance players might do so accidentally while trying to interact with something else, not realizing that the clacker was equipped.

That's why holding F (instead of just pressing F) for detonating charges would be the better solution in my opinion if there is no other context sensitive option blocking the action. Yes, there are a lot of actions where you have to press or hold F.

But if you be honest, nearly 100 percent of all players (I bet you too) who first equipped the detonators pressed / would press or hold the left mouse button (same with the injectors, bandages, tourniquets, shovels etc.) just to realize that that action switches back to their fire arms.

Yes, the Arma series was, is and will be complicated with it's controls but maybe we can direct it in a little bit less confusing and more intuitive way. At least if you hold something in your hands (out of fire arms and explosives) you can use it with F.

In T181377#2612298, @KStrike wrote:

But if you be honest, nearly 100 percent of all players (I bet you too) who first equipped the detonators pressed / would press or hold the left mouse button (same with the injectors, bandages, tourniquets, shovels etc.) just to realize that that action switches back to their fire arms.

I absolutely did this! Haha.

If Hold-F causes the detonator be be USED from the inventory rather than just equipped, then that's inconsistent and should either be changed or become a new standard behaviour. AFAIK hold-F doesn't work on any other inventory items (for example, you can't attach a bayonet by opening the inventory and holding-F on it, which WOULD be consistent behaviour).

In T181377#2612108, @speedwaystar wrote:

however, what I DO think isn't intuitive, is the difference between the US and USSR clackers. the US clacker can be equipped and immediately used with R. the USSR clacker by contrast is less straightforward. I think it supposed to be deployed (on the ground) before it can be used (like an old-school TNT plunger), which isn't immediately obvious.

So, it turns out I that when testing, I pressed Hold-R instead of R on the USSR clacker, which produces this option:

This led me to incorrectly think that the USSR clacker worked differently. In fact, Hold-R also works with the US clacker:

Given how dangerous demolitions are, it might be better if R simply displayed this option (with the opportunity to abort) by default, instead of requiring hold-R.

As an aside, you can also do this:

which produces this: