Flashlights - The Power of Light

This month’s tech tip with be on the use of flashlights as a defensive tool. There are many different flashlight manufacturers and many different models. We will not get into the best design or manufacturer this month but rather the common uses that all lights exhibit. The first and foremost is the use to temporarily blind our attacker and put the attacker from an offensive to defensive position. This places us in a situation that reverses the roles. Now our attacker is responding to our actions rather than attacking us.

Dark Ops Hellfire Flashlight with Strike Bezel
 

Second is the use as a strike weapon. Many law enforcement agencies have used the large and heavy MAG light as a strike weapon to deliver an abrupt and sever blow to persuade an attacker to comply or to stop a threat. Over the years, these heavy lights have been replaced to smaller more powerful lights. These have shown to be just as or even more effective as a defensive tool. The use of these smaller lights is to provide a pressure point manipulation vs. a heavy blow. This produces less permanent injuries with just as much persuasion. They are also much faster to deploy and harder to counter act. With a person swinging a large 3D cell MAG light, you will telegraph your movement and stand a great chance of having your light taken from you. The smaller more compact light is harder to follow and much faster. As we remember from our high school physics class, mass and velocity. With power being the same, less mass will allow more velocity and in a confrontation the faster person usually wins.

Last we will talk briefly about some of the evolutionary changes we have seen in lights within the last couple of years. With the use of smaller lighter lithium batteries such as the CR123 battery, we are able to use high amperage batteries to produce brilliantly high outputs within a relatively small package. The outputs used to be calculated in candle power but it does not show the consistency that the new unit of measurement “LUMENS” provides. An example of this could be a Surefire G2 Nitrolon flashlight. It has a plastic body with 2 of the CR 123 batteries inline. A total of 6 volts combines with a xenon bulb will give out 65 Lumens of light. This is much higher than a heavy 3 D cell MAG light. Another new evolution is the LED lights that are taking over the older filament bulb flashlights. Their advantages are that the bulbs will last over 100,000 hours and are shatter proof. This makes them an excellent choice for weapons mounting. They are also more efficient when it comes to battery replacement. Although the batteries are more expensive to buy, you replace them far less making them a more economical solution.

Send questions to: toolbox@seuredefensetraining.com