I love my Surefire. That being said it is not the panacea for tactical encounters. It is a light emmiting device and as such does a great job, it is an excellent distraction tool as well. It is not a weapon unless you are using it as an impact device though.
Last weekend while training I flashed someone with a 100 lumen D3, didn't do a bit to stop him, he still closed in. Did he have sunspots in his vision afterwards sure, but he could overcome it.
Aaron,
Hey, what's up? The X5 is roughly the size of an average 2 AA flash light. Just from an informal test in my living room it appears to put out more light than my 3 D cell Mag. The light appears to be "cleaner" if that makes any sense. In other words, no dark spots or unusual patterns.
I don't know that I am totally sold on the tailcap switch. On a mini-mag you tighten the head all the way to turn it off and loosen it to turn it on. It is the opposite with the X5. When tightened all the way the light is constantly on, Half a turn loosened will let you turn it on momentarily with the tail switch. Another half a turn loosened, and it won't turn on at all. This feature is just in case you toss it into your backpack (or fannypack in your case) and in item is pressed against the switch. I would rather have the light locked off when tight and on when loose.
The reason I say this is because the light will spend most of its time off. I want to tighten the cap without thinking and forget it. With the X5 I have make sure I loosen the cap enough for it to be off or locked off but not too loose that the cap might fall off.
"""Try an experiment: take your light (120 lumens)
into the darkest room in your house. Shine the light
directly into your eyes...
...now, tell me that if an attacker did that to you
when threatening your or your family's safety that you
would be incapacitated. You wouldn't be. Don't assume
a threat will be."""
Bad example as you could hit me with a bazooka and I'm
not going down in that instance.
The lights fill a "gap" in civilian Self Presevation.
I've had those who were only slightly bothered by the
light and others who covered their eyes and started
cussing.
Point being that this product has not been an "option"
for civilians for quite some time.
LEOs have had SureFire (white light) but there are new
innovations in the lights (impact forends) that may or
may not be introduced to Depts due to force option
policies around the country.
Demi
Demi-
RE: bad example: exactly - we can't assume it will stop the bad guy, either.
Rule of thumb: don't expect ANYTHING to work the way it is "supposed" to - if it does, great, if not, you are better prepared to move seamlessly to other options.
Otherwise we are in agreement. As a long time user of light as a force option, I just think we need to keep the perspective real, particularly when giving out information that may be relied upon by the less experienced in practical use-of-force applications.
All I ever preach is that nothing works so know
everything.
Demi
used to carry the surefire. work mostly daylight now so i only carry one of those tiny ones that fit in a pocket.
"GG&G in AZ have created the Tactical Impact device for these lights as well. These are nightmarish attachments which become an integral part of the lights. If you get a solid shot from one of these you're going down.
-I'm still skepical of these.
And someone will just say "I hit him with my little flashlight".
-And some asshole DEA will say "you were carring a weapon. Just look at all the sharp teeth"