Tactical Flashlight

for indoors, I have never...ever wanted a flashlight more than 100LUM. I really prefer something around 86LUM for indoor use. I cant imagine waking up to a noise in my dark house and turning on a 300-400-495LUM flashlight!?? I would reserver that kind of light for outdoor only.
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Yep, have to agree here that in most indoor scenarios, too bright is too bright.

Outdoors, a real different story, the brighter the better.

My new favorite in a cheap and substantial (read, long enough to be used like a club) light using common C cells is the Defiant 500 (or 550 ?) lumen 3 C from Home Depot at under $20 ! Light output is so subjective and ratings are full of BS, but this sucker is damned bright.

Love the rechargeables, unless I pick up a dead light, in which case throw away cells are more readily available.
 
Big fan of the Fenix LD10. Good output and run times on a single AA battery. Useful clip and spare O rings/switch cap included. I paid right about $50 and I'm thinking about getting a couple more. It is that good as an EDC light.
 
Big fan of the Fenix LD10
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I second that..Though I think mine was the LD20. It was stolen from me when I was looking for a kid and I set down the flashlight for a few minutes. I looked up as I turned back around and a bunch of children were running away like they were about to be chased by me or something. Yay. lol


Awesome light.
 
"for indoors, I have never...ever wanted a flashlight more than 100LUM. I really prefer something around 86LUM for indoor use. I cant imagine waking up to a noise in my dark house and turning on a 300-400-495LUM flashlight!?? I would reserve that kind of light for outdoor only. " -- Quote from FireForge.

I actually keep two lights in my bedroom. One is for looking around, and is less than 40 Lum. However; if a stranger is in my house, I don't go "looking around".

The 500 Lum is for a different purpose. It can disorient someone and buy me a few seconds. A few seconds can be a lot.
 
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I don't mean to pick on you jnichols2, but how, without a light meter, could one tell the difference between 86 lumens and 100?
 
"for indoors, I have never...ever wanted a flashlight more than 100LUM. I really prefer something around 86LUM for indoor use. I cant imagine waking up to a noise in my dark house and turning on a 300-400-495LUM flashlight!?? I would reserve that kind of light for outdoor only. "

This is a quote from FireForged. I don't know how he tells the difference. The Forum software doesn't really distinguish quotes very well.

I said one of my lights is less than 40 Lum, and the other is 500 Lum. It's easy to tell the difference.
 
I carried a Surefire G2 for around 7 years and just recently switched to a Fenix E1. The Surefire is amazing, kinda like a spot light that fits in your pocket. It's also well made, durable and has a butt load of available accessories. All that being said, the Surefire just was not set up the way I would like and at times seems like a light better suited for someone on duty. I also never really warmed up to the twist on tail cap and wanted something that took regular batteries.

The Fenix is small, light and powerful. It also has two levels of brightness and a momentary on feature. I can't remember the lumen count but its really bright, especially in up close self defense distances. The Fenix was also nearly half the cost of my Surefire.

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After receiving it from amazon, I realized it was made in China. I'd rather it was made here but oh we'll.
 
Sorry for the confusion, my fault, I failed to notice the quotation marks this AM. Here is a link on how to quote, if you would like to know.
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Thanks for the tip. It's not as intuitive as on most forums. :D
 
What exactly is a tactical flashlight?... And besides cost... how is it any different than any other flashlight?
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A tactical light is a flashlight used in conjunction with a firearm to aid low light target identification, allowing the marksman to simultaneously aim and illuminate the target. Tactical lights can be handheld or mounted to the weapon with the light beam parallel to the bore. Tactical lights also serve a role as a method of non-lethal force, used to temporarily blind and disorient targets. - Wikipedia

If you don't have a tactical light, all the other urban warriors will laugh at you and make fun of you. You will be branded as an incompetent by the tactical establishment. Black-clad ninja will leap from the shadows at the first opportunity and you will be powerless in the murky darkness. Your family and friends will be forced to live with the shame of your poorly lighted demise.- http://www.themartialist.com/1203/fightwithlight.htm Humor aside, that is a good article on the tactical flashlight.


As far as differences from other lights, Tactical Lights are usually relatively bright LED with forward clicky tail-caps and several functions, low, high, strobe, etc. They are also small enough to carry in ones pocket, or mount on a weapon. And yes of course a regular flashlight could be used for self defense, although they weren't designed with that in mind.
 
I tried comparing an older 160 lumen flashlight to a newer 320 lumen flashlight indoors several months ago. I really couldn't tell that much difference in brightness and ended up being disappointed with the 320 lumen light. Several weeks later I went camping and tried the comparison again. The difference in brightness outdoors was stunning. I recently purchased a 530 lumen light for camping, hunting etc. When you're out in the middle of nowhere at night, those extra lumens are very helpful. For indoor purposes, a strobe function is best for disorienting an intruder.
 
nate45 said:
If you don't have a tactical light, all the other urban warriors will laugh at you and make fun of you.
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And if you mount it to the firearm and never practice with it in the dark, the rest of us who did not make fun of you for not having one, will certainly now laugh at you -- after you learn the hard way that reacquiring a target in darkness, when surrounded by brightly illuminated gunpowder smoke, is difficult to do without aforementioned practice.

Reminds me of Clint Smith's joke about shooting at things in the dark that go bump in the night...

"If you're afraid of the dark, turn on a light. Don't buy a gun." ;)

Train with your gun-mounted light in a real low-light shooting setup, or ditch it, I say. Just my opinion.

If all you're going for is to blind someone, just toss one of those hiking headlamps on your head and everywhere you look, you'll blind anyone looking at you.

Ever followed someone down a hiking trail with one of those on their head who feels compelled to look at you when they talk to you and keeps turning around to do it? Only mildly annoying the first three times, after that you are hollering at them to stop turning around to tell you stuff. ;)
 
Flashlights, white light is a bullet magnet and a good way to get killed. If I have to use a flashlight and since I have not bought night vision yet in some instances a flashlight is necessary, I want one with the push button tailcap push the button it goes on, push the button again and it goes off, not through a different brightness mode(s)or strobe(s). In darkness I want the light going quickly off and on, if behind hard cover, light on quickly identify target and fire or not, light quickly off and my head back behind hard cover, if not behind hard cover, light on identify target or not and fire or not, light quickly off and move.
 
1hogfan83 said:
Best light for the money. I would like to keep it under $50 and rather compact, I have a surefire V2 or V3 but it died on me. I though, oh me, it needs new batteries. Put some new ones in, nope. So I'm in the market for a new one. Again I would like a compact light, preferably with varible options, and a holster. Thanks for any help.
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You do know that your Surefire carries a lifetime warranty?
Why not just send it in?
 
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