What is a “Tactical” Flashlight?

There are as many definitions as there are articles talking about tactical flashlights.

In general, a tactical flashlight is a flashlight that is used for “tactical" purposes by police and military personnel and may play into offensive or defensive strategies.

Here is the dictionary definition of tactical:

I’m particularly interested in these synonyms below that expand the use and potential of the “tactical” flashlight, particularly for civilian self defense.

Synonyms:

calculated, planned, plotted, prudent, strategic, politic, diplomatic, judicious, shrewd, skillful, adroit, clever, smart, cunning, artful, wily;

As you read the following, please use your knowledge, experience and imagination to analyze where the TigerLight® D.A.D. fits in the “ best tactical flashlight” discussion.

Imagine various attack scenarios in which you or your wife, daughter, mother or sister is violently attacked by someone who is much stronger, faster and more adept in a physical fight. Simply put, the only chance of escaping serious bodily harm or death is to incapacitate the attacker long enough to get away, or, in some situations you might imagine, the person being attacked is able to get help from others, within seconds, not minutes.  

One category of tactical flashlights is weapon mounted lights. They are typically very short and bright with a low run time, designed to illuminate the target while mounted on the gun or rifle. This type of “tactical” light is only of value if you have a gun in hand when the attack occurs or you are police or military performing your job.

However, there are tactical lights that are not specifically designed as a weapon mounted light. These lights are typically small, 4 - 6 inches long and may be powered by AAA or AA alkaline batteries or by lithium rechargeable batteries. Their prices can run from $20 to $500 but there are also medium size (6 - 8 inch) tactical lights and large (10 - 13 inch) tactical lights for up to $1200 or more. They are typically higher lumen than a typical household flashlight, with a beam that is more concentrated in the center, which greatly enhances its ability to temporarily blind someone.

In an article on the artofmanliness.com website, one of many sites offering explanations as to what a tactical flashlight is and how it is used, they say there are two important self defense functions, to help identify a threat, particularly in the dark, and to momentarily disorient an attacker. Another possible bonus use is as a striking device. 

Many tactical flashlights have a serrated bezel that ostensibly can be used to break a car window, but you might find that to be extremely difficult with a small tactical light. Nevertheless, its use as a striking device may have some benefit if you are able to strike your attacker.

I could provide links to hundreds of horrible attacks. They occur everywhere, an average of just under one a day at a university with 10,000 or more female students. Here is one that made the national news.

Let’s just say the intended victim is alone, nobody will hear her scream and she has a “tactical” flashlight in her hand when the attack occurs.

What will she do with the tactical light to get herself out of the situation?

She will be able to shine the bright light into the attacker's eyes if the attacker approaches her from the front. If so, the light might momentarily blind and distract the attacker, but if he is determined, it will definitely not stop him, so do not let the word “tactical” lead you to believe it can do more than it can. These situations are brutal and merciless and you simply have to be prepared to win!

TigerLight has designed and manufactured some of the brightest handheld flashlights on the planet, like the Series II and Series III putting out over 1,000 lumens, with the typical High, Low and Strobe modes. The D.A.D.® 2 also has Panic Mode and SOS. We even offered a 2,700 lumen Series II that police said was simply too bright because it would reflect off things and blind them temporarily. Nevertheless, we have never claimed that even our brightest lights would stop an attacker, only momentarily blind and distract. Unfortunately, there is a huge and very significant difference between that and stopping or incapacitating the attacker long enough to get to safety, or until help arrives.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of lumen claims you will find online are blatantly false and not regulated. Look at the battery output and type of LED. Beyond that, you have to look at the optics, which determine the blinding capability based on the focus of the light. A 100 lumen light might might be more blinding than a 500 lumen light if the 500 lumen light has poor optics. A light that is spread out will not have the same ability to temporarily blind as one with high quality optics that point and focus the light with a high degree of efficiency, providing a highly focused center beam while also providing ample flood light. 

So, continuing with our attack scenario, her next defense will be to try to overpower or incapacitate the attacker by striking him. But, we’ve already said that the attacker is stronger, faster and more skilled at fighting, so the chance of stopping the attacker with only a tactical flashlight is not very good. It is definitely better than nothing and if the attacker is worried about the light drawing the attention of others, it could possibly deter him from pursuing his goal, but that is a lot of luck to have to rely on. Of course, the more physically capable and highly trained the tactical flashlight user is, the more effective a “tactical flashlight” will be. 

If, on the other hand, the attack is from behind, or from someone jogging or walking in the opposite direction and the attack is sudden and swift, there may be no chance of using the tactical flashlight until after the attacker has struck or tackled you. In this case, it is highly likely that the tactical flashlight will end up on the ground, useless. Unfortunately, this type of attack is far more likely than one in which you have time to shine a light in the attackers eyes. Watch Kortney Blatter’s video account of the attack on her and her friend while in Italy. Pay particular attention to the reasons why they survived the attack, unharmed. Click on the link and scroll down to the girl standing in front of the Coliseum in Rome.

Now consider the D.A.D.® 2 tactical flashlight. Is it a “tactical” flashlight? It’s certainly not intended to be attached to a gun. Only one of the five colors is black and we do not recommend you purchase the black unless you are a police officer.

Now, lets go back and look at the same attack scenario and instead of a “tactical flashlight” like the ones described above, that look rugged, tough, militaristic and well, tactical, the D.A.D. is colorful, beautiful in fact. It is very angular, more so than the “tactical flashlights” and is made of super tough polycarbonate, the same material used to make bullet resistant windows and NFL football helmets. However, the D.A.D.’s come with a “metalized” finish that is Metallic Pink, Rose Gold, Chrome, Gun Metal Black or, like I said, Matte Black, which was only made for campus police who have to have them in black.

Now, when thinking of the above definition of “tactical” I want to point out the fact that the D.A.D.® 2 is, in fact, far more “tactical” than any other tactical flashlight. In fact, we have been studying attack dynamics for over 20 years and have worked and trained with the most skilled defensive tactics experts in the world. We’ve also trained hundreds of the top trainers in the word in the tactical use of TigerLights, even those that have been mounted on firearms and equipped with night vision, but that was not our objective with the D.A.D. Our objective was to give you, or your wife, daughter, mother or sister, anyone really, the very best chance of surviving a violent attack. 

We know that certain parameters, certain capabilities as well as physical and operational characteristics had to be incorporated into its design, appearance and functionality. We had to redefine the requirements associated with a self defense device. 

We knew that how it works had to include the following:

1. It had to be in the users hand PRIOR to the attack, yet we knew that people do not carry devices recognized as or thought of as weapons or self defense devices, in their hand while walking, hiking, jogging, biking, going to the car, etc. We knew we had to change that. It could not look like a weapon. It had to be extremely easy to carry, preferably allowing use of the hand it was in, to open doors, carry bags, etc. Therefore, "fingers-free" carry was important.
2. It had to remain in hand during a sudden, physical attack, without gripping it. This is because we knew that in such an attack, the hand is likely to open upon first contact and the device would be dropped and become useless.
3. We knew that not only did the device have to be in hand and remain in hand, but it had to be operational while under attack, under high stress and adrenaline overload. Because of this we knew that firing the pepper spray could not require multiple steps such as taking off the safety or repositioning the device in the hand. It could not require any fine motor skills and as such, had to be force-indexed to insure it was always in firing position, The act of pointing and firing the spray had to assimilate both the natural physiological and psychological response to an act of aggression. If not, it would take years of training to override the mind and body’s natural response.
4. We knew that the D.A.D. had to be capable of stopping a violent, determined, drug-impaired attacker without any physical contact, other than the spray. Not only is this crucial to its effectiveness, but has legal, ethical, moral and political implications as well. Previous TigerLights had already shown to have a much higher stopping power than regular pepper sprays in a can because the attacker did not see it coming and was, among other things, unable to hold his breath and thus, unable to prevent the most powerful incapacitating effect of pepper spray, that caused by a far greater respiratory impact. The result is similar to an MMA fighter choking out his or her opponent. It is much quicker and more effective than punching and kicking and in this case, much easier as well. In fact, while most pepper sprays and other non-lethal or less-lethal devices typically have “stop rates” in the 50% - 70% range, previous TigerLights, even with spray just over half as strong as that used in the D.A.D., had documented "stop rates" of over 96%, a figure unheard of for non-lethal technologies.
5. On top of all these “tactical" advantages...think of the synonyms...we added another huge advantage, the ability to call for help and be heard by those who are close enough to help, but otherwise would not have been able to hear you. Maybe they are only 30 feet away, but inside a building or a hundred other similar situations. Getting heard is accomplished with a very sophisticated, highly advanced Bluetooth/GPS Crowd Alert technology. The proprietary bluetooth module inside the D.A.D. can activate an alert app on the users cell phone that uses location services in an advanced, more accurate fashion, to then send out alerts through three channels, text, email and the app itself. These alerts go to those in the users app contacts, anywhere in the world with phone service and to anyone with the app, whether in the senders app contacts or not, who happens to be within one mile of the sender. I think you can imagine the dramatic impact this would have in a University setting if everyone had the D.A.D. and the D.A.D. app. 

As you can see, we have carefully calculated, planned and plotted a prudent, strategic approach that is politically intelligent, diplomatic, judicious, shrewd, skillful, adroit, clever, smart, cunning, artful and even wily,which by definition means:

wil·y | ˈwīlē |

adjective (wilier, wiliest)

skilled at gaining an advantage, especially deceitfully:

Yes, we want you to deceive the attacker into thinking he can force his will on you, only to find, to his utter dismay, that you are shrewd, skillful, adroit, clever, smart, cunning, artful and very wily.

It is easy to see that the TigerLight D.A.D. is, as proclaimed by many top self-defense experts, by far, the best tactical flashlight in the world, the best means of self-defense and personal safety, due to the five critical capabilities outlined above.

Go to tigerlight.net now and secure a  D.A.D.® 2 tactical flashlight. for each and every member of your family old enough to use it properly and safely. It’s also a GREAT corporate gift, showing genuine, real concern for the wellbeing of your employees.

Now, if you carry a gun, it is not likely to be in your hand when these types of attacks occur and might not be the best choice anyway, but sometimes it might be the best choice and if you are going to carry a gun as well, you should definitely visit our friends over at StyleMeTactical.com for a wide variety of concealed carry options.