Gladius -- strobe effectiveness?

[Ras_Thavas]

Reading some posts on the topic of tactical lights, or what to use for self defense, etc., you get the impression that there is one side saying flashlights are death rays

I guess that is why I could not find the disintegrate setting on the darn thing

 

[madecov]

The Gladius strobe is just another tool in the bag of tricks

Like chemical spray's it may or may not work on a given subject.

When it comes to defensive tools there is nothing short of some "lead to the head" that is sure to stop a fight.

 

[JonSidneyB]

Organic things often respond in inconsistent ways.

It's more of a game of percentages then any absolutes.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

As far as I can determine (and this is not a measured value), the strobe speed in the Gladius is approximately 10Hz (10 flashes per second).

 

[mckevin]

When I had the Gladius briefly during the passaround the only unsuspecting victim I strobed was my daughter (don't want to catch the wife unsuspecting with that kind of thing...). In any case my daughter, coming out of a dark basement, responded by charging me, up a stairway...
In all fairness though, she has become pretty immune to bright lights

 

[joema]

The effectiveness will vary widely based on various things such as individual sensitivity, but mainly ambient light.

Human vision has an incredible dynamic range from 100,000 lux of bright sunlight to 0.001 lux of starlight (factor of 100 million). The eye adapts to ambient conditions.

Standing in bright noonday sun on white sandy beach, you could point a Gladius at someone 2 ft away and it wouldn't faze him. The ambient light level is so high, his eyes would be adapted to that and virtually any flashlight would appear dim.

OTOH if a mugger has been lurking in a very dark alley with no nearby streetlights, his eyes are almost fully dark adapted. An 80 lumen light at close range is blinding, even without a strobe.

However many night scenarios are fairly well lit, such as parking lots with bright sodium lamps. Therefore in many cases the blinding impact of a flashlight is diminished.

But the goal isn't to disable the attacker (like with mace), but to merely buy a few seconds. So it's possible an 80 lumen strobe at close range might do that under somewhat brighter ambient light than total darkness.

 

[zespectre]

Yes, a tactical strobe of this sort isn't supposed to be the final word in dealing with a situation. It's supposed to be a distraction for your opponent, one that you need to know how to use to your advantage.

 

[beezaur]

Standing in bright noonday sun on white sandy beach, you could point a Gladius at someone 2 ft away and it wouldn't faze him. . .

Flashlights are normally considered most effective at night.

Seriously, I wish the Gladius was more like 150 or 200 lumens instead of an (arguable) 80 lumens. As is the light is bright, but not brighter than my G2. I don't know what that increase would do to the user's ability to move around while strobing, but it would be visually overwhelming to the subject under more lighting conditions, like ambient streetlight.

Scott

 

[LowBat]

Zespectre,

I like your real world test. Did you happen to compare your strobe mode with the regular high bright steady on? I'm curious how much easier, if at all, it would be to find your wife when she was just using a steady white blinding light.

 

[zespectre]

I did do a "steady on" test as well. In quick summary...

I could not look directly into the light and the light was blinding enough to produce the same uncertainty as to my wife's physical location in relation to the light. (in other words I could NOT see past the glare of the light).

When she moved back and forth with the light on constant I had no trouble determining that the light was moving towards or away from me. The loss/confusion of depth perception only happened in the strobe mode.

I do believe that the higher the ambient light level the less effective this would be but under the very dark conditions of the test it was extremely effective.

Just for fun I also did a similar test with a princeton tec EOS. Another light you don't want to stare straight into. When it was set to it's signal strobe mode the EOS did not produce the same depth perception confusion, it was just very unpleasant to look at.

 

[Luna]

Seriously, I wish the Gladius was more like 150 or 200 lumens instead of an (arguable) 80 lumens. As is the light is bright, but not brighter than my G2.
Scott

You seem to be using lumens as a replacement for lux. That isn't the case. The focusing of the Gladius appears to be set closer than further (measures much higher than the U2 up close but that lead doesn't last long). Up close the Gladius is much brighter than the u2 (well according to the meter). At a distance the u2 is just as bright but more area is illuminated.


If you want more brightness then you have to have a setup that better approximates a point source. This could be created by using a smaller die, larger reflector, greater luminous flux per source area or combination thereof.

So what do we need really? A smaller die and greater cooling (or much increased eff).

 

[LowBat]

So you determained the real benefit of a strobe is the loss of depth perception when in dark conditions, otherwise a steady bright light will mask your position just as well. That's useful to know, thanks.

 

[zespectre]

I would say that's a pretty accurate summary with the additional note that the strobing light seemed (to me) to be a lot harder to look at directly as well. I don't want to overstate the case and make it sound like a death ray or something but I sure would have liked to have the Gladius' strobe effect back when I was on the beat!

 

[beezaur]

You seem to be using lumens as a replacement for lux. That isn't the case. The focusing of the Gladius appears to be set closer than further (measures much higher than the U2 up close but that lead doesn't last long). Up close the Gladius is much brighter than the u2 (well according to the meter). At a distance the u2 is just as bright but more area is illuminated.


If you want more brightness then you have to have a setup that better approximates a point source. This could be created by using a smaller die, larger reflector, greater luminous flux per source area or combination thereof.

So what do we need really? A smaller die and greater cooling (or much increased eff).

No, I meant lumens.

I like the beam the way it is and would not change that. I would not want to gain brightness at the expense of spill. I want more total output. I would like to see a brighter LED installed in the light, something which is not yet available. Make the LED 2-3x brighter and I would not want more light than that, especially indoors. As it is, I want more light, especially where there is significant ambient light. I see that as a performance deficit, though through no fault in design.

Scott

 

[Luna]

No, I meant lumens.

I like the beam the way it is and would not change that. I would not want to gain brightness at the expense of spill. I want more total output. I would like to see a brighter LED installed in the light, something which is not yet available. Make the LED 2-3x brighter and I would not want more light than that, especially indoors. As it is, I want more light, especially where there is significant ambient light. I see that as a performance deficit, though through no fault in design.

Scott

I know what you meant. I just was arguing semantics. Higher lumens doesn't necessarily equate to more brightness.

Seriously though, it takes a heck of a light to really be effective in blinding a person with signifigant ambient lighting. Even a 3xbrighter light still wouldn't give me much more confidence during daytime hours.

 

[tm3]

thanks very much for all the replies!

the tigerlight sounds like a great product, but it's a little larger and heavier than i'd prefer. pocketable would be ideal.

it sounds like those who have used it think that the strobe is significantly better for inducing distraction than a continuous beam.

all i'd be hoping for would be a few seconds for a head start running away!

 

[firefly99]

Remember coming across a strobing green laser pointer on the web. Anyone had one of these device.

It would be interesting to compare the strobing effect of a flashlight and the green laser pointer.

 

[Caspertoo]

Firefly, you go ahead and look directly into a strong green laser and be sure to tell us what the outcome is ;p

 

[firefly99]

Refer to the following URL for the strobing green laser, I mention

http://server-mac.pas.rochester.edu/
yigal/DeptNews/LaserDazzler/laserDazzler.html

 

[UVvis]

I would say that's a pretty accurate summary with the additional note that the strobing light seemed (to me) to be a lot harder to look at directly as well. I don't want to overstate the case and make it sound like a death ray or something but I sure would have liked to have the Gladius' strobe effect back when I was on the beat!

The strobe also kills my peripheral vision when shined at my face. It makes it really hard to see somone coming in on either side.

I think this is mostly that when someone shines a light at your face, they automatically become your primary threat. So you are trying to see around their light to get to them.