Some great responses in this thread!
I thought strobe was mostly useless for me, but after reading this thread I'm going to swap out the lights in the vehicle emergency kits and replace them with models that have a strobe mode. What's funny is that it's actually hard to get the cheap DX type of lights without strobe. So the cheap CR123A 1-modes in my vehicles will probably be replaced by cheap 5-modes.
So an E01 on the wife's keychain and a 5 mode 123 light in the vehicle (with several spare cells) and she's set I think.
Thanks again LEOs and first responders for the great stories and info!
Just remember that its not a taser, etc...it just disorients people, and, its not hypnotizing them, etc...it just makes their brain go "Huh?" trying to decipher the incoming stimuli...and then, depending upon how drunk they are, and their personality, etc...they will eventually consider their options, etc.
It buys time, it doesn't knock them down and hand cuff them.
Its more analogous to glinting light off your knife in a fight to distract an opponent...as they need time to deal with the light, and wonder what they can't see because the light is preventing them from seeing, etc.
IE: Giving an untrained person a strobe light may or may not help them....they have to know what to DO other than aiming it at the perp, etc.
Buying time, and then not USING that time, doesn't help as much.
In a tactical situation, if the perp loses confidence in his situational context/feels more overwhelmed, he's more likely to surrender.
...if he see's it as "WTF is that light, I can't see!? Who's out there?!" you bought time to then get them under control...if you just stand there...after a while, he's like "Um, ok, so there's this flashing light...but, there's window over there, and a pipe on the ground, maybe I could grab the pipe and whack the joker with the light and run for it?" - Or - "Hey, its just some housewife with a blinky flashlight!"
So, anyway - Just making sure that you get that creating a distraction is not a permanent solution, you need to take advantage of that window of opportunity.