smg,
I am not saying a narrower, non-flood is better. I am saying a flood generally is beneficial only in theory. Plus, you can always use a beam diffuser to get a flood effect, while still having the capability for non-flood. But a dedicated flood beam can't go in reverse.
Your ROE is flawed, which leads you to a flawed conclusion that anything out of place is a threat. You never have visitors, overnight guests, etc?
But then you clarify your ROE by saying that the thing that is out of place isn't a threat -- it's just something that appears not to belong (if I may paraphrase) and that you still need to positively ID the out-of-place thing before use of deadly force is justified. Correct. That's wise.
Well, human vision is only 20-20 in a narrow central field. And you will need that 20-20 vision to confirm the threat. Basically, for anything outside of that central field you will have to move your visual focus to that location. Thus, a flood is only useful for providing enough illumination to see such side objects. But the side spill from a non-flood can also do this. In either case, then you move your visual focus.
Having to move the light for a non-flood doesn't consume any more time since moving the light and the visual focus are parallel actions.
I seriously doubt you can accurately process the contents of a large room in 1/10 sec, especially under stress when you may have some degree of tunnel focus. So again, having a flood is only of theoretical benefit.
Pieing doesn't require that you see a large volume. In fact, just the opposite. You see small slices at a time. So having a flood is unnecessary. Seeing large slices means that large volumes also can see you. A fast clear simply means that you do things faster. But the techniques are the same. You still pie. Now the speed of a fast pie realistically means that your pie slices will probably be larger than for a slow pie, but it is highly doubtful IMO that you will overrun the volume that a regular flashlight beam can light up.
If you are at the fatal funnel and trying to clear a room beyond, you had better do it by pieing, slow or fast, and not simply blasting into the room. This isn't a dynamic entry with a four or five man team, where surprise is on your side and you have teammates to cover specific sectors (especially the deep corners). You don't have half the room to your back. You have half the room (or more) in front of you, but you haven't cleared it before entering, certainly not by a brief flash of light for a 30x14 room. You apparently are trying to clear a 30x14 volume at once while a potential threat only has to check the small volume represented by the entry point to the room. Which do you think will be a faster OODA loop? The point isn't that a non-flood flashlight is better for this purpose. The point is that a flood doesn't have any advantage over a non-flood because you don't need to illuminate everything at once.
And if it is just you and no one else living in this dwelling, what is your hurry to clear your path? You have only the rest of your life to solve the problem. Why do you even need to do any clearing? Just get behind hard cover with your rifle, get on the phone, and call the cops. All you need to do is watch the fatal funnel. And you don't need a flood light for that.
Your answers lead me to believe that you need training ASAP. This is not a slam or a derogatory remark. But I think it would be wise to just borrow a weaponlight and get some good low light training before having so many pre-conceived notions about solo clearing. Then you can decide for yourself what kind of beam you prefer. If it is a flood, more power to you. But too many students go into class buying all sorts of irrelevant gear based on theories or advice with little or no basis in fact or experience. Get the facts, take the classes, then buy your gear.
Who have you trained with?
