Why strobe?

[Zatoichi]

Holding it at arms length and pointing it at yourself is definitely not representative of the way it should be used, and IMO tactical strobe can be more disorienting than your experiment shows and might give you a brief moment of opportunity.

Well, it wasn't much of an experiment I admit. It was enough to convince me it can have some kind of disorienting effect on some people. I'll see if I can find the information you're referring to.

 

[lrp]

Being a hunter I can see it being good as a signaling device!! As far as it disorienting someone I had rather use something else.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

BTW, for the most part I don't want my lights to have strobe (any type) or SOS, unless either 1. the interface is such that it is completely hidden (e.g., Novatac/HDS/etc) during regular use and I never have to click past/through it, or in the case of tactical strobe, it is reachable immediately.

 

[travelinman]

The ITP (Olight?) User Interface is a good one IMHO for strobe use. Since it has memory, it will come back on in whatever you had it last. You change the brightness by twisting the head slightly ( 1/8 to 1/16 of a turn?) but any time you want to switch into strobe mode, you lightly press the tail button (while it's on of course). Another light press turns on the sos function, and another light press turns it back into steady illumination mode, at the same level it was at originally. So while it's on, a light press instantly gets full power strobe. Not sure of the frequency, maybe someone out there has the technology to measure it, I don't.

 

[L.E.D.]

Early strobes (like my original Fenix L2D with a P4 Cree..) did not have a disorienting effect at all, because the length of the blips were too long, and the strobe rate was too slow. Good only as an attention-getter. To be disorienting, not only does the strobe rate have to be fast enough (but not too fast either), but the duration of each pulse / blip should be as small as possible, like those flash tube strobe lights you see at dances. Having the shortest blip possible is the key to true spatial disorientation.

 

[Flashlight Aficionado]

Strobes don't make me sick(at least the ones I know I will hit me), but I had a strobe light and my friend did too. We both strobed into a dark room. We both felt queasy and the two strobes weren't aimed at our eyes. That random pattern from two strobe sources did us both in.

 

[bill_n_opus]

I use strobe when walking with my kids, especially at dusk and when crossing the street.

Strobe will catch a driver's attention .just.like.that. ... and with my kid's safety at stake, it's worth it for me.

I mean, how many times do we "zone" out in the car? It happens and I don't want to be an accident statistic while I can do something about it.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

The ITP (Olight?) User Interface is a good one IMHO for strobe use. Since it has memory, it will come back on in whatever you had it last. You change the brightness by twisting the head slightly ( 1/8 to 1/16 of a turn?) but any time you want to switch into strobe mode, you lightly press the tail button (while it's on of course).

Seems like a very good model for bill-n-opus's use. For tactical use, I worry when I see "light press" or "soft press". Someone who is highly trained can maybe pull that off, but a little force-on-force training drills shows that under stress you'll more likely mash that button pretty good. Just try some drills and you may come to the same conclusion. What happens if you do a full press on it? That's what is likely to happen IMO. I have my Novatac set up so that a hard press from anywhere goes straight to strobe; I think that's a better model, though overall the Novatac may not be a perfect model either.

 

[depusm12]

Seems like a very good model for bill-n-opus's use. For tactical use, I worry when I see "light press" or "soft press". Someone who is highly trained can maybe pull that off, but a little force-on-force training drills shows that under stress you'll more likely mash that button pretty good. Just try some drills and you may come to the same conclusion. What happens if you do a full press on it? That's what is likely to happen IMO. I have my Novatac set up so that a hard press from anywhere goes straight to strobe; I think that's a better model, though overall the Novatac may not be a perfect model either.

That's why I prefer the User Interface on the Gladius/Typhoon lights.

 

[greenLED]

That's why I prefer the User Interface on the Gladius/Typhoon lights.

Assuming, of course, that the user would set the light on strobe mode before you actually needed to use it.

 

[travelinman]

Joe... If you do a full press on it, it shuts off. Now, that being said, you have to push the rubber tail button in all the way to shut it off. While I said a light press, you can press it pretty good before it will shut off.

If it does shut off when you are trying to set up the strobe function, and you press it to turn on right away, it will go on in strobe mode unless you wait a full 7 seconds before turning it on.

 

[Lightraven]

For tactical use, I worry when I see "light press" or "soft press". Someone who is highly trained can maybe pull that off, but a little force-on-force training drills shows that under stress you'll more likely mash that button pretty good. Just try some drills and you may come to the same conclusion.

True. Applies to all buttons and triggers. I've seen it in force-on-force scenarios, with accidental Airsoft shootings and real life like. . .last night.

One coworker was strobing a suspect with a powerful HID spotlight from a distance, but my supervisor and I couldn't get to the suspect. The strobe didn't seem to accomplish anything in this situation. The guy was able to keep moving away from the light, which is where he wanted to go, anyway. What worked was being dusted by a helicopter which really disoriented him. As soon as he got to us, he started to walk away, like he wasn't under arrest. My supervisor pushed him to the ground and accidentally sprayed him with pepper. It was a legitimate spraying for active resistance, but accidental, nonetheless.

I've done the same exact thing, myself. Your fingers tend to close up tightly under stress.

 

[depusm12]

Assuming, of course, that the user would set the light on strobe mode before you actually needed to use it.

greenled

Have you ever used a Gladius/Typhoon light? You can switch modes momentarily. IMHO the best user interface for a tactical light.

 

[LightJaguar]

I've been to nightclubs with strobes and those do seem to do a good job at disorienting me. Also I remember when I was a kid some of my neighbors would decorate their and some would use strobes. The strobes really confused the hell out of me and I sometimes I felt like I was lost. Those were really bright strobes so maybe a HID equipped with a strobe might be able to pull something like that off.
One place where I think that strobes might be useful is at nightclubs. I'm thinking that the bouncers might find them useful to separate fights. In that case they are not the ones being attacked and they can flash away. The fighting parties are likely to be drunk and that strobe might work a bit on them.

 

[fareast]

I use strobe when walking with my kids, especially at dusk and when crossing the street.

Strobe will catch a driver's attention .just.like.that. ... and with my kid's safety at stake, it's worth it for me.

I mean, how many times do we "zone" out in the car? It happens and I don't want to be an accident statistic while I can do something about it.

Yup, even though I do not have children, I use the strobe when walking/running/sometimes cycling when out and about on the road. At dusk and when crossing the street (day and night) I have noticed it draws the attention of drivers very quickly. When I am cycling in the woods/wooded area when it's dark I have also noticed a bright light will not always slow drivers down but when I turn on the strobe I always see them slow down. So for me, it is mainly an attention grabber saying: Notice me, you are not alone on the road!

Funny thing is, I had a Fenix P1D-CE for a few years and I never really used that strobe function at all... my current edc is a NEX and with this light I use it all the time. It seems in my case the strobe needs to be readily accessable.

 

[ilLUMENati]

Try this experiment - Turn on strobe mode and point it at yourself or have someone point it at you. Are you disoriented? I awsn't. I don't see how this would work in the field. I am surprised it worked for you depusm12.

I was once rough housing with some friends on a dark beach. I used the strobe on my M20 on my friend who was about to tackle me (held it out to the side at arm's length), and she charged at the light instead of me.

I've also used strobe to disorient dogs that my dog were about to get into a fight with.

I think there's been a thread on this.

 

[ImGeo]

I LOVE STROBE!!!!

1. to annoy my sister
2. because it's cool
3. when I'm biking at night, it really catches people's attention. There have been several times when other cyclists have their lights on, but due to the number of other steady lights, I don't notice them until they're like 30 feet away. Strobe makes me stand out from all the other lights.
4. signaling tool

I love strobe because I use it a lot. But SOS is just plain annoying. I doubt it will ever save my life because I don't go into the middle of nowhere, and because unless you're in the middle of nowhere, no one will take a SOS signal seriously (... cell phone anyone?)

 

[CaNo]

True. Applies to all buttons and triggers. I've seen it in force-on-force scenarios, with accidental Airsoft shootings and real life like. . .last night.

One coworker was strobing a suspect with a powerful HID spotlight from a distance, but my supervisor and I couldn't get to the suspect. The strobe didn't seem to accomplish anything in this situation. The guy was able to keep moving away from the light, which is where he wanted to go, anyway. What worked was being dusted by a helicopter which really disoriented him. As soon as he got to us, he started to walk away, like he wasn't under arrest. My supervisor pushed him to the ground and accidentally sprayed him with pepper. It was a legitimate spraying for active resistance, but accidental, nonetheless.

I've done the same exact thing, myself. Your fingers tend to close up tightly under stress.

Strobe is good for YOU running away, not to stop someone from running away! haha

 

[CaNo]

The strobe function has saved my life numerous times while riding my bike. I ride in such a dark environment, that even with the Fenix L2D on turbo, some cars do not realize you are on the road, and when i see that they are not moving, i put on strobe, and they definitely move out of the way in a panic! My girlfriend said it looks like cop lights, maybe that's what they thought haha! :twothumbs

 

[Zatoichi]

I doubt it will ever save my life because I don't go into the middle of nowhere, and because unless you're in the middle of nowhere, no one will take a SOS signal seriously (... cell phone anyone?)

You're better off with a phone then, but I go to places where a phone won't work, and an SOS would be taken seriously. I've reported one myself, but it turned out to be kids messing about. :shakehead