BigBluefish
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2008
- Messages
- 1,461
Up to now, I've been pretty cool to the idea of strobes on lights...seemed like just a gimmicky mode that would get in the way. I have one light that cycles high, med, sos, and that sos was enough to p--s me off. So the last thing I wanted was the strobe.
But now having an Olight T10, which has a strobe, which I don't have to cycle through to use the multiple light levels, I've found having it doesn't bother me at all.
And it should be useful, as many have pointed out, for walking/cycling on dark streets. And my son thinks it's fun to turn on and play with... I also fish, hike and hunt, so the sos mode is, at least in theory, nice to have, in case you need it.
Whether it really serves any "tactical purpose" at least for a civilian, I'm not so sure. I don't know as the Olight's strobe frequency is particularly disorienting. It doesn't do a thing to me...except make it darn hard to see in the dark after catching it in the face...but the upper regular output modes will do that, too. It doesn't seem disorienting (but I was never caught with it when I wasn't expecting it). And in most encounters with those who might not have my best interests in mind, the threat I think would so close (oops, how did I let THAT happen???) that I wouldn't have time, or inclination to employ a strobe...I'd either be beating feet in the opposite direction, or employing fist, pepper, knife, or gun, as warranted.
The one place I can see it possibly working would be in a situation where you have an intruder enter your darkened dwelling, where you might have the chance to use the strobe at across-the-room or down-the-hall distance which might give you a second or two of extra time to bring your weapon into play, if your intruder hasn't suddenly realized that he'd really rather be someplace else.
As the saying goes, "better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."
But now having an Olight T10, which has a strobe, which I don't have to cycle through to use the multiple light levels, I've found having it doesn't bother me at all.
And it should be useful, as many have pointed out, for walking/cycling on dark streets. And my son thinks it's fun to turn on and play with... I also fish, hike and hunt, so the sos mode is, at least in theory, nice to have, in case you need it.
Whether it really serves any "tactical purpose" at least for a civilian, I'm not so sure. I don't know as the Olight's strobe frequency is particularly disorienting. It doesn't do a thing to me...except make it darn hard to see in the dark after catching it in the face...but the upper regular output modes will do that, too. It doesn't seem disorienting (but I was never caught with it when I wasn't expecting it). And in most encounters with those who might not have my best interests in mind, the threat I think would so close (oops, how did I let THAT happen???) that I wouldn't have time, or inclination to employ a strobe...I'd either be beating feet in the opposite direction, or employing fist, pepper, knife, or gun, as warranted.
The one place I can see it possibly working would be in a situation where you have an intruder enter your darkened dwelling, where you might have the chance to use the strobe at across-the-room or down-the-hall distance which might give you a second or two of extra time to bring your weapon into play, if your intruder hasn't suddenly realized that he'd really rather be someplace else.
As the saying goes, "better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."
