Tactical strobe..Does it work?????

Hey all, I've been a police officer for 8 years and just now got my first light with the strobe feature. I don't know anyone who has actually used the strobe to disorient or blind someone. I've only ever seen officers blinding officers in pure boredom!!!! Does anyone have a story where it has been useful? Blinding a suspect, maybe an attacking dog, an angry wife!!!
Is it useful or just something to play with???

best i have heard is that it gives you that "blink and you loose" split second advantage.

suprised blink of the other one might just give you that small edge or time you need to get the upper hand. something like drawing gun mace baton and use it while camouflaging your movement with bright strobe.

i personally dont see it useful.

I've strobed myself with several brands of light, they are annoying but not anymore useful than just max setting. Perhaps if you are running around with it, it may be harder to identify your exact location.

Well I point it in my face and I go AHH!!! So all in all id say it works ok? Not quite as intimidating or effective as just showing em your muzzle flash though?

And to answer your question a little more directly I dont remember hearing anyone on this forum say anything about blinding suspects/ attackers with a strobe. I have used one to alert traffic to a vehicle recovery that was going on in a big snow storm around a blind corner though.

Eh, I wouldn't rely on it.

When i got my TK40 on the first day i got my sister to attack me (mucking around, not serious..) and tried both the strobe modes, and the turbo mode.

In summary, there was no real difference between strobe and turbo mode. In both modes she was still able to run towards me, but unable to look directly at me.

Using strobe mode did not cause her to lose her balance or become disorientated in any way (I asked her and she said the effect was about the same she was able to see my feet and run towards them, however was unable to look directly at my face)

Using a torch may give you a slight edge in a hand to hand fight, but really all it does is stop them looking at you for that instance.

You will not be able to strobe an attacker and run expecting him to be in a stunned state for any amount of time. He will be following you as soon as you turn around

If you want to try and see, strobe yourself in the bathroom mirror.

I have been an officer for 12 years now and all 12 have been on night shift patrol. I have been on hundreds of entries in my career and also know several members of other swat trained teams in various states. I have been to training classes for high risk entries and have also had many classes on tactical lighting usage......many classes were taught by some very high speed people with more than enough qualifications. (Feds, DOJ, Military)

In all 12 years of both actual real world patrol as well as training I have never used any strobe feature nor have I ever seen it used. I have never heard of it mentioned in training and any who I ask simply laugh and say it is actually useless.

I am not very sure how the whole strobe thing got started however it must be a very good feature to help sale lights. Honestly I can see it as a good feature as a distress beacon however for a high risk entry in a combat scenario......no one I know would even think of it. I have never, nor will I ever, use such a feature and will continue to say that simple is better every time. The more simple your lights, and other equipment, are the better they can be put to actual use.

Take it from personal experience if you have bullets headed your way and all crap is breaking loose your fine motor skills are reduced to almost nothing. It is at this time your training, and simple but effective equipment, will save your butt.

mpkav said:

Hey all, I've been a police officer for 8 years and just now got my first light with the strobe feature. I don't know anyone who has actually used the strobe to disorient or blind someone. I've only ever seen officers blinding officers in pure boredom!!!! Does anyone have a story where it has been useful? Blinding a suspect, maybe an attacking dog, an angry wife!!!
Is it useful or just something to play with???

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Strobe is not effective in daylight. The frequency of the strobe is critical in disorienting a perp. When too fast (above 15 Hz) or too slow (below 10 Hz), one is better off in momentary full brightness mode or randomly flashing the LED flashlight because the goal is to confuse the perp's brain so the pupil can't adjust as fast as possible to the first few seconds of flashing light.

The first few seconds you strobe a perp is the most disorienting and the disorientation is always a bit longer when the perp does not expect it.

In force on force scenarios, strobe while moving and then do a takedown or shoot the perp. Stationary strobing just attracts unwanted attention and shots.

To know the usefulness and time limit of strobing, ask a (bigger) person to stand and not allow you to push them straight back. Switch off the room light so only ambient light is available, push them back and the person will just be standing and laughing at you.

Do it a second time but this time strobe the person's eyes while moving one step forward to push him and the person will either blink, close or cover their eyes, move away or be temporarily off-balanced, just enough time for a takedown after the push.

If they experienced this test before, push them diagonally or sideways while strobing so they get off-balance.

Drunk friends yell insults, close their eyes and look for something to grab so they don't lose their balance. :naughty:

You can't use force on your angry wife so she'll just be mad at you for strobing her.

When it comes to street dogs, most stop barking and turn away. Cats on the other hand, close their eyes and stand still.

Does make you think where that came from. Not very useful in the law enforcement world but a great toy!! Seems like the main use of the strobe is to shine in your own eyes!!!!

A few years ago, there was a link, here, on CPF, that went to a demonstration of the effectiveness of the strobe. I don't remember if it was a video, photos, or just drawings illustrating the experiment. Long story short, the person explained that the strobe made it so the person being strobed couldn't assess the distance of the person strobing. The strober stood back about 10 feet, and while strobing the person, quickly moved within striking distance (or, he may have actually laid a hand on the person (like a tap)) and the person being strobed was never able to tell that someone was moving upon them.

gsxrac said:

I dont remember hearing anyone on this forum say anything about blinding suspects/ attackers with a strobe.

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+1

The strobe can be a very effective attention grabber. A very common application is for someone on a sidewalk utilize a strobe to grab a driver's attention so that they might actually look for, see and yield the right of way to pedestrian traffic before turning at an intersection or pulling out of a parking lot. The strobe is much more effective than constant max in such a scenario.

I've used the strobe feature on my Gladius to disorient a guy for a few seconds so my partner could handcuff him, and during training in a completely dark room. But I wouldn't completely rely on any device, use it if you can, when you can.

There is no doubt a strobe is a distraction however again in real life usage and 12 years experience I have never seen it used. I can only assume this is for a reason and the reason must be that it is not preferred by those who really stake their lives on their tools.

I have played around with strobe featured lights in my spare time and realized that it is weird to look at. What some do not realize is that the strobe is just as distracting to the user as it is others in the room. I could not imagine clearing a room using a strobe feature.....much less clearing a room while under stress or while taking gunfire using a strobe light.

I am sure many will say they like the strobe and in some ways I can see why. I still believe that for a real life situation nothing is better than training and a simple one level light.

Jaywalk3r said:

+1

The strobe can be a very effective attention grabber. A very common application is for someone on a sidewalk utilize a strobe to grab a driver's attention so that they might actually look for, see and yield the right of way to pedestrian traffic before turning at an intersection or pulling out of a parking lot. The strobe is much more effective than constant max in such a scenario.

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that from the jaywalker.

in all seriousness that's the most useful application of the strobe I have seen. From a distance (say 80 feet or more) a quick strobe gets attention of the drivers and it doesn't blind or disorient people in cars but enough to get them to look at you. Saved me a few times from drivers holding medicinal joints.

Trashman said:

The strober stood back about 10 feet, and while strobing the person, quickly moved within striking distance (or, he may have actually laid a hand on the person (like a tap)) and the person being strobed was never able to tell that someone was moving upon them.

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This discussion isnt something like the 9mm vs 45 argument, I think the best thing to do, regardless of what anyone says here, is to try it.

Your not going to harm the person in any way, so there is no harm on trying it out with a friend, both with you in control of the light, and with your friend in control with you as the attacker.

Different strobes are going to be different for different torches, the easiest way for you go guage your torches capabilities is to test them.

I do agree that each person can easily test the strobe feature to see how they like it....however testing it in your living room with a friendly participant is much different than actually using it towards an armed suspect trying to kill you in a dark alleyway. There is simply no substitute for the "real" thing and I have actually been involved with the real thing many times.

The strobe has its uses for both civilian and police however I do not believe that it was ever intended to be used in actual combat.....otherwise it would be much more common on the well known duty and military lights.

I have a good example in dealing with this subject.... I have been training new recruits for about 3 years now. Each recruit does 16 weeks in training after the academy riding with a training officer.

Some of the more recent recruits I have seen have arrived with a duty light that has a strobe feature. After using the light in a real situation searching for real bad guys they usually realize the strobe feature is useless. I have seen the few I have trained that use the strobe feature quickly grow frustrated with the controls or "fumbling" with the light as they put it. Each and every one I have trained have quickly abandoned the strobe feature and purchased a simple, bright, one level duty light.

I do actually have a spare light in my duty bag that has a strobe feature. I use it on traffic scenes where I want to attract attention and the strobe is perfect for this. Many times it has saved my butt while clearing an accident scene. There have been times where I simply activated the strobe and placed it on my trunk while I worked in front of the patrol car. I find that other motorists will notice the strobe first before they actually pay attention to my big red and blue lights on top of my patrol car.

270winchester said:

that from the jaywalker.

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LOL The irony does not escape me! :laughing:

Sometimes those darn intersections are just unavoidable.

Edit to add: My posts should in not be construed in such a way that would imply that I advocate use of crosswalks by pedestrians.

So far it sounds like the strobe is mainly an attention grabber. I guess i have used it on an accident or 2 to get people to move over. Just like Robocop said those red and blues just aren't enough!!!!

One of the primary movers behind the strobe idea for use in a tactical/law enforcement setting is Ken Good. I'm surprised that so many people here seem to have forgotten this. Ken Good is arguably, one of the more popular instructors in the US when it comes to low-light tactics, although he has his share of odd ideas.
The strobe as a disorienting factor is something that the military has also been researching for a long time. Primarily intended to aid in crowd control, research has been done to ascertain the most disruptive frequencies. Those frequencies all lie between 10 and 15 hz.
Is it a panacea? No, of course not. Can it be used to disorient someone momentarily? Sure, it works on some people.
I can tell you that in my experience playing around with various lights, the brighter the strobe is, the more effective. The strobe function on my MVP-P7 is very uncomfortable! Far more so than the strobe on my Tomahawk.

I think strobe is useful in some degree. Attention grabber, position indicator, and some other uses. It sure can blind, dazzle an attacker for few seconds, give you a chance to hide behind it.

But, is it really tactically useful? That's something to think about.
Do you think you will have enough time to switch flashlight to strobe mode when the guy had weapon pointed at you about to attack? Can you point the strobe directly to the eyes of the attacker in a split of second? Sounds not too easy. Thus it may be useless unless you have plenty of time to act, or the guy already had been under control. But if so, you may not need strobe at all in that situation.