Veteran strobe users only please lol : )

Hi everyone your input please.

I use strobe when playing Airsoft / paintball but find that a fast strobe is not as useful as a slower strobe because if you're moving around slowly, even just walking a strobe that flashes less per second is more difficult for people to track whereas a fast strobe is much easier as there is more light for your eyes to follow in the same time period so your brain doesn't have to fill in so many blanks.

Now please forgive me English and lack of technical talk but to put it another way if you got a person to run towards you with both a fast and slow strobe it's a lot harder to figure out exactly where and how far away the person is with a slow strobe even when you know the pattern they will take in this case a straight line!
My team has tested this many times and we always get hit more with a fast strobe!
We also found this to be true when playing over distances because a light that is far away it won't cause temporary blindness so again if you got a person to move from say left to right it's much harder to spot the person with a slow strobe due to the longer gaps and if they're running you haven't got a hope in hell of hitting them so why do companies have then so high????

Even for personal protection if someone attacked you, a strobe mode is no more use than just turing your light on to full power, again we tried this (not on the public lol) so I talk form experience. & my 600 lumen light coming on in constant mode works just as well if not better than strobe because with your night adapted vision you're temporally blinded and forced to look away.


Id love your thoughts please

Slow strobe would make it harder to hit, there are a few lights now with a random strobe mode too. That'd be worth a look, I think Jetbeam has a couple lights with random strobe. Goinggear's youtube videos are worth a look.

While I am a proponent of strobe, and I have used it on duty to good effect. I find that the Klarus XT-11 strobe is just a bit faster than it needs to be.
I like the light overall but like anything else it has a few faults.

If the strobe is running to fast there is no point as it almost appears as a continuous light source.

This is a good point and explains a feature of strobe use that I had not imagined before.

masecov thank you for that. I have the Klarus too, its a good post not because we are in agreement but you speak for experience.

madecov said:

While I am a proponent of strobe, and I have used it on duty to good effect. I find that the Klarus XT-11 strobe is just a bit faster than it needs to be.
I like the light overall but like anything else it has a few faults.

If the strobe is running to fast there is no point as it almost appears as a continuous light source.

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My Fenix TK35 has an alternating strobe also. I don't know what hertz it flashes at but its fast/slow/fast/slow etc. Pretty effective IMO.
EDIT(located the info): [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]TK35 strobe is an oscillating strobe, switching between 6.7 Hz and 15.9 Hz at ~1.8 sec intervals[/FONT].

CarpentryHero said:

Slow strobe would make it harder to hit,

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Does this mean that your opponent will have a harder time hitting you or vice versa?

From what I know about figure eight strobing, the same thing can be applied. If your going to clearing unlit spaces confined in houses, apartments whatever, you dont want to make yourself the target by using solid on light. Quick bursts of light while constantly repositioning in movement is vital to make you a center mass target. Even paintballing to same is applied. A technique you might already know about but that ill put out there. Dont hold the strobe on constant while advancing. hit the strobe BRIEFLY then move to the next position in overtaking your opponent. Trust me, they will be much more confused thinking your in one position but youve already moved to the next. I call this technique "strobe & Probe. The action figure eight strobing is a must in tight confined areas where your body even while moving, has more mass. So its a must to find a way to further disorient an attacker while also making his position known without completely giving your position away.

Ico Good point!
& id say yes to some extent but you have the advantage of temp blinding them and generally when people see the light even from a distance & fire back they tend to stay stationary or move slowly while firing, you get used to this quite quickly with practise & can work out between each pulse where they are going and shoot accordingly. If you're playing in a team we find its better if just one person (the guy in front) uses his light the rest of the team spread out and just share the light. They pick a target and generally hit it, plus they don't give there position away. We had loads of fun working all this out but id like to point out its only a game lol.
I was thinking of getting a female friend a klarus XT2A as AA are common and no matter what you cant fail to hit the right switch and the light not come on in high. Sorry went of topic a bit there lol

Im liking this and to be fair I didnt know about it we are EX paintball so never really got into the tactical side we did some of what you said but it was more trial & error althoug I did burst the light as you said because it was just too fast and too much light, Id then run along side them and take them out which was great fun but with this post in mind I should be a lot more aware of your ideas when playing and hopfully will paly better. Think CPF has its very own special ops man lol.

spc smith said:

From what I know about figure eight strobing, the same thing can be applied. If your going to clearing unlit spaces confined in houses, apartments whatever, you dont want to make yourself the target by using solid on light. Quick bursts of light while constantly repositioning in movement is vital to make you a center mass target. Even paintballing to same is applied. A technique you might already know about but that ill put out there. Dont hold the strobe on constant while advancing. hit the strobe BRIEFLY then move to the next position in overtaking your opponent. Trust me, they will be much more confused thinking your in one position but youve already moved to the next. I call this technique "strobe & Probe. The action figure eight strobing is a must in tight confined areas where your body even while moving, has more mass. So its a must to find a way to further disorient an attacker while also making his position known without completely giving your position away.

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Theres different variants thats just a scratch. We use IR with NVG's. But your welcome on the tip andy a07774

ico said:

Does this mean that your opponent will have a harder time hitting you or vice versa?

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Both, you've got a harder time tracking someone if there moving but only if your relying on your light to see them.
When there tracking you with your light strobing, if you keep your movements random you get some advantage back.
I think slow or random strobe is a huge advantage over a solid on light in the original posters scenario.

I think a lot of fun could be had with a pressure switch too

To repeat what I think was said above: I acquire and engage targets with the light on, and move with the light off, generally speaking (different scenarios require different solutions, obviously). It sounds to me like you're not using momentary properly, you might want to drill that a bit to see if it helps

Joe Talmadge said:

To repeat what I think was said above: I acquire and engage targets with the light on, and move with the light off, generally speaking (different scenarios require different solutions, obviously). It sounds to me like you're not using momentary properly, you might want to drill that a bit to see if it helps

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Good strategy, I also like the idea of the man up front with the light on, and everyone else lights out (decoy)

CarpentryHero said:

Good strategy, I also like the idea of the man up front with the light on, and everyone else lights out (decoy)

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As for tactics, as a wise man once (or twice) said, "Old age and treachery will overcome youth and optimism."

Sometimes it pays to be a devious son of a gun (no pun intended).

A bright light with a variable strobe rate can be a very useful thing to have.

One other thing: try to hold the light out of alignment with your body and side step to redirect line of fire.

Yeah, that is kind of a rookie basic but a lot of people didn't think they needed to pay attention in that class. If someone is holding a light in front of them I'd stand well to the right* of them 'cause they're gonna be a magnet for whatever is coming out of the other person's barrel.


* (I figured that this might raise a question as to why stand to the right) Assuming most shooters are right handed if you stand well to the right of their target you will be well to the left of the shooter. Not to many people shoot across their bodies -- they tend to shoot farther to their right side instead. If they do shoot across to their bodies (i.e. to their left) that usually makes their aim poor. It ain't 100% but every bit of an edge helps.

Likewise if you hold your light to one side it is probably better that it's way off to your right. That will make shooting for you very interesting though. It's not a perfect world.

And then when you come across the ambidextrous shooter...

I'm not a 'veteran strobe user', but a quick comment about holding a light that might be attracting fire.
Firstly if you're right handed and holding off to the right then you're in a pickle.
Secondly, it makes sense to develop muscle memory for flashlight controls with your off hand -light in left hand for a right hander.
Thirdly, if I understand chmsam's point correctly, holding your light out from you with your Left hand will put you furthest to the right of the light/target, and in the safest position according to chmsam's argument.

eh4 said:

Thirdly, if I understand chmsam's point correctly, holding your light out from you with your Left hand will put you furthest to the right of the light/target, and in the safest position according to chmsam's argument.

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It's a reasonable tactic, but not always the best one. The biggest problem being, it is far from easy to be able to shoot accurately at the lighted spot, when your hands are well separated. Harries is so popular because it works -- wherever the light is shining, that's where the rounds go (with practice). Being able to light up a target isn't the end-all if you can't hit it! Definitely there are situations that can call for either an FBI-style light-away-from-body technique, or for Harries/Rogers/whatever.