Streamlight Stylus Pro for tactical??

Title says it all,..

I realize that normally, 50-60'ish lumens is most manufacturers' advertised lowest level of light recommended for a tactical situation. It gives you enough light to "temporarily disorient" a person with night adapted vision,..enough light see the target,..but not so much light that it reflects off of a wall/trees and blinds you while you're gaining compliance, (or shooting).

At 48 lumens(for the first minute or so) would anyone on this forum who goes into harm's way trust a Stylus Pro as a primary light? Its just so cheap, simple, indestructable, easy to handle and conceal..Is 60 lumens really that important in a tactical sense? Couldn't even 25 lumens or maybe 15 be enough in "most" situations?? Just curious,..I would like to think that we don't have to have so much light...that its just marketing.
-Batman

I actually almost purchased this model light last week at my local tactical shop.
I instead, purchased the streamlight pro-tac 2AA.
The manufacture claims 120 lumens on high/strobe mode with a runtime of 1H45M on a set of fresh alkaline batteries. The low mode puts out 14 lumens for 21H of runtime (manufacture statement). This light was thirty bucks all together and I use it as my EDC light. I rarely even use the high mode.

I kinda wonder myself if I should've went with the pro stylus (may purchase one off amazon). For me, the pro tac was worth the little extra coin for the extra power, but to each his own.

I'm sure the pro stylus would've been sufficient enough light (like I said, I rarely use high mode).
I like streamlights products though and do believe you couldn't go wrong with the stylus pro. Just my opinion.

".Is 60 lumens really that important in a tactical sense?"

I have no idea but I will give the +1 on the Stylus Pro as a light.I have it and the smaller Microstream,they just work and work and work.

The Microstream was my first EDC apart from a Maglite that near on everybody owned once.

Just accounting for the output won't get you how effective a flashlight will be at dazzling someone. You also need to know the lux to figure out how much light the light can throw down range. Higher the lux = more energy delivered.

Good examples would include a garden hose with a nozzle that can toggle between spray and stream, or a 10 gauge versus a .357. Similar amount of raw power but different amount of dispersion.

Think of it this way; say that you have a low-powered laser pointer and a high-powered flashlight. The laser pointer will win the dazzling contest because it has all of its light focused into a single tight beam that's less than 2mm in diameter, compared to the flashlight that projects a much wider beam.

Anyway, if you are looking for a penlight with tactical UI, EagleTac PN20a2 will be perfect.

I think you can never count on "dazzling" someone...don't believe the hype...I look at a tactical light as being able to help me identify a threat. In the home, stylus pro works very well for this, but outside not so much.

k12cop said:

I think you can never count on "dazzling" someone...don't believe the hype...I look at a tactical light as being able to help me identify a threat. In the home, stylus pro works very well for this, but outside not so much.

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I think that there's plenty of evidence that you can gain a moment to take control, as a person takes the moment to deal with not being able to see, and, not knowing what's happening, while being aware that he is perhaps being apprehended and potentially being aimed at, in danger, etc. Drunks in particular can be easily disoriented and flummoxed by that stream of questions and issues that are induced.

The brighter the light, the harder it is to see around it.

Smaller lights tend to be more floody, and have small lux numbers. As mentioned in an above post, the lux # tells you more about how much night blindness you can induce with the light, at what range.

If the lux is very high, you can even blind the perp at rifle range. If its low, you might need to be a few feet away maximum, and so forth.

Generally, the more lumens, the easier it is to GET more lux on target...but, again, if the beam is too floody for the distance you need, your perp will see around the light, and not feel as helpless. (The more overwhelmed/helpless they feel, the more likely they are to just give up).

Where some people get confused is about how LONG a perp will stay disoriented, etc. A sober guy will take a moment to consider his options, remember what's near him/potential escape routes or cover, etc, and then either fold if he can't think of anything useful, or, go for it. What the light does is take away their ability to SEE, which is somewhat incapacitating in of itself.

So, how much out put = enough is entirely based on the range to the target....the further the target is from you, the more lux you need to do the job.

The inverse square law dictates how the light falls off with distance....essentially, at twice the distance, you'll have one quarter the light.

If the light you are using is just OK at 5', it will be four times weaker at 10', etc....and not be even close to OK anymore.

I'd personally like to hear from someone who actually used a flashlight in a real-life self-defense situation, when confronted with real threat: a determined assailant. Unfortunately I haven't read such a story so far. Until then, I wouldn't count even on a 500lm light to turn the situation to my favour.

There are too many flashlight commercials exploiting this subject, too many assumptions and too many potentially dangerous things to try.

Cheers

These are all very interesting insights., while the Stylus pro C4 is not as bright as the Preon 2 by any means, it is more of a spot light and has higher lux readings. I think it just landed on my wishlist for 2013. My Preon 2 is brighter and fancier than a Stylus but its tailcap is becoming worn out and flickery., and the UI is useless.

I think the output of a Mag-light 3D or 4D is somewhere in the 40 lumen range, and the origional Surefire 6P was around 65lumens and I have had a lot of expreience with those as tactical lights. (LEO for almost 20 years) I think that it will get the job done for you BUT... If I were still on the job and doing the same thing today I would like 200 lumen light. I would really want a "Tactical" light to give me a nice low mode to not give position away a mile away, and a good high in the 200 or more range. One thing that a lot of people who have not "been there" don't consider is how important a really wide spill can be. Tactical lights to me fall into the catagory belt light and weapon light. I can see the need for some reach on the weapon light but the "Belt or carry tactical light" needs to give you some peripheral vision (you will get tunnel vision on your own). And you don't walk by or miss a threat.
By the way that Origional 6P Surefire was hailed as the best thing since sliced bread when they came out, and the amount of light it put out was amazing to us. {65-lm} Every officer I knew got one or wanted one. It was nearly impossible to get a belt holster for them early on because they were sold out, Especially brown Sheriff's leather, we packed them in our pockets untill you could find a belt holster. (Did you get a Surefire, or are you just happy to see me?)

batman said:

These are all very interesting insights., while the Stylus pro C4 is not as bright as the Preon 2 by any means, it is more of a spot light and has higher lux readings. I think it just landed on my wishlist for 2013. My Preon 2 is brighter and fancier than a Stylus but its tailcap is becoming worn out and flickery., and the UI is useless.

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I agree!
The preon 2 is brighter BUT too floody for me to look for things off in distance.
Also the preon doesnt have monatary function ,for tactical use I would rather use my stylus pro than the 120max lumins preon any day....I mean night

I just love the stylus pros monetary switch and IMO perfect spot and spill combo for edc 2xaaa

Now if fenix would make something like their ld01 with 2xaaa and rear clicky. Then the stylus would have some competition.

Yeah, the Preon is a flood monster with reverse clickie..UI is all wrong for tactical. Another competing light, the Streamlight ProTac AAA is more of a thorough-bred tactical light, but its gigantic for a penlight, I wouldn't even try putting that in my front shirt pocket. it's also multi mode light without a general use medium mode for taking a walk, working on a car,etc. The Eagle tac and the terralux also just don't hit the sweet spot for me like the stylus pro.
I think what happens is, a lot of ppl get the stylus pro and they disappear from CPF for a while bc they've found "the light." Kind of like what used to happen when the A2 Aviator was released.