Any stories of using STROBE as a Self-Defense Weapon?

I used to think that strobe was the most useless feature on a flashlight, but I've come to the realization that strobe is one of the most important functions on an EDC light. Perhaps not a work light, depending on where you work... but it's definitely something that can be used to stop an "assailant" without injuring him. "Throwing" a 1200 lux beam at distances that would make the carbon steel knife in your pocket simply blush and in an alternating fashion that would cause anyone's nervous system to panic is definitely a SAFE method of defending yourself, whereas firearms are possibly pulled out a bit too soon. Reach for your strobe first! **

Sooo... does anyone have any stories to share about the usefulness of strobe in a self-defense scenario?


** This is not legal advice. No one here is liable for this content, which shall be used for educational purposes only. Thank you!

grndslm said:

I used to think that strobe was the most useless feature on a flashlight, but I've come to the realization that strobe is one of the most important functions on an EDC light. Perhaps not a work light, depending on where you work... but it's definitely something that can be used to stop an "assailant" without injuring him. "Throwing" a 1200 lux beam at distances that would make the carbon steel knife in your pocket simply blush and in an alternating fashion that would cause anyone's nervous system to panic is definitely a SAFE method of defending yourself, whereas firearms are possibly pulled out a bit too soon. Reach for your strobe first! **

Sooo... does anyone have any stories to share about the usefulness of strobe in a self-defense scenario?


** This is not legal advice. No one here is liable for this content, which shall be used for educational purposes only. Thank you!

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The Only time this would even work is if the light was EXTREMELY bright. E.G. Nikon SB-910 on 1/1 flash (full power). Problem with that method is that it will likely blind you too! Other than that... here is this thread:http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?234066-Tactical-strobe-Does-it-work

As for my opinion, I would never, ever, ever depend on some strobe effect to ever save me for an "assailant". It is gimmicky, until proven otherwise, worst of all it may cost you your life for falling for it too!

Are you insane fred?

Virtually any AA or larger, or any lithium flashlight that is mentioned on this forum would be enough to disorient someone in strobe. I'd guess that somewhere around 200 lumens (not sure about lux) is all it takes to blind someone without strobe. Adding strobe just adds a whole 'nother factor (x10) in disorienting someone.

I challenge you to be on the receiving end of a 200 lumen flashlight on strobe mode and tell me you are still capable of seeing anything. I have a Nitecore MH10 I purchased for $50 that even came with the 18650 battery. It puts out 1000 lumens. I would NEVER dare put that in anyone's eyes unless I REALLY didn't like them.

There's nothing gimmicky about strobe. In fact, in skimming thru the thread you linked to, there are two posts that instantly stuck out to me...

Trashman said:

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.

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ErickThakrar said:

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.

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If ErickThakrar thinks his 700 lumen flashlight is very uncomfortable, then I'm sure a 1000 lumen light will be about 42% more uncomfortable. As technology advances, so will our opportunities and applications.

But this is definitely a topic in which throw (lux) could be more important than flood.... unless there are multiple assailants, of course. But if someone without a gun looked like they were going to mess with me or my girl or anyone else, then I would without a doubt reach for virtually any strobing flashlight before reaching for a gun. And I would only reach for a knife if it were a last resort, due to it's short-range application... so really not an option. But of course, it always depends on the situation and all that jazz. But I'm sure there are several 1000 lumen flashlights that can be had for under $50. Perhaps you should pick on up and leave your camera's flash light on your camera. :touche:

Here is a fascinating thread that describes a 7-year study of strobe use by police in the Netherlands.

Police Study of tactical use of Strobe

The officer reporting on the the study repeats several times that the strobe is a tool that allows him to avoid an escalation to more lethal weapons. We are not talking about armed assailants. By the time you reach that level, force has already been escalated.

He talks about non-cooperative citizens who have been stopped by the police. Strobe before pepper spray, pepper spray before hand gun. When someone is already shooting at you, you need to respond proportionally.

This is a recommended read. The study resulted in the design of a tactical flashlight that is now in use by thousands of officers in the E.U.

grndslm said:

Are you insane fred?

Virtually any AA or larger, or any lithium flashlight that is mentioned on this forum would be enough to disorient someone in strobe. I'd guess that somewhere around 200 lumens (not sure about lux) is all it takes to blind someone without strobe. Adding strobe just adds a whole 'nother factor (x10) in disorienting someone.

I challenge you to be on the receiving end of a 200 lumen flashlight on strobe mode and tell me you are still capable of seeing anything. I have a Nitecore MH10 I purchased for $50 that even came with the 18650 battery. It puts out 1000 lumens. I would NEVER dare put that in anyone's eyes unless I REALLY didn't like them.

There's nothing gimmicky about strobe. In fact, in skimming thru the thread you linked to, there are two posts that instantly stuck out to me...







If ErickThakrar thinks his 700 lumen flashlight is very uncomfortable, then I'm sure a 1000 lumen light will be about 42% more uncomfortable. As technology advances, so will our opportunities and applications.

But this is definitely a topic in which throw (lux) could be more important than flood.... unless there are multiple assailants, of course. But if someone without a gun looked like they were going to mess with me or my girl or anyone else, then I would without a doubt reach for virtually any strobing flashlight before reaching for a gun. And I would only reach for a knife if it were a last resort, due to it's short-range application... so really not an option. But of course, it always depends on the situation and all that jazz. But I'm sure there are several 1000 lumen flashlights that can be had for under $50. Perhaps you should pick on up and leave your camera's flash light on your camera. :touche:

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Say what you want, still don't trust it to save me from being mugged/attacked, let alone my life.

Not stories, but did find this:



And a Nitecore flashlight defense video. The way the "assailants" freeze is entertaining:

Ha, and this:

Strobe dont work. Intermittent on and offing do. Tap sweep off tap tap sweep tap sweep

Just want to mention the reasoning behind my belief that strobe could actually be a defense weapon. First has to do with my friend buying the Nitecore SRT7. It flashes police colors close to 1000 lumens. I found the much more pocketable MH10. Even tho it's smaller it has a few more lumens of output, plus strobe is always two clicks away... No matter what state it is in while sitting in your pocket. Nitecore definitely sees the defense aspect... And I like that.

dc38 said:

Strobe dont work. Intermittent on and offing do. Tap sweep off tap tap sweep tap sweep

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What the hell is a sweep? What's your reasoning behind it working and strobe not working?

grndslm said:

Just want to mention the reasoning behind my belief that strobe could actually be a defense weapon. First has to do with my friend buying the Nitecore SRT7. It flashes police colors close to 1000 lumens. I found the much more pocketable MH10. Even tho it's smaller it has a few more lumens of output, plus strobe is always two clicks away... No matter what state it is in while sitting in your pocket. Nitecore definitely sees the defense aspect... And I like that.


What the hell is a sweep? What's your reasoning behind it working and strobe not working?

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The SRT7 does not strobe near to 100 lumens on "police colours" . The 900 odd lumens are for the main white beam (which can strobe), the red/blue colours are on the much smaller secondary leds, which are no where near the lumen output of the main led.

I have never done any scientific studies on the use of strobe as a defensive tool but from just some impromptu tests I have done on different friends, strobe would be useless with most lights. Yes it would surprise someone but it really isn't that hard to fight through it.

I had some friends over one night and we were looking at my lights and of course everyone was playing with the strobe modes because they are the coolest modes to non flashaholics. I decided to test the effectiveness of using strobe to disorient a person so I grabbed my Eagletac sx25l2t (1000 lumen, 81,500 lux @ 1m), set it to the alternating strobe mode, and had somebody run at me from about 20 feet. Everyone of them was able to run right at me and grab me. We did this four or five times with the same results. We tried it with the blue and green lenses with the same results. The only time we found it to be completely disorienting enough to do good was with the yellow lens. I'm not sure why but it was actually painful to look at with the yellow lens.

Yes you could say that strobe is effective based on what I said but only if you take into account the size of the light being used, the output, lux, and most importantly with a YELLOW lens and only then if it was shined directly into a person's eyes, if not directly into them it did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. If the person was only glancing up to see where I was and then putting his head back down it had NO EFFECT.

As for a 200 lumen light doing any good it would only do good if you threw it and it hit them hard enough to knock em out. I did the same test with my Eagletac D25A2 (2xAA, 350 lumens, 3200 lux) and it did nothing, not even enough to justify shining it at them.

Overall from what I have learned from actually testing it, strobe is not worth staking your life on. A white strobe does nothing and even though the yellow was painful I wouldn't stake my life on it if somebody had a gun, knife, bat, etc. I might use it as a show of force before I draw my weapon but I would not use it as my sole defensive tool.

May I suggest you and your friend try the simple experiment I did and tell us whether you believe strobe is beneficial afterwards. If you do try it, remember to actually try and grab the other person, I bet if you set your mind to it and mentally block out the light you will be able to grab him. As long as you just run towards the light it isn't hard to do. What is hard is being the guy with light and trying to move around while keeping the light directly in the attackers eyes because I would be willing to bet that if someone is trying to actually attack you, you be moving. Most people would be moving and trying to avoid the attacker, not stand perfectly still and focus solely on shining it directly into the attacker's eyes.

I think strobe would be quite effective in the right conditions -if the ambient light is low enough.
For instance, I can see just fine by the 1000 lumen strobe of my H600, it's slightly annoying at first but it works as a light for me to see by.
But shining it in a mirror back at myself in a darkened room, I cannot see. The alternating dark and glare overwhelm my eyes ability to adjust.
If I was approaching someone in the dark and they were strobing me with this light I would be basically blind to my surroundings while they would be able to see me and everything else just fine.
As with any tool, it isn't magic. Someone can't just stand there like a victim and believe the magic wand will save the day, but rather they must incorporate the advantage that it gives with their plan to evade or solve the problem.

I agree eh4, it must be incorporated into a larger plan. While I did not see any major disorienting effects when I experimented with strobe I did find it to offer just enough of a surprise/distraction to give yourself a little more time to counter what was happening. IMHO though it isn't good for anything past the initial surprise and a show of force.

eh4 said:

As with any tool, it isn't magic. Someone can't just stand there like a victim and believe the magic wand will save the day, but rather they must incorporate the advantage that it gives with their plan to evade or solve the problem.

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+1. The only point in using a strobe (that I can see), is using a split second of confusion to gain the upper hand over an attacker. Imho a general "surprise!" effect is more important there than using a strobe for the job (although a -powerful- strobe may be effective for this purpose). And of course you have to back it up. Just strobing someone in itself won't achieve anything.

grndslm said:

I challenge you to be on the receiving end of a 200 lumen flashlight on strobe mode and tell me you are still capable of seeing anything.

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Ehm... perhaps not even RELEVANT. :duh2: Suppose attacker is armed with a knife, you jump him with a strobing flashlight in one hand, and a 'blunt instrument' in your other hand. Even if attacker can't see you clearly, what's to stop him from launching his knife in your general direction & slice you open? Might even happen by accident, simply because you scared or startled him.

So unless you're a trained professional, I think this firmly belongs in "don't take a strobe to a knife/gunfight" territory. Might get you a fraction of a second worth of confusion - at best. At worst it'll just help to get people hurt.

I think a critical question is, "What kind of assailant are you likely to encounter"?

I doubt if a strobe would be a significant deterrent to an experienced and dedicated strong-arm mugger.

But, in my part of town, I am most likely to be accosted by drunk or drug-user who is already at some level of impairment. If some guy points a 9mm at me and says, "Hand over your wallet"...I'm handing over my wallet. If some guy with the shakes waves a knife at me and says, "Hey man, you got any cash?", he's likely to get a strobe in the face and a kick in the privates.

I'll throw another angle into this conversation based on the previous question of "what kind of attacker". I'm a backpacker and spend several days at a time trekking through wilderness inhabited by everything from ticks to bears. I sleep in an open hammock and have a good view of my surroundings. I keep a flashlight hanging just above me from my hammock ridgeline. My theory is that a strong strobe might deter a pig, coyote or bear passing through.

Two things have kept me from gathering any proof of my theory. One is that animals never seem to approach me in the woods. The other is that I sleep so soundly after hiking all day, that I would probably sleep through a bear eating me.

But, my theory gives me a good excuse to carry some cool gear with me!

Out of curiosity, have you guys had a chance to read the thread referenced in Post #4?
It might give some context and perspective to additional discussions.

scs said:

Out of curiosity, have you guys had a chance to read the thread referenced in Post #4?
It might give some context and perspective to additional discussions.

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+1 Billion
Police Study of tactical use of Strobe
Tactical strobe..Does it work?????

Edit: And that Nitecore "defense" video is ludicrous

Maybe I'm saying this just because I'm a weak girl, but when it comes to lights and strobes, here's how I feel about it. If someone was trying to do me harm at night, my first instinct would be to turn my light OFF... then trust my knowlege of the area I was in to RUN as fast as I could (navigating by memory) until my vision was adapted enough that I could run faster. I would also be retrieving my knife as quickly as I could while fleeing... I'm not about to give up if caught.

Amelia said:

Maybe I'm saying this just because I'm a weak girl, but when it comes to lights and strobes, here's how I feel about it. If someone was trying to do me harm at night, my first instinct would be to turn my light OFF... then trust my knowlege of the area I was in to RUN as fast as I could (navigating by memory) until my vision was adapted enough that I could run faster. I would also be retrieving my knife as quickly as I could while fleeing... I'm not about to give up if caught.

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Just get your CC permit and call it a day. You're obviously responsible enough.

As far as strobe vs attacker....
IME, just like it's been stated above, the right focus, lumens on target and feq can/will cause disorientation, sickness, nausea, etc.
More so in intoxicated persons and those with epilepsy.
I've also noticed that with my maxabeam strobe (at the right feq & DC) effects persons much harder than the same lumen rated LED strobe. I'm not 100% on why but part of that may be due to the "hi-lo" rather than the "on-off" of LED versions. I have a 3000lm variable LED focused lenser strobe that has less effect than the maxabeam @ 1200lm.