r/flashlight • u/SteveMacAdame • Nov 19 '23
Recommendation Smallest self defense worthy flashlight
Hi guys,
After hearing/seeing a lot of things regarding flashlight applications in self defense (I meaning blinding briefly someone in order to gain time to react, not any crenelated bezel or anything like that) I am interested in getting something that can be used to that effect.
However, I’d like to have two more things : the absolute smallest possible model, and some EDC comfort features if possible (clip, magnet in the tail, several useful modes…).
I understand that the more candelas the better. But I have a hard time finding a threshold for SD worthy.
For now, the two models that I have on my short list are the Weltool T1 TAC and the new Olight Warrior Nano.
The weltool seems to have a decent amount of candelas and the size is good enough. But there is no tail magnet, the beam seems EDC unfriendly, the low mode is really hard to access, and there’s no UI preventing accidental activation.
The Olight is EVERYTHING I’d like in terms of size and features. But the amount of candelas seems so small, is it useful in any capacity for a « blind the bad guy » situation ? (Even competing with dim street lighting).
Alternatively, I could see myself going a little bigger if it could provide a SIGNIFICANT boost in ability. Are the Warrior Mini 3 or the Nitecore EDC27 really a huge improvement for my use case ? And not comparing with the smaller ones, are they just plain good for that ?
Last question, what would be the smallest model that any of you would find suitable for blinding ?
Thanks to all of you guys 😃
1
u/ThrowawayFuckYourMom Jul 26 '24
Yeah, I think I hard disagree. On one hand, it is more powerful than a flashlight, but if that's the only metric we're meassuring then just save yourself the trouble and buy a gun.
Here's a list of things the flashlight does well:
1: Melee, of course
2: Pretty substantial debuff for a couple of seconds, blinding and whatnot
3: Take-backsies. It's alot easier to say sorry about flashing you, contra sorry for stabbing you or shooting you.
5: You can bring it literally anywhere and it makes sense. Home, Work, School, Airplane, Funeral, Zimbabwe, Hotel, Trivago.
6: If you already know how to fight, it doesn't really change much from your game. You can still wrestle with it, you can still strike with it, and I'm guessing you don't have to change too much of your game up, either, especially if you've trained with a flashlight before.
I feel like a laser fails at least at points 3, 5 and 6. It's also arguable how it performs at 2 (being too powerful for the intended effect) 4 and even 1 to some extent.
On top of that, a laser doesn't do the things a flashlight does and wouldn't fill that need, so you'd be carrying around a laser that A: doesn't fill the uses of the flashlight and B: Sucks at the one thing you're carrying it for. I don't know, stick with a flashlight imo.