When my department approved Sigs in the late 2000s, I started carrying a P226R with an Insight WX150 (I think) WML. It had a strobe feature. I have also spent an ungodly amount of money on many many lights. I think I'm over 80 flashlights as of my last count. Many of those lights have a strobe feature but most require either two hands to rotate the bezel or a ring, press a button on the light body, or cycle through multiple modes to obtain the strobe function. None of these are ideal. There are a couple standouts that work pretty good.
The Fenix TA30 (pretty much obsolete now) had a mode ring that could be set for strobe for immediate access with a fairly quick (albiet two-handed) switch to normal light options. I have a 4Sevens Maelstrom and Quark which both offer programming to obtain strobe right off the bat or with a quick bezel twist. This works really well also... but the problem is that to have strobe available, the regular bright light option isn't... and that's a big problem to me.
The best light on the market right now for strobe (in my opinion) is the Klarus. I have one of the larger versions... I want to say the XT11, but I'm not sure. I gave my wife the smaller XC1 (or whatever they call it). Now other Chinese manufacturers (Klarus is Chinese made as well) are copying it. Long story short... There are two switch buttons on the tail-cap. The larger one controls normal light output and the other is strobe. If constant-on is activated, the strobe button functions as a mode-switching button.
So that's gear.
I used the strobe on my WML mainly for those times when searching a structure when I had to enter say a bathroom with a bath or shower curtain closed... I'd hit the strobe, quickly approach and pull the curtain aside, and check for bad guys. I have no idea if it made any difference, but I hoped it would make it harder for the suspect (if he was there, which he never was) to determine where I was or where I was coming from. I would disable the strobe function on any weapon light I'd use now.
I've done some training work with strobe regarding charging suspects and searching structures, but not enough to form a full understanding of where they fit in the tool box. I see a lot of people talk about the use of strobe in structures.. and force-on-force training in general, and not to bash that training (and this is not directed toward AMIS because I've never attended the training and would very much like to), but even with sims there are limits to the realism. Sims won't penetrate a wall. Many firearm's ammunition will. Much of what I've seen and practiced seems to work between some of the time and most of the time, but it doesn't work all of the time and when it doesn't work, the result isn't generally pretty. It also requires additional training to use correctly. Strobe can affect the user if not done right, and if we're talking about a finite amount of training time, this would mean taking time from other skills to learn how to use strobe correctly. At this time, because I don't have enough experience with it, because the technology is fairly complicated to access the strobe feature on most lights, and because I've seen it fail enough (often when used incorrectly or in the wrong situation) to not trust it's use exclusively over other techniques, I... at this time... would encourage a mastery of basic light techniques for those I train. That said, I think strobe may be like rifle (and pistol) optics. There is a period of technological and tactical development, and eventually I do see a place for it.
Further, if Craig Douglas has enough experience to recommend it to those he trains, I will certainly not argue with him. He knows what he's talking about and there's a reason people pay to train with him.
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Originally Posted by zml342
