My Gladius died and things that don't work.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Years ago, I acquired a Gladius flashlight. I was interested in whether the strobe function was as disconcerting as claimed. It made you dizzy, nauseous and gave you an epileptic seizure.

I found the strobe did nothing to me or to the folks I tested it on. I recall folks who mounted some on targets and reportedly then fired quite competently at it.

So, I put it on a dresser table as a backup flashlight, set on the nonstrobe setting. I did find it would drain some 123 batteries over time, so I would periodically test it. Maybe once a week. So today, I test it and it is dead. OH, well - let's put in new batteries. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

So of it goes into the box of things that no longer work but aren't worth playing with. I didn't pay for it - work did - so I'm not motivated to pursue it. It is like my Dremel tool. Hadn't use it for years - got it out of the tool box, plugged it in and nothing.

Old age, I guess - in tool years?

I suppose that will be me in a few years. Even a battery jump start won't do it.

[fishing]

meh. would never buy a blackhawk branded flashlight given all the good options available nowadays.

why is it drawing power when "off"? can't think of any function on a standard flashlight that would require continuous power.

[JAD]

Parasitics.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Since I didn't buy it - its loss is not a real loss. It was paid for so I could try it out as a 'blinding' and disrupting instrument of photonic horror. If I had bought it, I might be upset. Do you folks remember all the hype in the gun rags about strobes as disrupting? I saw writers say that they couldn't walk a straight line when exposed to the strobe. Haha!

[SeriousStudent]

..... I saw writers say that they couldn't walk a straight line when exposed to the strobe. Haha!

That's likely due to alcohol, rather than photons.

[El Cid]

I used a strobe on a 680 lumen light with success a few years ago. Dude appeared to lose his balance and just slid down next to the car where he was standing. Wish I could say I did it on purpose but it's one of those made in China lights and sometimes it goes to strobe when you hit the switch to turn it on.

[blues]

Can't strobe induce seizures in some folks? Maybe I'm confusing it with some other technology.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Photic driven epilepsy. Pretty well known. Whether the frequency of the strobe is set to that that induces seizure, I would have to look up. If it did, it would move it up the less than lethal scale to something not that cool. IIRC, folks with such are more prone to seizure after the first induction. So if the law did such and it did happen, seems to be lawsuit time. However, I don't know if the flashlights did such as compared to the clinical condition.