An attacker? No.
I know of one incident, where a friend applied a manual strobe technique and successfully disoriented a drunk and convinced him to surrender rather than resist. This was ~12 years ago, Wichita Falls PD.
I have a single anecdotal incident, where a drunk acquaintance was being belligerent and refusing to get in the car to go home. I used the auto-strobe feature on my Jetbeam MKII and gained compliance, because said individual was so drunk, the strobe disoriented them to the point of vomiting.
Seems like that work okay on drunk people. Doubt they are much more effective than that. I run my currently light (Quark) with two modes programmed, Turbo-mode, and low. Low is useful for every general thing, Turbo is sufficiently bright to startle the shit out of inattentive drivers at night.
AFAIK the only recorded incident that's been entered into public record was that one in the Midwest that resulted in charges.
Not sure how many people here would even remember it but the guy had a "Punisher" skull on his gun so it ended up in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.
Conduct yourselves accordingly.
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This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff
Without trying to wander out of my lane (as in no actual first-hand experience), but the defensive use of a hand held light is something I've studied and practiced a bit. IMO the auto-strobe feature is of limited use for defensive purposes and as already stated, directing the full output of the light directly into the eyes of the attacker will gain a few seconds to take evasive/defensive action.
Note - I carry a Streamlight PolyTac in my car and have left the strobe mode enabled, but only to identify my location/be seen in case of break down in traffic.
While there may not be much data on the successful use of the auto-strobe feature in a self defense scenario, there is plenty of reading on the "defensive use of flashlights." This video illustrates the tactic I have adopted to buy the time to evade or bring other defensive tools to bear;
FWIW, I always carry my Malkoff MDC in my left pocket and my Spyderco in the right, even at work where carrying a firearm is not kosher.
I've seen strobes work with great effect on very intoxicated individuals. I wouldn't call them disabling but distracting.
On people that were intoxicated enough to have impaired judgement, but not intoxicated enough to have any significant loss of motor skills, not so much. One of the downsides of strobing light is loss of depth perception, I have seen officers try to use their magical strobes, have subjects close on them quickly and not realize what's going on.
IME, the effectiveness of strobes increase as the threat level decreases due to increased intoxication. The better it works, the less you need it. Strobes are very useful when used as part of team tactics.
Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right.
Has anyone used a strobe as a distraction while moving positions? I kept it programmed on my Smart Quark but don't know how to use it for movement; besides activate it and run.
Last edited by Blades; 09-24-2017 at 03:39 PM.
--Jason--
Not on drunks or suspects, but if you shine a really bright light (strobe or not) in a fellow officers eyes before roll call it kind of messes them up.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Why not both?