Single Output EDC/Defensive/Utility Lights? I Dont Get It.

[orionz06]

TIL: You can indeed look for your dropped pun in your car incorrectly.

[vcdgrips]

Really late to the party..but WTH...it's friday. Long winded post ahead.

At 54 knocking 55, I suspect my flashlight journey is a bit longer than most on the forum. My Groomsmen gift in 1993 was a 5 cell C Maglight because it was quite bright and handled better than the D cell of the same size.

Soon thereafter, I purchased the 65 lumen Laser Products/Surefire branded 6p and the rest is history (it resides in my work desk drawer as we speak.) Other than a slight detour with the 80-100 lumen Gladius, I carried some version of that single output light (G2s), to include upgraded 200ish lumen LED ones until 2009 when I met TLG and went to a 4 Sevens Quark with its default on high and bezel turnable to high strobe. I still carry that light today.

Ask yourself an honest question, those of you with multimode lights, how many of you got the wrong mode when you decided to light the light? I know it happened to me a few times with the Gladius and that UI, to my limited mind, seemed easier than most to navigate/manipulate.

I am in the high beam default mode camp. I suspect if I was an agent/officer and my life depended on me having as much light as possible, reliably, when I needed it, I would run something single output from surefire in 600+ lumens and drive on.

It is not that hard to "shield" it with your hand for reduced light needs.

FWIW/YMMV Greatly.

[SouthNarc]

Around here, in SE FL, the worse offenders are the geriatric crowd that want to go to some hip, young people, restaurant that’s poorly lit and then use their phone and reading glasses to try and scrutinize the menu, all the while swinging the goddamn thing around shining it in the eyes of everyone else in the place. Generally on,y to arrive at asking the waiter for a Michelobe Ultra anyway.

Not a Michelobe Ultra guy but I might have used my phone to read a menu once or twice. I snap a pic of it then expand it so I can see.

[NH Shooter]

I snap a pic of it then expand it so I can see.

Holy crap, my wife does that!

[RJ]

Not a Michelobe Ultra guy but I might have used my phone to read a menu once or twice. I snap a pic of it then expand it so I can see.

Awesome.

I literally never thought of that.

[Clusterfrack]

Not a Michelobe Ultra guy but I might have used my phone to read a menu once or twice. I snap a pic of it then expand it so I can see.

Dude, get with it. All the old blind guys do this:

[RJ]

Thrunite Ti4 arrived.

ThruNite Ti4 CW lm Compact LED Penlight, Cool White
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WWOZN5E..._TdXZDbP9E7D9G



(Mini-Schnauzer for scale)

It defaults to firefly, which is what I wanted by the bed. It has a multi-mode as well. I will obviously get kilt in the streetz because of that, but for $20, I’ll risk it.

[Magsz]

It was kind of apparent in your OP...

I think a compelling reason would be that one prefers a single output light. However, I don't think that may be compelling enough.

It's like a "give me a compelling reason why you wouldn't choose a Glock", or "give me a compelling reason why you wouldn't carry AIWB", or "give me a compelling reason why you wouldn't choose a 9mm semi-auto". Folks have all kind of reasons for choosing something different, but their reasons may not seem compelling to someone else.

If you're deep into any of those things, pretty much no answer will sound compelling to you because you believe you've thought through the process and made the correct decision and those that choose something else have not thought through the issue properly, because if they had, they would agree with you.

I appreciate the explanations from folks that pointed out some of my misconceptions about multi-output lights, but along the line of what Gio said, I have a bunch of lights and...



Some perspectives may be age related. If you started off using MagLites with an off/on button, a 65 lumen incandescent Surefire was an incredible advancement. If you started out using a 320 lumen LED, your light perspective may be different.

In addition, since this isn't specifically in the LE sub-forum, you're going to get different answers and reasons from LE and non-LE users.

I'm a pretty open minded person. I'm not married to my gear and as I've said, I'm always looking for more efficient ways to do things.

What spawned this discussion was an individual posting a picture of the modlight handheld and touting how awesome it was. I raised an eyebrow and asked him if he could explain his use case surrounding a single output high lumen light. His response was "it depends" with nothing more offered. That comment created this conversation as I wanted a better explanation that I was clearly not going to get from someone who got their light for free. There's also a little more to this as when the gas pedal Surefire EDC lights came out, this individual also touted how "near perfect" they were. I appreciate that this person is/was not an absolutist but I wanted more extrapolation on his thoughts which never came.

I don't mind that its not an LE sub forum. I don't want ONLY law enforcement to respond to this question as non LEO types use lights in much the same way that LEO types do. The only real difference there is that LEO types tend to use their lights A LOT more than the average civilian due to the nature of a night shift Deputy/Cop.

I like Socal's comments and I appreciate his candor here. I think that where he and I may differ is that it all comes down to priorities and what you're comfortable with using. I don't want to say that I'm prioritizing defensive or offensive use of a handheld less than say reading a VIN # because I'm not, I just haven't been limited in my uses with my current gear which at this time, affords me a TON of flexibility.

I MAY be biased as my gear is somewhat unique. I have a completely separate button for low output and high output and confusing the two is almost impossible given the design of the light. I AM limited in my chosen employment techniques as syringe style holds are not possible as well as some other modified two handed light techniques but I haven't felt hampered during FOF, low light training or simple practice not having those techniques in my repertoire.

[voodoo_man]

re; modlite

Having used their OKW head in the real world, it already saved me from having to shoot a dude, due to how much of a hotspot it produces in short distances. I am looking forward to using their handheld 18650 setup with the arisaka defense momentary&click on/off only.

[bravo7]

re; modlite

Having used their OKW head in the real world, it already saved me from having to shoot a dude, due to how much of a hotspot it produces in short distances. I am looking forward to using their handheld 18650 setup with the arisaka defense momentary&click on/off only.

Are you seriously saying that without this special oh so hot right now head or using any other light and the dude would’ve been shot?.......gtfo