G-30 ~
Tactically speaking, you use a tactical light for tactical target identification.
Generally, at home you would simply turn on the electric lights if you needed more light. But maybe the electricity is off, and is that a family member or a thug walking into your bedroom?? A handheld tac light might save you from making a deadly mistake.
A good handheld tactical light is small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket, so it can be with you wherever you might need it. For instance, if you were walking to your car after dark, you could simply pull it out of your pocket to light your way -- and incidentally to check and make sure no one is loitering near your car before you get there.
Tac lights can be activated with one hand, and most have "momentary on" and "constant on" features. Momentary on lets you flick the light on and back off again very quickly, useful for quickly checking an area (and then moving at least two steps or more from where you were standing). Constant on lets you turn the light on and leave it on. Being able to activate it with one hand means you don't have to drop whatever is in the other hand in order to use the light -- be it a gun, your lover's hand, or the sack of groceries you're bringing in from the car.
Strobe functions are kind of cool. If you ever go anywhere where you might need to signal for help, a strobe can get people's attention in a hurry. It is also blinding & disorienting, a plus as long as
you don't get disoriented by it!
A tac light can be used as a weapon. Not just for blinding people, either -- though that's useful, too. But they can be used as a kubotan or persuader (small stick), better than bare hands if you find yourself unable to access a gun when attacked. They're legal to take on airplanes, and the presence of one in your pocket is unlikely to raise an eyebrow even from your gun-hating, pacifist maiden aunt.
When shopping for a tac light, compare lumen output to battery life, and don't forget to check
what kind of batteries they're talking about. Despite all the brouhaha about candlepower vs lumens, there really isn't a standard way to measure how good a light is at simply lighting something up so you can look at it (for reference, a 25-watt bulb has a lumen rating about a gajillion times higher than a typical tac light -- but if I wanted to really
see something specific, I'd use the tac light to light it up, not the bulb). Anyway, you want the highest number of lumens and the longest run time possible, and you want a relatively common battery type.
You want a light that's got a sturdy body, some kind of pocket clip or lanyard ring (or both), a
rear switch with both momentary and constant on capability, and a lock-out feature to let you turn it so far off it cannot be bumped back on again by accident.
You probably want an incandescent light, but the LEDs are getting brighter and more useful every year. Some of the newer LEDs are giving 65 lumens or more in very small packages, longer run times than incandescents, and of course LEDs are drop-proof which is a Darn Good Thing for an object that is likely to be dropped at some point. Biggest drawback is that most people do not perceive an LED light to be as bright as an incandescent light with a comparable lumen output, so be sure to take that into consideration when comparing numbers.
HTH.
pax
One is none and two is one and all that.........
