I've been using Fenix lights for years. We have several L1Ds among us. I love the multi-mode of them, flashing, including SOS, etc. Since these are rechargable we have enerloop batteries that we can recharge using the computers USB port. Hate the idea of trying to find unusual batteries in an obscure location.
Since we travel internationally all the time and since some of us are female, some form of self defense is needed.
The specfic purpose for which I bought the Hexbright was to be able to program a random flashing mode into the flashlight. This would work as a self defense device in dim or dark situations, simply be shining the flashlight into the eyes of an attacker.
It makes it hard for an attacker to see where you are across a room (while a solidly on light is easy to pinpoint) and induces a kind of blindness. (as I understand it, I've not experienced it.)
Its not the strength of pepper spray or a real weapon, but it has the unbeatable advantage of not being a problem with customs-- its just a flashlight.
I totally agree about lights for self defense -- they're the one thing I carry all the time, followed by an inoffensive folder, and then escalating from there. There is basically no situation other than being in a shower where I don't have at least one 120+ lumen tactical flashlight, and no firearm-defense situation where I don't have a mounted light and/or handheld light. I keep lights stashed by the bed, in my desk, by the door, in the car, etc. too. Imagine an earthquake, fire, etc.!
The "disorienting strobe" mode of the novatac (or other tactical lights) is pretty much optimal (I think it's about 15Hz, 120+ Lumen). I'm not sure how I'd use the fully programmable modes, except maybe to do recognition patterns with other users (although the standard for that is to have some kind of retroreflective squares in specific parts of your clothing, or IR reflectors and an IR light/NVD). The one weakness of the fenix lights I have is the lack of the fast-strobe mode -- some of them have it, but it's harder to access, and a bunch of them don't have it at all. With the novatac, it's a firmware/setting update.
The novatac is a little thicker, with a scallop in the back and an O-ring, and thus grips better in a syringe grip (which is useful in off-hand when used with a pistol in the other hand).
It also has a nice crenellated front, which the smaller fenix lights don't have. I've broken auto window glass with one (it's not optimal, but works).
A super-bright flashlight is a critical self-defense (from all kinds of danger, man made or natural) tool. I'd put a cellphone as #1, bright light as #2, and some kind of very small knife/multitool (for cutting things, like seatbelts, not people) as #3.
It's crazy when people go straight to pepper spray, big knives, firearms, etc. for self defense, but don't carry simple things which are used far more often. There are costs (increased legal compliance, weight, training needs, risk if the item is taken from you, moral issues with hurting/killing other people) with each, vs. the benefit, but I can't think of any situations where the analysis for a tactical light isn't strongly in the "do" category.
Incidents in which tools have been useful to me personally: Traffic accidents (I've responded to about 20-25 in the past decade outside warzones, and probably seriously improved victim outcomes in a few, the last being 2 weeks ago); loud noises at night (ranging from two being shot and bleeding out in front of the loft in the tenderloin, to raccoons in trash cans, to everything in between), power failures sometimes incident to hurricanes, sandstorms, ..., all sorts of fun in warzones (mortars, people dropping cargo containers on top of other people by accident, porta-potties upended by high winds with person inside (!!!), street altercations (kid with knife, feral dogs, drunks, drug dealers on my front step blocking the entrance, ...), etc.
Plus the thousands of cardboard boxes, envelopes, plastic clamshells, bottles, cans, etc. which have fallen before me.
Okay - street altercations I know too much about - so a torch and a what? The challenge to me seems always to avoid it without escalating, so I don't think whipping out my box-cutter would be too advisable! Is there a procedure?
Since we travel internationally all the time and since some of us are female, some form of self defense is needed.
The specfic purpose for which I bought the Hexbright was to be able to program a random flashing mode into the flashlight. This would work as a self defense device in dim or dark situations, simply be shining the flashlight into the eyes of an attacker.
It makes it hard for an attacker to see where you are across a room (while a solidly on light is easy to pinpoint) and induces a kind of blindness. (as I understand it, I've not experienced it.)
Its not the strength of pepper spray or a real weapon, but it has the unbeatable advantage of not being a problem with customs-- its just a flashlight.