Flashlights are among those tools that should be present in every home – they can give you a bright beam of light in total darkness, illuminating the area in front of you and helping you do what you need or want without any problems. That’s what the regular flashlights are for – but what about the tactical flashlights? What is the difference between these two? In our opinion, their distinctions can be separated into three groups – reliability, utility, and the self-defense capabilities. If you’d like to know more, read on and find out!
The Reliability
As you probably already know, most of the regular, everyday flashlights are manufactured from various cheap materials, such as plastic, low-grade steel, cheap aluminum, and similar elements. It’s no wonder that they often fail after only a few months of use and have to be replaced, as their build quality isn’t something to brag about.
The tactical flashlights, on the other hand, are usually manufactured with much better materials, such as the aircraft-grade aluminum and are coated with special substances (anodized aluminum, for example), that makes them resistant to scratches. This kind of build quality makes the tactical torches water resistant, weather resistant, corrosion resistant, and shock resistant, or, in other words – it makes them super durable and sturdy.
And one of the best things here is that, even with all of these capabilities, they’re still lightweight and easy to carry around. They don’t need to be replaced every few months – these devices can serve you for years, and that’s one of their biggest perks.
The Utility
The only thing that the regular flashlight can help you with is to, well, illuminate a dark area. The tactical torches, on the other hand, are much more – their serrated edge design and the high-grade aluminum build can be of great help in a myriad of different situations. For example, you can use the tactical flashlight as the digging tool and dig the hard dirt surface with it, break the window of a car to escape out of it, or to strike a would-be attacker (more on this in the final category).
And even the light itself is much stronger and more useful than tactical torches – unlike regular torches, which pack around 100 lumens, the tactical ones will bring you the power of minimum 200 lumens, potentially giving you the visibility of an area that’s as big as a football field. That can come in very handy if, for example, you’re involved in a search & rescue operation.
The Self-defense
Like we mentioned in the previous category, the tactical flashlights can also be used for the defense against the would-be attackers. They are perfect for the people who don’t regularly train with the real weapons, as they’re capable and reliable, having a jagged edge that surrounds their bulbs and which can be used to rip, tear, or puncture the attacker’s skin, or even to gouge his eye.
Even though this might sound a bit brutal, it can be extremely useful in the situations where your life is in danger. That is exactly the time when you’ll need a piece of equipment that’s strong and reliable, and can be used to stop an incoming attack without having to kill the attacker. And if you try to do this with your standard, regular flashlight, you can be sure that it will fall apart when you hit the attacker with it and leave you defenseless.
Conclusion
Tactical flashlights are much more useful than their regular cousins, since they’re much more reliable, more heavy duty and have more uses, with self-defense being among the most important ones. Unlike the cheap, plastic models, the tactical torches can be used for years, since they’re manufactured from better materials and are sturdy enough to withstand all sorts of drops, impacts, and scratches. They can provide much more light and illuminate larger areas, while their serrated bezels can be life-saving in all kinds of situations – like being trapped in a sinking or burning car or getting attacked by another person or an animal.
