Flashlights have been around for a long time. Their popularity significantly increased with the introduction of reliable LED flashlights. While in the past you could only use them to see a few meters ahead, today’s improved torches can illuminate much bigger areas and find their use in various spheres of our everyday lives. Tactical torches are a revolution in task lighting. They’re an essential piece of equipment for camping and hunting, but they’re also effective military tools, used in conjunction with a firearm.
Apart from that, tactical flashlights are considered essentials that any household should own. They provide excellent illumination that allows you to navigate yourself through your home during blackouts and to use it as a safety feature in emergencies.
Military Grade Flashlights
Tactical lights are primarily designed for the use of law enforcement officers, military personnel and security officers. You can often see them on the belts of policemen alongside other essential tools, but also attached to the rifles of military personnel to help them better identify their target.
The military torch has many advantages over flashlights:
- It has a superior light beam, with most models exceeding the 1000 lumen level.
- Lightweight and durable design.
- Waterproof and shockproof.
- Various brightness settings, including strobe mode. This mode is also known as the flicker vertigo or the Bucha effect. It’s designed to briefly disorient the attacker with the rapid flickering of light at high brightness levels.
- It has long run-time and a rechargeable battery. The tactical torch is designed to make it through a whole 12-hour shift without fully draining its battery. In case it does run out of battery – most models can be recharged.
The Olight tactical flashlight is one of the best choices out there for a military torch. They have a massive beam distance, with some models even exceeding 1000 meters. They also have strong and durable construction and powerful batteries. For dangerous night-time search missions where you need to have maximum visibility, they offer powerful torches that can even reach a 14.000-lumen output. These have an effective throw and floodlight and a rechargeable battery with a run-time that exceeds two days.
Other Uses for Tactical Flashlights
Although they’re primarily designed for the military, tactical flashlights have a surprisingly large number of uses outside of the field.
Camping & Hiking
Camping outdoors is one of the more fun activities we’re looking forward to this summer. Good company, a crackling fire and a starry sky can create a magical experience out of a seemingly ordinary night. However, if you want to have a satisfactory experience, you need to be prepared with the proper equipment. This includes clothing, sleeping pads, emergency kits, and a good tactical flashlight.
Having a quality torch for your camping adventures will help you with many tasks and navigational problems during nighttime. Tactical lights are durable and weatherproof which means they’re safe from potential drops and other accidents. Some models have an option for two-way charging. They come in handy for camping trips as you can use them as power banks to charge your phone and laptop.
Similarly, if you’re required to hike a longer and potentially unsafe path to arrive at your camping destination, these tactical lights are essential for you. Apart from durability and drop-resistance, this activity calls for versatile, adjustable and lightweight lights. For this purpose, tactical lights come in extremely lightweight models that can easily fit into your pocket, on a belt, or even be adjusted to be carried as a headpiece.
Hunting
Night-hunting is a potentially dangerous endeavour, since most prey has significantly better night vision than us humans. Regardless of the amount of experience you have with hunting, your choice of a tactical flashlight will play a huge role in successfully catching your prey and bringing meat to the table:
- The first thing you need to look for in a hunting light is a throw beam. Two types of beam patterns exist – throw beams and flood beams. While flood beams allow you to see a large area that is nearer to you, throw beams illuminate a smaller area at a large distance. This allows you to successfully spot your prey.
- Secondly, look for a model that can be attached to your rifle or adjusted as a headpiece. This will give you more convenience by freeing up your hands so you can take a precise shot.
- Lastly, make sure you’re choosing a hunting light with the right light colour. While white lights are more common, some coloured lights such as red or green are easier on human eyes and help you preserve your night vision. Not only that, but they’re undetectable for most animals, which makes scaring them less likely.
Home and Emergency Uses
Tactical lights are tools that every household should own. They’re essential in situations of power outages when you need to efficiently navigate yourself through your home. They’re also a powerful task lighting tool for when this is a result of technical problems within your own house.
Another household use is defence against intruders. A good tactical flashlight will help you quickly locate an intruder in your backyard. For this purpose, it’s better to choose a model with a slightly weaker light beam, to avoid reflection of light which can make it difficult to spot an intruder indoors.
Tactical lights can often help you get out of emergencies. The strobe mode helps you temporarily disorient your attacker. You can use this time to either attack them or escape. The latest models have a sturdy metal construction, so you can easily use them as a weapon as well.
You can also use tactical lights to make your presence known, either by signalling for a rescue crew or warding off animals. In short – tactical lights are a vital part of any emergency kit that will help you out of a lot of unpredictable situations.
How To Choose a Tactical Flashlight?
As convenient as they are, tactical lights are available in various models, so knowing what you’re looking for will help you make the right choice:
- If you’re looking for a military grade torch, the right one should have superior durability and high lumen output, as well as the ability to be attached to a firearm.
- For hunting, you might need a light in a different colour that will have a throw beam instead of a flood beam.
- For home and emergency uses, your torch should have a lower lumen output, smaller size and a sturdy textured grip to be more convenient for carrying around.
