Once again, daylight savings time has ended and we end up arriving home in the dark. Despite several large flood lights, some type of flashlight becomes a necessary tool to move around outside, if for nothing else than to avoid whatever gift one of the dogs might have left for me to wander across. Lights have come a long way from the old big 6 D cell Maglites of 20 years ago and I won’t presume to advise anyone on what to purchase, since the current lights are much smaller, more efficient and exponentially more expensive. There is plenty of information available to make an informed decision, which may well result in a trip to a home supply store for the aforementioned sturdy Maglite (that still makes a fine baton if needed).

What I will pass along is that no matter which light you purchase, from some small penlight to the newest and fanciest “tactical” whatever, it won’t do you much good if it’s too big to carry with you. I know this because I have often exited my vehicle and then thought of the latest retina-piercing light that is sitting inside the house because I became tired of carrying it. That means I, not the light, am not too bright. Definitely something to consider. And, despite all the marketing to the contrary, it’s really not likely that you’ll be needing some incredible beam of light to illuminate the surroundings while you search for your adversary. If so, what you’ll do is give your adversary something to shoot at, which is your light. That isn’t a healthy situation for you to be in.

Most of the time, the light you will be carrying will just be a tool to see things in the dark, not something for S.W.A.T. team assaults. If you are seeing muzzle flashes directed at you, it sure is not time to be trying to identify whatever that is with your light. Instead, just shoot back. A lot. You can go see what it is later. Rather than buy a dozen big lights, be smarter than I was and consider something small enough to carry easily with long battery life. Then if you want a flame thrower, by all means grab one of those, too, keeping in mind you probably won’t have it with you and it will be too bright to use inside a structure – but they are nice to see what’s going on all the way across a street. Despite what the manufacturers claim, lights are just tools, they are not weapons, so please choose them just as you would any other tool.