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The TigerLight
is a rather unique flashlight. In addition to being
a very bright rechargeable aluminum flashlight with
a black Type III anodize finish, it also sports a 2
oz. pepper spray canister in its tail end. Designed
with law enforcement in mind (but available to civilians
as well), the user first blinds the subject with the
ridiculously bright light, then lowers the light causing
the subject to open their eyes to try to see the user.
That's when the subject is promptly blasted with either
a cone or stream of pepper spray. Now I'm not going
to review the pepper spray portion of this unit since
that's not my specialty. I will mention that you can
purchase a variety of pepper spray types to refill the
light and the light's spray nozzle is designed for either
the cone canisters or the stream canisters - you select
the type of TigerLight spray profile you want at time
of purchase.
So regardless of which end of the TigerLight you point
at a subject and activate, you'll hear "Ow! My eyes!"
The body of the TigerLight is made of machined aircraft
grade aluminum and has two textured strips around the
body for grip. The anodize is Type III which is very
hard and resists corrosion and abrasion very well. The
light is surprisingly lightweight, since the batteries
need to be in the forward 1/2 of the light to allow
room for the pepper spray canister in the back. The
pepper spray canister area has a spring-loaded flip
up cap to prevent accidental discharge of the spray.
The bezel consists of a plastic lens and a smooth reflector
lamp assembly with a high pressure halogen bulb. The
lamp assembly is permanently focused. The lamp assembly
is changed out by removing the bezel cap, dropping out
the lamp assembly so that it hangs by its wires, and
pulling the wires carefully off of the lamp assembly
pins. A new lamp assembly is then attached to the wires
and inserted into the head of the light. Behind the
lamp assembly is a rubber shock dampening device to
help prevent damage to the lamp from drops.
Output is in the form of a screaming bright spot of
light. The spot is quite tight and the corona shows
some artifacts from the use of a smooth reflector. There
is always a tradeoff when using a smooth reflector.
You can usually get a tighter beam with better throw,
but you tend to get some swirls, or worse, showing up
in the beam pattern. In the TigerLight the artifacts
are minimal and do not interfere with subject identification
at all.
TigerLight burning a hole in my target at 1 meter
The Runtime Plot shows about 45 minutes to 50% output.
The instructions warn against over-discharge of the
rechargeable batteries. When it starts to dim, put it
back on the charger.
Runtime
completed with included rechargeable batteries. More
information on runtime plots is available HERE.
The switch is in an unusual place, about 3/5 of the
way down the body of the light. By placing the switch
toward the rear of the light, the operator can get to
the switch and still keep their thumb close to the pepper
spray canister. Awkward at first, it takes a few tries
to get used to activating the light and quickly moving
the hand to the pepper spray. The switch itself is covered
with a rubber cover and provides both audible and tactile
positive feedback.
The TigerLight has essentially only one opening - at
the bezel. This opening is protected by a large O-ring.
It should be sufficiently water resistant to withstand
rain and/or a drop in a puddle.
Ergonomics: Again, it's a little lighter in weight
than expected and the switch takes a little getting
used to. If you want to keep your thumb on the pepper
spray you will need to activate the light with your
ring or pinkie finger. The light itself is a fair size
- about the size of a 3D aluminum light.
The rechargeable batteries are in a pack behind the
lamp assembly. To change the batteries if they no longer
want to hold a charge you go through the lamp assembly
removal process, drop out the rubber shock dampener,
and slide the batteries out far enough to disengage
the connector - it looks like a 9V battery connector.
Unhook the connector and remove the battery pack. Reverse
the process to install new cells.
To recharge the light, place it on the charger so that
the two gold contacts on the light align with the contacts
on the charger base. The red light will come on when
the charging process starts. A full charge takes about
10 hours with the provided charger. The charger base
includes a 110V adapter for household current use and
a 12V auto plug for charging in a vehicle.
 
Pepper spray is not included in the light package and
must be purchased as a separate unit. The pepper spray
is installed in the rear of the light under a screw-off
cap. Be sure to read the instructions carefully and
complete this operation outside in case of accidental
discharge.
 
What I Liked: Water resistant,
Tough/impact resistant, Very very bright, Easy battery
change, Lightweight, Stands up
What I Didn't Like: Short battery
life before recharge.
Other Things I Noticed:
Conclusions: Either end of the
TigerLight provides a rather unpleasant wake-up call
to a subject when activated. The placement of a pepper
spray dispenser in the rear of the light is logistically
very intelligent. The light, which causes a subject's
eyes to close, can not be pointed at the subject when
the pepper spray is dispensed. The subject naturally
has to open their eyes to compensate for the sudden
darkness when the head of the light is dropped and then
gets hosed with the pepper spray for their trouble.
Oh yea, the light is frikkin' stupid bright as well.
I'll be ordering spray for this critter and using it
on my nightly walks once the weather warms up a bit
more.
For those of you who want the advantage of the extremely
bright output but not the pepper spray, there is an
FBOP version of the TigerLight which lacks the pepper
spray module area. (It is, incredibly, illegal in some
places to carry pepper spray... Sometimes it really
makes you wonder what is going through the heads of
the government "leaders" who come up with these laws;
"Goodness knows what would happen if a civilian should
have the capacity to defend themselves against an aggressor!
The people who draw the chalk lines around a victim's
dead body on the sidewalk would be out of work! We can't
have that!")
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