The WORST Flashlight for Self Defense 

"Yeah, it's a balloon. They put balloons in it, son." hard2hurt is often a source of parenting funny moments

Imagine walking out of your kids' pediatric appointment and seeing icy mike out there hitting a skull with a maglite

I love how thoroughly you explain your perspectives with legal, statistical, and anecdotal evidence, test each hypothesis, and then blow shit up or wind up covered in blood (or pepper spray). Awesome video as always Mike!

Absolutely died at "it's a balloon." Great job maintaining your child's innocence.

The casual disdain with which Cliff passed your hard-won butterfly hooks was hilarious.

Your missing the point about the 6 batteries when I was on 12hour shift as an MP (Military Police 🇨🇦)back in the late 1970’s -80’s.. My 7D cell MagLite lasted the whole shift and longer with constant use .. sometimes we where stuck out on patrol without extra batteries yet I never ran out light with my 7 D cell Maglite ... the smaller 3 D cell MagLite’s were many kept at HQ (office area) incase of power failure.. cheers from HudsonBay area 🇨🇦 where I still use my 1970’s 7D cell Maglite in 2022

This seems like a bit of a theme - people seem to confuse what is good for self defence rather that what is good for assaulting someone...

The Mag light has been the last-ditch defense tool of the “unarmed” security guard. More deterrent than anything. Like you said, when you shoulder it, it sends a message.

I can only imagine what the other businesses in the plaza think when they see him out there. "Ooh it's just Mike again doin' his thing." *mumbles under their breath* "Glad he's on our side!" 🤣

Its always good that you're one of the few channels that talks about the legal repercussions of using weapons

5:55 The way that Cliff is just like "Forget the flashlight, I'm just gonna deal with you directly." is pretty telling.

I've played around with maglites when trying out self defense stuff, and it's weird how they manage to feel both unwieldy and too small at the same time somehow.

I don't think the Maglight was ever meant to be a primary weapon. The main use is that you can't just walk around with a weapon in your hands at all times, but you can have a flashlight in your hands (while doing security checks or talking to someone), it's an instant back up weapon. It is also useful when you're not allowed to carry an actual weapon. Not every weapon has to be the end all super versatile tool, some are just meant to be better than being unarmed.

I carried a maglite on my belt back in 2001 as a security guard. The D cells were quite unwieldy, but the long since discontinued 5 C-cell hit a sweet spot. Slim enough for a good grip, decent balance and made quite a nice persuader. Jab to the sternum, rake the ribs, gut punch, tap on the knuckles, etc were plenty effective in gaining compliance. You hit somebody in the head with a maglite and you're going to kill them.

Was a corrections officer back in the 80's. Worked overnight shift, and carried one of the long maglites that took about half a dozen batteries. Actually used it on a couple of occasions to wail on an inmate who was assaultive. Id rather have had an actual weapon, but since we werent allowed any (flashlights, even giant ones, werent considered weapons by the brass back then) the maglite was better than just my bare hands :)

When I was a bouncer, we used to use mini maglites for checking IDs. In the Army I used one for motor pool and details. My biggest problem with them is, sometimes they have a battery drain.

As an Air Force Security Policeman, Thnk you for this video.. I carried a Maglite to help offset the weight of my ammo I carried while working aircraft and missle security. The iflashlght put out much more light than our issue 3-cell light. In the early -70's, they were the most powerful flashlights available.

What I enjoyed most about the video besides IcyMike's shenanigans in beating a ballistic skull, and realizing Maddox is growing up so FAST, was the clip of him and Cliff wrestling. Mike got a clear choke with the Maglite, and Cliff doesn't even panic or flinch; just works his training and skills to escape it and take away the toy =3 Another great video Good Sir! Thank you again!

The large flashlight makes sense to rest on your shoulder with the light on their eyes while you're trying to talk to them and they attempt a lethal action. After one swing you drop it and go to your belt, so it makes sense as a reactive weapon in policing.

My problem with modern super bright flashlights is they drain batteries and always get hot if used for long periods of time. I have a 15 year old 2d mag light with the incandescent bulb swapped out for an led. It's not nearly as bright as a surefire or stream light however, it is still a very usable light, not to mention it has a beam that can be focused and the bezel can be removed so the light can be used as a lamp. With the led bulb, I left it on in my garage over a weekend and still didn't need new batteries. Maglites have out lived any other flashlights I've tried. My 2d has been beaten and abused but still works. They may not be good weapons, but their durability and functionality makes them more ideal in certain situations than most of their competitors.

I used to be a limo driver in NYC in the 1980s and I saw a Port authority cop attacked by a real big guy.. the Port authority cop did not have a baton on him.. but he pulled the 5D maglite office belt and knocked the big guy right out!!

With how long that Maglight went, I'm starting to wonder if a Bo Staff Maglight exists Also, with how much blood you have on you while holding a flashlight, we gotta give you a Serial Killer Name. Something-something Flashlight Murderer.

nightclub security used to carry maglites like this all the time. The end result whenever they used it to hit someone was a broken or bent maglite. It's intimidating sure, it definitely got many people to back off when they got struck a few times but there were several times where they were taken off our security and at the end of the day they broke and it's really not a good baton. These days there are brighter lights that are smaller and better for illumination. There are batons that are dedicated for their purpose.

DONT USE YOUR FLESH LIGHT FOR SELF DEFENSE!!!….oh….never mind…

Back in the day, Maglite was the only flashlight you could get that was reliable, durable, cheaply maintainable, that was nearly indestructible. Today it's old technology, but I still have all my maglites from back in the early eighties. It was never much about lumens, more about amp hours.

I have a few issues with your analysis. 1. The maglite is a flashlight first which let's be honest doubles as an impact weapon. You're not going to be running around in broad daylight with this thing waiting to fight off attackers baseball bat style. You're going to be using it as a flashlight IN THE DARK and if someone approaches you you're going to use that handy dandy light beam to not only see them but also impair their vision. Even though I don't know why you're using an incandescent light as the test subject I'll get into that later, even a 4D maglite has an 18000 candela beam at full focus, which is extremely bright. You shouldn't be letting them get close enough to have to fight them off anyways but if for whatever reason you don't have a firearm you should be keeping the light right in their face so so that in the event they do try to rush you by the time you swing that thing at them they can't see to effectively block anyways. 2. Even though maglite has lagged behind the times in technological updates, their new ml300l series of lights are all LED and range from 500 to 1200 lumens with programmable modes. You seem to analyze these incandescent maglites that have been around since the 80s as though they were just released and meant to be competitive in the modern world which I don't think is a fair shake. Again there are brighter and smaller lights but the wide flood to bright spot gives it a lot of versatility. There are a lot of focusable flashlights these days but most of them cheap this with a convex lens rather than a parabolic reflector, meaning even with a fully focused beam the actual beam intensity isn't really enhanced.

Hi Mike, I'm a amateur Flashlight enthusiast aka Flashaholic. So that 6D Mag is actually the Incandescent version. There was a time when Maglite were the best, but nowadays they are behind even with there LED ones. Many people actually mod there Maglites to be more powerful and to sleeve them to allow Li-ion batteries, this also makes the Maglite lighter thus easier to wield. I'm surprised you didn't demonstrate the Shine and then Attack.

Interesting how we r reaching the same conclusion on flashlight as canes. Some late 1800s treaties mentioned a light walking stick is better than heavy sticks and loaded sticks due to the speed

Mike is both holistic and wholesome! When you bring in Cliff a lot of techniques have to get thrown out because in reality A Stronger bigger opponent will ragdoll you! Mike always showing all angles!

Nice to see Icy Mike putting on safety glasses early on 😅

Maglights are really good for taking out your anger on someone who is already cuffed

Did an actual spit take at the "...then explain *_this_* to me" holy shit that is a fucking *_weapon_* and anyone who says otherwise is actively engaged in a felony assault case

This is just an observation but is there a possibility that you might be able to swing the mag light harder with less constrictive pants?

I was laughing so hard when you said "it goes from being a liability to overkill". Very true

It'd be cool if you reviewed some old batons or cudgels used by law enforcement like the old English baton or even further back. They seem to have been a goto weapon historically despite drawbacks.

Hardcore defense has home defense ballistic shields that I think will be great for review.

I have a a D cell Maglite I got back in the day before LED flashlights were something you could easily find. At the time, it was the best flashlight I had. There was a time where Maglites were one of the better flashlights you could pick up at a Home Depot. It still works after 2 decades which I can't say about some of the lights I've gotten since so there's at least some build quality there. I have a similar size LED flashlight in my car now that is bright enough to justify the weight and has come in handy a few times outdoors at night. Maglite is clearly resting on their laurels and not bothering with at least being a good flashlight.

I have paused to note that Cliff's face when he realized you were picking up the flashlight with your feet was priceless and also he may have thought briefly about actually choking you out at that point?

Nothing is like smashing a skull in front of connections pediatric therapy😂

Starts out as self defense ends up looking like a horror movie 😆

I'd love to see a video of you doing old-school traditional impact tools like saps, slappers, slungshot/monkeyfist, and blackjacks.

Been hit by one, fractured the floor of my eye socket and knocked me unconscious for several hours. Woke up in the hospital with no idea why. Your not going to wrestle it away when your try to stay conscious. They work... Well.

I've never used it for self defense or ever had intended it for that, but those old maglites that were really long....they were actually not that bright but had a ton of battery capacity and were great for keeping in the truck for having a reliable flashlight that you know has a ton of battery life.

Tldr maglite makes you feel like you're holding a weapon... When you're only holding a flashlight and are afraid

Well to be fair, the 6D adds significant run time for the light. Also in general the benefit of a maglite is its runtime. my older 3D LED version got about 75 hours of usable runtime (I turned it on and let it just go). While after about 50 hours it was fairly dim, it was still usable at night in closer situations. Also another benefit is its durability. The LED versions can typically take more abuse an drops vs more advanced lights that have more intelligence. Lastly its one of flashlights these days that will take larger Alkaline cells. Also dont let the low lumen rating fool you as its got a decent hot spot so it can still go quite a bit further than a lot of lights with more output.

Maddox hitting puberty? Hes growing up so fast

The extra batteries in the 6d version add runtime not brightness

I've thought this about Maglite my whole life. Glad to see a reviewer I trust the opinion of validate my concerns.

Icy Mike was working out some issues on that skull hahaha

You missed one point. A big Maglite is scary for the thin little drug addict that knows nothing about self defense. 🙂 So it definitely does its thing for law enforcement departments.

There was a time when Maglites were the flashlight to have, everyone in the Army had the 2 x AA size but that time was over 20 years ago - their time has passed. I have one of the 3 x D cell Maglites, I haven't even bothered to put batteries in it for over 10 years now. I have much better options for both flashlights and self defense weapons.

Clears up a bunch of nonsense that I knew was nonsense but didn't have language to explain as nonsense. Thanks!

Thanks for another video. The more/bigger batteries are intended to extend light run time I would suspect.

It’s biggest advantage is simply being a visual deterrent…the idea is you don’t need to swing cuz attacker makes different choice and leaves

Respect to Maglite for capturing the "dudes who get all of their tactical info from 80s Cop LARP magazines" demographic

I have owned a 900lm Maglite for over 11 years, who even uses a stock light anymore? More batteries = increased runtime, most people seem to not understand this concept 🤣

I used to carry one in my car. Glad I never found out how it could be used against me. Maglight is always good for stuffing down a pant leg for a phallic joke.

Here in England we buy torches to see in the dark and if they have the ability to still work after falling off a roof all the better.

You should do an aluminum baseball bat vs a wooden one. I know that the legality issue may come into play but I feel that it’s an interesting one since nearly everyone has one by the bed for home intruders if they don’t have a gun.

excellent video as always, Iceland Michael.

I just tried using an OG Maglite yesterday. It's archaic at this point. To think that this used to be the flashlight of "dudes" makes me lol.

would love to see your take on a traditional Shillelagh, used in the traditional style with an Irish guard. When you choke up on it, you can maneuver the striking end effectively but also deliver two handed blows if the environment allows. In an Irish guard, you can defend with your forearm bolstered by the shaft and strike very quickly. I also can't think of a place on this planet where it is illegal to carry as stick. You can make one wherever there is wood, and if it breaks, well now you have a pointy stick to stab people with. To be clear, I am talking about the Bataireacht style of shillelagh which is typically about 3 feet long, more like a cane, not the huge monster walking sticks you can get at a tourist shop.

I prefer to carry a maglight over tactical flashlights personally. Especially since we have flashlights on our guns now. I like how easy it is to handle for practical use like popping it under my armpit when I write notes to illuminate my notepad. I also find it a lot easier to keep track of because I lose fucking EVERYTHING. It's so much harder to misplace my maglight. In 8 years I've only managed to lose 3 of them 🤣. Even my electric blue one I left.... fuckimg somewhere. It also has a great battery life and I buy rechargeable D Cells. 1. Cheap 2. Practical uses for note taking 3. Much harder to lose over tac flashlights But yeah I've never once used it as a weapon. I have used it to clear glass from windows though.

Your videos are always entertaining, informative, and eye opening. I show all my friends your videos all the time because of it! Genuinely a great thing youre doing. I wish you the best and ik the great work will continue to come for as long as you want to bring it!

Maglites suck??? Next Mike will say shotguns suck for home defense or water sucks when your thirsty. This dude don't know up from down. You obviously don't want a flashlight to be your only tool for self defense. But if it was it will definitely get you further than bare hands. Mike says.... U can get it taken away from u..... 👌 that can happen w any weapon Sun Tzu

I liked the video that you made using the small tach lite as a pesonal weapon,along with the explaination.of why it makes sense as opposed to other hand weapons.

One of the old ones saved my life. It wasn't even mine. At school, I lent like 10-20 USD to a classmate and he refused to pay me back. Instead, he publically insulted me, which was a dinner bell for all the bullies. Thus, I ganged up on him with another classmate who also had a beef with him and got my money back. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of the story. For an entire year, he kept causing trouble. He even threatened to murder me in front of the entire class. He also brandished improvised weapons on two occasions. one of them in class in front of witnesses! As usual, no adult took the situation seriously and during the class trip, we were assigned the same room! The other two guys were a socially awkward kid and our class dealer, who had weed for everyone that asked. Thus, I'm fairly confident that the only thing my troubles with him did was making me appear as a problem to the teachers as well that must be secluded from regular classmates... It obviously came to exactly what any sane person should have predicted... He waited for the moment I was alone in the room and tried to throw me out of the window! It was the second floor (maybe 10m or 33ft) and the floor was stone... I should add that a year earlier, I ganged up on him, not because I was a coward, but because he was an entirely different weight class and also much stronger than me... He had little trouble pushing me from the door back into the room to the open window. However, next to it, there was the bed of my dealer classmate who had put his maglite next to it. It already had some dents and scratches from previous use and I snatched it to let it fulfil it's purpose again... I was right next to the window when I swung it over my head and he froze up in his preparation for his last push. His face changed from anger to fear and he peed himself. We both froze up. I don't know how long. My classmate, the owner of the lamp returned because he had forgotten something and saw us in our frozen state. I can't remember what happened next, but I remember that after everyone left, I collapsed. My legs simply did no longer support my weight! I had nightmares and suffered from PTSD. I felt bad for freezing up, but also for getting into the situation in the first place. I felt weak. I wasn't used to use physical violence that much. I did think of how bad y tnis situation could have ended for both of us. However, I started illegally carrying a knife in case, we ever get a round 2, but he avoided me after the incident and in the same semester, he failed and had to repeat... Thus, I didn't see him much afterwards. Still, years later I had the occasional nightmare and I was still stuck in a state of hightened alertness.

My least favourite thing about maglights is how thick they are, they just don't feel good in the hand.

Ballistic dummy gel company has earned my respect for using the highest quality materials to simulate reality. RIP GoPro

Maddox: Is that a balloon? ME: "LAUGHED" and accidentally dropped my phone.

I bought a 4D LED Maglight because we get hurricanes where I live pretty regularly. It's over 1000 lumen with a 2 week battery life. I feel great having it in the flashlight drawer, but I don't walk around with it like a weapon.

striking force is what's matters

As a former security officer, most of my workmates swore about maglites, I still rather use tonfa :-)

I love the sudden start very eye catching XD

That's how they made a scene in the original Last House on the Left. Prophylactics with corn surp and red food coloring... I always figured the only way to use one of the huge mags is to throw it like an diagonal elbow with your hand gripping under the light. They were fine when better options weren't readily available or talked about. Now obviously there's a ridiculous list of better training and products

"As you add length to a 'weapon' it becomes more of a liability." That's what she said.

These are facts. Nobody is gonna let you hit them with it.

Bring back flashlight icy mike!

Im still waiting for the collab with Shadiversity where you review swords for self defense and talk about HEMA lmao

Maglite was revolutionary in the flashlight world in the 80s. Sadly, it didn’t really innovate since. It sounds like it is time to have ‘the talk’ with your son 😂

Explain the existence of this (6 D maglite) Six D batteries in series provide higher voltage, which allows the use of higher voltage bulbs, which means they produce more light. They are a flashlight, they produce light. LED bulbs did not exist when that light was released to the market. They were made in a time before higher voltage lithium batteries being common. Each D battery only provides 1.5 volts. Also, you keep holding it on the wrong end. You're supposed to hit the guy with the light end, not the battery cap end.

I use a 3D cell in all my cars. I'm 6'5" 280 lbs. If I hit you with one, I guarantee you'll stay hit. Plus it's legal.

I bounced a pretty rough bar at times and just walking up with the mag light stopped numerous would be altercations.

Ok you’ve convinced me that Maglite is a piece of shit when it comes to self defence 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The message. That's important. "Look for other to fight to". Lots of battles that never start. I am a bad fighter but a good messager.

I don’t know if this counts but in Al Neri’s backstory as a police officer in the Godfather novel, he beat a man in the head with his flashlight so hard that the glass cracked, the bulb flew out, and the guy’s skull was caved in.

Here me out. Short maglite with malcoff guts. Turn a cheap halogen maglite into a beast of an LED. Run it if you can't run a firearm, for example a prison type enviroment where lethal force might be called on, but firearms arent allowed and with a malcoff battery and led conversion you have a bright and functional light and a weopon as a last resort. The 3C or 2D shorter maglites in particular.

The giant maglite and the nunchucks have the same use. If you can look scary with them before the fight sometimes you can just intimidate a person out of it. Oh...actually fight though? Nah nah...

I mean I had to use mine working security. Dude went down pretty quick. Bent my mag lite but kinda bent his noggin’ a little too.

I'm a big fan of carrying a flashlight for self defense and general use, I don't leave the house without one, but my preference is to carry the smallest brightest light I can get that still has good battery capacity (1200 lumen warm white single 18650 EagTac DX30 LC2 with sidelight is my go-to), and along with that a good firearm to use in tandem with the light. A bright light can be great for disorienting an attacker and the stainless bezel can make painful strikes in a last resort but a concealed carry weapon is the ultimate equalizer, and made much more deadly with the addition of the light. Maglites are indeed iconic flashlights, but it's unfortunate they didn't modernize and pounce on the LED market early on before they were overrun by newer, more modernized flashlight companies. If Maglite had come out with some 1000-2000 lumen flamethrower, which they very well could have done when CREE LEDs hit the market, and made it a standard in all new production they could have gone somewhere, especially if they came out with a replacement LED head assembly to convert older models. I suspect they didn't like the idea of LED bulbs not burning out, I'm sure they made a killing on bulb replacements back in the day and didn't want to give up the sales lol.

One of the guys my sister grew up with is currently serving a life sentence for killing another man with a Maglite in a road rage incident

I’ve only seen the thumbnail but poor Maddox

As flashlights maglites are ok. At least the smaller ones. The mini mag or the XL200 are decent lights to carry for just general flashlight use. Much cheaper than a stream light and let’s be honest most people don’t need a stream light and lots of people will end up losing their flashlight. With a $30 Maglite no one sweats losing it.

I have two things to say about this video: First of all, I'm not saying that MagLites are just your reguler torches in no way meant to be used as improvised weapons, but from the specs it seems like you're comparing the 3D LED model to the 6D incandescent model. If your were to do LED vs LED (or incandescent vs incandescent, but we're in the era of LED, so I'm pretty sure no one would do that), the 6D would put the 3D to shame. In fact, even if you had a 6D that comes with an incandescent bulb out of the box and converted it with an LED drop-in, it would still beat the 3D LED. I got an LED drop-in that puts out 525 lumens. As for how unwieldy the 6D is, it becomes a lot easier to swing around if you hold it slightly higher up on the battery tube (not where the switch is, but slightly above that, right where the textured part starts). My guess is that they designed the 6D to give you the same reach as the 5D when swung, with the option to hold it further down for more reach and power at the expense of speed and maneuvrability as a "just in case" option.

Man, remember when a AA mini mag light seemed bright as fuck.....was a long time ago lol

13:38 “yeah, it’s a balloon. They put balloons in it, son”

Thank you for demonstrating the maglite, was thinking of buying one

I had several Mag Lights back in the preLED days. Back then they were good, durable, & bright when compared to other lights of the time. I did have a 4D & carried it in a few occasions where an actual weapon would have been frowned upon. But it was dark & that big thing was "just my flashlight".

With that blood on his face, Icy Mike looks like a mini-Kratos! LOL

mike is so much of a friendly asshole I actually like this dude genuinely great minds flock together even tho he doesn't know who I am lol