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I was asleep and heard a loud noise somewhere and just kinda wrote it off as either a dream or the family cat getting into some mischief. Not but 5 seconds later my wife comes running into our room whisper-yelling, "DID YOU HEAR THAT?!? HURRY GET YOUR GUN!!!" Apparently my wife was putting our daughter to sleep when that noise happened right outside my daughters' window to the backyard. Blinds were closed so my wife didnt see anything. She also heard other noises prior to the loud noise, but whote them off until the loud one happened. For the record: I'm not the type of person that would wait for an intruder to come into my house and put my family at risk just so I can have some legal standing.....I'd rather put them furthest away from danger and confront the potential threat far away from them (not that it means i'm going to automatically shoot on sight or anything, but i wouldnt hesitate if I saw the perp had a weapon or if they came at me).
Anyway, I tell her to turn off ALL lights inside so if somebody is in our backyard, they cant see in and I can see out. It was about 10:45PM at this time. So I rush to get basic clothes on and quickly grab my surefire tac light and my loaded Kimber. I slowly creep up and peer out the window....it's lighter outside than inside now since the lights are all off. I see nothing moving and hear nothing else. I need to get outside to verify, but decided against opening the sliding glass door because tactically speaking, it's not in the best placement: Middle of the yard....If I looked right first and someone was to my left, they'll get the jump on me. So I quickly move back to the garage and out the side door to the side yard. First thing I notice is that it is really windy. Then I see our gate is fully closed and locked. Phew! That tells me that it is much less likely that someone is back there because our gate would make too much noise to risk closing, let alone opening. Still suspicious, I shine the light down the side yard towards the back. WOW!!! 260 Lumens is freaking BRIGHT when you just wake up. It took my eyes a second to adjust and understand what I am seeing.....all clear. Proceeded down the side to the backyard and turned the corner, lit up the backyard again. BRIGHT. All clear. Turns out after clearing both side yards and backyard that the wind blew over my daughters' playhouse wall and it made a bunch of noise crashing to the concrete. So false alarm.
All legal questions aside regarding confronting a potential trespasser in your fenced off backyard at 10:45 at night, I am so surprised at how bright 260 lumens is when your eyes have been adjusted to complete darkness and I have to wonder: What is the optimal brightness for a tac light when in these situations? I found out that the light should be too bright because even when the light is not pointed at me, it can still be too bright. But on the other hand, if it was that bright for me, it's going to be WAY brighter for the one I am shining it on, thus completely blinding his vision my direction, so maybe that one second adjustment with my eyes doesnt matter so much, as the recipient of the light will be basically completely blinded looking in my direction?
Just wondering what others use as their pitch black tac lights and what you think the optimal light/lumen output is.
BTW: My tac light is a Surefire M951 with a Malkoff E61 LED lamp upgrade.
Anyway, I tell her to turn off ALL lights inside so if somebody is in our backyard, they cant see in and I can see out. It was about 10:45PM at this time. So I rush to get basic clothes on and quickly grab my surefire tac light and my loaded Kimber. I slowly creep up and peer out the window....it's lighter outside than inside now since the lights are all off. I see nothing moving and hear nothing else. I need to get outside to verify, but decided against opening the sliding glass door because tactically speaking, it's not in the best placement: Middle of the yard....If I looked right first and someone was to my left, they'll get the jump on me. So I quickly move back to the garage and out the side door to the side yard. First thing I notice is that it is really windy. Then I see our gate is fully closed and locked. Phew! That tells me that it is much less likely that someone is back there because our gate would make too much noise to risk closing, let alone opening. Still suspicious, I shine the light down the side yard towards the back. WOW!!! 260 Lumens is freaking BRIGHT when you just wake up. It took my eyes a second to adjust and understand what I am seeing.....all clear. Proceeded down the side to the backyard and turned the corner, lit up the backyard again. BRIGHT. All clear. Turns out after clearing both side yards and backyard that the wind blew over my daughters' playhouse wall and it made a bunch of noise crashing to the concrete. So false alarm.
All legal questions aside regarding confronting a potential trespasser in your fenced off backyard at 10:45 at night, I am so surprised at how bright 260 lumens is when your eyes have been adjusted to complete darkness and I have to wonder: What is the optimal brightness for a tac light when in these situations? I found out that the light should be too bright because even when the light is not pointed at me, it can still be too bright. But on the other hand, if it was that bright for me, it's going to be WAY brighter for the one I am shining it on, thus completely blinding his vision my direction, so maybe that one second adjustment with my eyes doesnt matter so much, as the recipient of the light will be basically completely blinded looking in my direction?
Just wondering what others use as their pitch black tac lights and what you think the optimal light/lumen output is.
BTW: My tac light is a Surefire M951 with a Malkoff E61 LED lamp upgrade.
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