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Pros: Durability, Brightness
Cons: None
Light turns the tide in a break-in
About 3 AM I heard a noise and, leaving the house lights off, I went down stairs with my 1911 and recently purchased Surefire Backup. I heard another noise coming from the direction of my office, and cautiously headed in that direction. I got down into a, long ago ingrained, low Weaver-Harries stance, Colt in my left hand, support hand with Surefire in my right. Peaking around the door frame I saw two silhouettes holding, what I can only describe as, an "argument" about who was going to carry what. The voices, to me, sounded young and inexperienced in the art of burglary... i.e., the "lets break in, and wing it after" skill-set. Hoping for the best possible scenario, one where the baddies surrender... I raised my gun (finger off the trigger) and hit the "high-beam" on the Backup... yelling in my best "command and control" voice, "HANDS UP - OR I'LL SHOOT!!!" The two were close enough together that I lit them both up very nicely (I love highly focused LED systems)... their eyes opening so wide that I thought they'd fall out of their heads. I considered turning off the light and moving to my right a few feet before re-lighting the miscreants... but based on what I saw next, I didn't feel the need. In less than the time it took to write the following sentence, they first they ran into each other (I actually heard their foreheads bang against each other)... then both ran into the kitchen, like Siamese twins attached front to back, and out through the broken side door. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that I was trying to control my near uncontrollable laughter, I would have followed them at least far enough to get a vehicle ID. As I never heard a car, I can assume they were on foot, or a long way from their escape vehicle. In the aftermath, I called the local PD, slid the breakfast table up against the kitchen door, went and checked on my wife and daughter... and went back to bed. To conclude this story, the intimidation value of a loud, forceful command in unison with very bright light in a very dark room... priceless.
